Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week draws presidents, energy CEOs

Environmentalists and energy companies are pouring into Abu Dhabi as a week of events focused on battling climate change kicks off.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week will draw 13 heads of state and at least 140 government ministers and senior officials from around the world when it starts on Monday with the annual assembly of IRENA, the U.N.’s International Renewable Energy Agency, which is based in the emirate.

With the week’s centerpiece ADSW Summit slated for Wednesday, other notable gatherings include the Global Climate Finance Annual Meeting, the World Future Energy Summit, the Green Energy Summit, the WiSER Forum for Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy, and the ceremony to award the annual Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards.

Choreographing all the activities is Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Group CEO of ADNOC and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar sustainable energy company. Al Jaber was President of COP28, the annual U.N. climate conference held in Dubai two years ago.

Among the national leaders joining the coming week’s events are Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Azerbaijani President, Kenyan President William Ruto, Rwandan President Paul Kagame. ADSW is conducted under the patronage of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.

”By bringing together leaders in policy, business and technology, ADSW Summit 2025 will unite the global community to deliver interconnected solutions for energy, economies, and the environment,” Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Sustainability Week’s official host, said in a statement.

Topping the list of ADSW speakers will be Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director and CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Paris-based Engie; Greg Jackson, CEO of the U.K.’s Octopus Energy; Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the international Energy Transitions Commission; Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Special Envoy for Financing the U.N.’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, United Nations; Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO of ADNOC’s Upstream division; and Himanshu Gupta, CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based ClimateAi.

Dubai passes climate torch to Azerbaijan as COP29 opens

A year after the UAE hosted the annual United Nations environmental summit, the torch passed today to Azerbaijan as officials and activists from 197 nations converged on the capital city of Baku for the two-week event known as COP29.

Opening the conference was COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, who said the earth is on a “road to ruin” and beseeched delegates to embrace U.N. goals for transition from fossil fuels. “COP29 is the unmissable moment to chart a new path forward for everyone,” he said.

The focus of this year’s climate summit is finance as estimates for the cost of building out clean energy systems, making cities more resilient to extreme weather, and transitioning factories and transportation systems away from fossil fuels run into trillions of dollars, The New York Times reports.

Much of the attention, however, is on what to expect from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has dismissed global warming as a hoax. Also stirring controversy is Azerbaijan’s economic dependence on oil production, which is drawing protests similar to those against the UAE last year at COP28.

Countries will present their updated national climate action plans, which detail how they plan to reduce emissions. At the end of the conference, which closes on Nov. 22, negotiators will try to ratify a final agreement that will include new commitments to address climate change.

More than 100 heads of state and government were planning to attend, including the leaders of Barbados, Finland, Greece, Kenya, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. Skipping the event is U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as the leaders of China, India, Brazil, Britain, Germany and France.

Among the speakers at today’s opening event was Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who was President of COP28. He is also CEO of Abu Dhabi-based national energy company ADNOC and the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology.

“I urge you all to prove once again that we can unite, act and deliver,” Al Jaber said. “Let positivity prevail and let it power the process.”

Al Jaber meets with SoftBank to explore energy, AI investments

The UAE’s power man met with the head of SoftBank on Thursday as the Japanese firm is reportedly looking to make investments at the intersection of energy and artificial intelligence. 

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who in addition to serving in the Cabinet as Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology is also CEO of state-owned oil company ADNOC and Chairman of alternative energy firm Masdar, met with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son in Tokyo.

The pair discussed “trends in the energy, industry and advanced technology sectors, highlighting the importance of increasing strategic investments in these areas to enhance sustainable economic growth,” according to an Instagram post from the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology.

Abu Dhabi and SoftBank have a history: The capital’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala was an anchor investor in Son’s Vision Fund I, ultimately writing down its stake as the fund’s big play for WeWork went belly up.

SoftBank’s fortunes have since reversed with Arm. The U.K. chip designer it acquired in 2016 has more than doubled its market capitalization to about $170 billion since going public last year in New York.

The Information reported on Thursday that SoftBank is looking to borrow up to $10 billion from banks to enable investments in energy-related projects. The data centers that power AI are hugely energy-intensive and face growing demand.

SoftBank is also exploring ways to gain access to a large volume of Nvidia’s graphics processing units, the building block of AI development, the Silicon Valley publication reported. 

Al Jaber also met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as well as Hayashi Yoshimasa, Chief Cabinet Secretary; and Taro Kono, Minister of Digital Transformation.

Alongside UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi, he met with Ken Saito, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan to discuss strengthening trade and investments in energy and advanced industry with the world’s fourth-largest economy. 

World Future Energy Summit brings industry, investors to UAE

Corporate executives and investors are gathering in Abu Dhabi this week for the World Future Energy Summit, where the global response to climate change will top the agenda.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and President of COP28, called the conference, which starts on Tuesday, a “crucial platform” for governments and the private sector. Dr. Al Jaber, who is also Chairman of alternative energy company Masdar and CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or ADNOC, said he hopes the conference will drive investments into the world energy transition from carbon-based fuels. 

The UAE is set to put its green bona fides forward as it aims to triple its renewable energy capacity to 30% by 2030 and establish a hub for hydrogen fuel production and distribution in the coming decades.

TAQA, the energy company backed by sovereign wealth fund ADQ, is an anchor partner of the Abu Dhabi summit and will be joined by speakers including Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of Emirates Global Aluminum; Ali Tahir Jaffery, Director of Standard Chartered Bank; and Amy Lehoczky, Director of ESG at Abu Dhabi’s AI firm G42. Also appearing will be executives from German giant Siemens and Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power.

Masdar, which last month bought a 50% stake in Terra-Gen, one of the largest private renewable energy producers in the U.S., is also set to host a parallel conference focused on hydrogen.

Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will visit Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to address the conference amid increasing cooperation between the UAE and the UK on developing alternative energies. Masdar is looking to develop or acquire an energy portfolio of at least 100 GW capacity by 2030.