Energy sector causes '76% of UAE carbon footprints'

Dubai: Carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector are causing 76 per cent of the UAE's high impact on the planet, measured globally with the carbon footprint indicator.

The Emirates Wildlife Society and World Wildlife Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF) have been compiling data on the energy industry in the UAE and population figures to submit for the next WWF's Living Planet Report, which in 2006 ranked the UAE as placing the most stress per capita on the planet.

The lack of any federal statistical database is the biggest challenge to assessing the UAE's consumption of natural resources and production of waste, said Razan Mubarak, director of EWS-WWF.

The Global Footprint Network is a sustainability indicator introduced to measure human demand on natural resources. "We are not refuting the [2006] results. We are partnering up to improve the quality of the tool," said Mubarak.

The research, titled ‘Al Basama Al Beeiya', will determine if this is an accurate assessment and will come up with a consensual estimate of the country's Ecological Footprint.