Pppd Re Key to Strngthen Dubais position as the capital of green economy and sustainable development

Environment

Pppd Re Key to Strngthen Dubais position as the capital of green economy and sustainable development

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, and With the support of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE), His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of the DSCE and MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Chairman of The Organizing Committee for the World Green Economy Summit (WGES), today hosted a press conference at Armani Hotel to provide further details about the second World Green Economy Summit (WGES) 2015.

The Summit, due to be held on 22nd and 23rd April 2015 under the theme "Global Partnerships, Sustainable Future, will build on the Dubai Declaration, a key outcome of WGES 2014, a list of commitments agreed by Dubai in order to enable the Emirate to develop into the Capital of the Green Economy.

During the event, HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer commenced with some of the words of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, We must continuously innovate, or we will stagnate.

In line with His Highness vision and innovation strategy for 2015, we have been developing strategies to promote sustainable development and green initiatives and partnerships, aiming to encourage innovation within key national sectors like renewable energy with the purpose of making our country a global hub for green economy. This is also a result of Dubai Declaration announced last year to make Dubai a capital of green economy and a role model on both regional and international levels, said His Excellency.

Today, we expand our relentless efforts to achieve our goals of green economy and sustainable development. We previously set ourselves the goal of ensuring that 7% of our energy requirements were met by renewables by 2020. At the start of this year, we committed ourselves to raise our target to 15% by 2030. DEWA also achieved great success in the low cost of production of photovoltaic energy according to the independent producer system implemented in the tender for the second project of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, and has doubled the capacity of production from 100 megawatts to 200 megawatts to run in 2017 with an independent producer system, said His Excellency, said His Excellency.

To support this, DEWA also launched an operational plan to reduce energy demand by 30%, including eight major programs: specifications and regulations of green buildings, retrofitting of existing buildings, districts central cooling, raise standards and efficiency of equipment and lighting, reusing treated water for irrigation, the efficiency of external lighting, loads management. The incremental costs of this strategic project would be almost 30 billion dirhams, while revenues will reach about 82 billion dirhams with net savings of up to 52 billion dirhams, which is an excellent economic return,

In Dubai, and the wider UAE, conferences such as the World Green Economy Summit provide a platform for leading regional and international organisations to discuss green policy and initiatives and will provide an opportunity for the private and public sector to collaborate towards building a more green and sustainable future. Here arises the importance of encouraging green funding and investment in order to meet these goals. The investment required is both at an intellectual, and a financial level. We need to invest in partnerships between the private sector and the public sector, partnerships between governments and nations. In order to effect global climate change, we need a global approach, added His Excellency.

I'm proud to announce today that the World Green Economy Summit will be signing a number of partnerships with local and international institutions, which will play an integral part in our efforts in developing a green economy and achieving a sustainable future, concluded His Excellency.

Commenting on WGES programme, Waleed Salman, Vice President of WGES, said: "The programme for the second Summit, WGES 2015 will focus on partnerships between the public and private sector in order to find innovative and sustainable solutions to drive the Green Economy. We also plan to announce a number of partnerships that have been signed with key partners and sponsors that each enhance cooperation across sectors.

The upcoming WGES will also highlight the main achievements of the Emirate of Dubai, including presentations with world-leading Green Economy experts and outline progress in many of the UAEs innovative sustainability projects such as smart cities, and renewable energy parks, and many other advanced projects," added Waleed Salman.

In his speech at the press conference, Mr. Zaid Alqufaidi, Managing Director of Marketing for ENOC said: "ENOC has always been a key supporter of green initiatives. In fact, it has launched ambitious environmental programmes in the past, including: the first eco-friendly green station in the Middle East, and has been using compressed natural gas in its stations. We are proud to be part of WGES and we look forward to the results of the summit, which will promote to environmental awareness in the UAE and the region."

Mr. Hamad Bin Mejren, Executive Director Business Tourism at DTCM also said: We at DTCM want to see the Emirate further develop as a knowledge hub so that we emerge as a global city for innovation. As such, we are investing in the future and events such as WGES are a prime example of how we can use knowledge and discussion to position Dubai as the ideal location for similar conferences and summits that ultimately benefit our wider residents.
Ammar SHAMS, Regional and UAE Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited said: 97% of climate scientists agreeing that humans are causing global warming, and that we need to act now to avert a global environmental risks. The Paris talks scheduled for December 2015 will be one of the last chances we have to get a global agreement on our collective responsibility for the past and acknowledging our responsibility for the future.

Andre Schneider, Chairman of World Climate Limited said: In December, the world leaders in the sustainable economy will meet in Paris to discuss tackling climate change. Dubai has a key role to play at this meeting and as such we plan to take the declarations outlined as a result of the first WGES Summit to present to this global audience to demonstrate progress and the framework we believe will lead to the development of a fully functioning Green Economy. We plan to provide the global benchmarks for others to follow.

The conference was attended by HE Dr. Matar Hamed Al Neyadi, Undersecretary for The Ministry of Energy, HE Ahmed Butti Al Muhairabi, Secretary General of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE), Mr. Hamad Bin Mejren, Executive Director of Marketing for Dubai Tourism and Commerce, HE Sayed Agha, Resident Coordinator of UN Organization, Resident Representative of UNDP in UAE, Mr. Andre Schneider, Chairman of World Climate Limited, Mr Zaid Alqufaidi, Managing Director of Marketing for ENOC, Mr. Ammar Shams, Regional President of Corporate Sustainability at HSBC. From DEWA, the conference was attended by Waleed Salman, Vice Chairman of WGES, Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Chairman of the Sales and Logistic Committee of the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX 2015), and a number of senior officials, guests and public figures.

The programme for WGES 2015 will focus on key developments that are needed to build a green economy, including: developing input and insights that will be presented in a declaration in Paris at COP21, a major component of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, climate regulation, leadership in climate change and engaging with youth as a major driver for change, global green public-private partnerships, global green marketplace, innovation, finance, and new solutions.