Oman to phase out polluting industries 'too difficult to decarbonize'

PARIS — As part of the climate transition, Oman is intending to phase out hard-to-abate industries that are “too difficult to decarbonize” and are prohibitively expensive to make green enough, according to the country’s energy minister. 

Asked what industries were under threat, Omani Minister of Energy and Minerals Salim Al Aufi told Al-Monitor, “It all depends on what industry we cannot decarbonize. If we come to a point when a specific industry is just too difficult to decarbonize, and decarbonizing is so expensive, we will have a serious discussion about whether that is the right industry.”

Al Aufi, who was appointed energy minister by Omani Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik in June 2022, said that not many global governments had considered fully phasing out hard-to-abate sectors, but did not give a timeline on when these decisions would be made.

Earlier on Wednesday, the minister spoke at the Vision Golfe summit in Paris, saying that Oman would phase out industries completely that “no longer match” the country’s decarbonization drive.