Emirates up clean energy capacity to 16% of total mix

Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

• Target of 30% by 2030
• Investing up to $200bn

The UAE’s installed clean energy capacity accounted for 15.6 percent of the country’s total energy mix last year, according to energy and infrastructure minister Suhail Al Mazrouei.

The Gulf state has set a target of 30 percent by 2030 as per the updated UAE Energy Strategy 2050.

Dr Dawud Ansari, a Berlin-based researcher at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told AGBI the political will within the UAE makes the 30 percent target attainable, despite the deadline being little over six years away.

“With persistently high gas prices, there’s a strong incentive to reduce domestic gas consumption and, instead, free up capacities for exports,” he said.

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The UAE ranked second globally in the energy transition pillar of the Green Future Index 2023, he told the UAE state-owned Wam news agency at Adipec this week.

The third edition of the index ranks 76 nations and territories on their ability to develop a sustainable, low-carbon future.

Over the past 15 years, the UAE has invested more than $40 billion in clean energy projects, Al Mazrouei said.

The number will reach $150-200 billion through 2030 to secure energy demand and maintain sustainable economic growth.

The minister said the UAE will shift towards generating energy through more sustainable solutions but preserve energy security and power grid stability.

The country is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving net-zero targets by 2050, Al Mazrouei reiterated, adding the water and energy sectors will be carbon neutral by the set timeframe.

The UAE is hosting the Cop28 summit later this year, which will mark the first global stocktake since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015.

In Paris, countries pledged to keep long-term average temperature increases within 1.5C. But the World Meteorological Organisation has predicted there is a 66 percent chance that number will be exceeded for an entire year before 2027.