Towards CO₂ Reduction in Middle East: A Techno-Environmental Assessment

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are emitted mainly by countries heavily dependent on coal and with high population such as China and USA, responsible, respectively, for 30% and 15% of the global amounts of CO₂-equivalent and close to this numbers of related combustion- made emissions, such as CO, NO_x, SO₂, particulate matter (PM), etc. Then, there is a direct correlation on CO₂ emissions from fossil-fuels to the non-CO₂, since the latter occurs by the imperfect combustion of the carbonic components (CO and PM) or presence of heteroatoms in the fuel (NO_x and SO₂). Particularly NO_x is also formed by N₂ and O₂ reaction at high temperature. Heavily polluted per capita (PPC), figuring all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries among the 10 first PPC positions, these wealthy countries in the Middle East have presented in the last years one of the worst qualities of air worldwide. This is a consequence of high PPC levels localized in these countries that cannot be solved without changes towards fossil fuels consumption regardless of the climate change issues by the CO₂ excess globally. To combat climate changes and air quality localized, the Middle East Energy Policy launched sustainable development strategies in the series of so-called National Vision 2030 and beyond. As an example of these sustainable initiatives, this work calculates the CO₂ reduction from national projects such as subway lines, electrical buses, solar panel farms, etc., for Qatar's National Vision 2030 towards CO₂ reduction considering the baseline as the year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread greener transportation systems and electricity from renewables for the visioned CO₂ reduction may not suffice for the intended projects and changes in energy policies and housing consumer behavior in the country or in the region are fundamental to reach the reduction targets.