GORD and Global Carbon Council take leading role at the CCUS Forum

As the strategic partners of the MENA region’s first Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Forum, the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD) and Global Carbon Council (GCC) have successfully concluded their leading participation at the event. Organized by Oman-based Birba Energy and held under the patronage of Qatar’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, CCUS Forum took place in Doha from May 29 to 31, 2023.
With a line-up of global speakers, masterclasses and a buzzing networking hub, the Forum brought together over 500 delegates and visitors from different countries, including government representatives, industries, and leading climate and technology experts. The forum provided a platform for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and the fostering of strategies to drive the global transition to a low-carbon future. The event showcased technologies being developed to capture and remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and aimed to create commercial markets for utilizing the captured CO2 and advance its permanent storage via geological sequestration.
Addressing the audience during the opening ceremony, Dr. Yousef Alhorr, Founding Chairman of GORD and GCC, said, “As the first CCUS Forum in the MENA region, this event marks a turning point in our collective efforts to address the pressing climate challenges faced by the region and the world. An energy transition supported by CCUS will enable global economies to diversify their energy mix, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to the global transition towards a low-carbon economy, in alignment with the Paris Agreement.”
Representing the Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy & Sustainable Development, HE Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Former Minister of Energy & Industry, said, “I commend the organizing committee for focusing on Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage – a technology that is key for advancing low carbon solutions in the energy sector… Through its innovative methods of capturing carbon dioxide emissions, utilizing them in various applications, and safely storing them underground, CCUS provides a range of environmental, economic, and social advantages that deserve our attention and support.”
On the first day of the CCUS Forum, Mr. Kishor Rajhansa, COO of GCC, joined a key session on catalyzing carbon markets and investments as a crucial strategy for reducing GHG’s emissions and achieving a sustainable future. The second day of the event was marked by a range of masterclasses where senior members of GCC delved into carbon standards, monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks within the context of CCUS. In one of these masterclasses, Dr. Ammar Elhoweris, Head of Technology and Innovation at GORD, shared insights on approaches to construction using CO₂-based technologies.
The third and final day of the CCUS Forum invited experts on a field tour to TechnoHub – GORD’s RDI facility inside Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) where researchers engage in long-term multidisciplinary research on energy efficiency and ecofriendly building materials utilizing captured carbon. During the tour, participants had the opportunity to witness firsthand the important work conducted by GORD in the field of environmental sustainability as well as CCUS. The visit also extended to other QSTP facilities, where member organizations including GORD, GE, Shell, Total, Iberdrola, Cisco and QMIC showcased their innovations, particularly in the field of CCUS.
Speaking about GCC’s endorsement for the CCUS Forum, Dr. Yousef Alhorr said, “Global Carbon Council’s support for CCUS Forum is motivated by its commitment to the region’s energy transition and low-carbon development. We take immense pride in being the first and only international carbon credit program rooted in the Global South. As part of our dedication to the theme of this forum, we would like to inform the audience about the imminent launch of GCC’s upcoming methodology for CCS projects, and invite you to engage with us in the public consultation for the methodology before its final publication. This unique methodology stands out as one of the very few worldwide initiatives that incentivize CCS projects through carbon credit issuance. Considering the significant number of carbon capture and storage projects taking place worldwide, we believe this methodology has the potential to save millions of tons of carbon emissions. In the long run, the CCS methodology will amplify the positive impact of approximately 1,500 climate mitigation projects already submitted to the Global Carbon Council from 45 countries. Through these GHG reduction projects, GCC is expected to generate more than 2 billion carbon credits over next 8 to 10 years.”
The CCUS Forum concluded with a resounding success, bringing together experts and industry leaders to explore crucial themes in CCUS. Key topics addressed at the event included the critical role of CCUS in combating the climate crisis, regional and international cooperation for a low-carbon future, catalyzing carbon markets and investments, scaling CCUS technologies, decarbonizing hard-to-abate industries, and establishing a CCUS deployment roadmap with regulations, policies and standards.