The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), and the Saudi Association for Energy Economics (SAEE), last Wednesday kicked off the preparations for the upcoming 44th International Conference of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), which will be held in the Middle East, in Riyadh, for the first time. The preparation started with an introductory meeting held in the presence of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Energy and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of (KAPSARC), in order to increase the local participation in the scientific papers submitted to the conference. The event gathered more than 200 experts and specialists in the fields of energy and environment from academics and students from across Saudi universities. The President of KAPSARC, Fahad Al-Ajlan, indicated that the conference, which will be held from February 4 to February 8, 2023, under the theme “Pathways to a Clean, Stable and Sustainable Energy Future," seeks to enable countries to combat climate change in their own ways and paths. “With a focus on the Kingdom"s three goals in dealing with climate goals, which are energy security, economic growth and climate change,” he added. He pointed out that this conference is distinguished by the fact that the region is hosting the next two sessions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “Although global energy transition did not go according to global plans, last year was special in climate initiatives for the Kingdom, as the Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives have launched,” Alajlan mentioned. He noted that the conference seeks to exchange experiences and find innovative solutions to support the Kingdom to reach its climate goals, as well as to develop support for Saudi Arabia to be the main world producer of renewable energy and hydrogen. “KAPSARC is working within the energy ecosystem to enhance cooperation with international research centers to find qualitative approaches and innovative solutions to make a sustainable future for Saudi Arabia,” he said. For his part, the Vice President of Knowledge and Analysis at KAPSARC, Dr. Fahad Al-Turki, presented 18 different topics for Saudi researchers to participate in the conference. The topics included but were not limited to energy, development, climate change, economic diversification, diversification of energy sources in the Middle East, oil and gas economics and their geopolitical situation, in addition to the circular carbon economy, carbon capture and storage technologies, and the role of hydrogen in energy transformations. During the meeting, Alturki announced incentive student awards for the best participating research, saying that September 9 of this year is the deadline for submitting research abstracts and December 2 is the date allotted for submitting full research. “The arbitration will be done through an international committee to support the publication of research in peer-reviewed journals,” he said. “In order to develop energy economics in the Middle East, the conference allows free registration, and offers a yearly membership of the International Association for Energy Economics and the Saudi Association for Energy Economics (SAEE)”. The SAEE Chairman, Dr. Majid Al Moneef, confirmed this. He added that an agreement was reached with IAEE to publish distinguished research in a special edition in the most popular peer-reviewed journal specialized in energy economics. — SG