Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy announced that the Kingdom will join Canada, Norway, Qatar and the United States to form a forum to develop strategies including methane abatement, circular carbon systems, carbon capture and storage and economic diversification. The five countries collectively represent 40 percent of global oil and gas production. A joint statement from the five countries noted that the cooperative forum will develop pragmatic net-zero emission strategies, including methane abatement, advancing the circular carbon economy approach, development and deployment of clean energy and carbon capture and storage technologies, diversification from reliance on hydrocarbon revenues, and other measures in line with each country's national circumstances. The International Energy Forum (IEF) commended five of its member countries for forming the Net Zero Producers' Forum to develop pragmatic net-zero emission strategies. "Energy producers are faced with unique responsibilities to furnish the world with the energy it needs to operate but the climate crisis requires serious leadership and a strong alliance to deliver a path to net-zero," said Joseph McMonigle, secretary-general of the IEF. "The International Energy Forum looks forward to helping advance this important initiative in any way we can," he added. The announcement to establish the forum was made on the day after the Leaders' Summit on Climate convened by US President Joe Biden, where several countries made commitments to deeper reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. "To achieve our global climate goals we need cooperation from all major emitters, including oil and gas producing nations, to identify and act on solutions to phase out unabated fossil fuel emissions, while reducing emissions to the maximum extent possible in the interim," the US Department of Energy said in a statement. "For this reason, the US Department of Energy has led on creating a new international forum dedicated to developing long-term strategies to reach global net-zero emissions." — SG
