UAE updates NDC with more ambitious GHG emission target

The UAE has raised its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target to 31pc by 2030, from 23.5pc previously, in an updated edition of its second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

This will oversee a reduction in GHG emissions of 93.2mn t of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) versus the business as usual case which is projected to produce 301mn t of CO2e, assuming a "moderate annual economic growth rate based on historical trends".

The UAE said it plans to deliver this more ambitious target by focusing on five priority sectors — electricity, transport, industry, waste management and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).

The country also reiterated its pledge to boost its adaptive capacity and climate resilience by engaging in initiatives including the conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems, such as the Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project, and tree-planting drives. The UAE plans to plant 100mn mangrove seedlings by 2030.

These amendments to its emissions reduction targets were expected after the UAE's minister for climate change and environment, Mariam Almheiri said in March that the UAE would soon update its NDC.

Abu Dhabi said this was in response to a call by the Glasgow Climate Pact, a main outcome of the last UN Climate Conference (COP26), for countries to strengthen the ambition of their 2030 NDCs by the end of this year.

The UAE is broadly focused on decarbonisation, such as expanding its carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility to sequester 5mn t/yr of CO2, up from 800,000 t/yr, as well as ramping up renewables to reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. It has pledged to develop capacity of up to 14GW of solar and nuclear power by 2030.

But as a major oil producer, both globally and within Opec, the UAE has said that it has no plans to stop producing oil "as long as the world is demanding it".

Almheiri also said in March that consumers should not expect hydrocarbon-producing countries to decrease supply in order to force a reduction in demand. "We all have a part to play," and it is "important that we look at our habits and our lives," she said.

The UAE produced 3.18mn b/d of crude in August, according to the latest Argus Opec+ production survey, in line with its production target under the Opec+ agreement. But the UAE's crude production capacity is above 4mn b/d today, a figure it plans to increase to 5mn b/d by 2027.

By Nader Itayim