CAIRO: Dubai is looking to cut its carbon output and reduce its overall carbon footprint. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced a new strategy that aims to do exactly that by reducing the city's environmental impact through new initiatives. Originally announced in November last year, DEWA and investors will collaborate with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence (DCCE) in reducing the city's footprint, which in recent years has spiraled out of control. A city official statement said that in order to “reduce our carbon emissions, this new initiative is extremely important and we are looking forward to seeing its impact.” DEWA and its co-sponsors will offer “expertise as well as carbon technical and knowledge support to firms trying to adopt cleaner technologies.” At the heart of the new initiative is a means to assess and reduce companies emissions, which DEWA believes will be instrumental in cutting the city's footprint. “The DCCE, the first of its kind in the Middle East in term of specialization in Carbon Emission Reductions, will provide the public and private sector with the highest level of expertise to quantify and operationalize environmental upgrades,” said Saeed Mohammad al Tayer, the DEWA's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, in a statement. The United Arab Emirates in recent years has moved quickly to increase awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions. Through educational endeavors, the city has initiated a number of ideas. Neighbor Abu Dhabi is even creating an entirely carbon free city. “We are establishing a leading knowledge repository on Carbon matters in the region, which will be accessible to all concerned parties in order to create a Climate Change Venture Capital Fund to provide capital and incentives and to attract global leading technology companies to Dubai” Tayer added. “We aim to create a portfolio of Environmental credits, structuring, investing and advising emission reduction projects, to meet the needs of Dubai and regional institutions and achieve ‘Carbon Neutrality',” he stated. DEWA says on its website that it “focuses on adopting eco-friendly technologies to increase the efficiency of its electricity production and water desalination plants.” BM
