Few days back, Dubai added another feather to its cap when it organized Car Free Day. The event was the eighth edition of Car Free Day with multitude of activities that integrated people from all walks of life. The initiative aimed to promote the use of public transport and develop a sense of community responsibility towards environmental issues in the city.

2017 has been declared as the Year of Giving by UAE government, the event was linked to the same theme. As part of this, specialists in the municipality calculated the reduction in carbon footprint through the initiative and converted it into cash and donated the equivalent amount to charity work in line with the Year of Giving initiative that was announced by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, so that the initiative had two goals — an environmental goal and charity.

As per Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality ?Each vehicle, with a full tank fuel size of 15 gallons, emits nearly 140 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the air, thus the amount of total emissions annually would be about four tonnes and these emissions contribute towards global warming. The campaign will contribute to achieve the objectives of the emirate through the UAE National Agenda 2021 in the field of preservation of air quality and reducing carbon footprint?. He also stressed on the constant efforts of the municipality to raise the profile of the city of Dubai globally among eco-friendly cities by finding all sustainable and effective solutions to meet the various environmental challenges, most notably air pollution and increase in the carbon footprint resulting from vehicle emissions.

Car Free Day was definitely a giant leap ahead towards the reduction of gases that cause global warming. It confirms UAE?s firm adherence to its commitment to the international environment agreements related to climate change. The event was the reflection of the UAE?s effort to find sustainable solutions to reduce carbon emissions and pollutions through road transport. After all, if small steps are taken by all to reduce the GHG, the cumulative effect will be significant both for the environment and the economy.

Inputs- abudhabi2.com