Exclusive: Ibrahim Al Zu’bi on Leading Sustainability and ESG at ADNOC
This story is from our October 2024 issue, which highlights top sustainability leaders in the Middle East.
Many people think sustainability is only about protecting the environment and fighting climate change. However, today’s idea of sustainability goes beyond that. It also focuses on balancing economic growth and social impact to build a future where businesses succeed while benefiting both society and the planet. As the world changes, companies are adopting this well-rounded approach, showing that real sustainability is the key to lasting progress.
To meet these goals, many companies are hiring chief sustainability officers to guide their efforts. For example, the U.A.E.’s ADNOC has appointed Ibrahim Al Zu’bi as their Group Chief Sustainability and ESG Officer to lead the company toward its sustainability objectives.
Al Zu’bi describes ADNOC as a company that focuses on sustainability by balancing three key areas: the planet, profit, and people. He believes this is the best way to define sustainability. He explains that true sustainability involves social, economic, and environmental goals, which align perfectly with his personal values and passion.
His love for sustainability started early in life, inspired by his mother, a science teacher, when he was in fifth grade. As he grew, this passion turned into a deep concern for the environment and society, along with a strong desire to make a positive impact on people, the planet, and the economy. In 1997, he graduated from the Jordan University of Science and Technology with a degree in civil engineering focused on the environment and water resources. He says, “I began my professional career in the late 1990s, working on environmental sustainability even before it became a popular field.”
Between 2007 and 2011, Al Zu’bi worked for the Dubai government as the head of sustainability and special projects at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority. His role involved developing policies for environmental education in schools and universities, focusing on both public and private education systems.
In 2011, Al Zu’bi became the chief sustainability officer at Majid Al Futtaim, one of the biggest companies in the U.A.E. In 2017, he led the company to promise that it would use more energy and water than it consumes by 2040, making it the first company in the MENA region to do this. In 2019, he also helped the company celebrate the listing of the world’s first benchmark corporate green sukuk at Nasdaq Dubai, which was worth $600 million and would last for ten years. In 2021, Al Zu’bi helped the company earn the first LEED Platinum Certification for a mall in the region and worldwide.
Al Zu’bi started his current job at ADNOC in October 2022. He said, “It was a turning point in my career.” He mentioned that sustainability has always been important at ADNOC. This focus on sustainability comes from the vision of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the U.A.E.’s founding father, who worked to protect the country’s natural environment.
ADNOC Group is fully owned by the Abu Dhabi government and was created in 1971 by Sheikh Zayed to ensure that Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas resources are used responsibly and to help the U.A.E. grow economically. Today, it is led by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who is also the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, U.A.E. Special Envoy for Climate, and the CEO of ADNOC. The group has 16 subsidiaries in different areas, such as ADNOC Drilling, ADNOC Sour Gas, Borouge, and Fertiglobe.
In the 1970s, ADNOC started collecting gas that comes with oil to make liquefied natural gas and lower methane emissions. In the 2000s, it worked to stop burning off excess gas and reduce methane emissions by creating a policy to avoid routine flaring. In 2016, ADNOC set up the first large carbon capture and storage facility in the region, called Al Reyadah, which can capture up to 800,000 tonnes of CO2 each year. In 2018, it started the In-Country Value (ICV) Program to help build local manufacturing and create jobs in the UAE. ADNOC also launched a $600 million project to recover waste heat and generate up to 230 MW of electricity each day.
In 2020, ADNOC introduced its 2030 Sustainability Goals. These goals, developed since then, focus on environmental, social, and economic issues. They aim to reduce emissions from operations by 25% compared to 2019, achieve nearly zero methane emissions, and capture 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year by 2030. This amount is like taking over two million cars off the road. If successful, ADNOC would become one of the biggest users of carbon capture technology in the oil and gas industry in the region. QatarEnergy plans to capture up to nine million tonnes of CO2 by 2030, and Saudi Aramco, ADNOC’s main competitor, aims to capture 11 million tonnes by 2035. Other 2030 goals for ADNOC include planting 10 million mangrove trees to help absorb CO2 and support marine life.
In September 2022, ADNOC completed a $3.8 billion deal with TAQA to help make its offshore operations more environmentally friendly. In October 2022, when Al Zu’bi joined ADNOC, the company set a new goal to reduce methane emissions to 0.15% by 2025. Al Zu’bi pointed out that methane is much more harmful than carbon dioxide, being 80 times more damaging over 20 years, and that the oil and gas industry is the second-largest contributor to methane emissions, after agriculture and food.
In November 2022, ADNOC announced its goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050, which has now been moved up to 2045. Al Zu’bi emphasized that ADNOC is serious about achieving this goal. According to the Climate Action Tracker, as of May 2024, about 145 countries had set or were considering net zero targets, covering around 90% of global emissions.
To tackle these issues, in January 2023, ADNOC set aside $15 billion for projects aimed at reducing emissions. This includes investments in carbon capture, electrification, new CO2 absorption technology, hydrogen, and renewable energy. In September 2023, ADNOC decided to move forward with a major carbon capture project that will capture 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, one of the largest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This project is expected to triple its carbon capture capacity to 2.3 million tonnes per year. In January 2024, ADNOC increased its initial investment from $15 billion to $23 billion to speed up these efforts.
Al Zu’bi says, “We had many choices, but we chose to focus on making today’s energy cleaner by reducing carbon in our operations.” ADNOC is working on this by investing in new technologies to make its oil production one of the least polluting in the world. According to ADNOC’s 2023 Sustainability Report, they produce about seven kilograms of CO2 for every barrel of oil. In contrast, the industry average is between 14 and 16 kilograms, and it can be even higher in some countries.
ADNOC is investing $23 billion in low-carbon solutions and international growth, focusing on chemicals, gas, LNG, and renewable energy. Al Zu’bi emphasizes the importance of reducing today’s carbon emissions while also investing in future energy sources. In December 2022, ADNOC became a shareholder in Masdar, which is working to increase renewable energy to more than 100 GW by 2030 and produce one million tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen per year. Dr. Vian Ahmed from the American University of Sharjah highlights the UAE’s commitment to diversifying energy sources and lowering carbon emissions.
On October 4, 2024, Masdar announced it increased its clean energy capacity to 31.5 GW in 2023, generated over 26,700 GWh of clean energy, and prevented 14 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, which is like taking nearly 870,000 cars off the road. CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said that 2023 was a significant year for growth, expanding their global clean energy capacity by more than 50%.
Al Zu’bi also talked about the importance of investing in hydrogen, which does not produce carbon dioxide when used. In November 2021, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed asked ADNOC to explore hydrogen opportunities to make the UAE a leader in this area. ADNOC currently produces over 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen each year and plans to increase that to 500,000 tonnes, aiming for 5% of the global low-carbon hydrogen market by 2030.
In September 2024, ADNOC signed a partnership with ExxonMobil to invest in a low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia production facility in Baytown, Texas, which is expected to be the world’s largest and start operating in 2029.
Despite these successes, Al Zu’bi says a major challenge has been integrating sustainability into traditional business practices. He believes convincing others that doing good can also be good for business is crucial. He sees this challenge as an opportunity and considers his biggest career achievement to be embedding sustainability into major organizations’ strategies.
Looking ahead, Al Zu’bi states, “My main goal is to create real change in how businesses in our region approach sustainability. I love my region, and I feel responsible for driving this important change.”
Published: 17th October 2024
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