UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminium, GE sign pact to cut greenhouse gases

Dubai: Emirates Global Aluminium, the Middle East’s biggest producer of the metal, signed an accord with General Electric Co. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at its plants in the UAE.

The companies plan to develop a roadmap to cut emissions from the GE’s natural gas turbines by “exploring hydrogen as a fuel, as well as carbon capture, utilization, and storage solutions,” according to a statement.

Emirates Global Aluminium, or EGA, operates 33 GE natural gas turbines at Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, with a total power generation capacity of 5,200 megawatts. Electricity generation accounts for a significant proportion of the company’s total greenhouse gas emissions, it said.

EGA is equally owned by two sovereign wealth funds - Investment Corp. of Dubai and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. The UAE, last month became the first of the Gulf’s petro-states to commit to eliminating planet-warming emissions within its borders.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said in October that the OPEC nation would invest almost $165 billion in clean energy by 2050.