Sharjah's leading environment agency, Bee'Ah (which means Environment in Arabic) has rejected the recent findings of the World Bank in its Little Green Data Book identifying the UAE as the "country with the most polluted air". Bee'ah has stressed the fact that contrary to the World Bank claim, the UAE is making great progress in environmental protection and  leadership.

Bee'Ah's statement reads "The UAE National Agenda which advances the goals of the UAE Vision 2021 aims to achieve such leadership by ensuring a high quality of life for its citizens and residents. This pays equal attention to the environment and the results thus far confirm that the country has undertaken significant efforts to improve the ambient air quality. Accordingly, air quality is one of the leading priorities under the UAE's National Agenda because it is associated directly with human health, the environment and its impact on the economy."

"There are currently 46 air quality monitoring stations in the UAE, and the UAE government is already developing laws to regulate and reduce industrial emissions and the resulting pollution. The Ministry of Environment and Water recently signed an agreement with seven governmental agencies for launching an Air Quality Network across UAE."

Shaikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Centre, said that in line with the vision and guidelines of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, Sharjah has always followed a tradition of respect for nature and ecological resources. He hoped that Sharjah would soon become the environmental capital of the Middle East. Sharjah is already in the process of setting up the region's first and world's largest Waste-to-Energy facility, based on gasification technology and this is planned to recycle 400,000 tonnes of waste annually to generate 85 megawatts of energy.

Also, despite the massive economic development, industrialization and considerable electricity consumption in the country, the UAE remains within the 'green zone' in ecological terms, according to the World Health Organization guidelines.