UAE and US to catalyse $100bn in global push for clean energy

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• Launch of the UAE-US Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy
• Deal aims to deploy 100 GW of clean energy by 2035
• UAE has already backed eight clean energy projects in the US

The UAE and the US have signed a comprehensive strategic partnership to accelerate the energy transition, advance shared climate goals and strengthen global energy security, WAM, the UAE state-owned news agency, reported.

The UAE-US Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE) will catalyse $100 billion in financing and other support, in addition to deploying 100 new gigawatts (GW) of clean energy in the US, UAE and emerging economies around the world by 2035.

Looking ahead to COP27 in Egypt next month and to COP28 in the UAE next year, both countries will work together to advance their shared view that the fastest and most reliable pathway to achieve net zero will require accelerating investment in clean energy technology and resources.

Over the past ten years, the UAE has invested more than $50 billion in clean energy technologies and solutions worldwide, building three of the world’s largest and lowest-cost solar projects.

The UAE’s nuclear energy programme is another exmaple of the Gulf state’s energy diversification strategy.

With three reactors online, the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant will ultimately supply up to 25 percent of the country’s electricity needs from a carbon-free source.

Other notable UAE projects include the 5,000-MW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and the region’s first industrial-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage facility, which captures 800,000 tons of carbon dioxide with plans to expand six-fold by 2030.

The UAE supports and implements clean energy projects on six continents, including in 31 small island-developing states in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.

In the US, the UAE has backed eight clean energy projects totaling 1.6 GW across California, Texas, New Mexico and Nebraska.

The UAE houses the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency and will host COP28 UAE, the Emirates Climate Conference, in November 2023 at Expo City in Dubai.