Jordan has been one of
the world leaders in fertilizer mining innovation for over 70 years, which is
why a potential green fertilizer hub in Aqaba, ideally positioned near low-cost
renewable resources and plenty of available land and raw materials, would place
Jordan to be a cost leader and allow it to take advantage of the growing demand
for fertilizer and green hydrogen.
اضافة اعلان
Aqaba's industrial ports’
proximity to the crossroads of Asia and Africa will also aid the new transition,
cementing Jordan's leadership in a new era with a net-zero economy.
The fertilizer market
size surpassed $193.3 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound
annual growth rate of 3.9 percent from 2022 to 2030. Fertilizer companies and
miners in the Middle East have chalked up record profits and ramped up
production amid a global commodity rally this year. This is a trend widespread
across the region. Locally, Jordan Phosphate Mines' gains skyrocketed by more
than 1,000 percent, and Arab Potash reported a roughly 260 percent increase in
net income in the first quarter of this year. With these supply shocks, Jordan
is in a sweet spot and has an excellent opportunity to improve its reliability
as a supplier to key markets.
With cost-optimal production resources such as renewable energy, Jordan could become a significant hydrogen export hub and be at the forefront of a new global hydrogen trade as the technological advancement and manufacturing scale-up.
Rising prices and
profits will encourage Jordanian companies to adopt transformational investment.
This could be done by forming strategic alliances and joint ventures to expand
their geographic footprint and low-carbon pathway for the fertilizer and chemical
industries that further strengthen and capitalize on the existing reputation.
This transition will also derive economies of scale by consolidating their
shared functions, including commercial and strategic sourcing, supply chains,
and distribution.
Sustainability has become imperative for the
Kingdom, as well as for the region. With cost-optimal production resources such
as renewable energy, Jordan could become a significant hydrogen export hub and
be at the forefront of a new global hydrogen trade as technological advancement
and manufacturing scale-up. Cost reduction and increased expansion in renewable
energy production electrolyzes, carbon capture, utilization, and storage
necessary to make clean technologies cost-competitive against conventional high-carbon
production routes also play an important role.
Therefore, Aqaba
could become a prominent player in building a more sustainable fertilizer
future by creating a market niche and enhancing Jordan’s regulatory framework
for eco-industrial parks. This includes incentives for technology, innovation,
and sustainability goals for green product supply to create an added-value
partnership in this domain.
Aqaba, a climate
champion, can build on the momentum of COP27 and COP28 to get the green finance
architecture. This synergy, among the mobilization of capital to emerging
markets, empowers the transition process and fosters the necessary growth to
achieve the required economies of scale that enable green hydrogen projects
that would help decarbonate the industry.
Delivering the
far-reaching change needed to tackle the climate and environmental emergency
will require total mobilization of public and private national resources. The
government would be a facilitator in accomplishing the net-zero transition. The
private sector would be a leader and have an opportunity to assume more
prominent roles in advancing this critical goal.
Success,
however, requires visionary and forward-looking leadership at both individual
and institutional levels. These investments can include a complete
eco-industrial park consisting of a logistics hub in Aqaba using railways to
carry the raw materials and supply the city with desalinated freshwater and
expand renewable energy to achieve the green fertilizer goal of Aqaba.
The writer is general
manager at Edgo, worked with Petrofac, an international EPC energy company, in
the Middle East, North Africa and UK, and he is a regular commentator on regional
energy and industrial matters.
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