UAE to invest $54bn to meet sustainable energy goals

Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

The UAE plans to invest up to AED200 billion ($54.4 billion) to meet sustainable energy demand over the next six years, minister of energy and infrastructure Suhail Al Mazrouei has said.

The move intends to “decarbonise economy and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050”, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported.

“Our efforts to diversify the energy mix and increase reliance on clean energy sources align with our goal of reducing carbon intensity in our oil and gas operations by an additional 25 percent over the next decade,” he added.

Al Mazrouei said that the UAE serves as a model for an ambitious and practical transition to clean energy sources, adding that the country has significant investments in clean energy projects in operation and others under development.

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Last month, the International Energy Agency said that Middle East and North African countries are on track to triple their renewable capacity by 2030, mainly due to the expansion of solar photovoltaic projects.

Renewables are forecast to increase from 53 gigawatts (GW) in 2023 to almost 150GW by the end of the decade, in which solar PV is expected to account for more than 85 percent in the region.

Cop28 in Dubai called on governments and the private sector to triple global renewable energy capacity to at least 11,000GW to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C scenario.