A Carbon Solution for the Gulf's Energy Deficit

Climate change has the potential to affect every country on earth, albeit in different ways. While the industrialised countries bear the historical responsibility for the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, developing countries, especially the Bric nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries – Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain – are rapidly catching up, and sometimes surpassing, the West as a result of breakneck energy-intensive industrialisation.

Despite their rapid economic growth, the rising stars of the developing world are still saddled with antiquated, GHG-spewing industrial technology, while their low adaptive capacity make unmitigated climate change a particularly harrowing spectre.