Paris agreement presents challenges and opportunities

Tanzeed Alam underscores the challenges and opportunities the environment conference presents for the UAE

From left, United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, and French president Francois Hollande at the World Climate Change Conference at Le Bourget, near ParisShow more

On December 12, the UAE, along with governments from nearly 200 countries around the world, committed to a universal agreement to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change. As a non-governmental organisation, Emirates Wildlife Society in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF) is pleased to see that the agreement calls to keep average warming to ideally no more than 1.5° Celsius, which is something that will present the UAE with unique challenges and opportunities.

We are pleased to see the UAE signing up to this deal, as it is in the country’s national interests to have ambitious action on climate change, given the impact climate change would cause.

EWS-WWF believes that the world should aim to limit warming to no more than 1.5° Celsius, otherwise the very species and habitats that we are fighting to protect will be at risk. For example, going beyond the 1.5° Celsius limit means that the viability of coral reefs, fisheries, marine life, food systems, coastal communities and infrastructure will be compromised throughout the world.

We are ready to work in partnership with any government department, business and others to help the UAE implement meaningful, science-based actions to tackle climate change.

Achieving this goal will mean that business as usual will no longer be an option. The Paris agreement calls for a peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, and to undertake rapid reductions. Therefore, we will start to see more countries accelerating their transition to renewable energy, using energy more efficiently and moving away from fossil fuels. Public and private investors will continue to accelerate their focus to sectors that are less reliant on fossil fuels, something that will affect the economies of countries in our region given our dependence on oil and gas for development.

While the UAE is arguably better positioned than its immediate neighbours for this transition, the country as a whole should reassess its economic diversification strategy to ensure that investments and policies are geared towards supporting lower carbon sectors, much in the way that Dubai is beginning to do. This would also help the country avoid the risks of having assets that may potentially be stranded.

The need for the whole country to act in a coordinated manner on the issue will also require sharper focus. Dubai, for example, has recently announced more ambitious targets for renewable energy (25 per cent by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050) and signalled the creation of a Dh100bn fund to finance such a transition. These sorts of signals are crucial to replicate across the country.

The Paris agreement makes it legally binding for countries to develop carbon reduction targets and to systematically review them. Therefore the recent pledges made by the UAE to the UN Climate Convention should be updated in light of new announcements from Dubai.

Such updates should be coupled with a transparent and publicly available federal-level assessment of the total amount of greenhouse gases that are projected to be saved from such initiatives, identify when emissions will peak and be used as a basis to set national carbon reduction targets.

Ultimately, this should lead to the development of a climate change and energy policy that sets the UAE on a path to transform its economy and adapt to the impacts of global warming.

We are fortunate to be in a country where the leadership has always been remarkably forward thinking and innovative, with aspirations of becoming one of the best countries in the world.

All sectors of society need to do their share and this Paris agreement provides the UAE with a chance to turn such leadership into domestic action on climate change.

Tanzeed Alam is climate and energy director of EWS-WWF, an NGO working to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the environment, including climate change