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Oil giant Aramco plans to provide King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with USD 100 mn to support environmental and commercial research and development projects over the next 10 years, according to a press release.
The details: The money will go into researching low-carbon aviation fuels, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, renewables, and energy storage, “with an emphasis on developing commercially-viable outcomes,” the statement added.
KAUST is working on a lot of green projects: The university partnered with materials science company Partanna Global last month to enhance the CO2 removal capabilities of Partanna’s concrete products in a 12-month R&D project. The university also tapped Hassan Allam Construction Saudi to build the world’s largest coral reef restoration project in Neom, dubbed the Kaust Coral Restoration Initiative. In January, KAUST researchers developed a novel passive cooling technique that uses a superabsorbent polymer film to lower temperatures without the use of any electricity.
Aramco’s green goals: Aramco is looking to expand its energy portfolio and “grow its lower-carbon hydrogen business,” including through carbon capture and storage and hydrogen, and aims to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 15% by 2035 — to offset 52 mn metric tons of CO2 — and reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Aramco has sealed several other green agreements: Aramco’s recent efforts to achieve their emissions reduction goals include acquiring 50% of Air Products Qudra’s blue hydrogen unit last month, and signing an agreement with Joby Aviation to deploy eVTOLS in the Kingdom. Aramco is also part of a consortium that is building three new solar photovoltaic projects in Saudi to produce 5.5 GW of green electricity.
