The UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has made notable achievements across the clean energy, infrastructure, housing and transportation sectors during 2024. These achievements highlight its steadfast commitment to enhancing sustainable development and ensuring the well-being of society with a focus on innovation and technology.
Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, said that these achievements are the culmination of a strategic vision aimed at balancing urban development with environmental protection. He noted that the UAE recognizes the importance of international cooperation in the transition to clean and sustainable energy and is striving to enhance joint investments in this field, supporting its position as a global hub for developing and exporting clean energy solutions.
AED500 billion investment to achieve climate neutrality
In the energy sector, the UAE continues its steady progress towards achieving its ambitious goals in clean and renewable energy. This approach involves reducing dependence on fossil fuels and increasing the contribution of renewable energy to the national energy mix.
To accelerate the transition to clean energy and develop sustainable energy solutions, the UAE plans to invest an additional AED500 billion over the next thirty years to achieve climate neutrality. Currently, the UAE’s renewable energy production stands at 6 GW and nuclear energy at 5.6 GW.
Abu Dhabi has committed to reducing carbon emissions by 22 percent by 2027 and has implemented key initiatives to achieve this goal including the implementation of a carbon measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) program. The city has also launched several sustainability initiatives to reduce waste including the Single-Use Plastic Policy in 2020 and the ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022.
In Dubai, the Green Hydrogen initiative, launched by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has generated approximately 90 tons of green hydrogen since May 2021. A substantial portion of this hydrogen went to green energy production. Over 2.5 tons of hydrogen have been delivered to the ENOC Group’s Service Station of the Future (SSoF) at Expo City Dubai, which is enough to power 500 vehicles and has resulted in a reduction of over 40 tons of CO2 emissions.
UAE updates climate commitments
The UAE was also one of the first countries to submit an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Climate Agreement. The UAE committed to a 47 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 2035 compared to 2019 levels.
It also plans to triple its investments in renewable energy over the next seven years to increase its share in its power generation capacity to 30 percent by 2030. The UAE will also explore pathways that seek to achieve a 50 percent reduction in emissions from the power and water sectors by 2035 relative to 2019 levels.
Infrastructure investments reach AED11.8 billion
The UAE has significantly advanced its infrastructure sector during 2024 by launching a series of vital projects to meet the nation’s economic growth objectives and promoting development across various industries. Al Mazrouei said that the total federal assets have reached nearly 3,000 federal buildings, including healthcare, educational, government service facilities and mosques.
The total investments in infrastructure between 2018 and 2023 amounted to AED11.8 billion, covering infrastructure projects and maintenance under the Ministry’s investment program and the Follow-up Committee for the Initiatives of His Highness the President of the UAE. This includes AED6.62 billion for federal government buildings and AED5.18 billion for federal roads, dams, and waterways.
Key achievements in the sector also included the historic start of commercial operations for Unit 4 at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, marking its full delivery. The Barakah Plant is now generating 40TWh of electricity per year, providing up to 25 percent of the UAE’s electricity, clean and carbon-free.
Abu Dhabi approves 144 infrastructure projects
In Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Center announced the Executive Council’s approval of 144 projects across the emirate with a total budget of around AED66 billion. These projects will span various sectors, including housing and quality of life, education and human capital, tourism, and natural resources. Among the key projects, the Integrated Transport Center unveiled the 25-km median islands project, designed to accommodate 8,000–10,000 vehicles per hour in each direction.
Other projects include traffic enhancements on Musaffah Road (E30), Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street (E20), and the construction of new bridges on Abu Dhabi-Al Ain Road (E22) and 79th Street in Mohamed bin Zayed City.
Dubai announces major projects
In Dubai, major projects were announced. The new passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport is set to become the world’s largest airport upon completion, with a cost of AED128 billion and a capacity to handle 260 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo annually. The airport will accommodate 400 aircraft gates and feature five parallel runways alongside the introduction of new aviation technologies.
The second project, the Tasreef initiative, aims to develop Dubai’s rainwater drainage network at a cost of AED30 billion, increasing capacity by 700 percent.
The third project involves expanding the Dubai Exhibition Center to double the number of major events from 300 to over 600 annually by 2033. Additionally, Dubai opened a key two-lane bridge spanning 1,000 meters, connecting Hessa Street to Al Khail Street, reducing travel time from 15 minutes to 3 minutes.
Housing sector boost
In the housing sector, Al Mazrouei explained that the Sheikh Zayed Housing Program, since its establishment in 1999, has enhanced family stability by issuing over 90,000 housing support decisions worth nearly AED60 billion.
The minister noted that in the last three years, the program issued nearly 13,000 housing support decisions totaling AED10 billion. These included 10,738 loan and financing decisions worth approximately AED8.8 billion, and 2,347 grant decisions worth AED1.567 billion, contributing to a 95 percent reduction in the backlog of pending decisions.
He also highlighted the “Manzli” bundle, which caters to the beneficiaries of the Sheikh Zayed Housing Program, offering 18 housing services to citizens through a collaboration between 24 federal and local government entities. It is user-friendly as it reduces the number of required documents from 10 to two, the number of processes from 14 to three, and the number of service fields from 32 to five.
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UAE advances maritime sector
Underscoring the UAE’s leading role in supporting the maritime sector, the country was chosen as the host of the World Maritime Day Parallel Event in 2025. The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure also signed a cooperation memorandum with NeoNautica, a company specializing in digital technology and services for the maritime sector, to develop and operate the “UAE Blue Pass Platform.”
Moreover, the UAE has successfully launched the Blue Pass Multimodal, a unified digital portal that designs main pathways for integrating and accelerating multi-modal shipping. Additionally, the country has actively participated in the International Maritime Organization (IMO), presenting numerous working papers that contributed to enhancing the efficiency of global maritime operations.
UAE leads logistics growth
Regarding the logistics sector, Al Mazrouei said that the UAE ranked seventh globally in logistics performance in 2023, first globally in the quality of air transport infrastructure, and third in facilitating sea freight trade, providing ship fuel and air transport efficiency.
Additionally, the UAE ranked fifth globally in port rankings, fifth globally and first in the Arab region in road quality, ninth globally in port efficiency, 12th in maritime transport and 13th globally in maritime connectivity and shipping lines.
The Ministry has achieved exceptional milestones within the Bureaucracy Zero Program, which aims to simplify and reduce procedures. It has eliminated bureaucracy in 21 services and processes, canceling nearly 745,000 government procedures and reducing service completion time by 75 percent. This led to saving 21 million hours of customers’ time and reducing field and electronic visits by more than 75 percent, increasing customer satisfaction by 91 percent.
