UAE Green Growth Initiative

The UAE faces a complex set of challenges in pursuit of Green Growth. First, it is a hydrocarbon-based economy that must accelerate the speed of economic diversification to mitigate risks from highly volatile oil & gas prices.Second, the country lies in a hyper-arid climate, is highly water-scarce and consumes large amounts of energy for cooling and desalination. Third, it has a rapidly growing population and high dependence on expatriate laborforces. Fourth, its governance structure is highly decentralized (a federal system) and there is an increasing gap in development between Abu Dhabi /Dubai and other emirates.To address such challenges, the UAE developed its UAE Vision 2021 and Green Economy for Sustainable Development Vision to ensure long-term sustainable development. To achieve the goals outlined in thesenational plans it has been identified that the lack of a cohesive national framework that incorporates all sectors and emirates needs to be addressed.