UAE ramps up climate action
ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY TO HELP SHAPE SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY
Anew UAE National Climate Change Plan unveiled yesterday will help overcome pressing globalwarming challenges by guiding the country toward a climate resilient, sustainable economy that will protect the environment and ensure a high-quality of life for generations to come.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the release of the new national plan on his twitter account: “The UAE Cabinet also approved the National Plan for Climate Change, which targets the unification of efforts to ensure the UAE’s contribution in facing up to this global challenge.”
Prepared by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the eco blueprint aims to counteract domestic greenhouse gas production, two thirds of which is attributed to energy and water generation, to meet the demands of a UAE population that has more than trebled to 9.3 million people since the mid-1990s.
Green energy goals
The 34-page plan of action is the culmination of years of numerous environmental strategies already under way by both federal and emirate agencies, including the UAE’s commitment to the Paris Agreement in 2015 alongside 195 countries to hold global temperature increases to well below 2 degrees Celsius in the century ahead.
The UAE pledged in its Paris commitment to reduce fossilfuel based electricity production over time, starting with a 27 per cent renewable energy mix by 2021.
Dr Thani Ahmad Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said the new UAE climate plan will serve “as a road map to bolster nationwide actions for climate mitigation and adaptation in the UAE to 2050.”
Al Zeyoudi stressed that the UAE is taking strong action to build on green growth and sustainable development strategies as outlined under the UAE Vision 2021 and the UAE Green Agenda 2015-2030.
Three-fold objectives
“Increasing scientific evidence affirms the urgent need for ramping up climate action. In the UAE, which is located in a water-scarce hyper-arid environment, climate adaptation is also of particular importance and must be scaled up,” wrote Al Zeyoudi in the climate plan.
The ministry said it consulted with 41 groups across the UAE in government, private and academic sectors to glean the best expertise possible to map out the future strategy.
The climate plan’s objectives are three-fold through managing “greenhouse emissions while sustaining economic growth”, building climate resilience through stronger climate adaptation and, by advancing “the UAE’s economic diversification agenda through innovative solutions.”
According to the ministry, one of the key priorities is to create a “national greenhouse gas emissions management system” as a next step forward in a national GHG (Greenhouse Gas) inventory.
Current targets
The climate plan stated that the UAE’s net greenhouse gas emission level was recorded at 203.7 million tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) in 2014, up from 74.4 million tCO2e in 1994.
In addition to the 27 per cent clean energy goal by 2021, the UAE is looking to generate 50 per cent of all electrical power by 2050 from clean energy.
Abu Dhabi has committed to a 7 per cent renewable energy target by 2020 and Dubai has committed to renewable energy targets of 7 per cent by 2020, 25 per cent by 2050 and 75 per cent by 2050 under the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050.
Increasing scientific evidence affirms the urgent need for ramping up climate action. In the UAE, which is located in a water-scarce hyper-arid environment, climate adaptation is also of particular importance and must be scaled up.” Dr Thani Ahmad Al Zeyoudi | Minister of Climate Change and Environment
27% of renewable energy mix by 2021 is the commitment pledged by UAE for the Paris climate agreement