Abu Dhabi: The fourth Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) opened on a high-powered note at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in the presence of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Leaders, statesman and influencers from around the world are gathered in the capital, determined to convert the outcomes of the COP Paris 21 talks held last December into actionables.
In a speech during the opening ceremony of the 9th World Future Energy Summit (WFES), one of the major events of ADSW, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid said that Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week is a key platform for the promotion of international partnerships in sustainability that will drive innovation and achieve prosperity in the long run for the state and the international community.
The UAE, under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is committed to contributing to the growing global demand for energy by developing and promoting renewable energy technologies, Shaikh Mohammed added.
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid hailed the role played by Masdar, which hosts ADSW, in boosting the UAE’s leadership in the field of energy as a whole, including renewable energy and said Masdar was able to accomplish this achievement in less than decade, and is today a key player in the international renewable energy sector.
ADSW, an Abu Dhabi government initiative and the Middle East’s largest gathering on sustainability, is built around four key platforms: policy, leadership, business and awareness. These platforms will be reflected in the activities, announcements and conversations taking place throughout this year’s programme.
The ADSW is the first global gathering following the Paris Climate Conference, COP 21, in December, where the adoption of renewable energy and sustainable development can be advanced and this year, ADSW has set the bar higher with the Masdar-led Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER), to be held on Wednesday. A first of its kind event in the region, WiSER will highlight the pivotal role of women in environmental sustainability and the challenges they face due to climate change. Several international partnerships are expected to be announced at the event.
In his keynote address at the opening ceremony of ADSW, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State, said, “Never before has the political will to address climate change and achieve sustainable development been so resolute and never before have market forces aligned so closely with political choices. Today, we convene at a time of complex geopolitical circumstances but we also convene at a moment of unprecedented unity. For the past two decades, we kept saying ‘we can’, ‘we should’ and ‘we must’ but last month at the Paris Conference of Parties (COP21), we did.”
Dr Al Jaber added, “There has never been a greater opportunity to make real progress towards sustainable development and to create an ecomomic potential that could drive sustained growth for future generations. Let us start here at ADSW to build bridges between governments and business and create durable partnerships. Let us be brave, bold and ambitious and use this week to maintain the momentum and capitalise on this historic opportunity to lift the global economy and shape a practical pathway towards a sustainable future.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the UAE on its success in bringing together so many global leaders and on highlighting the impact that climate change has on women through WiSER.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto highlighted the fact that according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, meaning that the world will demand three times the amount of energy consumed today.
“Although it is unlikely that the sources of fossil fuels will deplete, the threat of global warming imposes a transition towards clean energy. All nations are vulnerable to the effects of global warming which is why we have to assume our global responsibility in facilitating this transition and separating economic growth from greenhouse emissions,” said Nieto.
“We first require goodwill and political leadership such as what we witnessed during the recent COP21. Secondly, we require innovation and development of new technologies to make sure that all nations — particularly developing ones — have access to these solutions,” he added.
The opening ceremony also saw the announcement of the winners of the eighth Zayed Future Energy Prize (ZFEP). The prizes were given away by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed and President Nieto.
More than 33,000 people from 170 countries, including 60 ministers of state, are attending ADSW, which also hosts the World Future Energy Summit, the International Water Summit and EcoWaste, as well as the General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), among a host of other activities.
ADSW will conclude on January 23.
—With inputs from WAM
