An Arab voice can turn the climate debate

In December, the world will come together in Paris to try to negotiate a global climate change agreement. One of the key issues to discuss will be how countries in the “north” will support those countries in the “south” that are willing and able to help combat global warming. In reality, it will only be through cooperation that global warming will be limited.

One such possibility would be to exploit the solar energy resource of the North African deserts on a large scale to provide the green energy needs of Europe, which can of course afford to pay for it.

Today, what we see is the absurdity of relatively unsunny Europe subsidising its own production of solar energy, and making it impossible for sunny North Africa to compete. If only North Africa could export across the Mediterranean and face a level playing field in the European green energy market. Think how many jobs could be created in job-hungry North Africa, and how important jobs are for young people in those countries. What would that do for the prosperity and security we all seek?

But somebody with a strong interest in these outcomes and the means to prime the pump with development aid could accelerate their achievement. The UAE has been a global leader in development aid and is now the world’s top donor, according to the OECD. Much of this has been aid to help stabilise Arab countries in North Africa and the Maghreb. This country has also shown global leadership in renewable energy, particularly solar energy, and leadership among GCC countries in its voice on global warming. Now may be the time to bring these strands of leadership together to help Arab countries realise their massive solar energy potential.

While much of the UAE’s development aid has focused on direct inter-governmental transfers, it could refocus to work directly with the private sector in the deserts of Morocco, Egypt or Tunisia.

In addition to building solar energy power plants, the UAE could also help invest in the construction of transmission lines across the Mediterranean, to show Europe what can be done. Not all of this needs to come in the form of direct development aid: the UAE’s main in- vestment funds could also consider such projects worthwhile in their own right, securing the country’s long-term assets in future energy infrastructure and technology in a location that is only likely to see rising demand for renewable power projects. The UAE could add further momentum by raising its voice and using its influence on the global stage of the Paris conference to advocate for Europe to open its solar energy markets. The country would have credibility as a champion based particularly on its years of green economy investments by Masdar and others.

Voicing concerns about continued protection of European solar producers through measures such as subsidies would add substance to the otherwise highly theoretical negotiations with few tangible results for developing countries. It would also champion an Arab voice in a debate that already is global – the US alongside the European Union have been campaigning unremittingly in favour of phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.

What would be the results? Gulf investment, along with an opening of Europe’s market for imported solar power, could foster the massive deployment of solar energy across North Africa, and thereby help the costs of solar energy to fall globally because of the economies of scale.

The solar and renewables industry could also create a large number of jobs in North Africa, particularly in its southern areas, where social discontent is greatest ( remember, the Arab Spring started in a deprived area of southern Tunisia). This would contribute to the fast scale-up of solar energy use in Europe, fulfilling European self- chosen green energy targets while providing much-needed export revenue to North Africa.

Setting off this virtuous circle would also be beneficial for the UAE’s own objectives – both in developmental and investment terms. Development aid can take many forms, and supporting sources of revenue in North Africa’s cashstrapped and aid-dependent economies would be no small success. It would also help channel increasingly diversifying investment streams from the UAE into sustainable and growth-promising businesses that could eventually trigger many positive spillover effects such as closer renewable technology cooperation between North Africa and the Gulf, benefiting also labour markets in the UAE. Who would not want those outcomes?

Setting off this virtuous circle would also be beneficial for the UAE’s own objectives