Internationally famous for record-breaking skyscrapers, mega-sized shopping malls, world-class hotels, and  a booming oil industry, the UAE is a nation you would not imagine when associating with sustainable transport. However, the UAE shatters expectations.

In fact, large-scale environmentally-sustainable transport projects are already in place in this small nation from bike-sharing to low-carbon emissions transport technologies.

 The region has also gained national recognition for sustainable transport initiatives, research, and media coverage and leaders are now keying in on the economic benefits of sustainable transport and focusing on giving their citizens safer, healthier, more sustainable, and more affordable options in their daily travels.

Dubai introduced the Arab peninsula?s first a bike-sharing system. Joining hands with the largest international bike-sharing company, NextBike, the city of Dubai installed ten bike-sharing stations adjacent to metro stops, tourist areas, and the Burj Khalifa, the world?s tallest building. One-hundred bikes can now be availed for rent at the stations? solar-powered kiosks, where users scan prepaid membership cards. The system will act as a valuable feeder to the metro for a variety of travelers and tourists who flock to areas in and around Dubai.

To inspire similar programs and increase public awareness of the strong requirement for sustainable transport, Dubai?s Roads and Transportation Authority, has introduced a series of annual awards in 2008 for Dubai-based companies and organizations, in the public and private and public sectors, known as the Dubai Awards for Sustainable Transport (DAST). This year?s ceremony featured multiple award categories, including Transport Safety, Mobility Management, Environmental Protection, and School Transport, in addition to two new categories for Academic Research and Media Coverage of sustainable transport initiatives. To illustrate just how much the DAST awards are growing in popularity, there were only 28 award applicants in 2008 — most recently, in 2012, there were 89.

However, these are just a few of the numerous public and green transport initiatives. Some of the future plans for the dynamic expansion of this flourishing industry includes the establishment of the monorail system. This high-speed rail system will soon run through all the emirates of the country, thereby increasing connectivity and saving time.

Exhibiting the UAE?s strong commitment in embracing renewable energy-powered transport, the Solar Impulse, the world?s first solar aircraft, concluded flight and landed at the Al Bateen Airport of Abu Dhabi, the capital city of UAE. Next year in 2017, the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi will specially feature ?Sustainable Transport Summit 2017?.This is just the start of UAE and it is already a world-leader in green transport technologies. So the next time you think of sustainable transport, think UAE! :)

Credits-TheCityFix, Google Images.