Government urged to rethink energy policy

DUBAI // The UAE has been urged to focus on energy efficiency in its response to climate change. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) made the call after a study by McKinsey and Company, the management consultancy, showed that reducing global emissions to safe levels was technically and economically feasible but would require a huge effort from governments worldwide.

"Given the UAE's high carbon-dependent economy, this report is a helpful platform to frame local thinking and action on climate change," said Razan al Mubarak, the managing director of Emirates Wildlife Society, which works in collaboration with the WWF. "It also shows that action would be cost-effective. "We are hopeful that the many suggestions in this report will be embraced by the public and private sector. We certainly need a portfolio of responses to climate change. A key immediate priority for the UAE, and one of the findings of the report, is the need to take dramatic steps to improve energy efficiency and reduce demand."

The McKinsey document, entitled Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy, which was released this week, said energy-efficiency measures would be the most effective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. If coupled with efforts to increase the share of green energy and to reverse deforestation, these measures could reduce emissions in 2030 by 35 per cent compared with 1990 levels. The measures could also reduce emissions by 70 per cent compared to what they are expected to be in 2030 if current trends continue.

Such a reduction, the report said, could prevent a global temperature increase of more than 2°C. Experts believe that beyond this threshold, climate change would have catastrophic effects. The combined measures would require substantial funding, amounting to up to ?350 billion (Dh1.681 trillion) a year. However, the main challenge would be political, said the report. "It is one thing to have the potential to make deep cuts in emissions; it is another for policy makers to agree on and implement effective emission reduction policies, and for companies, consumers and the public sector to take action to make this reduction a reality," the report said. "Capturing all the opportunities would entail change on a huge scale."

Meeting the target, for example, will mean that by 2030, 40 per cent of all new car sales are of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles, and clean energy, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage have a 70 per cent share of the market versus the current 30 per cent. It also assumes that humanity manages to avoid the deforestation of an area twice the size of Venezuela, and plants new forests amounting to the territory of India.