UAE plans net zero emissions by 2050

The UAE has become the first Middle East country to commit to decarbonisation with an initiative to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

The effort will be led by the ministry of climate change and the environment, the energy department said.

"As the world shifts to cleaner sources of energy and a decarbonised economy, the UAE net zero initiative will provide us with precision and boost our efforts to accelerate the energy transition while contributing to the fight against climate change", energy department chairman Awaidha Murshed Al Marar said.

The announcement comes ahead of the UN Cop 26 climate conference in November, and aims to align the UAE with the Paris agreement. The UAE is a large crude producer, with output at 2.79mn b/d in August according to Argus' monthly survey, and Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc has plans to raise production capacity from just over 4mn b/d to 5mn b/d by the end of the decade.

Just last month, the UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said the country will continue to invest in capacity to avoid a price crunch.

"We are already convinced that transition is happening, and more of us are supportive of that transition," he said. "But I think we need to be honest with the consumers and tell them what is going to be the cost associated with the transition."

But the emirate has also launched a number of low-carbon initiatives and projects, including the flagship 1,177MW Noor Abu Dhabi and the 2GW Al Dhafra single-site solar PV plants, and the Barakah nuclear plant. Abu Dhabi expects the emirate's electricity in 2025 to be almost 7pc from solar and 47pc from nuclear.

The energy department said today it already has a strategy in place to reduce electricity consumption by 22pc and water consumption by 32pc by 2030, which it said will avoid the emission of more than 9mn t of CO2.

By Elshan Aliyev