The UAE will invest up to AED200 billion (USD$54.5 billion) in order to meet its targets to significantly increase clean energy capacity and production over the next several years and to progress towards its 2050 climate goals, according to a statement by Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure.

Speaking at the ADIPEC energy industry conference in Abu Dhabi, Al Mazrouei said that the investments will aim to “decarbonise our economy and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,” according to state-owned media outlet Emirates News Agency.

The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil producers, with average production of approximately 3.2 million barrels of petroleum and liquids per day. It was also the first country in the Middle East to set a net zero goal, which it announced in 2021, ahead of the COP26 climate conference. The UAE has launched a series of actions in recent years to ramp its energy transition and decarbonization investments, including committing $30 billion to launch a new climate investment platform, ALTÉRRA, at the Dubai-hosted COP28 conference last year. State-owned energy company ADNOC announced earlier this year that it will allocate $23 billion to decarbonization projects and technologies and lower-carbon solutions, and recently also launched an accelerated target to achieve net zero operational emissions by 2045. Notably, however, ADNOC also recently accelerated its goal to increase hydrocarbon production capacity to 5 million barrels per day by 2027 from its previous 2030 target.

Al Mazrouei said:

“We continue to meet today’s global energy needs while heavily investing in clean energy systems for the future. We already have significant investments in clean energy projects in operation and others under development.”

The remarks by Al Mazrouei follows an update to the UAE’s “Energy Strategy 2050” last year outlining plans to mobilize between AED150 and AED200 billion to meet increasing energy demand driven by economic growth. The updated strategy also included goals to triple the share of renewable energy by 2030, and increase the share of installed clean energy capacity in the energy mix to 30% by 2030.

In his remarks at ADIOEC, Al Mazrouei also highlighted the UAE’s work on promoting the energy transition outside of its own borders, noting:

“We will be tripling the capacity of renewable energy, at least… Whatever we are doing here in the Emirates, we are not doing only in the Emirates. We are working in more than 40 countries from Africa to Central Asia to the world where we are promoting renewable energies, putting investments and we have shown those countries how that transformation is, and what benefits it brings to their economies.