The Opec state that clears its own, greener path
The United Arab Emirates, led by its wealthiest emirate Abu Dhabi, is finally taking the steps y
g
necessary to align its domestic and international policies in the field of climate change. Who would have thought just three years ago that the UAE would stand out as the only Opec state to associate itself with a controversial climate change accord, have a Climate Change Envoy, dub nuclear as clean energy, and, most importantly, set international climate change mitigation ahead of oil industry concerns.
f l d
The United Arab Emirates recently became the first Opec member state to associate itself with the disputed Copenhagen Accord that was negotiated by a small group of states at the UN climate change conference in December last year. The UAE is also said to be establishing a
The UAE is also said to be establishing a Directorate of Energy and Climate Change under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has flirted with the possibility of announcing greenhouse gas emission cuts in comparison to projected business‐as‐usual (BAU) levels. What are the implications of these simultaneous moves for the country and, most interestingly, for the Opec
bloc?
The Accord
The UAE’s association letter, sent to the UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC) in February, was designed to be a clear message to the international community that the UAE is concerned about the negative impacts of climate
concerned about the negative impacts of climate change and is willing to do its fair share in mitigating climate change. This comes despite the fact that the UNFCCC places no commitments on the country to cut its emissions. Despite its GDP per capita rank in the global top‐15, the UAE is exempt from emission cuts because it is classified under the Convention as a developing country.
under
the Convention as a developing country.
The letter gives a rare view to the UAE’s international climate policy positioning, as the state scarcely publishes official statements on the issue. It notes that the UAE has initiated Solar panels will provide engery for Masdar City. ‘numerous domestic programmes’ that would reduce the country’s emissions to below business‐
as‐usual
as
usual levels. It also promises a more detailed levels It also promises a more detailed
follow‐up on the issue. One would hope that this means that the UAE is planning to set a similar goal as, for example, Singapore, a high‐income developing country that the Gulf monarchies often look up to as a model of socio‐economic development, which has pledged to cut emissions by 16 % in relation to BAU emissions by 2020. The letter also notes the importance of promoting carbon capture and storage, as well as nuclear energy technologies, under the international climate negotiating regime.
The importance of countries associating with the Copenhagen Accord is still contingent on the form and direction that the international negotiations
and direction that the international negotiations, currently somewhat in disarray, take over the coming months. What is significant, however, is that so far only two Opec member states have associated themselves with the Accord. Algeria joined the Accord in March, presumably due to its perceived interest in playing an important role in the Africa group in the negotiations. Kuwait has the
Africa group in the negotiations. Kuwait has
explicitly rejected it. Saudi Arabia, which took part in the group of 25‐30 countries that drafted the (continued on next page)
The Opec state that ... (continued)
Copenhagen Accord, informally representing the
voice and interests of the Opec group, has not
associated itself so far and has implicitly rejected
the Accord.
Accord
Climate Change Directorate
Abu Dhabi’s major English newspaper The National reported in February on the setting up of a new Directorate of Energy and Climate Change under the UAE's Foreign Ministry. To understand the significance of this move, one must take a quick dive into the national context.
Abu Dhabi, owner of over 7 % of the world’s proven oil reserves and well over 90 % of the total oil reserves of the seven‐emirate federation it presides over, has for roughly three years now been building itself an image as a ‘future energy giant’. It has declared itself to be the ‘green i t’ It h d l d it lf t b th ‘
energy leader of the region’ and, to earn the title, it has built up an impressive list of alternative energy initiatives, most of which converge under the umbrella of the Masdar Initiative, an alternative energy and technology venture by the Mubadala Development Company. Even better, international media and governments have
international media and governments have bought the brand: from the President of Maldives to Ban Ki‐Moon, the world is praising Masdar and Abu Dhabi for their efforts.
The reality is of course not so green and rosy. The United Arab Emirates still ranks near bottom in several international rankings of environmental sustainability: the world’s largest ecological footprint and third highest per capita CO2 emissions, to mention just two examples. When it comes to development, economic sustainability (i.e. diversification) still trumps environmental sustainability. However, there are a number of important individuals in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere who would like to see this change at
elsewhere, who would like to see this change, at least to some extent. As a sign of this, Abu Dhabi announced in January last year a 7 % renewables
target for 2020.
Interestingly, Masdar's CEO, Sultan Al Jaber, who has become the main voice in Abu Dhabi in promoting climate change mitigation during the past couple of years, will head the Directorate with the titles of Assistant Foreign Minister and Special Envoy on Energy and Climate Change
Special Envoy on Energy and Climate Change, according to The National. In 2009, he was named by Ban Ki‐Moon as a member of the UN’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change. The nomination of Al Jaber potentially marks a shift from an oil industry‐weighted international climate policy to one that seeks a balanced relationship between Abu Dhabi’s alternative energy and climate policies and the imperatives of an oil revenue‐dependent economy.
With potentially wide implications for the UAE's international climate policy positioning, the nomination and the expected establishment of the Climate Change Directorate are a tour de f
force
f
from those elite members in Abu Dhabi who th
lit
b i Ab Dh bi h
have been pushing for the emirate (and with it the federation) to promote development that takes account of environmental sustainability in addition to the usual economic sustainability.
These two moves – the association with the Accord and the new Envoy Accord
and the new Envoy ‐ might mainly have might mainly have
been taken for external branding purposes, but what is important is that they will potentially have far‐reaching implications for Opec's climate change negotiating dynamics that have so far been dominated by a very different tone. They are also finally bringing the ambitious national projects of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s international climate policy closer to each other.
Mari Luomi is a Researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (UPI‐FIIA). Her fields of work
i l d Gulf monarchies; inter‐
include
G lf
hi i
national relations and geopolitics in the Gulf; climate change and security in the Middle East.