Dubai moves ahead with plans to reduce carbon emissions
Author: John Benny
Dubai’s Supreme Council of Energy held a meeting to review the emirate’s efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissionsby 2050, Dubai Media Office said on December 18, 2022 . Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, emphasised the importance of co-operation among the related organisations in the UAE to achieve the objectives of the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative, while chairing the council's 73rd meeting online. “We discussed the national system for trading carbon credits in co-operation with the Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment,” said Ahmed Al Muhairbi, secretary general of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy. The UAE, Opec’s third-largest oil producer, is pursuing goals to reduce its carbon footprint and became the first country in the Middle East to set a net-zero target last year. Abu Dhabi, which is developing a two-gigawatt solar plant in Al Dhafra region, has set a target of 5.6 gigawatts of solar PV capacity by 2026. In 2017, the UAE launched its energy policy to boost clean energy and cut dependence on natural gas to generate power. The policy’s targets for the source of energy for local consumption by 2050 have been set at 44 per cent from renewables, 38 per cent from gas, 12 per cent from clean fossil and 6 per cent from nuclear.