UAE-UK Business Council Pushes for Closer Collaboration in Decarbonising the Built Environment

Date Posted:Tue, 25th Jun 2024

UAE-UK Business Council Pushes for Closer Collaboration in Decarbonising the Built Environment

The UAE-UK Business Council has today published its White Paper on UK-UAE Collaboration in Decarbonising the Built Environment Barriers and Opportunities. The paper will be presented to both Governments for consideration at the next UK-UAE Ministerial Joint Economic Committee Meeting.

 

The paper is the outcome of several meetings between experts from both countries and a Summit hosted by the UAE-UK Business Council at Heriot-Watt University - Dubai Campus, during CoP28 in December 2023.

The campaign focussed on three key themes:

- Opportunities for collaboration in the retrofitting of buildings

- Sharing expertise in improving data analysis of the carbon emissions from the construction sector

- The decarbonisation of cement and the potential for commercialising alternative, lower carbon building materials.

The paper makes several recommendations for enhancing collaboration between the two countries on decarbonising the built environment. These include:

- Sharing of best practice in developing building codes that focus on the utilisation of sustainable and innovative construction materials and practices.

- Ensuring that the regulatory environment in both countries acts as an enabler of green construction, with the dismantling of market access barriers hindering UK-UAE collaboration in this sector.

- Encouraging increased collaboration on improving understanding of the whole lifecycle carbon footprint of built assets - from inception to end-of-life, and factoring in Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, to more effectively pre-empt and mitigate the environmental impact of new construction projects in the UK and UAE

The UAE-UK Business Council will track progress made on these recommendations on a six-monthly basis.

The campaign was Co-Chaired by two members of the UAE-UK Business Council Advisory Committee – Campbell Grey, CEO for the Middle East and Africa, AtkinsRéalis; and Mohammed Al Baloushi, Director - UAE Real Estate, UAE Investments Platform, Mubadala.

Bradley Jones, Executive Director of the UAE-UK Business Council, commented:

“The construction sector was a major focus of discussions at CoP28. Collaboration between the UK and the UAE in reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment, which currently contributes up to 40% of global carbon emissions, will help to deliver on the commitment both countries have made to reach Net Zero by 2050. The UK and the UAE have considerable expertise in retrofitting, developing sophisticated datasets, decarbonising cement and creating alternative building materials, and we believe that significant opportunities are emerging for both countries to work in commercial partnership with each other in these areas”.

Click below to view the full White Paper

Collaboration in Decarbonisation of the Built Environment 2024

To find out more, please contact Kawther Taleb, Head of Policy & Campaigns, UAE-UK Business Council at [email protected]