The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) is sponsoring a panel session in the Economist’s sixth annual Sustainability Week, which will be held from March 22 to March 25, 2021, under the theme ‘Actionable insights, practical solutions.’
The session KAPSARC is sponsoring, Achieving Net-Zero Emissions: Exploring the Role of the Circular Carbon Economy, will take place on Tuesday, March 23, and features President of KAPSARC, Adam Sieminski, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Institute of Energy Economics, Masakazu Toyoda, the Head of the CCUS Unit of the International Energy Agency, Samantha McCulloch, and the Chief Executive of McDonough Innovation, William McDonough. The moderator of the session is Distinguished Professor and Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology at KAUST, Carlos M. Duarte.
Commenting on the sponsorship of the event, KAPSARC’s president said, “We are pleased to see this annual event continuously gaining momentum locally and globally. KAPSARC’s participation is part of our efforts to promote and foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among professionals towards the awareness of the Circular Carbon Economy – a holistic and integrated approach to carbon management.”
Sieminski highlighted how the G20 Communiqué paved the way for promoting the CCE’s 4Rs framework (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Remove) as a tool to manage emissions and foster access to energy, which is considered a historical step to fight climate change, and which happened under Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency.
Recently, KAPSARC launched the Circular Carbon Economy Guide, which is a series of reports on carbon management. The CCE Guide, led by KAPSARC, included collaborations from five international organizations: the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the Global CCS Institute (GCCSI), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The panel session that KAPSARC is sponsoring will discuss the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and explore how a transition to carbon neutrality could be supported by the holistic approach of the circular carbon economy (CCE), together with how its 4Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle and remove) can be applied and utilized to contribute to climate goals.
In 2020, KAPSARC successfully moved up the ranks of the think tank index despite the formidable challenges imposed by the pandemic. The Center ranked 12th out of 60 research centers in the Energy and Resource Policy Think Tank category and placed 15th out of 101 amongst MENA research centers of all kinds according to the University of Pennsylvania Think Tank and Civil Societies Program.