The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has some of the highest electricity and water consumption rates in the world. A driving factor is the presence of electricity and water subsidies and their impact on the investment in efficiency, technology adoption, and implementation of best practices. Decades of subsidization have made Gulf Cooperation Council businesses some of the world’s most inefficient energy and water consumers, and there is a growing consensus in the UAE that a comprehensive conservation plan is needed. However, for any comprehensive conservation plan to be successful, it must include tariff reform as a cornerstone. The social and political issues associated with tariff reform are not trivial. A comprehensive approach needs to be developed and implemented while energy prices are low and the initial impact on customers can be minimized.

• Technology cost is perceived to be a primary barrier to the adoption of high-efficiency technologies and practices in the UAE.• A contributing factor is the lack of accurate information on the full range, life-cycle costs, and benefits of high-efficiency products.• Implementing more stringent codes and standards would help drive demand, stimulate the market for more efficient equipment, and lower costs.• Enforcing existing standards would help eliminate poor-quality and inefficient products from the market and change the perception that efficient technologies are too expensive.• Low tariffs and their associated high subsidies distort the costbenefit evaluation of efficient technologies.• Additional research is needed to understand better to what extent and why technology costs are perceived as such a significant barrier.• The government can play a greater role in promoting energy and water technology adoption. This will also require cooperation from the private sector to advance initiatives and ensure their implementation.