A wind farm in north-east England. Britain's transition from a high-polluting to a low-carbon producing economy must be accelerated, an industry panel has heard. PA
A wind farm in north-east England. Britain's transition from a high-polluting to a low-carbon producing economy must be accelerated, an industry panel has heard. PA
A wind farm in north-east England. Britain's transition from a high-polluting to a low-carbon producing economy must be accelerated, an industry panel has heard. PA
A wind farm in north-east England. Britain's transition from a high-polluting to a low-carbon producing economy must be accelerated, an industry panel has heard. PA

UK trailing in global decarbonisation race, warns CBI


Laura O'Callaghan
  • English
  • Arabic

Britain is trailing in the global race towards decarbonisation and has missed key opportunities for progress in the fight against climate change, an industry boss has said.

Tania Kumar, of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), warned Britain “stands to lose out on the opportunity from the decarbonisation transition” because crucial steps are not being taken.

Decarbonisation sits at centre of the conversation around where economies are heading in the next decade, she said, and “decisive action” by governments is essential to ensure progress.

A key question in the decarbonisation process, she stressed, involves looking at how to achieve change with limited resources available.

“That is what the climate change question is also about,” she said. “So how is that actually going to play out?

“For us here in the UK, it's ‘where does the UK stand in all of this as well?’

“Some research that we've done recently with McKinsey has shown that the UK actually stands to lose out on the opportunity from the decarbonisation transition."

She added that Britain had simply been too slow to take “decisive action” on climate policy.

Ms Kumar said the process of reducing nations’ carbon footprints had evolved into a “proper competitive global race” in which Washington and Brussels look to be ahead of London.

“At the back end of [2022] the United States came out with the Inflation Reduction Act, which suddenly made decarbonisation policy [part of] industrial and economic policy,” she said.

“And that you can really see filtering through the public policy space, but also more broadly taking these topics to trade conversations to skills conversations.

“It's now being seen as that number one issue ... ‘where are economies going to be in the next decade?’”

While noting the measures implemented by the US government to make strides in the fight against global warming, she said the EU had been tentative on its "new version of the Green New Deal, their Net Zero Industry Act”.

She said there was a “need for real pace” among policymakers when it came to the transition from a high-polluting to a low-carbon producing economy.

Ms Kumar, the CBI’s head of decarbonisation, made the comments during a panel discussion titled ‘Realising the green industrial revolution’ at Chatham House’s Energy Transitions conference on Thursday.

The first Global Stocktake of the Paris climate accord in the lead up to Cop28 later this year would be a moment of truth for world leaders to acknowledge the progress they have made in combating climate change, she said.

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Ruwais timeline

1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established

1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants

1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed

1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.  

1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex

2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea

2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd

2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens

2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies

2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export

2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.

2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery 

2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital

2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13

Source: The National

Updated: March 02, 2023, 12:39 PM`