< Previous38 Rami and Sami Huneidi have significantly contributed to the progressive growth of Gulf Cryo, a prominent regional leader in delivering industrial, medical, and specialty gas solutions. The third-generation leaders are upholding the company’s commitment to decarbonisation and, with Gulf Cryo’s leadership team, they jointly lead the company’s strategy in supporting industries decarbonise through carbon emission reduction solutions. They are also pioneering cleaner CO2 production in the region. Gulf Cryo was established in 1953 and has grown to what it is today - a leading group in gas solutions operating in 10 countries. As CO2 has always been a core product at Gulf Cryo, the company quickly understood the rationale behind carbon capture, before the term carbon capture became a focus for governments and a key solution for climate change. Gulf Cryo doesn’t stop at carbon capture. The company manages the full value chain of CO2 from capture to utilisation and sequestration. In addition to its recent strides in carbon capture and clean CO2 supply, the company is also known for having established the first action-based initiative in carbon capture in the MEA region when it designed, built, and operated the first independent carbon capture in 2014, a year earlier than the Paris Agreement. This carbon capture project was also marked as the first one aimed at reducing the carbon emission of a petrochemical plant at the source in the MEA region. Alongside Gulf Cryo’s leadership team and the company’s entire workforce that has an unwavering commitment to pushing boundaries and embracing technology and innovation, Rami and Sami are dedicated to fulfilling Gulf Cryo’s significant role in supporting industries to decarbonise, contributing to a more sustainable future. “We believe that our company is perfectly positioned to support the decarbonisation of industries,” they note. According to them, the company assists industries by capturing their emission at the source. They also help industries decarbonise their operations as they provide them with clean CO2. Additionally, they actively participate in the development of innovative solutions for CO2 and other gases for the same objective of increasing industries’ operational sustainability. “Moreover, we manage an efficient delivery infrastructure. We take care of the full value chain of our gases, providing turnkey solutions to help companies reduce their carbon footprint. We also produce and distribute hydrogen. Hydrogen has always been a core product for Gulf Cryo, and our operational excellence and standards allow us to handle the full value 39 chain safely,” they added. Rami and Sami believe that the contributions made by the company are not attributed to either, but rather to a much wider team, led by the leadership team and involves every employee at Gulf Cryo. “Each team member has their specific role to play, driving Gulf Cryo to the success it enjoys now,” they say. Gulf Cryo has implemented various initiatives within the company such as Solar PV generation, waste reduction, and energy efficiency programs to minimise product losses and improve energy efficiency. They believe that the biggest trend today is the adoption of AI in day-to-day business. They foresee technology playing an important role in decarbonisation, which can help highlight inefficiencies in operations or even opportunities for de-bottlenecking. “We are also investing in analytics to help reduce carbon emissions from our fleet whether by route optimisation, upgrading the fleet, or simply redesigning the trucks to shed unnecessary weight,” they add further. The two leaders not only want to be remembered for being providers of Clean CO2 but also for decentralising the CO2 value chain. They also want to be remembered for supporting technology developers in validating their technology in the MENA region. Moreover, they are determined to raise awareness of the impact the industrial gas sector as well as the company have on other industries. Expressing appreciation for the industrial gas industry, Rami and Sami say, “If someone is seeking to work in sustainability, our advice would be not to miss an opportunity to work in the industrial gas sector. This industry is at the core of decarbonisation, from both a technology and a product perspective. Additionally, it is a very resilient sector.” Highlighting the importance of their industry, they conclude: “Our ability to apply our gases to tackle a wide range of significant challenges is remarkable. For instance, we provide Medical Oxygen to hospitals, and the daily impact of this product on people’s lives is invaluable. A remarkable example of this was during the biggest health crisis of our time, COVID-19. We enable the remineralisation of desalinated water and enhance food security through CO2 utilisation. And now, we find ourselves at the forefront of climate change solutions. The climate crisis is about the air around us, and this is where we have operated for 70 years.”PROJECTS4243 The megaproject will mitigate the impact of 5 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions per year NEOM GREEN HYDROGEN44 NEOM’S green hydrogen plant is expected to come onstream in 2026, becoming the first to create a hub for green hydrogen production and innovation within NEOM. The plant is being built at Oxagon, which is a part of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM megaproject. With the aim to developing 100% clean energy at scale for NEOM, the futuristic city established NEOM Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) to incubate and accelerate renewable solutions. The NEOM Green Hydrogen Project is the world’s largest utility- scale, commercially-based hydrogen facility that will be entirely powered by renewable energy. It has received the sustainable guarantee from the British bank Standard Chartered, which agreed to extend funding support for its contractor Larsen & Toubro to build the necessary renewable energy infrastructure. Moreover, the project has secured an exclusive 30-year off- take agreement with US-based firm Air Products, for all the green ammonia produced at the facility, which will unlock the economic potential of renewable energy across the entire value chain. Upon completion, the project will mitigate the impact of 5 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions per year. “At scale, this project is the first-of-its-kind internationally, leading the world in the hydrogen revolution,” Nadhmi Al-Nasr, Chairman of NGHC and Chief Executive Officer of NEOM, said in a statement.45 He added, “Harnessing the energy of NEOM’s abundant natural resources, NGHC’s project will pave the way for the large-scale adoption of green hydrogen, while driving Saudi Vision 2030’s sustainable development goals.” The green hydrogen will be exported and used in NEOM for a variety of solutions, which include fueling clean autonomous electric vehicles. The company has already initiated the first grid infrastructure project, designing and executing substations and transmission lines spanning hundreds of kilometres. The power grid infrastructure will transmit solar photovoltaic and wind energy from source to demand points- the first in the world. Combined with the desalinated water NEOM produces, the plant will be able to produce 650 tons of virgin green hydrogen per day by electrolysis, production of nitrogen by air separation using Air Products’ technology, and production of up to 1.2 million tonnes per year of green ammonia. NGHC is an equal joint venture between NEOM, Air Products, and ACWA Power, and is expected to have a combined capacity of around four gigawatts of renewable power from onshore solar, wind and storage. The project at a total value of $8.4 billion is being financed with $6.1 billion non-recourse financing from 23 local, regional, and international banks and financial institutions.4647 NOOR ABU DHABI Built in the desert of Sweihan, the project brings the UAE closer to its net zero goalsNext >