DUBAI, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the potential to lead the creation of “green and clean tech jobs” in the Gulf region, UAE officials said Tuesday.
UAE officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said the Gulf Arab state has implemented the new strategic green energy policy, which stimulates creation of green energy jobs.
The remarks were made by officials of Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment at the Dubai Science Park Green Leadership forum.
Laura El-Katiri, a IRENA policy analyst, said in her speech that the UAE has the potential to create 44 percent or 88,000 of the 200,000 jobs to be created by 2030 among the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.
The GCC consists of major energy suppliers the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
As the oil price has plummeted from 110 U.S. dollars per barrel in mid-2014 to 50 dollars, “the thinking has changed in the GCC and their governments have implemented policy plans to transform their industries to green sectors which run on renewable energy and are committed to increasing energy efficiency and the recycling of waste,” El-Katiri explained.
Aisha Al-Abdooli, director of Green Development in UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, lauded the comments by the IRENA analyst.
“The UAE is indeed a pioneer in renewable energy in the region as we foresee the creation of even 160,000 green jobs in our country by 2030, if you combine the potential of employment opportunities in the renewable energy sector, nuclear energy, research and development and green education,” Al-Abdooli said.
The UAE has completed the construction of four nuclear energy plants in the capital Abu Dhab, which, along with solar energy, shall contribute 30 percent of the UAE’s domestic “energy mix.”
First Abu Dhabi Bank, the biggest lender in the UAE, recently issued a 587-million-dollar green bond, the first of its kind in the Middle East, according to the UAE official.
In addition, green education has become a mandatory part of every curriculum at schools in the UAE, she added.
“Transformation of the economy is a challenging and an opportunity,” said Al-Abdooli. “The UAE strategic energy plan aims to increase the use of clean energy by 50 percent by 2050.”
The UAE launched a 100-megawatt solar power station in the desert of Abu Dhabi in 2013 for 600 million dollars, one of the biggest solar parks in the world.
“More solar parks like the Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Park in Dubai are undergoing an expansion process, the latter poised to become a 5,000 Megawatt solar park by 2030,”said Al-Abdooli.
“Thank to these projects, the UAE has managed to generate the cheapest price of solar power in the region,” she added.
Founded in 2009, IRENA is mandated as the global hub for renewable energy cooperation and information exchange. The agency groups more than 170 countries and the European Union.
