Ian Lewis and James Gavin question the limits of sustainability in Abu Dhabi

When WWF International bestowed on the United Arab Emirates the unwelcome title of having the world’s largest ecological footprint in 2006, the publicity was viewed as a disaster by the leadership of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the emirates. The oil-rich emirate had been trying to shake-off its image as the home of irresponsible playboys with gas-guzzling cars and huge per capita energy consumption, as it strove to build up its presence as a serious player on the world stage.

Now, Abu Dhabi is fighting back with the creation of the Masdar Initiative, a massive renewable energy and sustainable living project, which aims to diversify the economy, reduce the emirate’s carbon footprint and boost research into new technology for use worldwide.

The flagship project is Masdar City, plans for which were unveiled in January 2008. Labelled by its creators as the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city, Masdar City’s electricity supply is to be generated by photovoltaic solar panels, while other variants of solar energy will be used to power various cooling and water desalination plants and local irrigation will come from recycled waste water.

Public transport within the 6km² city is to produce no carbon emissions, sustainable and energy-efficient materials are to be used to construct buildings and virtually all waste is to be recycled. The city is scheduled for completion in 2015, when the master plan envisages it will house 50,000 residents and 1,500 companies taking advantage of tax-free operations and other incentives to develop sustainable energy-related businesses.

Other components of the initiative include the Masdar Institute – a not-for-profit, graduate-level engineering institution with a focus on renewable energy and sustainable technology, run in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; a research network bringing the institute together with scientific institutions in the UK, Germany, Japan, the US and elsewhere; a €160m Masdar Clean Tech Fund, run in partnership with Credit Suisse and Consensus Business Group, to support relevant projects, which has been operational since 2006; a special economic zone; and a number of other units designed to foster technological research.

Much of this has yet to be realised and given that presently any number of impressive-sounding, but yet-to-materialise environmental initiatives are being loudly touted by some of the world’s biggest polluters – not least the neighbouring emirate of Dubai – it is easy to wonder whether the Masdar Initiative is anything more than just a publicity stunt, designed to curry global favour.

If it is a just publicity stunt then it is certainly not a cheap one for Mubadala, the government investment vehicle financing the initiative, given that a total development budget of €13.9bn is being allocated to the city and associated activities. Even allowing for the potential to recoup some of the costs through the sale of carbon credits accruing to the project under the Kyoto climate change protocol, this outlay is not a drop in the ocean, even for wealthy Abu Dhabi.

Beyond the vast sums, those collaborating with Abu Dhabi on Masdar suggest the initiative does reflect a genuine change in thinking in the emirate and could have tangible benefits at the global level for the development of sustainable technologies.

Tellingly, perhaps, one of the collaborators is WWF International, the environmental group that highlighted the UAE’s energy profligacy two years ago when it said that, according to WWF’s methodology, each resident of the UAE had an ecological footprint that would require seven planets the size of earth to support it if the world’s population shared this lifestyle. That compared to five planets for the US and three for Europe – though given their much larger populations these areas have a much larger overall ecological footprint.

“When we came out with our report putting the UAE at the top of the table, Abu Dhabi’s leaders were shocked, hurt and angry. We had a lot of meetings with them and they decided to do something about it,” says Eduardo Gonçalves, global campaign coordinator for WWF International’s One Planet Living initiative.