In 1992, politics and sustainability joined hands for the first time at the Rio Earth Summit in Brazil. This year at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, COP21, leaders from around the world will attempt to create a legally binding agreement on climate protection in order to prevent global temperatures rising more than 2OC. Senior Consultant at First Climate, Shivram Mukherjee, looks into how the UAE has prepared itself and its construction industry to adapt
Following the directions of its leaders, the UAE has formally submitted its Intended Nationally-Determined Contribution (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The INDC is an international agreement where countries have agreed to publicly outline what post-2020 climate actions they intend to take to combat global warming.
UAE’s INDC reflects the nation’s economic diversification strategy and its commitment to sustainable development, harnessing innovation and green growth to ensure prosperity and environmental protection. Global governments have agreed to submit INDC plans, detailing the actions they intend to take to limit greenhouse emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. In UAE’s Vision 2021, one of its major aims includes the target of 24% electricity to be generated from clean energy. According to the Ministry of Energy the last record of the same was 0.2% in 2014.
During COP21 held in Paris from 30 November to 8 December, leaders from 193 countries are expected to finalize a new global climate change agreement which will set a framework for international efforts to combat climate change. The new agreement evaluates the accumulation of negotiations since 2011 and formulates a global agenda that will help reinforce and build on international actions to fight climate change.
The UAE’s actions are already underway with a directive plan to address climate change and transform the nation’s energy mix. Though the UAE is a major oil producer, it has readily incorporated clean energy and sustainability on the national agenda. Clean energy in particular has been widely adopted in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with a special focus on solar. Clean energy projects such as the national grid through Shams 1, a first-of-its-kind concentrated solar plant in Abu Dhabi, and the construction of the 1GW Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park in Dubai has been revolutionary in the region.
The UAE is also introducing energy-efficiency standards, funding the creation of world-class research centres, and is advancing critical innovations such as Carbon Capture Usage and Storage. In early November 2015, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) along with International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) held a joint workshop to discuss the possibility of residential and distributed solar in the region.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, is contributing to the UAE’s clean energy leadership by establishing an integrated ‘new-energy’ industry in Abu Dhabi for knowledge export around the world. It is the region’s largest supplier of clean energy, and takes an integrated approach to sustainability by combining academia, research and development, investment and technology deployment, to spur innovation and investment in clean energy. IRENA, headquartered within Masdar City, is also a reflection of the UAE’s commitment to addressing the world’s most pressing energy and climate challenges.
What’s in it for the construction sector?
The construction industry and built environment is accountable for a major part of emitted carbon, especially in the Middle East. With the UAE already considered as a global construction hub, it has taken giant strides in the implementation of sustainable and energy efficient construction.
In the last five years, the UAE has incorporated many new sustainable projects including Sustainable City, DEWA’s headquarters, a number of green globe certified hotels, and the retrofit of a number of government buildings particularly under the Emirates Green Building Council’s initiative. In addition, Dubai Municipality has announced green building codes to guide all new construction projects happening in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors.
As World Expo 2020, FIFA World Cup 2022, and endless events drive more people into the UAE, sustainable construction becomes more and more necessary.
In Abu Dhabi alone there is a rising need for new residences. The emirate’s average annual population growth of 7.7% has created a significant demand for housing that is currently outstripping supply.
With mega-projects underway, such as the upcoming Burj2020 District, Abu Dhabi’s Midfield Terminal Building and Meydan One, as well as increased spending on social infrastructure, the UAE saw new and planned projects valued at an estimated total of $315bn last year.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are definitely leading the way for sustainable development here in the Middle East, with the municipalities having provided minimum standards that all developers must adhere to. The emirates are reportedly driving higher regional standards in the outdoor construction and design sector. For example, UAE regulations stipulate that 25% of a project’s development area must be set aside for environmentally-responsible landscaping.
Expected Outcomes: COP21
With the second commitment period slated to end in 2020, ideally known as KP2), the onus is on the Annex 1 as well as non-Annex 1 countries to come up with dedicated CO2 reduction plans. Governments are in no mood to repeat the failures of Copenhagen. What’s changed is that the big players have a better idea of each other’s position, reducing the extent of last-minute brinkmanship that has characterised previous UN climate summits. The Paris summit is likely to spur an agreement on a more inclusive international climate policy framework that captures current levels of ambition, and encourages further effort in future. Not all aspects of the deal will be legally binding, but it will cover a much greater percentage of global emissions than Kyoto ever did.
Major Challenges for UAE
The UAE construction industry, which has been witnessing unprecedented growth in the past few years, is facing increasing challenges such as getting foreign workers into the country as well as rising cost of raw materials, including cement and steel. In the past few years, the UAE’s efforts to diversify away from oil has fuelled a massive growth in buildings and investment in the country, with the construction sector emerging as an important economic driver.
It is deemed a very likely proposition that there would be nationwide GHG reduction targets, such an action would definitely call for stringent norms from both Annex1 and non-Annex1 countries post COP 21. UAE being a pioneer in the construction sector, would effectively need to switch from usage of conventional energy resources to non-conventional energy resources.
With UAE having rapidly emerged in recent years as a leading investor in clean energy technologies, the key challenge here would be to embrace newer trends in sustainable construction which would have a two pronged impact in UAE’s growing economy. It would help in promoting a sustainable future by reducing the conventional energy usage and it would also help in complying with the GHG reduction targets. Indeed, the less a country depends on finite resources such as natural gas and oil, the stronger and more stable the economy will remain in the face of energy cost increases or reduced supplies.
From construction point of few it may be prudent to note that, some construction materials have low impact on CO2 emissions that result from raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation, installation, maintenance and recycling, but provide a moderate reduction in terms of operational energy, and vice versa. Others positively impact the embodied energy and environmental performance and can optimise the cooling and heating energy performance. Replacing or at least reducing the use of some construction material such as concrete, reinforcing steels, formwork, and gypsum board have a direct impact on CO2 emissions. Some materials and construction systems can decrease the amount of CO2 emissions by around 6.9%.
Although from contractor’s perspective, the main challenge would be obvious rise in cost of raw materials which would eventually add to rise in the overall budget, but the picture definitely looks greener on the other side, with various energy efficiency improvement initiatives, usage of low GHG intensive construction raw material are being used. The stringent Green Building norms would add a cutting edge in UAE’s staggering growth in construction industry.