The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Tunisia have been listed among the world's fastest developers in "renewable energy" between 2010 and 2017.
This month, the World Bank released a report detailing the policies for sustainable energy in several countries across the world and found that countries with "strong policy frameworks" have more than tripled since 2010.
The latest edition of the Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) also revealed there has been a dramatic increase in the "uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency targets."
Three Arab countries have made remarkable progress in the sector including UAE, Egypt, and Tunisia. Jordan is among the countries that was part of the yellow zone in 2010 but has progressed to the green zone ever since.
In terms of points, here is how Arab countries ranked on the 2018 World Bank's RISE report:
- Tunisia (76 points)
- United Arab Emirates (72 points)
- Egypt (68 points)
- Morocco (67 points)
- Jordan (63 points)
- Lebanon (56 points)
- Algeria (45 points)
- Saudi Arabia (31 points)
- West Bank and Gaza (29 points)
- Qatar and Liberia (28 points)
- Bahrain (27 points)
- Yemen (20 points)
- Oman (14 points)
- Kuwait (13 points)
Enter Egypt
The report added that Egypt's points went from 10 to 68 in just seven years, to become one of the top 36 countries around the world.
Earlier this year, Egypt announced it is currently building the largest solar power plant in the world. Dubbed Benban Complex, the $2.8-billion solar park is expected to be completed in 2019.
The government hopes to generate 42 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025. According to LA Times, the country currently gets more than 90 percent of its electricity from oil and natural gas.
Egypt has made incredible progress in the sector in recent years. In 2015, Egypt inaugurated the largest wind farm in Africa.
The wind farm aims to generate 800 million kilowatt hours annually, providing power to about 50,000 people while preventing the emission of up to 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Enter UAE
In 2017, Abu Dhabi officially launched what will become the world's largest independent solar power plant.
Dubbed Noor Abu Dhabi (The Light of Abu Dhabi,) the plant will be capable of producing 1,177 milliwatts of electricity and costs some $3.2 billion. At the time, officials said they aim to complete the facility by the second quarter of 2019.
The solar power plant is just one of many initiatives aiming to shift toward renewable energy in the UAE. Dubai has been steadily moving forward with the development of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.
The UAE aims to produce 24 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2021.
Enter Tunisia
In recent years, Tunisia has been building conventional power plants to aid in the development of its solar and wind capacities. This comes as the country aims to reduce its use of natural gas and oil, which produce 97 percent of its total energy.
In 2009, the Tunisian government adopted "Plan Solaire Tunisien" (Tunisia Solar Plan) - a $2.5-billion project which hopes to achieve 4.7 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Overall, the country hopes to produce 30 percent of its electrical energy from renewable energy sources by 2030.
Other Arab countries are slowly becoming more "green"
Saudi Arabia is working to produce 10 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2023.
In 2017, the kingdom's energy minister Khaled al-Falih revealed the kingdom's plans to invest tens of billions in renewable energy sources.
Al-Falih explained that the kingdom is seeking to "become a nation that develops, manufactures and exports the advanced technologies of renewable energy production."
Currently, less than 1 percent of Saudi Arabia's energy is renewable and nearly all of the kingdom's domestic power currently comes from crude, refined oil, or natural gas.