Masdar, E.ON in JV to cut carbon emissions

The UAE's Masdar and Germany's E.ON have established a joint venture to develop projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the companies said on Tuesday in a statement.

E.ON Masdar Integrated Carbon (EMIC) would look to develop and finance projects in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and would focus on power generation and oil and gas, the companies said.

EMIC would look to generate income from reduced carbon emissions at industrial facilities through carbon credits traded under a United Nations scheme, they added.

The carbon credits would be traded under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism, which allows developing countries to sell emissions reductions from their energy-intensive industry to help rich countries offset their own contribution to climate change.

The companies are targeting technologies with potential to make big carbon emissions, such as in fuel switching for power generation, installation of combined cycle gas turbines at power plants, reduction of gas pipeline leakage and reduction of gas flaring.

Masdar is a government-owned initiative established by Abu Dhabi to prepare the emirate for a future energy industry less reliant on oil and gas. Abu Dhabi leads the United Arab Emirates, the world's third-largest oil exporter.

E.ON and Masdar already have a partnership, along with Denmark's state-owned group DONG Energy to work together on the London Array offshore wind project in Britain, potentially the world's largst offshore wind farm project.

Masdar is already involved in projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions in the UAE and Bahrain, and aims to establish a carbon capture and storage network in the UAE.