It is the job of every company and leader to take the initiative to reduce their contribution to climate change in support of the 1.5 deg C temperature increase limit set by the Paris Agreement, Christopher Hudson tells OGN

With global climate change efforts hinging on inter-governmental meetings and state policies, many wonder what industry and its leaders can do to help tackle this global challenge.

While it is true that legislation, government strategies, and international treaties play a key role in creating the frameworks needed to bring about critical changes, industry does not need to wait for those decisions to do its part.

It is the job of every responsible company and leader to take the initiative to reduce their contribution to climate change in support of the 1.5 deg C temperature increase limit set by the Paris Agreement.

Some of industry’s main needs in response to climate change are reducing emissions outputs through improved efficiency and use of cleaner fuels; securing finance and investment for research and development for cleaner products and services; and ensuring continuity of your commitment to sustainability through training and development of your workforce.

That is why Adipec, the Adnoc-hosted international gathering of key stakeholders across the energy value chain, has introduced all new categories for its Adipec Awards 2023.

This year, the awards focus on celebrating the pioneers in industry who are implementing the policies and programmes that are helping to scale up, innovate, train, and support the changes needed in the energy sector and beyond.

While all the eight new Adipec Awards categories are worthy of attention, I’d like to focus on three that I believe are particularly powerful: Decarbonisation at Scale Award, Transformative Hydrogen Project Award, and Game-Changing Partnership Award.

While many technologies and systems have demonstrated their ability to reduce emissions in the lab or at the pilot level, a fair share fall apart when they encounter the challenges of the real world.

Scaling up of technologies and systems is how a concept is tried, tested, and perfected for real-world applications, where unforeseen obstacles can hamstring an idea.

The Decarbonisation at Scale Award seeks to recognise industrial decarbonisation projects and initiatives that have shown the potential to be implemented at the industrial scale.

These are not just projects that aim to tick the environmental, social, and governance box, these are projects that have real potential and impact towards an organisation’s carbon footprint.

The award seeks to recognise projects in any industry that leverage technology to reduce emissions at the industrial scale.

Another area of massive potential value to the global decarbonisation efforts is the uptake of green hydrogen. Hydrogen is a powerful energy carrier that has long been viewed as ‘the fuel of the future.

That future is now, as green hydrogen—hydrogen produced through water electrolysis powered by renewable energy—is being pursued as a key part of the global decarbonisation puzzle, potentially able to fuel many hard-to-abate sectors in its original gas form through its derivatives like green ammonia, green methanol, and green methane.

To recognise and incentivise the early adopters of this promising energy and demonstrate its massive potential value, the Transformative Hydrogen Project will honour the company that has launched the most impressive green hydrogen project or venture.

With the UAE alone being the home to some 28 green hydrogen projects, this award is sure to attract applicants from around the world who are keen to show off their green hydrogen leadership.

If global climate change has taught us all one thing, it is that we are all interlinked, with the actions of one potentially having an impact on the whole group. While this interconnectedness poses some challenges, it can also provide benefits by facilitating collaboration.

Working together enables us to share learnings and resources, and cascade benefits and impacts. That is why we are looking to leverage the multiplier effect of our interdependence in the fight against climate change through our Game-Changing Partnership Award.

The award aims to highlight how collaboration across companies and industries can enable us to achieve our sustainability goals faster and more efficiently.

This award will recognise two or more companies that have jointly undertaken an impactful large-scale venture in 2022 to develop cleaner energy systems while maintaining energy security and operational stability.

With these three Adipec Awards categories, alongside the five other categories focused on energy leadership, developing economies, workforce development, clean technology innovation, and young talent, Adipec will on October 2 celebrate the trailblazers showing industry how to take leadership and action in response to the challenges of climate change.

* Christopher Hudson is the President of dmg events, the organiser of Adipec.