UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) started operating its first dual-fuel coal unit at the state-owned Hassyan Clean-Coal Power Project in 2020, with a second unit commissioned in 2021. The power plant ran on imported coal, but by February 2022, the complex was converted to run solely on gas in line with Dubai’s 2050 net-zero goals. As for other UAE coal proposals, Utico confirmed in 2021 that it was exiting the RAK plant “clean coal carbon capture” project it had entered with Shanghai Electric in 2014, setting its sights on hydrogen production instead. And with no recent developments on the proposed Ras al-Khaimah and Ajman plants, the UAE may have seen the first and last of its coal power generation years in 2020 and 2021.

In December 2020, under the Paris Agreement framework, the UAE pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 23.5% over 10 years, from a baseline that assumes moderate economic growth. In September 2022, the country updated their pledge to a 31% reduction in emissions by 2030. In their third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) from November 2024, the UAE committed to a 47% reduction in emissions by 2035. The country has also committed to increasing its proportion of clean energy to 30% by 2030. The UAE joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) during the COP28 climate summit in December 2023 and has pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2050.