The UAE will invest more than 600 billion dirhams ($163 billion) in clean and renewable energy over the next several years to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, confirmed on Thursday. 

The move is part of the government’s strategy to help combat global climate change, the Dubai ruler said, adding that all institutions will work together to meet the commitment. 

“All institutions will work as one team to achieve it… The UAE will invest more than 600 billion dirhams in clean and renewable energy until 2050 and will play its global role in combating climate change,” Sheikh Mohammed said on Twitter. 

The UAE becomes the latest country to announce huge funding commitment that will help bring carbon dioxide emissions to net zero nearly three decades from today. 

The UAE’s Masdar has just signed an agreement with Iraq to develop five solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in the country that will have a combined capacity of one gigawatt (GW). The project is expected to help Iraq’s efforts to achieve its clean energy and climate change goals. 

Last year, the UAE increased its commitment to combat climate change and bring down greenhouse gas emissions in about a decade. 

In its second “Nationally Determined Contribution” (NDC), the UAE aims to reduce emissions by 23.5 percent compared to “business as usual” by 2030.  

The NDC paper was submitted to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as part of the UAE’s commitment to the Paris Agreement, a global treaty on climate change. 

The UAE also pledged to increase installed clean power capacity, including solar and nuclear, to 14 GW, as well as plant 30 million mangrove seedlings by 2030. 

(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria  ) 

Cleofe.maceda@refinitiv.com

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