The pace of life always seems to move at a faster pace in the UAE, and 2026 promises to bring many changes to the way we live.
Some will begin on the first day of the new year. Customers and retailers will be saying goodbye to a whole range of plastic packaging thanks to a new federal law designed to promote a more environmentally friendly way of life.
It means a ban from January 1 of single use plastic tableware, plates and food containers. Your takeaway cup of coffee or tea will no longer come with a plastic lid. Plastic chopsticks as well as knives, forks and spoons are included, as are containers made of styrofoam.
This move is an extension of an existing law introduced in 2022 by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment which stopped the use of single use plastic bags.
The same day will see a new law change how much we pay for sweetened drinks. The Ministry of Finance is introducing a tiered tax based on the amount of sugar in these products.
The old system saw a flat tax of 50 per cent introduced in 2019. From January 1 tax will be based on the amount of sugar or artificial sweetener per litre. Drinks with five grams of sugar − two teaspoons − but less than eight grams will be taxed at 79 fils for a litre while those with eight grams or more will cost Dh1.09 ($0.30).
It is as much to promote good health as to raise revenue and is part of a wider move by the GCC to cut down on the consumption of sugar in drinks.
Dr Aswin Pankajakshan, consultant endocrinologist at Dubai’s Fakeeh University Hospital, said that “reducing sugar-sweetened drinks is essential, regardless of sugar content. This is especially important in the UAE, where the diabetes rate is alarmingly high”.
Prayer times change
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First Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al Farooq Omar bin Al Khattab Mosque in Dubai. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National -
Ramadan is believed to be the month the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed -
The mosque is named after Umar bin Al Khattab, a companion of the Prophet Mohammed -
Al Farooq Omar bin Al Khattab Mosque can accommodate 2,000 worshippers -
This year, Muslims in the UAE began the holy month by fasting for about 13 hours and 52 minutes -
About 1.9 billion Muslims around the world mark Ramadan with fasting and special prayers -
First Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al Farooq Omar bin Al Khattab Mosque in Dubai
What might seem like a small change, from January 2, is a change in the time of Friday prayers which will be standardised at 12.45pm instead of 1.15pm, for all mosques in the UAE.
This follows a four-year study by the Authority of Islamic Affairs, Endowments and Zakat which examined the social impact of the timing of Friday prayers, especially after Friday became a working day for the public sector in 2022.
With 2026 designated the Year of the Family, the hope is that the half-hour change will encourage family cohesion and gatherings, the authority has said. Schools will also close earlier on Fridays, with the longer term possibility of a four day week.
The earlier start for the traditional Friday prayers will have an impact on the education calendar. Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority has decided to end Friday lessons at 11.30am rather than 12pm.
The change will be effective from Friday, January 9, at all private schools and early childhood centres operating within the emirate.
Full speed ahead
Even bigger changes to the way we live and work can be expected in the field of transport in 2026. The most important development is the promised start this year of a nationwide passenger rail network.
Etihad Rail has yet to give an exact date when passenger trains will begin running, but the high-speed trains, built by Spain’s CAF, will operate from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah, reaching speeds of 200km an hour and each carrying up to 400 passengers.
Passenger numbers across the Etihad Rail network are expected to reach 36 million by 2030, connecting travellers to 11 cities while helping to ease congestion and support environmental goals.
Meanwhile Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi are preparing to introduce flying taxis as a solution to increasingly congested roads. Dubai is partnering with Joby Aviation for its flying taxi service, which will operate from a network of “vertiports”
Transport revolution
The vertical take-off all-electric flying taxis were successfully tested this year and promise to cut the time from Dubai International Airport to Palm Jumeirah from three quarters of an hour to just 12 minutes.
In Abu Dhabi plans have been made to begin flying taxis with Archer Aviation’s Midnight aircraft, operating from 10 vertiports across business and tourism hubs.
Safety certification is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2026, with initially two flying taxis operated in a partnership with Abu Dhabi Aviation and Etihad Aviation Training.
On the ground, driverless cars will become a common sight on the road of Abu Dhabi. Uber and WeRide, a Chinese company, have launched driverless taxis, beginning with services from Zayed International Airport and on Reem, Yas and Saadiyat islands.
They will be joined later in the year by a fleet of luxury autonomous Mercedes S class taxis operated by Lumo, a UAE based mobility company.
All the services have undergone rigorous safety checks to reach the required level four of autonomous operation, reaching 800,000km driving without incident for Uber.
Also in Abu Dhabi is a pilot project to introduce driverless delivery vehicles. Electric vehicles from the UAE-based Auto Go will work with the logistics network noon.com with the promise of making a quarter of all deliveries using the technology by 2040.
Lift-off for lunar mission
One autonomous vehicle not available for hire is planning a 384,400km one-way trip in 2026. We’re talking about Rashid Rover 2, a lunar vehicle planned to land on the Moon on a mission by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.
Its predecessor, Rashid Rover 1, was lost when the spacecraft carrying it, and other scientific experiments, crashed on the lunar surface in April 2023. Fingers crossed, its successor will lift off as part of the Blue Ghost mission 2 by the American private space company Firefly.
Rashid Rover 2 is primed to depart Earth at a date to be confirmed in 2026, reaching the Moon around six weeks later. If all goes well, it will land at a previously unexplored site on the dark side of the Moon, with a planned operational lifetime of a single lunar day – or equal to a two weeks on Earth.
