The event witnessed the launch of the ‘World Green Economy Report 2018’
HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, and MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) delivered a keynote speech at the Sustainable Innovation Forum, the official 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) affiliate event, in Katowice, Poland. The forum was attended by Michał Kurtyka, COP24 President.
During the forum, HE Al Tayer launched the World Green Economy Report 2018, the first global publication of the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO) under the theme: ‘Inspiring Innovations in Business, Finance and Policy’.
Entitled ‘Inspiring Innovations in Business, Finance and Policy,’ the report has been prepared in collaboration with the University of Cambridge and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as it focuses largely on the core of innovation and sustainability to enhance green transformation around the world.
The Sustainable Innovation Forum will be discussing opportunities to advance the historic Paris Agreement 2015 by bringing together 600 delegates engaged with fast tracking the global green economy.
The forum tackles four key themes: Circular Economy, Energy Transition, Sustainable Mobility and Climate Finance. It is hosting high-level policy discussions and debates, by leading ministers, cities, multilateral organisations, investors and private sector vendors and solution providers.
“I am pleased to address you today at this important international forum. We are here today to work with the rest of the world for the protection of the planet from the adverse effects of global warming and progress towards a greener and sustainable future. Climate Change no doubt is a global issue and therefore a joint and concerted action should be taken from all around the globe to rely on renewable and sustainable energy sources to establish the balance between development and preserving the natural resources for future generations. The United Arab Emirates sees climate change as part of its global responsibility and has been at the forefront in setting and implementing strategies and policies to achieve the sustainability objectives following our visionary leadership,” HE Al Tayer said in his opening speech.
“The future indeed relies on green energy and sustainability by adopting innovative solutions. The UAE holds a rich heritage of remarkable achievements through different strategies and initiatives to make the UAE the best country in the world as stipulated by the UAE Centennial 2071. We have adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and incorporated them as part of our framework of related strategies and policies, and they are currently under implementation,” Al Tayer added.
“We are aiming at substantially reducing our environmental footprint while maintaining a secure, reliable and affordable supply of power and water. Doing so, we are proceeding on parallel tracks. The first one is reducing the power and water demand by 30% by 2030 through efficient usage and conservation programmes; whereas the other path is improving the supply side by diversifying the energy mix, increasing the efficiency and reducing the power and water grid losses under the umbrella of our smart grid initiative,” Al Tayer noted.
“Our energy mix diversification aims to provide 75% of Dubai’s total power output from clean sources by 2050.We have the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 with 5 main pillars: Infrastructure, legislation, funding, building capacities and skills, and environment-friendly energy mix. This is why DEWA established the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The solar park’s capacity will be 5,000MW by 2030, with investments totaling USD13.6 billion. Upon completion, the solar park will help reduce over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year. We are doing that following the best recognised international practices and state of the art tools and technologies, as Innovation is at the core of our DNA. The UAE, represented by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), maintained its first place in the world for the second year running for getting electricity, scoring 100% on all criteria, as per the World Bank’s Doing Business report 2019,” said Al Tayer.
“As well as bringing the best minds together, Dubai is keeping pace with the emerging technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT). The digital revolution at DEWA was initiated to support the Dubai 10X initiative, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to propel Dubai towards the future, making it 10 years ahead of other global cities through government innovation,” Al Tayer added.
“Furthermore, we are working on significant advancement of our services with a new initiative that reimagines the concept of utilities, and creates a new digital future for Dubai through Digital DEWA, the digital arm of Dubai Electricity & Water Authority. This initiative will disrupt the entire business of public utilities and help DEWA become the world’s first digital utility utilising autonomous systems for renewable-energy and its storage, expansion in AI adoption, and providing digital services,” Al Tayer noted.
“The World Green Economy Organization (WGEO) was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on October 5, 2016 at the World Green Economy Summit in Dubai to enable the shift towards a green economy and to enable green economy projects globally while supporting countries and organisations to achieve their green business goals. WGEO is a pioneering international organisation that brings governments, the private sector, civil society, financial institutions, academia, and youth together to achieve the global green economy goals,” underlined Al Tayer.
“Since its inception, WGEO has promoted innovation and sustainability concepts to conserve environmental resources and address climate change. I call on all countries to join our organisation (WGEO) in order to coordinate efforts in this regard,” Al Tayer added.
“I am pleased today to present the ‘World Green Economy Report 2018’ entitled ‘Inspiring Innovations in Business, Finance and Policy’, which we have developed in collaboration with the University of Cambridge and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This report focuses largely on the core of innovation and sustainability to enhance green transformation around the world,” said Al Tayer.
Al Tayer wished the sustainable innovation forum all success. “We reaffirm our commitment to support the global efforts to address the issues related to climate change and ensure a sustainable future for all,” concluded Al Tayer.