Today's Edition
YUSUF AL ARABI (ABU DHABI) - Experts and CEOs of global companies affirmed that the selection of the UAE to host the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties (COP28), which constitutes the largest climate summit of its kind globally, is a culmination of its local and global initiatives supporting sustainability and impactful international climate action.
This includes projects to enhance energy efficiency, expand the adoption of smart and innovative solutions for energy management, and boost the use of renewable and clean energy through advanced technology. In remarks to Aletihad, they also highlighted the UAE’s advanced infrastructure, a strategic geographical location, and a track record of hosting successful large-scale global events like Expo 2020.
Another reason that makes the UAE an ideal host for this global event is its focus on achieving results and adopting realistic and practical solutions to accelerate the global transition to clean energy, the experts said.
Early Beginnings
Ali Sajwani, Managing Director of Operations and Technology at DAMAC Properties, said that the UAE’s journey towards achieving sustainability and long-term planning started from the early days of the union under the guidance of the Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who laid the proper foundations that later contributed to achieving sustainable development and propelled the UAE to the forefront of global environmental and climate action.
“In recent years, the UAE has played a prominent role in supporting international efforts to address energy challenges and climate change, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for 2030,” he said.
He noted that hosting COP28 is undoubtedly the most prominent event the country is hosting this year, gathering the world’s leading leaders and decision-makers again, enhancing its regional and international role in environmental protection and sustainability, and reaffirming the world’s trust in the UAE’s capabilities and potential to successfully host the best global events, especially after the exceptional organisation of Expo 2020 Dubai.
COP28 is a global event that raises awareness of climate change issues, and the UAE’s hosting of this event contributes to spreading awareness and encouraging joint action to face environmental challenges, Sajwani added.
An Ambitious Commitment
Ahmed Khashan, President of Schneider Electric in the Gulf region, said that the UAE’s hosting of COP28 is a culmination of its local and global initiatives supporting sustainability: influential international climate action, projects to enhance energy use efficiency, the expansion of adopting smart and innovative solutions for energy management, and promoting the use of renewable and clean energy by leveraging advanced technology.
He explained that the convening of the Conference of the Parties COP28 comes two years after the UAE announced its strategic initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, becoming the first country in the region to launch this ambitious pledge in the field of climate action.
“COP28 represents a historic milestone for the United Arab Emirates and the region, as it will witness the results of the first global stocktake to assess the progress made in implementing the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement reached in 2015.”
“We see at Schneider Electric, which actively participates in the events of COP28, that the global conference will form an international platform to highlight the latest technologies in digital transformation and automation and showcase the vital role of energy management technology in ensuring a desired future balance between achieving development and accelerating sustainability at the same time, thereby ensuring the achievement of the targets of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, controlling the rise in planet temperature, and reducing carbon emissions,” he added.
An Effective Role
For his part, Neil Colquhoun, President of Epson in Europe and the Middle East, said that the UAE plays an effective role in climate change initiatives, embodying its readiness to contribute to the global progress achieved in this context through hosting one of the most important events in this field, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).
“With the growing regional priorities for sustainability, initiatives such as the Environmental Vision 2030 (Abu Dhabi) and the Strategic Initiative for Climate Neutrality 2050 highlight the Middle East region’s commitment to driving economic prosperity through environmentally conscious practices,” he said.
He pointed out that renewable energy initiatives such as massive investments in renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, are among the most prominent aspects of sustainable development. In this context, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai is one of the largest solar energy complexes aimed at providing the region with clean energy.
He said that in the education sector, the UAE has invested in sustainable research areas and has cooperated with prestigious universities that promote and adopt environmentally friendly practices. According to Colquhoun, COP28 represents a significant responsibility and a valuable opportunity for the country to address climate change issues on a global scale, and “we look forward to the conference achieving fruitful results”.
On the sidelines of the conference, Epson will announce the results of a study it conducted on climate change, covering the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Advanced Infrastructure
Sergio Maccotta, Senior Vice President for Middle East and Africa region at SAP Global, said that the UAE possesses all the capabilities that undoubtedly qualify it to host COP28.
“These capabilities include advanced infrastructure, a unique geographical location, and a track record of hosting large and successful global events such as Expo 2020,” he said.
“Another reason that makes the United Arab Emirates an ideal host for this global event is its focus on achieving results and the realistic and practical solutions it adopts to accelerate the global transition to clean energy,” Maccotta noted,
“Additionally, the state is characterised by its ambitious thinking and forward-looking vision, and most importantly, its ability to continue working to turn ambitions into practical reality. There are many examples of this, starting from building the most developed cities in the world to exploring space,” he added.
“Undoubtedly, these factors combined make the state an ideal place to host this distinguished global event, as we see in the invitation extended by Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the appointed president of the Conference of the Parties (COP28), to world climate leaders, which emphasises the need to work together to turn commitments into projects and ambitions into actions,” Maccotta continued.
Alongside the strategic sessions that will be organised, the convening of COP28 in the UAE provides an appropriate opportunity for global companies like SAP to demonstrate how technology can support and enable institutions to operate more sustainably. Additionally, SAP will participate in two important forums that will be organised as part of the conference.
“The interactive area occupied by SAP in the Green Zone at the COP28 conference, in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, offers visitors the opportunity to learn how SAP and its partners enable institutions to innovate through the use of precise carbon emission data to achieve zero emissions, transition to a circular economy, and improve performance through flexible cloud innovations,” he said.
Karl Crowther, Vice President, Middle East and Africa at Alteryx, said that in their quest to address rising energy prices, reduce energy waste, and concerns about increasing greenhouse gas emissions, institutions across the Middle East and North Africa region are looking for new ways to clearly visualise their energy consumption and then work to reduce it.
He highlighted the urgent need for companies of all sizes to assess the amount of energy they use compared to what they need, and most importantly, how much energy is wasted. He noted that with the UAE’s hosting of COP28 declaring 2023 the Year of Sustainability, the country has taken significant steps to transition to clean energy, such as automation and data analytics, allowing institutions to access and analyse energy consumption information at any time, regardless of how it is consumed and distributed among departments.
On the green agenda, Rami Younes, General Manager at Swisslog, said that the region is actively adopting clean energy technologies, with the UAE emerging as a leading force in sustainability, as evidenced by its role in hosting COP28, an extremely important event for the Gulf region.
The country has taken ambitious steps, including the launch of the United Arab Emirates Green Agenda 2030, he noted.
“Technologies such as automation and robotics are necessary to support these goals because they use much less energy and power sources than sustainable alternatives. For example, electric automation technologies, like robots, use less electrical energy, only consuming 0.1 kilowatts per hour, which can even be generated from renewable energy or cleaner energy sources,” Younes said.
With this innovation emerging, warehouses and logistics facilities in the region can significantly reduce their energy consumption and reliance on non-renewable energy sources, while simultaneously reducing costs and increasing productivity, he added.
