September 2016: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) highlighted its steps towards implementing sustainable development and climate targets, in a report launched at Global Green Growth Week in Jeju, Republic of Korea. The 2016 UAE State of Green Economy Report is the second in a series of national reports that began in 2015. According to the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the 2015 report was the first account from any country in the world on how it was implementing a green economy framework at the national level.

The 2016 report presents national initiatives in the areas of energy, environment and social development. The report outlines the UAE’s ‘Ten Innovations for Enabling a Green Economy,’ with details of initiatives that are powering public buildings and desalinating seawater with solar energy, extracting freshwater from air humidity; and producing aviation biofuels, among many other activities.

The UAE’s formal transition to a green economy began when a number of government ministries, including the Prime Minister’s Office, jointly led a stakeholder engagement and consultation process that began in 2013 and lasted over a year, supported by the Abu Dhabi office of the Global Green Growth Initiative (GGGI). More than 160 representatives of federal and local government agencies, the private sector, and civil society took part in this process, which developed a proposal for a nationwide transition. Drawing on this proposal, in January 2015 the UAE Cabinet approved its national UAE Green Agenda 2015-2030, and in June of that year the Emirates Green Development Council (EGDC) was formed to coordinate and oversee its implementation.

The Minister of Climate Change and Environment chairs the EGDC, which comprises high-level representatives from five federal ministries (energy, infrastructure development, economy, finance, and foreign affairs and international cooperation), and the seven emirates of the UAE. EGDC members have established “Green Key Performance Indicators” (Green KPIs) to monitor implementation.

The report also covers the state of green finance in the UAE, noting that most green projects in the UAE have been led and funded by the private sector. In October 2016, the UAE hosted the Global Roundtable of the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). [IISD RS Sources] [Publication: UAE State of Green Economy Report 2016] [UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment Website]