Dubai to hold car-free day

Date: 9/2/2010

A car-free day is to be held by Dubai Municipality on February 17th, according to reports.

On this day employees and visitors of the authority will be encouraged not to drive.

Other companies are also being urged not to use their cars on this date.

Director general of Dubai Municipality Hussain Nasser Lootah announced the decision at a press conference today (February 9th), according to repots.

He stated the initiative was designed to reduce carbon emission volumes.

A total of 42 per cent of Dubai's CO2 emissions is attributed to transport.

Of this, more than 82 per cent comes from car petrol, statistics from the
Municipality's Environment Department state.

According to the WWF Living Planet report, Dubai and the other states that make up the United Arab Emirates have the world's highest per capita carbon footprint.

It exceeds that of the US, the report notes.