Muscat – Oman is keen to take its relations with India one level higher by engaging more expeditiously with the country that is making significant strides in the fight against climate change.

“The knowledge that is building up in India can definitely be used in Oman,” H E Salem bin Nasser al Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals, told an Indian television channel in Doha recently.

“India, of course, is a close neighbour of ours. We’ve been working with India for quite some time and will continue to do so to reduce the carbon dioxide footprint through capture and sequestration,” H E Aufi told TimesNow.

Oman has been exerting concerted efforts in carbon sequestration – a process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is a method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change.

There are a large number of Indian firms that are part of Oman’s industry and infrastructure and their emissions can be worked on, the Omani minister noted.

While fighting climate change at various levels in numerous ways, the global mission is also to shift from fossil fuel dependency.

A joint statement following the recently concluded COP28 summit in Dubai called for ‘transitioning’ away from fossil fuels, specifically for energy systems.

India has power generation capacity of 424GW; around 180GW from non-fossil fuels. According to India’s New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh, his country has set a 500GW renewable energy target, which can be achieved before the 2030 deadline.

Oman can benefit from India’s efforts to meet its power demands from renewable energy.

The sultanate is investing more than US$30bn in hydrogen production, aiming to become one of the largest producers in the world by 2030. Utilising solar and wind energy for electricity generation, Oman is currently working on a strategy of orderly transition to zero neutrality and is committed to lowering emissions by 21% by 2030.

Oman’s National Strategy for Orderly Transition to Net Zero has outlined carbon capture, utilisation and storage will contribute to approximately 15% reduction in domestic emissions.

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