The United Arab Emirates set stricter target for reducing carbon emissions as it prepares to host a major climate conference later this year.
The UAE will cut emissions by 40% by 2030 from a business-as-usual level, the Ministry of Climate Change & Environment said in a statement. It compares with an earlier plan for a 31% reduction. The country already has a net zero goal by the middle of the century, the first Middle Eastern state to announce such as an ambition.
The latest target comes ahead of the COP28 climate summit. The UAE has faced some criticism about hosting the event while it keeps pumping vast amounts of oil that feed its economy. The new plan “underlines our national commitment to more ambitious climate action,” Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam Almheiri said.
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Net greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced to 182 million tons of CO2 equivalent by the end of the decade, marking a 19% cut compared with the 2019 base year level, according to the statement.
Earlier this month, the UAE said it would invest as much as $54 billion on renewables over the next seven years, targeting a threefold increase in the share of clean energy in the overall mix over the period.
(Updates with minister’s comment in the third paragraph.)
Author: Leen Al-Rashdan
