News Desk
DUBAI: HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), received HE Adnan Ameen, CEO of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28). The two sides discussed ways to enhance cooperation and reviewed DEWA’s efforts to support the UAE’s hosting of COP28, the largest international climate action event at Expo City Dubai later this year. By enhancing work with all parties and partners, COP28 will build on the outcomes of the Paris Agreement to keep the rise in the global average temperature this century as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Al Tayer explained that COP28 is significant with the declaration of HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, of 2023 as the ‘Year of Sustainability’ in the UAE under the theme ‘Today for Tomorrow’. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said that COP28 would be the most important event hosted by the nation in 2023 and that they were confident that the UAE would organise the most successful global environmental conference. This underlines the great importance the wise leadership attaches to addressing climate change and launching social, economic and ecological development plans to make the UAE among the largest countries in the world to invest in clean and renewable energy projects.
Al Tayer explained that the UAE was the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to launch a strategic initiative to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. DEWA is pioneering in sustainability, innovation and future-shaping in all its projects and initiatives to achieve the goals of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of clean energy by 2050, with a focus on innovation, technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital transformation and the circular economy as key enablers for achieving sustainability. DEWA’s strategy also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
DEWA is implementing several projects; the most prominent is the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model with investments totalling AED50 billion. When completed, the solar park will reduce over 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. Its clean energy production capacity has reached 2,127 megawatts (MW), increasing clean energy in Dubai to about 14.6% of the total production capacity.
Adnan Amin praised DEWA’s efforts in supporting global efforts to address the challenges of climate change by using clean and renewable energy solutions as one of the key pillars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
