Arabs Building First Green City

Earth's first carbon-free city is being built in the United Arab Emirates and will take 8 years and $22 billion to complete, the BBC reports. Called Masdar City, it will run on solar power and shuttle residents on travel pods via magnetic tracks. But critics say the $22 billion project, funded by the city of Abu Dhabi, belies the oil-rich emirate's overall gobbling of resources.

A green city of 50,000 residents and 1,500 businesses would also do little to reduce Abu Dhabi's sky-high oil consumption, and will likely become a hermetic haven for the rich, experts say. The city is nonetheless part of a $15 billion, 5-year green plan and will monetize all of its carbon cutbacks. "Such innovative financing has never been applied to the scale of an entire city," Masdar's chief exec said.