UAE will be world green leader: minister

HE Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad

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The UAE will always be number one for the move towards sustainable measures, despite its past recognition as the world’s largest environmental footprint per capita, the minister of environment and water has said.

HE Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad said the UAE had heeded the 2006 report by the World Wildlife Fund that put the country top as biggest consumer, and has since pledged to be the leader in reducing water and emissions.

"We always like to be number one, but on the right side of things," the minister told an audience at the Green Building Congress yesterday, referring to the original report. "That is why this country became the third country in the world, after Japan and Switzerland, to launch an ecological initiative to be able to understand why we are number one."

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For the last five years the UAE has put in place a number of major initiatives to address the issue of resource consumption and building in a more sustainable way. Landmark achievements include the establishment of a green building code by Dubai Municipality; the development of the Estidama building rating system by Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council; and the development of Masdar City, the master-planned city development that will be a global hub for renewable energy and clean technology.

"Masdar has been doing a great job for us, and we really see it as a house developing technology for the country and the whole world, " he said.

Around 80% of the country's ecological footprint is from carbon, he explained, with the climate partly to blame for the high water usage. Within this, 70 percent of emissions comes from all buildings, with 35% of this from the residential sector.

But the country's plan of action has been swift, he added. "Five years ago, no-one was talking about green building. But today, there is the green building code and Estidama as well as recent regulation for air conditioning units.

"That's just on the regulation side. but what is more important is people's awareness. We believe we cannot create change without a change in behaviour, and this has to do with an awareness of the use of resources.

Saeed Al Abbar, vice chairman of Emirates Green Buildings Council, credited the country for its progress. "There has been a lot of positive action and a long way to go," he said.