During its third meeting of 2022, chaired by Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, the UAE Circular Economy Council inaugurated the Lootah Biofuels plant in Dubai Industrial City.

The inauguration and meeting drew the participation of H.E. Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy, H.E. Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, H.E. Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, and Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, CEO of Alliances for Global Sustainability.

Also present were, H.E. Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, Eng Dawood Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality.

H.E. Khaled Al Huraimel, CEO of BEE’AH, H.E. Laila Mostafa Abdullatif, Director General of Emirates Nature-WWF, and Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi, Chief Sustainability Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Holding also attended.

H.E. Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri said: “The transition to a circular economy contributes to driving sustainable economic development in line with the UAE’s vision.

"It ensures continued growth while protecting the environment and preserving natural resources, in addition to supporting the efforts to reduce emissions and to achieve net zero.”

She added: “Innovative solutions play a key role in accelerating the shift.

"The Lootah Biofuels plant represents a remarkable model of practical application of circularity principles, and a prime example of active participation of the private sector in achieving the UAE’s goal of developing a circular economy.”

H.E. Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri said: “Promoting the enablers of the circular economy transition in the UAE through close cooperation between the public and private sectors is one of the main tracks led by the UAE Circular Economy Council.

"This is based on a real partnership with the country’s private sector aimed at exploring opportunities, and developing necessary policies to consolidate UAE’s position as a global example of leveraging the circular economy as one of the engines of sustainable economic growth.”

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Startups

The meeting’s agenda included many important topics related to following up on the implementation of circular economy methods in all sectors and the latest developments on previous decisions of the Council.

MOCCAE delivered a presentation on startups with high ambitions in the field of circular economy that can be involved in the Dubai Future Accelerators program.

Among the featured companies was Solein that has developed a unique protein using air and electricity as raw materials.

Disconnecting food production from agriculture, the manufacturing process consumes 1,000 times less water than is required to produce protein from livestock and 100 times less than producing vegetable protein.

Biofuels

Leveraging agreements with public and private sector entities in the food and hospitality sectors, the Lootah Biofuels factory collects used cooking oil, treats it, and converts it into biodiesel using the latest international technologies at a competitive price compared to regular diesel.

The launch of the new plant and the consequent increase in biodiesel production capacity by 100 tons per day will help the UAE achieve its goal of obtaining five percent of transportation fuel from food waste and non-renewable resources.

UAE Circular Economy Policy

Approved in January 2021, the UAE Circular Economy Policy identifies the optimal approach to the country’s transition to a circular economy.

Its objectives include building a sustainable economy, promoting efficient use of natural resources, encouraging the private sector to shift to cleaner industrial production methods that involve the use of AI and other 4IR technologies.

The obbjectives include, adopting sustainable consumption and production patterns that reduce environmental stress while meeting the basic needs of the population.

The UAE Circular Economy Council comprises 17 representatives of relevant federal and local government entities, private sector companies, and international organizations.

(Read More: MOCCAE Signs MoU with Four Cement Factories on Alternative Fuels Usage)