Dubai eyes ‘Green Fund’

2nd Dubai Declaration outlines roadmap to position emirate as global green economy hub.

Dubai — The World Green Economy Summit closed on Thursday with a declaration outlining a clear roadmap to position Dubai as the Green Economy Capital of the world by 2021.

Central to the second edition of the Dubai Declaration is the creation of a Green Fund and regulatory framework to incentivise all initiatives aimed at achieving the mission.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, vice-chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and managing director and chief executive officer of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, who read out the new edition of Dubai Declaration, said core to the pronouncement is the development of innovative financing solutions for the green economy.

Financing solutions included the introduction of a Green Fund in Dubai to accelerate green projects and investment in the emirate. “Dubai will pursue its encouragement to the development of public private partnerships, facilitating between cities, solution providers and financial institutions,” Al Tayer declared at the close of the summit.

At the green economy summit, Al Tayer was recognised by the UNDP as a “Middle East Champion of Energy” for his support and contribution in the march towards the green economy and sustainable development. He received the award from Sayed Agha, resident coordinator of the UN Organisation, resident representative of the UNDP in the UAE.

“Through the summit, Dubai continues to demonstrate its encouragement to building a green economy and sustainable development, and we will build on the success of the first Dubai Declaration, with a renewed focus on innovative green financing and youth as key drivers of a green economy,” said Al Tayer.

The summit focused on five headline themes that will play a significant role in driving a green economic agenda.

Andre Schneider, chairman of World Climate Limited, the summit organiser, said the summit has shown the need to massively upscale efforts to address the challenges of climate change. “And this can only be done by increasing our collaboration globally, to learn from each other experiences, by innovating our approach to financing, by getting the youth involved as ambassadors and drivers of this change, and by helping economy realise the opportunities in the development of the green economy.”

The declaration emphasised the importance of developing a regulatory framework to incentivise green infrastructure investments, ensure diversification of energy sources and develop a carbon abatement strategy in alignment with the objectives of the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030.

“Dubai works on promoting the use of leading edge innovation and to push the development of these into scalable solutions and projects, which can be showcased around the world. Dubai is keen to foster the engagement and involvement of youth towards green economy and climate change.”

“Dubai encourages the development of Public-Private Partnership Platform, to facilitate matchmaking between cities, regions and utilities, solution providers and financial institutions,” the declaration noted. “Dubai pursues capacity-building initiatives, and to become an international example of green economy best practice in order to promote knowledge sharing globally. Dubai pursues its support of developing innovative finance solutions for the green economy,” it said.

The declaration stressed that Dubai is keen to assemble international best practice in green finance. “Dubai works on developing a Green Fund, accelerating green projects and investments in Dubai. On the road to Paris, to Dubai 2020 and to a sustainable future, let us collaborate to transform these commitments into actions, and we look forward to greeting you here again at the World Green Economy Summit 2016.”

The two-day World Green Economy Summit 2015 was attended by over 2,000 delegates.

Meanwhile, Green Week will continue until April 27 at Mirdif City Centre, Deira City Centre and Mall of the Emirates.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com