306 M. LUOMI
Initiative (2006) and the UAE’s successful campaign to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in
2009. 17 Policy milestones have included: a 7% renewable energy power
generation capacity target by 2020 by Abu Dhabi; a 25% renewable
power target by 2030 by Dubai; and a federal Energy Strategy 2050,
which contains a 44% renewable power capacity target by 2050 and
targets for energy efficiency and CO 2 emissions that are relative to a
business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. In 2012, the government announced
a federal-level Green Growth Strategy, which includes a several climate
change-related initiatives for 2030. The UAE has also launched a National
Climate Change Plan for 2050, which outlines priorities in three areas:
mitigation, adaptation and economic diversification. It also outlines a
number of priority actions, including an emissions monitoring system,
systematic adaptation planning and measures to support the private sector.
Since 2018, the UAE has been working on a climate change law, which
will provide a more robust institutional and policy framework for a
government response to the challenge.
The UAE’s first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC, mediumterm domestic climate change plan) submitted to the Paris Agreement
in 2015, is framed in the context of economic diversification, in line
with Article 4.7 of the Agreement (on mitigation co-benefits resulting
from economic diversification plans qualifying as mitigation outcomes)—a
concept promoted by a number of GCC countries since 2012. The NDC
contains a 24% power sector ‘clean energy’ generation target, which was
raised in 2016 to 27%. Achieving the target is assumed to depend on
Abu Dhabi’s four nuclear reactors being online by 2021—the reactors,
with a total capacity of 5.6 GW, are expected to supply ‘up to 25%’ of
the UAE’s electricity needs once operational. 18 In 2018, the UAE had
a renewable electricity capacity of 0.6 GW, 19 equal to 2% of the total
generation capacity, with plans to raise this to 1.7 GW by 2021. 20
In 2020, as a party to the Paris Agreement and given its early NDC
target year (2021), the UAE is required to announce a new NDC, which
by the Agreement’s rules must be more ambitious than the previous one.
The government has indicated that the new NDC would be based on the
federal Energy Strategy’s 50% by 2050 clean energy target. 21 However,
at the time of writing it was still unclear whether it would also include
a more medium-term target year, such as 2030 or 2035, similar to most
other countries.
Initiative (2006) and the UAE’s successful campaign to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in
2009. 17 Policy milestones have included: a 7% renewable energy power
generation capacity target by 2020 by Abu Dhabi; a 25% renewable
power target by 2030 by Dubai; and a federal Energy Strategy 2050,
which contains a 44% renewable power capacity target by 2050 and
targets for energy efficiency and CO 2 emissions that are relative to a
business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. In 2012, the government announced
a federal-level Green Growth Strategy, which includes a several climate
change-related initiatives for 2030. The UAE has also launched a National
Climate Change Plan for 2050, which outlines priorities in three areas:
mitigation, adaptation and economic diversification. It also outlines a
number of priority actions, including an emissions monitoring system,
systematic adaptation planning and measures to support the private sector.
Since 2018, the UAE has been working on a climate change law, which
will provide a more robust institutional and policy framework for a
government response to the challenge.
The UAE’s first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC, mediumterm domestic climate change plan) submitted to the Paris Agreement
in 2015, is framed in the context of economic diversification, in line
with Article 4.7 of the Agreement (on mitigation co-benefits resulting
from economic diversification plans qualifying as mitigation outcomes)—a
concept promoted by a number of GCC countries since 2012. The NDC
contains a 24% power sector ‘clean energy’ generation target, which was
raised in 2016 to 27%. Achieving the target is assumed to depend on
Abu Dhabi’s four nuclear reactors being online by 2021—the reactors,
with a total capacity of 5.6 GW, are expected to supply ‘up to 25%’ of
the UAE’s electricity needs once operational. 18 In 2018, the UAE had
a renewable electricity capacity of 0.6 GW, 19 equal to 2% of the total
generation capacity, with plans to raise this to 1.7 GW by 2021. 20
In 2020, as a party to the Paris Agreement and given its early NDC
target year (2021), the UAE is required to announce a new NDC, which
by the Agreement’s rules must be more ambitious than the previous one.
The government has indicated that the new NDC would be based on the
federal Energy Strategy’s 50% by 2050 clean energy target. 21 However,
at the time of writing it was still unclear whether it would also include
a more medium-term target year, such as 2030 or 2035, similar to most
other countries.