Is Food Waste the Next Growth Sector for the UAE?
The UAE is known for innovative solutions to a changing climate. New tech that converts food waste into energy can be the next market for growth, led by the UAE.
By Xische Editorial, January 27, 2020
Source: Aha Soft/Shutterstock
Our changing planet is forcing a transformation in global energy markets. As we have become aware of the effects of climate change, we have sought new ways to augment our energy needs. At the same time, fresh supplies of hydrocarbons resources have been discovered in new places leading to further reformation of the energy sector. Above all else, innovations in technology are creating the greatest opportunity to transform how we create and consume energy. We are living in the sustainability revolution.
Abu Dhabi’s role in the global energy market is undisputed but what is often overlooked is the UAE’s position in the sustainable energy market. The Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW), which just concluded at the carbon-neutral city Masdar, is a perfect window into the changes happening in the local market. There were big announcements including Etihad Airways receiving the first “greenliner” aircraft, which will dramatically reduce the airline’s carbon footprint, and other discussions about how to transform the clean energy market.
At its core, however, ADSW is about thinking outside of the box to employ disruptive technologies. By setting the example, Abu Dhabi can show the world what is possible and encourage others to follow suit.
According to the organisers, ADSW takes a holistic approach to sustainability by aligning “more closely with the UAE Vision 2021 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The pillars of ADSW now address Energy and Climate Change, Water and Food, Future of Mobility, Space, Biotechnology in Health, and Tech for Good. Cutting across ADSW’s 2020 programmes and pillars will be Artificial Intelligence, Youth and Community”.
Given its harsh desert climate, the UAE has been forced to innovate to overcome environmental challenges for decades. In the span of several decades, the country has gone from being water insecure to the global leaders in water purification and desalination technology. Abu Dhabi even has a reservoir of fresh water that was created using cutting-edge desalination technology. Necessity might be the mother of invention but that hasn’t stopped the UAE from continuing to innovate regarding water and food security.
This relationship with water technology will continue to be one of the country’s most valuable energy exports behind hydrocarbons. Recent reporting suggests that Lake Victoria could dry up completely in the next 500 years. The world’s second-biggest freshwater lake located in East Africa is the lifeblood of millions of people. You don’t have to wait 500 years to see major water instability. Cape Town nearly ran out of water two years thanks to droughts likely caused by climate change.
The UAE is accustomed to facing these types of challenges and that’s why expanding the local agricultural technology (agtech) sector makes good sense. In essence, agtech focuses on using technology to improve agricultural and, by extension, food security. After all, secure food sources are a key component of the overall energy supply. By building the infrastructure and attracting foreign investment in the agtech, the UAE has created the region’s leading agtech sector. When it comes to innovative approaches to agtech such as indoor vertical farms and algae-based research, the UAE is one of the leading countries in the Middle East and the emerging world in general.
There are other less intensive ways the UAE can expand its agtech sector. Consider food waste. There is a global trend by chefs to transform food waste into an opportunity to have a major impact on climate change. In an article for The Atlantic, Matt Hopkins lays out exactly what is at stake with food waste. “Every year, one-third of the food produced globally for human consumption—1.3bn tonnes—is wasted,” Hopkins notes. “In aggregate, the world’s annual food waste produces 3.3bn tons of carbon. That’s more greenhouse-gas emissions than from 37mn cars. Needless to say, a global effort in the reduction of food waste would go a long way toward mitigating our carbon footprint.”
While food industry professionals are devising plans to reuse food for consumption and reach zero waste, some dairy farmers in Massachusetts are actually using food waste and manure to create renewable energy. Each farm, featured in a radio report from NPR, produces enough to power about 1,500 homes. Both of these initiatives highlight the opportunity for innovative approaches to food waste.
Given the UAE’s commitment to sustainability and agtech, tasking the best and brightest to finding solutions to food waste is a perfect challenge. Not only do local startups have the ideal laboratory to work in, given the sheer amount and diversity of food on offer in the country but any breakthrough they have can be easily exported to other markets given the UAE’s remarkable geographic and economic position in the emerging world.
ADSW is a testament to the UAE’s embrace of sustainability as a path to future security for the country, the region, and the world. The next step is strengthening the agtech sector and considering innovative focus areas such as food waste.
