Dubai’s efforts to cut CO2 emissions ‘an example to other cities’
DUBAI, October 4, 2023
Dubai’s sustainability strategy boosts the efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and position it as an example to other cities in the world, said Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, the world’s largest district cooling services provider.
“Dubai is an example to other cities in the world in creating energy districts. Air conditioning is a necessity rather than a luxury in the Middle East region due to the hot climate and limited scope for natural cooling. The UAE has been increasingly aware of climate change and global warming, so is one of the early adopters of energy-efficient solutions,” Bin Shafar said at the District Energy Conference (LATAM2023) held in Cartagena, Colombia last week.
Given that space cooling accounts for as much as 70% of the energy consumption in the region's buildings, the adoption of District Cooling stands as an environmentally friendly solution, leading to a substantial reduction in annual CO2 emissions, he maintained.
At the forefront
Bin Shafar said Empower, which was established to provide energy-efficient and world-class district cooling services to the real estate developments in Dubai, is at the forefront of implementing Energy Districts in the region with a total cooling capacity of over 1.5 million refrigeration tonnes.
Utilising a hybrid approach that incorporates public-private partnerships, Empower serves as the preferred district cooling services provider for Dubai's most iconic and landmark projects, boasting a dynamic portfolio of ongoing and upcoming developments in the region.
The CEO said: "The UAE attaches a great deal of importance to sustainability and environmental conservation to mitigate climate change. National and regional policies including the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, UAE Net Zero 2050, Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy, and Dubai's Demand Side Management (DSM) Strategy, which aims to achieve annual savings of 30% in electricity and 30% in water by the year 2030, have been instrumental in our efforts.”
--TradeArabia News Service
