‘Climate change will impact UAE economy’

New EWS-WWF report says region will suffer from 2C temperature increase by 2050

The UAE is not immune from increasing global warming temperatures and the fallout from suffocating carbon emissions around the globe, according to renowned environmental organisations yesterday.

A new report yesterday released in the UAE predicts that a two per cent temperature increase combined with a 10 per cent rise in humidity by 2050 will exact a heavy toll on at least a dozen sectors across the country.

According to the Emirates Wildlife Society and World Wildlife Fund (EWS-WWF) report titled UAE Climate Change: Risks and Resilience, the country is vulnerable to climate change which poses risks to the country’s economy, business, and society.

The report’s release comes months after the UAE ratified its commitment to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce the UAE’s fossil-fuel based electricity production over time starting with a 27 per cent renewable energy mix by 2021.

The UAE’S commitment to the Paris Agreement will help hold global warming temperature increases to below 2 degree Celsius in decades to come.

In yesterday’s report, the authors said future temperature hikes and “increased demand for cooling from buildings and industry are likely to create an energy demand-supply gap over time, hamper energy security, increase costs to end users and produce additional greenhouse gas emissions.

“For example, air conditioning demand (for cooling and fans) in typical UAE residential villas could increase by between 10 per cent to 35 per cent by 2050, depending on the future CO2 emissions scenario.”

Productivity of workers

Climate change spikes in temperatures and humidity, authors said, will also “decrease the productivity of outdoor workers and increase their overall risk, which is projected to cause losses of up to $2 trillion (Dh7.3 trillion) globally due to projected health-related impacts. Outdoor employees will likely slow their pace, take longer breaks and shift their work to cooler dusk and dawn hours.”

Food security is also a concern in the UAE, the report’s authors said, pointing out that “87 per cent of the UAE’s food supply is reliant on agricultural production abroad, and thus prone to climate change impacts.

“This will affect the reliability of international food markets and could contribute to a rise in food prices, with consequences for lower-income households making them more vulnerable to price shocks as a larger share of their budgets will be spent on food.

“Climate change will also impact the nation’s domestic agriculture, leading to an overall decline in agricultural output.”