Environmental issues in the United Arab Emirates

Climate change

In 2010, the UAE examined, with the support of the Stockholm Environment Institute's US Center, the effects of increasing carbon dioxide emissions and its impact on the weather. The report investigates the effects of climate change on the economy, the infrastructure, the health of citizens and the entire ecosystem. It resulted with a dramatical impact of rising sea levels by affecting 6 percent of its coastal urbanization by the end of the century. The scenario of a one-meter sea level rise would lead to the UAE's loss of 1,155 square kilometers of the country's coast by 2050. Nine meters of sea level rising would flood almost all of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Effects of climate change

Rising sea level

NASA satellites show sea levels rising at a rate of 3.22 millimeters per year. The UN International Governmental Panel on Climate Change also published a report which shows that the sea levels might peak a level of 0.76 meters in 2100. The calculations for the year 2500 show a rise of 1.8 meters, while other estimates are higher. Specifically in the UAE, reports expect a land loss of 1–6% (1,555– 5,000 km²) by 2100.

"Climate change impacts are very important in this part of the world. Global warming has a huge impact in terms of water scarcity and rising sea levels. Those huge cities and huge buildings are very near the sea," Christian de Perthuis, economist and professor at Paris-Dauphine University and Head of the Climate Economics Chair said. If sea levels continue to rise, "it will be very difficult to protect those cities." The consequences of rising sea levels are economic harm and the relocation of low-lying urbanized cities, for instance the population on the famous Palm Islands, a man-made island in Dubai.

In 2010, The Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency published an announcement which shows that 85% of the UAE's population would be affected by rising sea levels as well as 90 percent of its infrastructure.

Dust storms

Dust storms are caused by wind blowing over the desert. The biology department of the United Arab Emirates University investigated dust storm frequencies and strengths on a 5-year time period, between 2004 and 2009, and have ascertained that climate change effects could be the reason for the resultant of a noticeable shift in the characteristics of dust storms. "The range of mineral compositions of the collected dust samples is consistent with temporally and spatially variable dust sources, associated with changing wind patterns over the Persian Gulf."

The reason for this development is given by rising temperatures which causes less precipitation. The consequence is dehydration of an already dry landscape. The UAE's climate condition of hot temperatures and semi-arid landscape affects also the reaction between industrial pollution and airborne dust different than other places in the world. This reaction might support the correlation between the pollution caused by human consumption and the increasing airborne dust frequency.

"Dust provides surfaces for heterogeneous reactions, it can get compounds, dangerous compounds that we could not see in other places" explained Professor Georgiy Stenchikov at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. Mr Stenchikov points out that the reaction between dust and man-made pollutants in the desert of the UAE is unique and must still be investigated by scientists. Moreover, it is possible that the effects are even worse than assumed.

For instance, one man-made pollutant produced by the production and the use of iron causes rising levels of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in the atmosphere. Dimethyl sulfide is responsible for condensation nuclei which are vital for the formation of clouds and precipitation. By oxidation, DMS "will scatter solar radiation effectively with a consequent decrease in global temperature as a climate feedback."

A positive effect of a dust storm is the distribution of mineralogical nutrients which have a good influence on the marine ecosystem.

Mitigating climate change

The UAE hosted the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference. However, the Emirates faced extensive criticism over its human rights restrictions and for appointing the head of an oil company (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company), Sultan Al Jaber, as the President of COP28. Human rights groups condemned Al Jaber's appointment, saying he was incompatible with the role because ADNOC planned to expand its fossil fuel production, causing more damage to the climate.

Nuclear power

The UAE has developed nuclear power to diversify its energy sources and enhance energy security. The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) was established in 2009 to oversee nuclear projects. Construction of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, the country’s first nuclear facility, began in 2011 near Al Dhannah and included four reactors. Additional reactors are being developed in partnership with international firms, under strict safety and regulatory standards.

Solar Power

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is UAE's flagship solar energy project. It sets to become the world's largest single-site solar park by 2030 by combing cutting-edge technologies like concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic panels to generate clean, renewable electricity. With a planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts, the park is reshaping the UAE’s energy future and inspiring global shifts towards clean energy.

Adaption to climate change

Desalination

The ongoing industrialization and the boom in the tourism sector have had a high influence on the country's water consumption, which can not be satisfied by natural resources because of the arid landscape and the hot climate in the United Arab Emirates. The growing pressure on politicians shapes the UAE's huge investments in high-level technology in order to supply the growing demand of water consumption.

The UAE requires desalination from the Persian Gulf to meet their groundwater demand. While desalination supports groundwater supplies, it also highly increases energy demand because of its required power to produce 40% to 99% of all drinking water. The Gulf monarchy's desalination pattern reaches high levels on the global scale, by controlling 60% of worldwide constructed desalination plants. The procedure of desalination generates two types of water, water that satisfies drinking water conditions and the second "by-product" contains a concentrated salt level. The by-product is drained into the sea for cost-saving purposes. The consequences are noticeable, with seas becoming "hypersaline", causing a reduction on desalination plants effectivity. The costs of desalination increase simultaneously.

The UAE's wasteful procedures to exploit groundwater have led to a crisis level on fresh water resources. Reports are available, which show a sinking groundwater level of 1 meter per year. The contamination of water aquifer by saltwater contributes to this situation.

Since the 1960s, when the first desalination plant was constructed by Weir Westgarth, the UAE's drinking water supply has always depended on this technology. In the 2014 environment statistics report from the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi, it demonstrates its sharply increasing water consumption from 667 million cubic meters in 2005 to 1.126 billion cubic meters in 2014.

By 2025 the Arab countries will face serious levels of water scarcity regardless of climate change. Human activities like the construction of dams, unsustainable irrigation practices, and wasteful water overconsumption caused this approaching drought. 80% of Arabs water consumption is used for agriculture.

Loss of wildlife habitat

Coastal urbanization

In the last 30 years, the United Arab Emirates boom in the oil industry has caused largely urbanized cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Their approach in technology, economic and politics are represented by high-tech innovations, enhanced infrastructure and an established industry with worldwide operating companies. Those conditions shaped the UAE's society and powered the urbanization in their development.

The growing industrial business influenced people from all over the world to settle down in the UAE. Driven by the increasing prosperity, society overconsumes to adapt to the rising living standard. Also, the high demand for cheap labor attracts many migrants.

The urbanization of UAE influences the environment, the social structure, and the economy in this area. Also, the growing tourism sector in this urban environment challenges the country's food, social and energy security. In detail, to provide the growing population with food, the UAE overfishes and overgrazes. The waste is reaching crisis levels while the exploitation of oil and gas comes with wealth but destroys environmental habitat.

"Ecological footprint World resources are being consumed at a rate 25% faster on average than their availability". That is caused by the UAE's rapidly growing population in their major cities while environmental resources are rare. Urbanization destroyed the natural habitat and industrial development led to water pollution and exploitation of natural resources.

In 1971, when the United Arab Emirates was founded, the country´s population was approximately 300,000 people. Today, the country has over 9,000,000 people while 89,5% live in urban areas. Within the next 100 years, the centralization on the coastal area will face a rising sea level caused by climate change. For instance, 50% of the United Arab Emirates population would be affected by a sea-level rising of 5 meters.

Limited agricultural land

"The interannual, monthly and daily distribution of climate variables (e.g., temperature, radiation, precipitation, water vapour pressure in the air and wind speed) affects a number of physical, chemical and biological processes that drive the productivity of agricultural, forestry and fisheries systems." Through the impact of pollution, the exploitation of natural resources and destruction of wildlife habitat, climate variables change and affect environmental conditions. This leads to less productivity in agriculture through water scarcity and soil erosion.

The United Arab Emirates have had ever a high dependency on the international food market because of their semi-arid landscape. Through these basic conditions, agriculture is almost not possible. That is the reason why only 81 000 hectares of cultivated land exists. Also, only 1 percent of their water consumption can be supplied by rainfall. UAE's food security is challenged even more by the effects of climate change. To support the domestic cultivation of raw materials, the country has extended its agricultural policies, for instance by implementing new support of new innovations in agriculture technology, a more efficient water usage, and specific crop selection.

The UAE's region of Ra's al-Khaimah owns the most successful agricultural plants, watered by the mountains of Oman. Nevertheless, the domestic production is only considered as 1 percent of countries gross domestic product. Since agriculture is only rarely possible, the UAE have a high dependency on grocery imports. For instance, their total imports were forecasted with US$20 billion in 2006. The country is considered as one of the largest net importer of staple food on a global scale. The import contains mostly wheat, rice, and sugar. India is the most important supplier with 15 to 20 percent of the total. The Emirates also lease areas in countries like Sudan, Morocco and Pakistan, to provide food security.

Almost all Gulf Cooperation Council states depend on agri-food import except Saudi Arabia. Some of the GCC countries began to search for farmland because of the increasing international food prices.

Air pollution

The United Arab Emirates is a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, listed as having 29th highest carbon dioxide emissions. This was caused by the boom in oil-industry in the early 21st century which contributed to a great increase in population and its consumption. The United Arab Emirate's fossil fuels have always been the main factor in energy security and economic activity.

From 1990 until 2008, carbon dioxide emissions increased from 60.8 to 146.9 million tons. From 2009 to 2010, the energy demand in Dubai continued to increase over 10%. In order to satisfy the rising energy demand, the Emirates responded in 2011 with a new mixture of energy supplies by including coal as the most important power source as well as natural gas, nuclear power and a low input of solar energy. In 2015, UAE's energy sector polluted about 50% of the total carbon dioxide emissions. By 2020, the UAE target increasing sustainable energy by 20 percent.

As of 2023, the UAE's electricity generation was predominantly from natural gas and oil, with renewables and nuclear energy contributing 14% of the total capacity. The energy sector is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for a significant portion of the nation's total CO₂ output.

Air pollution in the UAE poses serious health risks, including respiratory issues and cardiovascular diseases. A report by Human Rights Watch in 2023 highlighted the detrimental effects of fossil fuel-related air pollution, particularly on migrant workers.

In 2024, the UAE pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 47% by 2035 compared to 2019 levels, as part of its updated Nationally Determined Contributions. The country continues to invest in renewable energy projects, such as the 1-gigawatt solar facility launched by Masdar in 2025.