Today's Edition
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
As the UAE prepares to co-host the UN Water Conference this December, attention is turning to to the role of UAE-developed climate technologies in tackling some of the world’s most pressing water, energy and environmental challenges.
Aletihad spoke to experts about innovations ranging from more efficient desalination and water-saving agriculture to intelligent energy networks and AI-powered ecosystem restoration.
Also, they discussed how UAE-developed solutions could be scaled globally.
For Prof. Phil Hart, Chief Researcher of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Research Center at TII, some of the UAE’s most significant climate-tech developments are already taking place across renewable energy, desalination, and cooling.
He noted that large-scale solar PV remains a major climate-tech driver in the UAE, supported by residential rooftop solar and Masdar’s 5.2GW solar project with 19GWh of battery storage, designed to provide 1GW of continuous renewable power.
Hart described the project, designed to provide 1GW of continuous renewable power, as “a real global demonstrator of where renewables could go.”
But with water demand continuing to present a major challenge, researchers are also looking at how existing desalination infrastructure can produce more without requiring a corresponding increase in energy.
“We are developing new membranes that should offer about 30-40% more water production for the same energy in,” Prof. Hart said.
TII is also exploring technologies that could extract valuable metals and minerals from desalination brine, potentially creating an additional revenue stream while reducing waste returned to the sea.
Efficiency gains could extend to cooling, another major source of electricity demand in the UAE.
Prof. Hart said TII is developing “a new method of cooling and refrigeration, based on a completely different principle to standard systems, that offers more than 70% energy savings when compared to existing solutions.”
Lower Irrigation, Less Water
Agriculture is another focus, particularly given the amount of water required for irrigation.
“Agriculture uses an extraordinary amount of water, and we’re working on systems that will reduce that by more than 30% on average,” Prof. Hart said.
The technology involves a soil additive designed to reduce irrigation and fertiliser requirements while potentially making previously unviable land suitable for farming.
For Prof. Hart, the significance of these innovations extends beyond the Emirates.
“All of these solutions are based on UAE challenges but are applicable to any arid or energy or water challenged area globally,” he said.
Homegrown Climate Solutions
VentureOne is also exploring how UAE-developed environmental solutions could scale globally.
Rocio Dominguez, Senior Venture Architect at VentureOne, said AI and better use of data are increasingly enabling environmental interventions to become more precise and scalable.
“AI makes infrastructure cleaner, smarter, and more efficient,” she said.
Dominguez noted that by combining data with predictive models, AI can help operators optimise resources, respond to changing conditions and improve how critical systems are managed.
One example is NabatOS, an AI-powered ecosystem management platform developed by Nabat, a climate-tech venture launched by ATRC’s VentureOne using technology developed by TII. The platform uses AI and autonomous robotics to support the restoration and conservation of mangroves and other ecosystems, covering the entire process from data capture and verification.
The same approach to solving local environmental problems could create opportunities internationally.
“The UAE climate technologies most likely to scale are those that solve problems that exist across markets,” Dominguez said.
For VentureOne, that means focusing first on the challenge a technology addresses rather than developing innovation for its own sake.
“Start with the problem, not the product, and ask whether it travels,” she said.
UAE Innovations for Water Security
Water is one area where that approach could have particular relevance.
UAE-developed water technologies could also could potentially be applied across other water-stressed regions.
“Water technologies are a clear example: solutions engineered for water scarcity, high salinity, and the energy demands of desalination will add value in countries across the Middle East, North Africa, and other water-stressed regions,” Dominguez said.
Further, she said the greatest impact may therefore come not from the most technologically novel solutions, but from those addressing fundamental needs.
“The technologies that matter most will not necessarily be the most novel, but the ones that address the most pressing problems, such as food and water security,” she said.
AI Transforming Climate Action
From connected to intelligent infrastructure, Jamal Najem, Chief Transformation Officer at Esyasoft, a subsidiary of Sirius International Holding under the Digitalization of Energy / Energy-as-a-Service sector, said AI could become increasingly embedded across the UAE’s climate and energy infrastructure over the next decade.
“AI will become the intelligence layer behind every major climate technology, from smart grids and advanced metering to battery energy storage, intelligent mobility, digital twins and IoT,” Najem said.
With the UAE already investing in modern energy infrastructure, Najem said the next step is making those systems more intelligent.
This would allow them to optimise operations in real time, integrate renewable energy more effectively and strengthen resilience.
“That shift from connected to intelligent infrastructure will define the next decade,” Najem said.
But developing technology alone will not be enough.
Najem said the UAE’s success as a climate-tech hub will depend on turning promising ideas into scalable solutions.
She said closer collaboration between government, academia and industry will be key to testing, commercialising and deploying them.
“Brilliant technology that never reaches the market does not create impact,” Najem said. “Real innovation is whether technology is adopted and creates measurable value.”
