Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist)

[M055-03] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:02:16 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

It is always a pleasure. I am very honored to be invited by our fund here, and certainly the economist Daniel, I was just talking to you about how much I have been addicted to the economist an addiction that I cannot abandon.

[M055-05] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:03:06 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Ok, well, First of all, as Saudi Arabia, we have been engaged in the entire episode that climate change discussion and negotiation went through, ever since the Rio Earth Summit, or even before that, and preparing for that, so that literature that, that era, that period where we are today and I think the main focal point that everybody's congregating around now is the Paris agreement, with all its commitments, obligations and all the subsidiary bodies that have evolved before Paris agreement and the evolution just after Paris agreement. It all congregates around certain few elements in a basic way. First, we have to reduce emissions of all greenhouse gases, and we use the word plural as opposed to just only carbon or CO2. There is a differentiated but common responsibility, which is a fair and more egalitarian way of how countries would assume responsibility based on their contribution to the accumulation of these greenhouse gases and also the principle of national circumstances.

[M055-06] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:04:42 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

There are countries that are hydrocarbon or fossil fuel production, their economies are not that diversified yet, their government income is not also diversified, and some are suffering from energy poverty and still are in their early stages of growth and development and they need that space and span of time for them to accommodate to the commitments and obligations that a global effort to mitigate and reduce emissions would be something that we should allow the forthcoming generations to inherit. So, in our endeavor to maintain and execute our commitments as a member assignee of ratified of the Paris agreement, as you know you have that approach of circular economy. So what we did was to induce the word carbon into that, where as you have rightly said, it encapsulates four different Rs because of our belief that to get to the ambitions of the relevant emission reductions that the word requires and needs.

[M055-07] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:06:18 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

You need to be involved in so many different approaches, there is no one approach that would be a savior alone. It has to come from a multifaceted approach, which with each would be a contributor, the four RS, as you have described them when you talk about reduce, which is the typical thing, you know, going for serious efficiency programs for example, Saudi Arabia is doing that go through a price reform program, which would facilitate that reduction, go for alternative fuels moving from fossil fuels, like coal to one of renewable and the variety that will also support or go for even something different, which you have using, which how you will become a material that you can make use of it, and you could and there are solid technologies that are existing today, and there is an effort to make more room for more technologies to make use of this CO2.

[M055-08] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:07:38 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Therefore it would not be a burden to the economy, it will be a usable material that will facilitate even growth and economic diversity, and then the fourth which is remove clearly the world is losing a lot of things and you could see it happening in many countries. So, revisiting how can we encourage greening and creating more things through the use of even enhancing the current ecosystem for these areas that have been debilitated or go for something different, which is like mangroves and what have you, more also, as you can should go for carbon capture and if you capture that carbon, you can actually dump it or use your current aquifers as an oil-producing country or gas-producing countries and you could use these aquifers as depositories space for CO2.

[M055-09] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:08:59 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

In fact, you could congregate globally where regionally, where you could create a system of piping that allows this to happen. The technologies that we are working with is even more advanced than having to use CO2 as a means to enhance oil recovery or hydro carbon recovery. This is in a basic, but you could see that it talks about a holistic approach and that we use all of the above as a set of molecules and you need to capture these molecules and make use of it or deposit it.

[M055-11] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:10:10 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

You know, in reviewing our work and initiatives for the green initiative that the crown prince had invited people to attend the middle east initiative, we have been reviewing and also preparing for just what happened in Friday, the G20 ministerial or preparing for COP26. We went through a review about where we stand vs the other, the numbers we have can showcase us actually as an examply producer of hydrocarbon producing, we stand very tall compared to any country in planet earth when it comes to emissions of methane, for example, even CO2 as a country, as one of the largest, if not the second or third largest hydrocarbon producer in planet earth, there is no way you could compare us with any other country.

[M055-12] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:11:13 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Even as an oil company as Aramco in its first year, second year, if you look at where it stands amongst the international energy or oil companies, or oil and gas companies, again considering the amount of production, I do not think we are part of the problem; I think we are actually conceived today as part of the solution, if people or all hydrocarbon producers do exactly what we did somewhere in the 70s, it is not just yesterday from in the 70s where we captured all of the methane, made better use of it, created two industries, created this massive petrochemical company, going further downstream into specific product and conversions.

[M055-13] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:12:10 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

All of these had happened in a way where it is actually a win-win situation, you sequestered, you captured the gas and you made better use of it. So if you look at our numbers, compare us with, you knoe I am not talking about Canada, the US, the UK, any other relevant, Russia, and we have, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and rest of OPEC or OPEC Plus countries, by far we can stand tall than others, we are in our effort today, we are becoming much more proactive by being as I have promised and as my government had promised, we shall never like to be part of the problem, we will not settle for being part of the solution, where our aspiration is more is to go for leading these solutions and I think we have the capabilities and competence to deliver that with collaboration of everyone.

[M055-15] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:14:11 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

The way we are KPIing ourselves is that we have to deliver on all four Rs. So, for ourselves, yes, the challenge and reduce is way much easier because you have the technologies, which is renewable, which is efficiency and what have you, and that is why by convenience the word leans more on that, because if it is existent technological technologies, because of the existence of technology, so humanly people lean to the easier quick solution, our approach is that this is not going to be enough. In fact, as the economist also agreed with us, that actually overreliance or renewable may actually create additional unforeseen problems when it comes to the security of the supply of materials that will be used in these technologies. The more challenging element is the reuse and the recycling and certainly carbon sequestration with enhanced oil recovery is something that is challenging, we are working with others on that.

[M055-16] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:15:29 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

When it comes to recycling, we have been involved in creating technologies, be it Aramco or be it SABIC where again, CO2 will be used and combined with chemicals to be produced. We really believe that these two components are the more challenging elements, along with remove I think this is what we have announced, for example, on the green initiative or the middle east in the initiative, is that we will be involved in planting huge amount in the form of billions or helping others in the middle east in planting more plants and trees to ensure that we can safeguard these things, things it happens to be its is cheaper, it is easier and more sustainable, but it needs commitment from everybody, and we are willing to commit ourselves to. Again, carbon capture and air capture would be probably the most fundamental technologies that we need to work hard with others.

[M055-18] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:17:15 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

At scale, Yes, but you need to, that is why, you know, we have the CCLF, which is a forum that brings so many countries, including ourselves working collaboratively. Now with this new push on net zero and achieving the targets of Paris agreement, you need the right ecosystem, you need an ecosystem that enables these technologies to come, which is financing, it has to do with financing, it has to do with standardization, it has to do with financing R&D, it has to do with creating an ecosystem that if by doing so you are accelerating the pressure on everybody to come forth with attending to the most challenging aspect, as you have mentioned, which is how can you bring about CC with a scale sufficient and a spread sufficient to be, but again, there is no one solution to this phenomena.

[M055-19] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:18:33 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

You have to look at all of the above and this is what we are trying to achieve, by saying one solution for all of that would not be a fit, and we also should be mindful that it is not just only CO2; there are other gases that are being emitted. As I said, if every hydrocarbon country can do what we did with methane emission reduction, I think that would be a great contributor too, and again, the technology are existing.

[M055-21] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:19:44 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

You know, the first and most important thing that we have achieved, and we are very grateful for the recognition we had it was the last G20. This was the first time that we introduced CCE and it endorsed, even last Friday, Again, there was a further reimbursement of CCE. We believe that the more CCE being introduced and the more people focus on what to do in terms of, we, as Saudi Arabia, are working on a regulatory framework that actually would induce a circular carbon economy in general and carbon capture specifically, because we feel that unless if we do all of the above financing, lower physical treatments, temporary physical treatments, regulatory framework that imposes it on manufacturers for capturing, the more we do all of these things, which by the way, I believe it will be cheaper than some other costly approaches. After all, I think we should be also guided by, yes we want to achieve these targets, but I think we owe it to our economies, all of our economies, that we achieve it with the least cost possible that we could achieve it with.

[M055-22] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:21:20 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

There is no need to burden economies with massive choices, that simply because some political element was the pusher for it; you know, like getting rid of hydrocarbon, just for the sake of getting rid of hydrocarbon, getting rid of coal, just for the sake of getting ready of call, while we still have an appetite coal, and we do not have an appetite coal, yes, appetite coal, why not. Keeping people alternatives and choices is important, ensuring that you go for consensus building and you are to become inclusive in choices, inclusive of bringing the parties to work with you, be it developed or developing country or even countries that are suffering from today from energy poverty is crucial too, because you would fundamentally prefer to have a say in their choices of energy as it is today, there are those who are using biomass, alternatively with a small international program, you would remove these people from their current pattern of consumption to something that would lead to a mission reduction, improving their actually health and improving their lot, and who knows with a bit of advancement, they would be even connected to the world.

[M055-23] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:23:05 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

It is quite a few things, yes with regard to clean cooking, for example, again, that is not…

[M055-25] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:23:17 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Yes, clean cooking is a 2.6 billion people are suffering from, they are not privileged to have that accessibility, the amount of money that you need to spend to get these 2.6 billion people to be instead of burning coal or biomass is minuscule, considered considering how much it would cost to improve those people. Energy poverty, 750 million people are suffering from, these two programs if we can just work with people on them, the amount of money that will be wasted spent on that is comparable to how much you would elevate in terms of health, wellbeing, sustainability, and who knows accessibility to even to the world.

[M055-27] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:25:21 · Ministerial Keynote Interview with HRH Minister of Energy (The Economist) · 2021-07-28 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Thank you, Daniel.