LNG export and import terminals and gas pipelines, and salt domes for storage. This could enable the long-term economic survival of oil and gas firms after the energy transition is complete. Indeed, some GCC countries (for example, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Oman) have accelerated their hydrogen plans over the past year, in order to be early movers

do more to encourage this through specific regulatory frameworks and urban planning. At the same time, GCC markets are still overflowing with cheap and energy-inefficient air conditioning units. The race is now on to replace fixed air conditioning units with more efficient inverter units, which consume 40 to 50 per cent less energy. The GCC states

Yet, neither the UAE nor any other GCC country, despite some sizable pledges and large-scale projects, are yet on track to meet their self-declared green energy targets. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Oman aim to generate between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of their domestic energy needs from renewable sources by 2030, and have significant ambitions to

which the Council of the European Union strongly endorsed in June that year. In the framework of COP28, some EU-UAE engagement has taken place at the level of meetings between senior officials. And European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, who leads on the European Green Deal, and Kadri Simson, the energy commissioner, took much-anticipa

the media hype is that the European approach has been scattered and short-sighted. The European Union has not devoted enough energy to advancing a coordinated policy; the most ambitious projects from member states, which centre around the energy transition, still face several technical, market, and political obstacles. This policy brief examines so