At the ADSW Summit, leaders will promote climate action.
Farzana Mansoor
ABU DHABI (UAE): The Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Summit January 16- 17, bringing together heads of state, policymakers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs from around the world to discuss the most pressing issues and opportunities on the road to net zero.
The two-day summit is the flagship event of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week which runs from January 14 to 19.
The summit will focus on how to scale up transformative technology, the importance of international partnerships, food security, how to shape the global financial architecture for climate action, and how to secure a stable energy pathway to net zero. It will ensure an ongoing dialogue between key stakeholders and provide opportunities to translate pledges into practical solutions.
Hosted by the UAE’s clean energy powerhouse Masdar, in addition to the ADSW Summit, ADSW 2023 features a series of key events throughout the week that seek to engage all sections of society.
These include the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Assembly; the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum; the ADSW Opening Ceremony and Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards Ceremony; the World Future Energy Summit Exhibition and forums; the inaugural Green Hydrogen Summit; the Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) Forum; Youth 4 Sustainability Forum and Hub; Innovate – A Masdar City Initiative; and the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum.
The 2023 Summit will be a powerhouse of inspiration across key sustainability sectors through six exhibitions and five dedicated forums individually addressing today’s vital energy challenges and multi-sectoral impacts. The vertically segmented expos and forums focus on energy, water, EcoWaste, solar, smart cities, climate, and the environment. New to the Summit is the Hydrogen Innovation Hub, which will be running alongside the Energy Expo & Forum and will probe current and future solutions enabling green hydrogen to play a critical role in energy transition.
“This Summit more than any other can deliver a seismic shift in global, regional and local energy operations, policies, plans, investments and overall economic direction,” commented Leen Alsebai, Head of World Future Energy Summit, and General Manager of Summit organiser RX Middle East. “It comes at a time of a worldwide rethink on energy sources, supply resilience and the future-proofing of resources against a backdrop of a mounting clamour for the industry to transform and be at the forefront of tangible action against climate change.”
The EcoWaste Exhibition & Forum, organised and hosted by Abu Dhabi Waste Management centre – Tadweer, will be a forerunner to the GCC’s adoption of circular economy leadership as the region and wider Middle East dials up efforts to tackle their long-tolerated, urbanisation-induced waste dilemmas. EcoWaste participants will explore the GCC’s innovative approach to sustainable waste management, and game-changing solutions poised to help address the Middle East and Africa’s waste crisis, which the World Bank estimates will double to 255 million tonnes a year by 2050.
“There is a growing realisation of the urgency of the dilemma with the GCC currently generating between 105 and 130 million tonnes of waste a year, primarily from Municipal solid waste, construction and demolition, and agriculture,” explained Alsebai. “The latest industry forecasts suggest US$ 60-85 billion needs to be invested across plastic, concrete, cement, metal, and bio-waste value streams over the coming two decades to realise GCC waste management and landfill diversion targets.”
Local, regional, and global experts in recycling, reuse, re-manufacturing, waste management and waste-to-energy industries will share best practice knowledge unleashing a slew of new business opportunities, revenue streams and investment opportunities for businesses and start-ups across multiple sectors. The Forum will host prominent keynotes, case studies and panel discussions that deep dive into disruptive approaches to create new value from waste, technology for waste management, landfill diversion strategies, waste-to-energy studies, the end of single-use plastics and improved waste management techniques. It will also feature the UAE & GCC Waste Management Forum – a high-level GCC municipality discussion on ways to further the region’s sustainable waste management practices.
The 2023 Summit will also debut a Green Hydrogen Innovation Hub, which will demo solutions to accelerate green hydrogen adoption in the regional and global energy transition. The Hub is running alongside the Summit’s Energy Expo & Forum and brings together key technologies enabling the production, transport, storage, and use of green hydrogen. The Hub will address green hydrogen’s potential and innovation across the full value chain, including electrolysis and conversion technologies, transport solutions, zero-emissions mobility, decarbonisation of industrial production processes and of buildings’ power consumption, large-scale storage, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, waste to hydrogen and hydrogen to ammonia conversion technologies.
