Geneva, 26 April 2015 - The Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW) of the United Arab Emirates has unveiled the publication of the UAE State of Green Economy Report 2014 during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week held recently. This is the first report developed to inform the public about the status of progress in the implementation of the UAE Green Growth Strategy. It also represents the world’s first of its kind in national reporting on a Green Economy transition.
The UAE Green Growth Strategy was launched in January 2012 under the slogan “A Green Economy for Sustainable Development” by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The Strategy provides national and emirate-level development plans with a unified umbrella for leading the path to transform the national economy to a greener economy. With technical support from the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), MoEW developed a national plan for implementing the Strategy together with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been approved by the Cabinet in January 2015. Meanwhile, diverse public and private-sector initiatives are already burgeoning in support of this Strategy and a significant progress towards a Green Economy transition has been made in different sectors.
At the report’s launch event held as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and the International Water Summit at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC), Dr. Rashid bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment and Water, stressed the importance of the Green Economy and the report’s contributions in the global efforts for sustainable development: “The Green Economy approach was agreed by more than 190 nations at the UN Rio+20 Summit in June 2012 and has been rapidly taken up by many governments around the world. The UAE has been playing an important global role in promoting the concept and advancing practices, particularly through the establishment of the UNEP Partnership on Action on Green Economy (PAGE) and hosting a regional office of the GGGI in Masdar City.”
“As the ministry hosted the successful first PAGE conference in March 2014 in Dubai, we hope that this world’s first State of Green Economy Report will also contribute to the international community. We put our best efforts to set a valuable benchmark for capturing the status and measuring performance in an objective manner, based on which other countries can also engage in similar practices. We sincerely hope that the report will inspire both the domestic and global reader and encourage them to take part in Green Economy initiatives in the UAE and around the world.”
Offering a foreword in the report, Mr. Achim Steiner, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), praised the UAE’s Green Economy efforts, stating, “The UAE Green Growth Strategy was an important step in aligning the development of Green Economy thinking across all sectors. The very significant investments in renewable energy and water management described in this report are examples of this vision being put into practice.”
“As the Green Economy concept takes root around the world, the lessons emerging from countries like the UAE take on increasing importance. I invite the reader to closely examine the elements of the UAE strategy for pursuing Green Economy as an example of what is possible when sustainability is put at the heart of national priorities and planning”.
As part of the Strategy implementation, the ministry decided to compile a State of Green Economy Report on a regular basis, with an objective to help the country take the right course and make solid advances towards a Green Economy through monitoring and reporting its progress. The report provides the public with a clear overview of the government’s plan for greening the economy, diverse public and private efforts and their achievements, as well as an international benchmarking of the country’s current standing based on objective performance indicators. As the first edition, the report also includes a substantial amount of background information to help domestic and global readers to understand the UAE’s national context and prospect for a Green Economy transition. The report comprises 152 pages in full-colour, A4 landscape format. The reporting period of this edition is principally from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2014.
Each chapter’s content is as follows:
Chapter 1: The UAE Approach towards an Inclusive Green Economy explains the UAE’s socio-economic background and the rationale, focuses and potential benefits of greening the economy.
Chapter 2: Sectoral Initiatives towards a Green Economy provides highlights of ongoing public and private-sector efforts to enable Green Economy in the country’s nine key sectors: Oil and Gas; Water and Electricity; Industry; Buildings, Construction and Real Estate; Transport and Logistics; Waste Management; Land-use and Agriculture; Financial Services; and Tourism and Hospitality.
Chapter 3: Measuring the Transformation towards a Green Economy reports the UAE’s performance measured according to the 30 UAE Green Economy Indicators originally developed. The performance data sets a baseline for regular monitoring and establishing future targets.
Chapter 4: Future Outlook: The UAE Green Agenda outlines the governance and programmatic structure for implementing the Green Growth Strategy, potential Green Economy actions, and next steps.
Chapter 5: Inclusive Green Economy from a Global Perspective is contributed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It introduces UN and leading countries’ approaches to the Green Economy and mobilising green finance and investment.
For more information on the report and the UAE’s Green Economy work, please contact
