UAE

Critically Insufficient4°C+ World

NDCs with this rating fall well outside of a country’s “fair share” range and are not at all consistent with holding warming to below 2°C let alone with the Paris Agreement’s stronger 1.5°C limit. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming would exceed 4°C.

Highly insufficient< 4°C World

NDCs with this rating fall outside of a country’s “fair share” range and are not at all consistent with holding warming to below 2°C let alone with the Paris Agreement’s stronger 1.5°C limit. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming would reach between 3°C and 4°C.

Insufficient< 3°C World

NDCs with this rating are in the least stringent part of a country’s “fair share” range and not consistent with holding warming below 2°C let alone with the Paris Agreement’s stronger 1.5°C limit. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming would reach over 2°C and up to 3°C.

2°C Compatible< 2°C World

NDCs with this rating are consistent with the 2009 Copenhagen 2°C goal and therefore fall within a country’s “fair share” range, but are not fully consistent with the Paris Agreement long term temperature goal. If all government NDCs were in this range, warming could be held below, but not well below, 2°C and still be too high to be consistent with the Paris Agreement 1.5°C limit.

1.5°C Paris Agreement Compatible< 1.5°C World

This rating indicates that a government’s NDCs in the most stringent part of its “fair share” range: it is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit.

Role model<< 1.5°C World

This rating indicates that a government’s NDC is more ambitious than what is considered a “fair” contribution: it is more than consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit.

Taking into consideration the 24% clean energy target for 2021 and other already implemented policies mentioned in the NDC, we rate the UAE’s NDC “Highly insufficient”. The “Highly insufficient” rating indicates that the UAE’s climate commitment in 2021 is not consistent with holding warming to below 2°C, let alone limiting it to 1.5°C as required under the Paris Agreement. If all countries were to follow the UAE’s approach, warming would reach over 3°C and up to 4°C. This means the UAE’s climate commitment is at the least stringent end of what would be a fair share of global effort, and is not consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit, unless other countries make much deeper reductions and comparably greater effort.

The CAT ratings are based on climate commitments in (I)NDCs. If the CAT were to rate the UAE’s projected emissions levels in 2030 under current policies, we would rate the UAE “Critically insufficient”, indicating that the UAE’s current policies in 2030 are consistent with a warming of over 4°C. If all countries were to follow the UAE’s approach, warming could reach over 3°C and up to 4°C. This means the UAE’s current policies are not in line with any interpretation of a “fair” approach to the former 2°C goal, let alone the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit. The lower range of the current policies projections is in the "Highly insufficient" category.

In our previous update, UAE’s NDC was rated “Insufficient” and its current policies were fully in the “Highly insufficient” category. This downgrade is due to updated historical data and global warming potentials (see the Assumptions section for further details).

Further information about the risks and impacts associated with the temperature levels of each of the categories.