UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said that the country is in the process of creating a combination of renewable, nuclear, and fossil energy to achieve a balance between economic needs and environmental targets.
This would be attained through accelerating the energy transfer into a low-emission and a low-carbon future, reducing carbon dioxide in the country by 70 percent, increasing the clean energy contribution to the produced energy by 50 percent in 2050, and increasing the institutional and individual consumption efficiency by 40 percent, according to Mazrouei.
During the council meeting of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), he added that the UAE is a pioneering country in developing renewable and clean energy, innovating modern means to reinforce energy efficiency and rationalize the consumption of natural resources, as well as finding alternative solutions for the conventional energy.
In this quest, the UAE recently launched its National Water and Energy Demand Management Program, the minister continued.
The program targets a 40 percent increase in the efficiency of the three most energy-consuming sectors in the UAE: transport, industry, and construction by 2050 and an expansion of water reuse to 95 percent.
The minister said that the UAE has become a role model through the mixture of solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear energy besides conventional sources. It also leads international efforts in the field of renewable energy.
He further stressed that hydrogen has become part of the strategic thinking in the energy sector.
Mazrouei noted that the UAE has been exerting restless efforts in exploiting nuclear energy, knowing that Barakah Nuclear Power Plant will provide 25 percent of the electricity needs. This would save the UAE up to 21 million tons of carbon emissions every year.
