Dubai: According to the UAE National strategy 2021, the Ministry of Energy should lead the efforts to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by 15 per cent by 2021, Meshayel Lehsooni, head of climate change in the Ministry of Energy, said.

“Many countries use non-market mechanisms, such as carbon tax regimes, to promote the uptake of environmentally friendly technologies. The UAE doesn’t have such a system of corporate taxation, making it more difficult to pursue a fiscal approach,” said Ivano Iannelli, CEO of the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence. “However, the UAE is not simply standing by, waiting for an agreement to be reached. It is taking a proactive approach towards developing a long-term carbon market strategy.”

The carbon footprint of our planet is increasing by the hour and consequent global warming is causing irreparable damage to the environment. Our energy-hungry society guzzles tons of fossil fuels every second, belching out carbon-intensive smoke into the surroundings, inexorably choking the very life out of our ecosystems.

This drive towards self-destruction is quite ironical given the fact that Nature offers us such varied sources of natural energy which are clean, renewable, abundant and as yet untapped. Today, April 22, the world celebrates Earth Day and it seeks to draw attention to the fact that we need to take urgent action to save our planet and move to a sustainable future.

Dubai: Industry experts, as part of Earth Day celebrations, lauded the UAE’s concrete push for low-carbon growth by increasing its focus on renewables.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Earth Day — celebrated every April 22 — a global movement that tackles climate change. This year’s theme, ‘It’s Our Turn To Lead’, focuses on economic growth and sustainability, on pushing citizens and organisations from divesting from fossil fuels and putting their money into renewable energy solutions.

Dubai: The UAE moved one position up in network readiness index (NRI) and leads the ladder in the Gulf rankings due to the government’s continued vision to drive the development of information and communication technology (ICT) decisively and to expand it to all segments of the economy and society.

NRI, produced by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with Insead annually, measures the preparedness of an economy to use ICT to boost competitiveness and well-being and tracks the development of ICTs around the world.