Authorities have been implementing several projects to enhance sustainability to achieve Qatar’s 2030 vision. 

Almost 290-gigawatt electricity and 32 million cubic metres of water were reduced last year thanks to Qatar’s National Programme for Conservation and Energy Efficiency [Tarsheed].

Tarsheed – run by Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation [Kahramaa] – aims to reduce the overall growth of the country’s resource consumption.

Kahramaa pumps millions into electricity substations to meet growing demands

The department’s plan seeks to reduce emissions without interfering in the national growth of the country and its industries – all of which falls under  Qatar’s National Vision’s [QNV] 2030 sustainability vision.

QNV aims to “transform Qatar into an advanced society capable of achieving sustainable development” by 2030. Its goal is divided into four central pillars: economic, social, human, and environmental development.

“We reduced about 400,000 tonnes carbon footprint during the period of study to make the country green following the sustainability goal of Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030,” said Head of Tarsheed Technology Section at Kahramaa Mohamad Khalid Al Sharshini.

Launched in 2012 under the patronage of Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Tarsheed has been engaging in several measures to preserve the environment and rationalise energy consumption, the official told Qatar TV.

He added that the department’s future projects include implementing fast car charging stations across the country.

“We have fast car chagrining station which is very effective in meeting QNV 2030 goals. The fast car charging stations will be provided across the country,” he said, adding that the project aims to produce 800-megawatt electricity from solar panels.

“We have a project to increase the efficiency of electricity use and develop Tarsheed code to support building an energy-efficient house,” said Al Sharshini.

Read also: Climate change among top issues for incoming Shura Council: official.

The official added that a culture rationalisation of electricity and water consumption has been created by authorities to take the country one step closer towards achieving its sustainability goals, which is done by implementing necessary laws and regulations to influence the behaviour of consumers.

“Tarsheed also provided technical support to consumers and educated them about the importance of cutting consumption of electricity and water,” said Al Sharshini.

Climate change has been one of the frontline issues for Tarsheed.

The department has been committed to providing diverse energy sources, such as the promotion of electric cars and the use of clean and renewable energies, to tackle the global problem.

Despite worrying statistics for global warming, Qatar has been actively working on improving conditions across the country in recent years.

The Gulf nation has engaged in major efforts to boost sustainability and environment preservation with several policies and plans ahead of the much-awaited World Cup 2022.

This includes the execution of major projects in infrastructure and transportation that follow the highest international standards.

In addition, Qatar is implementing gradual transportation to full-electric includes public bus services, government school buses, and Doha Metro’s buses. This aims to reduce harmful carbon emissions caused by conventional buses in less than a decade from now, in addition to achieving efforts to maintain environmental sustainability.

Authorities are also working towards establishing an integrated network of electric car chargers, in order to support the ministry’s plan to gradually transform the electric transport system.

Such efforts are crucial to Qatar, especially as the country works towards tackling the “worst sustainability, air quality” ranks.

According to the 2017 statistics by The World Bank, Qatar comes third in the top five countries globally by the share of the population exposed to polluted air, with approximately 91 percent of breathable air described as polluted.

With 99.7 percent, Nepal tops the list, shortly followed by Niger (94.1 percent), Qatar (91 percent), India (90.9 percent) Saudi Arabia (87.9 percent) and Egypt at (87 percent).

The World Health Organisation considers air with PM2.5 concentrations over 10 micrograms per cubic metre as unhealthy and polluted, and given the Gulf country’s exposure to dirty air, the percentage is significantly high in comparison to other countries.

Meanwhile, another 2017 report by Earth Overshoot Day recorded Qatar as the top country with the poorest sustainability scores, stating that if everybody on the planet lived like Qatar’s population, 9.2 piles of earth’ worth of resources would be required to sustain life.