Impact of Alteration in Investment on Warming and Cleaner Fuels

In November, The UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 26) outlined the “Glasgow Climate Pact” together with 120 world leaders and over 40,000 registered participants including party delegates, observers, and media representatives. The outcome of intense negotiations amongst the 200 countries lay out mutual agreements on numerous subjects, perhaps moving away from Fossil Fuels and accelerating action with the usage of sustainable alternatives were the most contested decision in COP 26 Glasgow.

Currently, several experts across the globe were optimistic about the application of Green Hydrogen as it carries the potential to be the “fuel of the future”, producing water as its by-product after burning and no emission of greenhouse gases made it the most environmentally friendly fuel. However, the current production capabilities of Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen (CNH) were inadequate, and commercializing CNH feasibly on a global scale is a major concern due to its higher production cost. Therefore, the upcoming market for Hydrogen attracted vast investments with new players entering the market, including major conglomerates involved in other synergistic industries. The present key concern in the Hydrogen driven economy is to reduce the electrolyzer technology costs and design improvements to uplift the electrolyzer efficiency and eventually adopt automation and continuous manufacturing processes at larger capacities.

The pace of transition in investments from warming fuel to cleaner fuel raised concerns amongst the players in the oil and gas industry, previously the IEA data showcased that the global oil and gas project investments are likely to fall by 30% to USD 309 Billion by 2030. In response, Saudi Oil Minister briefed that lack of investment could plummet the global oil production by 30% in 2030. Whereas, the chief executive of Saudi Aramco claimed that the rapid transitioning to cleaner fuels hastily could prompt unrestrained inflation and social unrest, which ultimately hindered the targets to curb the emission. In addition, he urged the global leaders to pursue investing in the planet’s warming fossil fuels.

As per ChemAnalyst, the Hydrogen production cost will likely to curtailed by 60% by 2030, and the exploration of Fossil Fuels is also likely to drop. The ongoing developments to will likely impact the complete value chain of the Petrochemicals including major feedstocks such as Ethylene, Propylene, Benzene, including their respective value chains.