UAE embraces waste-to-energy

Aspirations to mitigate the federation’s throwaway culture are belatedly being turned into reality

A wealthy population combined with a weak tradition of environmental awareness has put the UAE’s per capita rates of solid waste generation well above the global average. A vast oil endowment has similarly engendered profligate fossil fuel use, and hence carbon emissions more than four times the world mean, from its population of only 9.5mn. However, for nearly a decade, the federation has also been in the regional vanguard of a belated conversion to renewables—envisaged as accounting for 44pc of the energy mix by mid-century. Meanwhile, it committed in 2018 to diverting 75pc of its solid waste away from landfill, albeit at a now-unattainable target date of this year. The contract was