The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considering setting a net-zero goal, people familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg. If the federation of seven sheikhdoms and nearly 10 million inhabitants declares a net-zero goal, it would become the first Gulf oil producer committed to achieve a balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere.

As of April 2021, 44 countries and the European Union have pledged to meet a net‐zero emissions target, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) reported. A long-awaited United Nations report published on Aug. 9 says evidence is unequivocal that humans are causing climate change, in particular by burning fossil fuels, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for action to avert a climate catastrophe.

“Whether it is the United Arab Emirates, China, Japan or the United States, it is already important to have a net-zero goal, then comes the obvious debate over how credible this is and how are they going to get there,” stressed Assaad Razzouk, a Lebanese-British renewable energy entrepreneur based in Singapore who hosts The Angry Clean Energy Guy podcast.

“Net-zero goals are aspirational objectives,” Razzouk told Al-Monitor.