thereby allowing them to implement pilot projects quickly. Their location, in the centre of the heavily travelled EU-China transport corridor, is ideal for the production of hydrogen derivatives, especially those that can be used as maritime fuel. If this enables them to benefit directly from clean energy trade with the EU, Gulf monarchies would li

The Gulf monarchies – where aviation is a major business – have also shown interest in e-fuels. In 2021, the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the World Economic Forum, along with the Clean Skies for Tomorrow coalition, collaborated on a white paper called “Power-to-Liquids Roadmap: Fuelling the Aviation Energy Transition in t

European and GCC producers, transmission system operators, and distributors need new frameworks for dialogue on interconnections. This needs especially to address the prospect of linking the GCC-wide transmission grid to, for example, its European counterpart ENTSO-E. Plans for such an interconnection have gained momentum since a 2021 deal between

The UAE and other fossil fuel producers saw the scramble for energy security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an opportunity to argue, as Jaber has, that fossil fuels are still necessary: “[we] cannot unplug the current energy system before we have built the new one,” he said at India Energy Week in February 2023. At this year’s CERAW

France has also been active. In July 2022, the UAE and France inked a comprehensive strategic energy partnership, reinforced by a 2023 UAE-France-India tripartite cooperation initiative focused on the energy transition. Moreover, Paris signed a memorandum of understanding with Riyadh to work together on nuclear energy; hydrogen; electricity interco