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Three years into the Decade of Action on Climate Change, our key challenge is to work with actors across the ecosystem to translate ambitious ambition into meaningful action. Living and working in the UAE, it is clear that the world has much to learn from the country’s experience: grounding in a clear vision, combining planning and partnership with implementation and inclusion.
The approach will be on full display this year in the UAE, where two global events are being held – Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and COP28. Over the past few days, many of us working on issues of decarbonization and climate change have spent the past few days at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) discussing how we can create a roadmap for our collective net-zero future. In November and December, more climate-focused policymakers will meet again for COP28, the United Nations climate change conference in Dubai.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company Masdar is a powerful example of the country’s ability to combine forward vision with action and real progress.
Back in 2006, UAE leadership established Masdar, a UAE-based global renewable energy company. In a short period of time, Masdar has grown from a 10 MW solar photovoltaic plant in Abu Dhabi to a global developer of renewable energy projects with 20 gigawatts (GW) of generation and a target of 100 GW by 2030 watt. Masdar also launched ADSW and built the low-carbon Masdar City, which later became the permanent headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
This focus on the energy transition was ahead of its time, and we are reaping its benefits today. Dubai, for example, has announced that renewable energy will account for 14% of its total energy capacity by 2022 and 25% by 2030. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) reported in December that more than 60% of the system’s total electricity needs are supplied by nuclear and renewable energy.
The UAE understands where the global energy system is going and where it needs to go. Although it is a country with vast oil reserves, it understands the need for an inclusive and collaborative approach to realize its vision for the future. We know that progress can only be made when everyone is at the table and when visions and interests are aligned across the energy ecosystem. That’s why it was an important backdrop for the make-or-break discussions and agreements at COP28.
No country is immune to climate change, including the UAE. It goes without saying that, as a country with an arid climate and most major cities surrounded by sea, we know all too well the cost of inaction.
The reality is that while swift and important steps must be taken to decarbonize the global energy system, fossil fuels, and especially low-carbon energy sources such as natural gas, must for the foreseeable future work together with the massive electrification of our economy and the growing reliance on There is also clean energy such as wind, solar, hydro and nuclear.
The UAE has experience with a range of these technologies – from the Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and the Barakah nuclear power plant to Dewa’s hydroelectric plant in Hatta and SEWA’s Hamriyah combined cycle Power plants, and through breakthrough projects by companies such as Masdar, Adnoc and Emirates Global Aluminum. Even in new areas such as hydrogen and carbon capture, the country is pushing technology development and deployment.
The UAE has always been a crossroads. Initially, it was in the exchange of goods; more recently, it has also been in the exchange of ideas and innovations. What’s more, countries around us have different needs in terms of energy transition: large oil importers and oil exporters; developed and developing countries; countries with large and small populations; island countries and landlocked countries.
In hosting COP28, the UAE will bring these differing understandings into the discussion – providing some sort of game plan that makes real progress on the core issues and moves us meaningfully forward along the path to a low-carbon future.
The writer is President and Global Head of Strategy and Operations, GE International Markets UAE
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