Masdar and Armenia: Partners for a Better Future?

Concerning Armenia, I am on record as advocating that the linkage between renewable energy and innovation should be central to achieving government’s stated intention to foster a “high tech” economy for Armenia, which would have to be partnered by an embrace of education and training, and I am convinced that Masdar, the company behind the Institute, could stimulate this.

And hopefully this would stimulate a necessary engagement with ESG across the economy.

My abiding commitment to ESG, regard for the Environmental, Social, and Governance impacts of action, is what propels me to pen these thoughts. And prompts me to admit that, unlike some corporate figures, I do not think of ESG as simply Risk Management, but as the opening up of prospects for “purposive dialogue” between and among “stakeholders” which can enable companies and communities to achieve great things, to the benefit of all.

And, yes, I do want Armenia to meet the needs of its people, as I hope was signified in an earlier article I wrote for the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, where I set out during the conflict with Azerbaijan some thoughts about Armenia as a landlocked country and ancient seat of civilization.

But earlier than that, in 2019, an opinion piece of mine was published, before Covid, in the mass-circulation China Daily. I wrote it after a visit to China at the invitation of the China-Europe Association for Trade and Economic Co-operation.

In it I proposed the creation of an “Electric Vehicle” highway between China and Europe, which would itself call for the experience and ingenuity of the world of Masdar, and perhaps its Armenian partner.

A new Silk Road indeed, and thinking of it takes me back to my first visit to Armenia, when I was lucky to stop at a fourteenth-century “caravanserai”, built to house the intrepid travelers between China and Europe, building global trade and economic co-operation!

I hope that the partnership between Masdar and Armenia will, in fact, impact positively on not only development in Armenia, but also on international co-operation, so vital today.

And partnerships such as this will surely multiply in coming years; witness, for example, news that Saudi Aramco is to invest almost US$1 billion to acquire 30 percent of the Sudair 1,500 megawatt solar project which is due to come on line in 2022, a pivotal year for us all.

A recent study undertaken by university researchers in the UK, Europe, and the US has established that Solar panels on half the world’s rooftops could meet our planet’s entire electricity demand. And reduce our carbon footprints.

Responsible companies in the Solar power universe are going to be essential to meeting the challenge of Climate Change, and they will very likely have major impacts on necessary innovation, including those in education and social progress.

One other impact that could be very timely is also worth a thought.

After seeing the caravanserai, my journey back to Yerevan brought me past many villages where cut “logs” of peat were carefully stored to serve as winter fuel.

Peat is basically plant material built up over centuries. It represents a mere 3 percent of the Earth’s landscape, but it can store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.

I know that Russia is well aware of this, and is investing heavily in Peatland restoration. Armenia, with help from the solar and wind industries, and hydro, water, power where available, could free rural communities from dependence on peat, and thus play a significant role in fighting climate change. Come to Armenia, Capture the Sun, Save the Water, and Free the Peat!

And this approach would, will, necessitate skills development with many “spin-offs”, among them Innovation in every sense of the word. At my university, and in my community, I fashioned an exhortation: We must sustain Tradition and Foster Innovation.

I believe that Masdar can be a hugely important partner to an Armenia that has much to contribute to just how humanity meets the challenges facing it. Beginning in 2022!

(John Harker is chair of the Harker Associates Consulting in Canada. He is also chair of the Amulsar Independent Advisory Panel.)