Low Carbon Economy, 2016, 7, 123-136 http://www.scirp.org/journal/lce ISSN Online: 2158-7019 ISSN Print: 2158-7000 DOI: 10.4236/lce.2016.73012 August 10, 2016 Shifting to Renewable Energy to Mitigate Carbon Emissions: Initiatives by the States of Gulf Cooperation Council Hilal Al Shidi, Hameed Sulaiman * , Patrick Amoatey Department of Biology, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman How to cite this paper: Al Shidi, H., Sulai- man, H. and Amoatey, P. (2016) Shifting to Renewable Energy to Mitigate Carbon Emis- sions: Initiatives by the States of Gulf Coop- eration Council. Low Carbon Economy, 7, 123-136. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/lce.2016.73012 Received: June 15, 2016 Accepted: August 7, 2016 Published: August 10, 2016 Copyright © 2016 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries approximately have 40% of world’s proven oil reserves and 21.7% of world’s known gas reserves. Low energy costs com- piled with low taxation make it lucrative to foreign energy-intensive companies to operate in the region. Energy consumption in GCC has increased by 74% in the pe- riod between 2000 and 2010 and it is projected to increase by approximately 10% to 15% between 2010 and 2020. Embracing the general commitment by GCC states to reduce greenhouse gas emission (GHG) of United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has started the process of environmental awakening in the GCC countries due to its high vulnerability to the effects of climate change. This paper reviews the trends in shift to renewable energy with reference to GCC and also the co-benefits of investing in renewable energy. Solar plant and Building-Integrated Photo-Voltaic (BIPV) systems are the most invested projects. However in the long run, policies and strategies are needed to ensure the successful and larger implemen- tation of mitigation objectives. Keywords Renewable Energy, Climate Change, GCC States 1. Introduction With regards to the climate change policy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a trade bloc consisting of six Arab States of the Arabian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) was created in 1981. The GCC member states are the major oil and natural gas producing countries [1]. GCC states have approximately 40% of world’s known oil reserves and 21.7% of world’s known gas Open Access