UAE's development strategy is centred around climate action: Industry expert

Yahya Anouti, Partner with Strategy Middle East

Yahya Anouti, Partner with Strategy Middle East, the strategy consulting business arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), affirmed that the UAE is powered by a wise leadership with a forward-looking vision to invest the country's wealth into the people, and to achieve a balance between economic growth and environmental responsibility, adding that the UAE's development strategy is centred around climate action.

In a statement to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on the sidelines of COP28, Anouti, who is also a member of the firm's Energy, Resources and Sustainability practice in the Middle East, said that the UAE has become a leader in sustainable finance in the GCC region, especially with the launch of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi sustainable finance declarations, in addition to the publication of the first Guiding Principles for Sustainable Finance.

He explained that the UAE Sustainable Finance Framework 2021-2031 has defined a national agenda for sustainable finance, while the Abu Dhabi Global Market and the Dubai International Financial Centre have collaborated with international institutions to provide training programmes for finance professionals.

Anouti noted that the UAE is the first country in the region to commit to achieving net zero with the launch of important initiatives, including requiring listed companies to prepare reports on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, adding that the UAE's announcement during COP28 of a new $30 billion climate solutions fund will provide a great push for countries and projects that require financing to scale up climate solutions.

The UAE invested a total of $36 billion in renewable energy and clean technologies around the world last year, he said, and it plans to invest an additional $160 billion in clean and renewable energy sources over the next three decades to achieve its climate neutrality goal.

Anouti explained that the UAE is currently the fourth-largest country in the world in terms of hosting start-ups in the field of renewables, with the announcement of about a thousand ambitious projects last year, an increase of 84 percent.