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Clean, Renewable Energy Agreements Inked at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023

Part of the signing of an agreement between the UAE and Japan yesterday during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (WAM)
Part of the signing of an agreement between the UAE and Japan yesterday during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (WAM)
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Clean, Renewable Energy Agreements Inked at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023

Part of the signing of an agreement between the UAE and Japan yesterday during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (WAM)
Part of the signing of an agreement between the UAE and Japan yesterday during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (WAM)

More agreements and partnerships in the field of clean and renewable energy are being signed at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2023.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a deal with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Uhde, which specializes in chemical engineering, to develop large-scale ammonia cracking plants.

The memorandum of understanding with the subsidiary of Thyssenkrupp Group is part of a strategy to create new markets for hydrogen and promote global clean energy value chains.

Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to develop commercial-scale ammonia cracking facilities. It will also lead to the exploration of opportunities in the clean energy value chain for the supply and shipment of low-carbon or green ammonia from the UAE to large-scale plants globally.

Also, ADNOC will undertake a pilot project with British-Omani sustainability company 44.01 to permanently convert carbon dioxide from the air into a mineral within rock formations in Fujairah.

The project, which is also being carried out in partnership with the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation and Masdar, will involve the use of technology that permanently mineralizes carbon dioxide within rock formations found in Fujairah.

The project is due to begin this month and will use 44.01’s carbon capture and mineralization (CCM) technology to eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

It will be powered by solar energy supplied by Masdar and is the first CCM project by an energy company in the Middle East.

In other news, the UAE and Japan on Monday signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoU) to help accelerate the energy transition and the adoption of technology in industry.

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and UAE Special Envoy to Japan, met with Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, on the sidelines of ADSW 2023, to discuss the countries’ strong bilateral relations.

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Japan Plans 'World First' Deep-sea Mineral Extraction

The Chikyu, pictured here in 2013, will drill around the remote island of Minami Torishima. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP/File
The Chikyu, pictured here in 2013, will drill around the remote island of Minami Torishima. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP/File
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Japan Plans 'World First' Deep-sea Mineral Extraction

The Chikyu, pictured here in 2013, will drill around the remote island of Minami Torishima. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP/File
The Chikyu, pictured here in 2013, will drill around the remote island of Minami Torishima. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP/File

Japan will from January attempt to extract rare earth minerals from the ocean floor in the deepest trial of its kind, the director of a government innovation program said Thursday.

Earlier this week the country pledged to work with the United States, India and Australia to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals, as concern grows over China's dominance in resources vital to new technologies.

Rare earths -- 17 metals difficult to extract from the Earth's crust -- are used in everything from electric vehicles to hard drives, wind turbines and missiles.

China accounts for almost two-thirds of rare earth mining production and 92 percent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency.

A Japanese deep-sea scientific drilling boat called the Chikyu will from January conduct a "test cruise" to retrieve ocean floor sediments that contain rare earth elements, said Shoichi Ishii, director of Japan's Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program.

"The test to retrieve the sediments from 5,500 meters (3.4 miles) water depth is the first in the world," he told AFP.

"Our goal... of this cruise is to test the function of all mining equipment," so the amount of sediment extracted "doesn't matter at all", Ishii added.

The Chikyu will drill in Japanese economic waters around the remote island of Minami Torishima in the Pacific -- the easternmost point of Japan, also used as a military base.

Japan's Nikkei business daily reported that the mission aims to extract 35 tons of mud from the sea floor over around three weeks.

Each ton is expected to contain around two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of rare earth minerals, which are often used to make magnets that are essential in modern electronics.

Deep-sea mining has become a geopolitical flashpoint, with anxiety growing over a push by US President Donald Trump to fast-track the practice in international waters.

Beijing has since April required licenses to export rare earths from China, a move seen as retaliation for US curbs on the import of Chinese goods.

Environmental campaigners warn that deep-sea mining threatens marine ecosystems and will disrupt the sea floor.

The International Seabed Authority, which has jurisdiction over the ocean floor outside national waters, is meeting later this month to discuss a global code to regulate mining in the ocean depths.