Abu Dhabi: The UAE is playing a major role in setting the agenda for global cities in the coming 20 years.
The sprawling urban settings require different solutions and the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) engaged several hundred participants including mayors, city planners, and policy makers from around the world in a day-long discussion on renewable energy during a forum on ‘The RE-energising Cities: Renewable Energy in Urban Settings’ in Quito.
This forum, hosted in partnership with governments of Ecuador, Germany and the UAE, was held during the Habitat III conference, which adopted a New Urban Agenda for the coming 20 years, a senior official said.
“This was the first time we had a structured engagement with cities,” Adnan Z. Ameen, director-general of Irena, said at the 12th Council meeting of Irena in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Cities will play a major role in transforming the transport and building sectors, both of which are critical for decarbonisation of the energy sector and require significant innovation to accelerate progress, he said.
Ameen also detailed the financial contribution from member countries to the agency that promotes deployment of clean energy across the globe to fight climate change. Apart from additional assessed contribution from members, Irena received $4.9 million (Dh17.98 million) from Germany and $2.85 million from the UAE in core non-assessed contributions.
The UAE also provided additional voluntary contributions to enable the full implementation of the Irena’s Work Programme. “The report reflects $ 3.2 million in additional voluntary contributions from Germany, Japan, and the UAE, and we since have received $1 million from Germany,” Ameen said.
