Banking on technology

As we have entered the last quarter of 2022, things have changed rapidly, the initial euphoria witnessed at begining of this year on hopes of a faster global economic recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided, and the renewed fear of global economic recession has overwhelmed global markets.

As a result of the heightened supply-chain disruption concerns stemming out from geopolitical tensions, some developed economies in Europe have nearly shunned the idea of energy transition and gone back to burning hydrocarbons at a much faster rate.

As developed economies in Europe resort to burning fossil fuel to overcome supply challenges, the initial momentum seen towards achieving net-zero emissions also lost its sheen and environmental pressure groups have warned that it may result in an increase in overall emissions. However, there were some positive results also.

The frantic search by some economies to reduce the dependence on imported energy resulted in higher spending on research and development activities.

These higher spending yielded initial but encouraging results and boosted sentiments in the downstream industry. Global downstream players are optimistic about emerging technologies, which could help them cut greenhouse gas emissions without disrupting their bottom line. The refining and petrochemical industries are relying heavily on technology up-gradation to develop new products that could help them in reducing their overall carbon footprint in their quest for net-zero emissions.

Keeping the importance of technology up-gradation in mind, we have featured one such initiative as the cover story in this issue.