UAE's adjustment to a future without oil.

The United Arab Emirates called upon its newest plan, the UAE net zero by 2050 strategic initiative, a national drive to reduce carbon emissions by 2050, which makes UAE the first nation in the MENA region to undertake such a zestful act, and is alike the to the Paris agreement which made UAE the first country in the GCC region to sign and ratify this and commit to an economy-wide reduction in emissions.

Even though the UAE has chosen to prioritize a holistic, realistic and a data-driven approach, accomplishing its outcome can be slightly more tedious yet achievable than it looks, to simply put it this way; the country still depends on oil. When recovering from the pandemic, The UAE recorded a budget surplus in 2021, and with oil prices likely to average around $70 per barrel again in 2022, there is fiscal space for increased public sector investment in strategic growth sectors, along with UAE, the entire GCC has introduced initiatives and stimulus packages in hopes of structural reforms, and although many argue that the country has almost run out of oil, and most would argue that the country only depends on its tourism and service sector, yet all the money that came for construction and to be able to invest in a clean energy sector came from money generated from oil.

But what is this clean energy sector?

Nuclear energy has been undertaken by the UAE and clean electricity has become a powerhouse of economic opportunity in the private sector and currently The 5,600MW Barakah nuclear power plant (NPP) in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is the first nuclear power project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Located 53 km from the city of Ruwais, the plant is being jointly developed by Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

The Barakah Nuclear power plant focuses on alienating the more traditional, previously sought-out options and instead aims to reduce car emissions, namely vehicle emissions, and according to a brief statistic, The 22.4 million tons prevented by the Barakah Plant is equivalent to 4.8 million passenger cars driven for one year. There are less than or equal to 3.5 million cars on the road today,

Along with the public sector stimulating clean energy demand, the private sector has added to its sustainability drive, by introducing more ‘green’ and cost-efficient firms,

Estidama, which means “sustainability” in Arabic, was introduced by Abu Dhabi in 2009 as one of the UAE sustainability initiatives and became one of the first organic sustainability frameworks in the Middle East. It implemented a ‘pearl’ rating system for all new developments to ensure that the project is established in a sustainable manner. And ever since then, Companies like Ehfaaz— a high-tech start-up that transforms food and fast-moving consumer goods waste into organic fertilisers and cleaning products, or Avani which is spearheading the move from petroleum-based plastic to bio-based solutions for food packaging and hospitality products have stepped up the game,

Although oil could take 150 years or more to run out, the UAE's non-oil sector continued to expand sharply. Business activity that not only came from EXPO 2020 but ramping up renewables to 10% of the country's total energy mix, and 25% of total power generation, could generate annual savings of USD 1.9 billion by 2030 through avoidance of fossil-fuel consumption and lower energy costs.

Whether through the use of data technology or the government’s investment in cleaner energy, The UAE is breaking milestones and coming up with new strategies and revamping older ones, even though some industries in the UAE don’t see this change such as the transport sector, we are getting there and reducing dependency on solutions that no longer promise a futuristic solution.