Abu Dhabi -- The UAE has highlighted the need to adopt resource efficiency and clean technologies to meet the growing energy demand at the formal opening ceremony of Abu Dhabi Sustainability week on Monday morning.
General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, attended the opening ceremony in the presence of hundreds of delegates from 172 nations across the world.
In his keynote speech, Dr Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of State and the CEO of Masdar, highlighted the challenges nations face to meet the growing energy demand with sustainable solutions.
“To meet this demand sustainably … we must rely on two essential building-blocks:- resource efficiency and clean technologies,” he said.
Three prominent African leaders attended a panel discussion at the ceremony led by Adnan Z. Ameen, the Director General of International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).
Macky Sall, President of Senegal, Hailemariam Desalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopa and Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, shared their thoughts on energy challenges in their countries.
With the formal opening of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, two major events -- the 7th edition of the World Future Energy Summit (WFES 2014) and EcoWASTE, a conference-cum-exhibition on sustainable waste management -- kicked off at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in the capital on Monday morning.
The International Water Summit will begin on Tuesday.
The WFES is the most prominent event in the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, a series of events organised in the capital that aims to find sustainable solutions to the problems in all spheres of life.
Thethree-day events, which runs until Wednesday, are expected to attract around 30,000 people from 172 countries, said organisers. Last year, people from 152 nations attended the events.
Global decision makers and opinion formers speaking at Day One’s Global Leaders’ Summit include Engineer Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazroui, the UAE Minister of Energy; Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development at The World Bank; and Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.
Around 125 speakers will address delegates during the conference programme, on topics such as waste-to-energy, natural gas and the evolving energy mix, energy efficiency, and renewables technology innovation.
Other high-level speakers at the event include Marie-Jose Nadeau, President of the World Energy Council, Saif Al Sayari, Executive Officer Energy Solutions, TAQA, Santiago Seage, CEO Abengoa Solar; and Kazuo Furukawa, Chairman of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation.
More than 900 exhibiting companies will take part in WFES, IWS and the inaugural EcoWASTE, with more than 200 new products to be unveiled at the three shows.
