Oman tops MENA region in sustainable energy regulation
MUSCAT: The Sultanate of Oman’s regulations of the renewable and sustainable energy sector have been rated as advanced by ‘Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE), a World Bank initiative to help policymakers to compare national policy frameworks for sustainable energy and identify opportunities to attract investment.
RISE assesses countries’ policy support for each of the three pillars of sustainable energy – access to electricity, access to clean cooking (for 54 access-deficit countries), energy efficiency, and renewable energy. With over 30 indicators covering 140 countries and representing over 98 per cent of the world population, RISE provides a reference point to help policymakers benchmark their sector policy and regulatory framework against those of regional and global peers, and a powerful tool to help develop policies and regulations that advance sustainable energy goals. At the GCC level, Oman was ranked first in the RISE index, as well as first in the index for MENA countries, and sixth globally.
The Sultanate of Oman’s achievement of advanced results in the regulatory indicators of sustainable energy is an indication of the contribution to achieving one of the most important goals of the “Oman 2040” vision represented in the goal of global competitiveness. It also reflects the positive image of the applied policies and regulatory frameworks. This will contribute to attracting investments in areas related to the energy sector, and creating opportunities for training and employing Omani competencies.
In a statement, the Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR) said the high scores for Oman are a testament to the government’s continuing efforts to enable the sector’s transition to alternative energy resources. These efforts include liberalizing the market through bilateral sales and the spot market, adopting the national strategy for an orderly transition to zero neutrality, and establishing a center for sustainability, setting regulatory frameworks for non-polluting cars, sector governance, as well as developing the necessary incentives to support and enable areas related to renewable energy and support its initiatives, explaining that work is underway to develop possible regulatory frameworks for the sustainable energy sector.