Australia looks to UAE for clean-energy supply chain

• Faster access to export markets
• Renewables and low-carbon fuels
• UAE-Australia Cepa now in force

Australian clean-energy companies are considering manufacturing in the UAE to counter supply-chain risks and speed up exports, according to an expert in cross-border trade.

Trevor Ducharme, president of investment advisory firm Global CMX, said there was increasing interest in Gulf states’ industrial zones and ports as a base for Australian renewables and low-carbon fuels.

“I think we will see a lot of movement in [manufacturing links between the UAE and Australia] in the next four months or so,” Ducharme told AGBI during a panel at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

“Supply chains are becoming very sensitive right now. It’s a major opportunity to combine the two countries,” he said, “because the UAE provides this amazing gateway to the world.”

Global CMX, which represents Australian projects and developers seeking strategic partners, is tracking more than $2 billion in projects and prospective deals across sectors such as renewables, green fuels and critical minerals, Ducharme said.

This includes potential collaborations in equipment tied to renewables and shipment of low-carbon fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel.

The manufacturing model could take multiple forms, according to Ducharme. Equipment and goods could be produced in Australia and exported via the UAE, or Australian businesses could set up final assembly and manufacturing capacity in the Emirates, to gain quicker access to global markets.

Projects will benefit from the UAE-Australia comprehensive economic partnership agreement that came into force last October. It aims to lift annual bilateral trade from $4 billion in 2024 to more than $10 billion by 2032.

Once fully implemented, it will eliminate tariffs on more than 99 percent of Australian exports to the UAE, supporting investment in renewables, green hydrogen, energy storage and low-carbon fuels. 

The UAE is Australia’s largest trade and investment partner in the Middle East. In the first half of 2025, the UAE’s non-oil trade with Australia exceeded $3 billion, up 33 percent year on year.

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The UAE has been working to expand its non-oil economy through industrial free zones, logistics hubs and investment in renewables and emerging fuels.

Australia is scaling up renewable generation, storage and grids, and is a major supplier of minerals used in clean-energy technologies. Both countries have set targets of net zero emissions by 2050.

“We are only as good in Australia as our partners,” Ducharme said. “So if we want to be able to reach the world, we need that trading market… and there’s nowhere in the world better placed than the UAE.”