How will climate change impact construction and real estate in the UAE?

Abu Dhabi's Estidama initiative and Dubai's Green Building Codes are implementing appropriate building codes and regulations for energy and water efficiency.

Direct consequences of climate change will significantly impact the construction and real estate markets in the UAE, according to a recently released study by the Emirates Wildlife Society and World Wildlife Fund (EWS-WWF).
UAE's infrastructure is currently the most advanced in the GCC region with 'well-integrated transport systems and assembly of iconic structures', according to a report by Research and Markets titled UAE Construction Industry Outlook to 2020.
The UAE also improved by one place to ranking 16th globally in this year's World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness report, on the grounds of 'top notch infrastructure' and offering 'the most attractive destination from an investment standpoint' in the region.
However, according to EWS-WWF's study, UAE Climate Change: Risks and Resilience, the increasing physical risks induced by extreme weather events as well as slow onset phenomena like the sea level rise may put some of the areas of the country's real estate and construction market at risk in the years to come.
The UAE has taken strides forward on climate change mitigation in recent years that are reflected by the establishment of the federal ministry of climate change, it's commitment to develop a national climate change plan, and its ratification to the Paris Agreement in 2015, which pledged not to just keep warming 'well below 2C', but also to 'pursue efforts' to limit warming to 1.5C by 2018.
"Climate experts project that an increase of 2C in global temperatures will increase the sea levels by 50cm compared to 40cm if temperatures increase by 1.5C, by the turn of the century," writes Roz Pidcock, deputy editor and science editor, of Carbon Brief.
"Amongst other things, this difference of just half a degree will, in fact, make a very significant difference to how much the sea levels rise by and as a result impact the real estate and construction values of coastal areas."
Today, coastal areas host approximately 85 per cent of the population of the UAE including many hotels, resorts, and other real estate developments located in low-lying zones.
In Dubai, the urban area has almost tripled in less than two decades, with the artificial expansion of the city surface by the Palm Islands and the World archipelago projects while Abu Dhabi's major developments and industrial infrastructure are also built along the emirate's islands.
"Coastal cities are likely to be at increasing risk from sea level rise, storm surges and associated flooding," the report adds. "Although the implications for the UAE (and elsewhere) are still very uncertain, climate change is likely to affect the growth of the housing and real estate market by making the coast a less safe and more expensive place."
Real estate values have already declined in certain geographic areas in some of the world's most attractive holiday locations such as the Bahamas, as property insurers withdraw due to weather related risks.
And its not just direct impacts on investments and growth of the market - climate change will also further negatively impact construction causing longer building time and potentially higher costs, according to the study.
The hotter, more humid weather may reduce the productivity of outdoor workers and the anticipation of heavy precipitation events may make flood protection, slope stabilisation, and other such structures necessary.
"Construction is already a sector of concern - tall buildings in the UAE generate huge water and electricity bills to cope with overheating under the current weather conditions, becoming significant sources of GHG emissions," adds EWS-WWF.
The United Nations Environment Programme reports that the building sector accounts for 30 to 40 per cent of global energy use but in Abu Dhabi, however, for example, buildings consume approximately 50 to 60 per cent of electricity generated.
The report elaborates that this is primarily because most of the new buildings developed in recent years were built with a selection of materials based on aesthetics inspired by designs in less extreme climates rather than environmental performances that suit the region.
Consequently, a significant increase in climate could further impact the thermal performance of buildings and increase their consumption of water and electricity to even more worrisome extents.
"In order to have a chance to stay below the temperature goal [1.5C], peaking of GHG emissions should be reached 'as soon as possible' and net zero emissions should be achieved in the second half of this century," the report adds.
Abu Dhabi's Estidama initiative and Dubai's Green Building Codes are, however, gradually implementing appropriate building codes and regulations for energy and water efficiency to combat this.
Rabiya Shabeeh is a freelance journalist based in Dubai. Views expressed are her own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.