The 18th session of the World Future Energy Summit kicks off today in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI, 13 JANUARY / WAM / The activities of the 18th session of the World Future Energy Summit, which is part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and hosted by Masdar, kicked off today at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC).
The day witnessed a number of important discussion sessions on the topics of investment, clean energy adoption and cooperation, with deals worth billions of US dollars announced during the three-day summit.
Diete Jøll-Jørgensen, Director-General of the European Commission’s Energy Department, opened the first morning’s activities with a keynote speech in which she highlighted Europe’s commitment to hydrogen production as a pivotal element in its energy transformation. In the context of highlighting the European Union’s role in reducing carbon emissions, she stressed that the legal framework that was established to support global, low-carbon hydrogen production provides great opportunities within the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
She explained that the “Connecting Europe Energy” program, which is a European Union financing program to implement the European Trans-Energy Networks policy, is expected to witness a five-fold increase, eventually reaching 30 billion euros. As negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries continue, Jorgensen described the opportunity for cooperation as “essential for both parties.”
She added: “A stable and ambitious trade and investment framework between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries would launch more private investments, including vital raw materials for the energy sector, which are essential for building future supply chains and green technologies, and also contribute to enhancing innovation, affordability, competitiveness and security.”
On the same platform, Her Excellency Lucy Berger, Ambassador of the European Union Mission to the United Arab Emirates, revealed that the UAE is the first investment partner of the European Union, with mutual investments amounting to about 328 billion euros (383 billion US dollars). She emphasized the potential benefits, noting that future strategic partnership agreements with individual Gulf countries, along with free trade agreements, would unlock greater joint gains in the energy sector, with a focus on renewable energy, hydrogen, and clean energy technologies.
During a session organized by the “Cooperation for the Green Transition” project between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Mohammed Abdul Qadir Al Ramahi, CEO of Green Hydrogen Management at Masdar, explained that mutual investments between the UAE and the European Union may, over time, reach trillions of dollars, given international banks’ expectations that global investment in green hydrogen alone will exceed 11 trillion US dollars by 2040. During the Sustainability and Electric Mobility Conference, Elora-Julie Parikh, CEO of Sustainability at Al-Futtaim, indicated, A recent research paper by the company found that 33% of the UAE population uses public transportation due to accessibility difficulties, calling for an integrated approach to transportation.
Marina Antonopoulou, CEO of Climate and Nature Conservation at the Emirates Nature-WWF in collaboration with WWF, stressed the importance of green corridors and biodiversity initiatives for climate change adaptation and human well-being. While past centuries have seen New York and London resist the temptation of urban sprawl on vast tracts of urban land, and preserve the sprawling green spaces of Central Park and Hyde Park, Antonopoulou says the climate of the GCC countries requires a different approach. She adds: “The region now has an opportunity to implement a similar approach, but in a different way. We have an opportunity to identify this equivalent approach. Abu Dhabi’s efforts in the field of mangroves are wonderful, and perhaps part of the solution, while Dubai is located on the migratory path of a number of birds, so this may be another option. It is not about one solution, nor is it about imitating something beautiful, but about an opportunity to create something new.”
In a dialogue session with journalist and broadcaster Richard Dean, Trevor Ducharme, CEO of Global CMX, will participate in the summit activities this week to discuss an innovative economic partnership in the field of energy between the United Arab Emirates and Australia. Speaking at the session, Ducharme described the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Australia as “a turning point in the energy corridor between the two countries, as it creates fertile ground for billions of dollars in investments that will redefine the path of sustainable development.”
Although the agreement was ratified in November 2025, the World Future Energy Summit is the first global event that allows the sector to communicate directly with stakeholders involved in the partnership. Ducharme added: “The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Australia is a catalyst for launching billions of dollars in renewable energy deals, and these opportunities begin with the World Future Energy Summit 2026.”
On the other hand, His Excellency Eng. Ahmed Al Falasi, Executive Director of the Energy Efficiency Sector at the Department of Energy in Abu Dhabi, opened the Solar and Clean Energy Conference on the first day of the summit, with a keynote speech during which he highlighted the importance of designing integrated systems to accelerate the transformation in the energy sector, while ensuring reliability and maintaining energy security.
He said: “Abu Dhabi’s journey in the field of clean energy has taught us that the transformation of the energy sector does not succeed thanks to a single technology, but rather when entire systems are designed to work together. Today, solar energy is no longer a new option, but rather an infrastructure, and we have seriously moved from pilot projects to implementation on a utility scale through prominent projects such as the Noor Abu Dhabi station with a capacity of 1.2 GW, the Al Dhafra station with a capacity of 2 GW, and the Al Ajban project with a capacity of 1.5 GW.
As solar systems and storage mechanisms expand, the real test is ensuring reliability when the sun is not shining, and this is where the issue of system design becomes even more important. Solar provides scale and cost efficiency, storage provides flexibility, and nuclear provides clean, stable, low-emission baseload power. Hydrogen also enhances low-carbon options that are operable on demand. Together, these technologies form a load-balanced system that supports economic growth while maintaining energy security.”
He added: “Digital transformation must be at the heart of this development. Platforms supported by artificial intelligence, which integrate electricity, water, cooling, and operational data into a unified and reliable view, can move us from reactive management to making proactive decisions based on prediction, which contributes to improving forecasting processes, load distribution, and monitoring deficiencies before they turn into system-level risks.”
During the Road to 1.5°C conference, high-level representatives from the finance, academia and sustainability sectors participated in a panel discussion discussing nature-based outcomes and their business implications. Omar Sheikh, co-founder and managing director of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative, warned that ecosystem degradation and loss of biodiversity pose real risks to global economies and supply chains. He emphasized the scale of the challenge, saying: “According to the World Economic Forum, about 50% of global GDP depends on nature and biodiversity, yet we do not reflect the value of this in our financial statements or balance sheets, and we often take it for granted.” Schach also highlighted the complexities of transforming nature into an investable field, drawing on work with the United Nations Development Program to study how to structure nature, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture as investable asset classes capable of attracting private sector capital.
For his part, David Ramos, Senior Director of Sustainability at HSBC Bank in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, expanded, explaining that the returns on nature-based projects often accumulate over decades, and ultimately go to stakeholders different from those who provide the initial capital. In turn, Professor John Burt, Head of the Environmental Studies Program at NYU Abu Dhabi, provided a scientific context, emphasizing the economic value of coastal ecosystems and their fragility. With 90% of the UAE’s population and its vital infrastructure concentrated along the coast, along with mangroves, coral reefs and seagrasses, Burt stressed the need to view these ecosystems as national infrastructure. At the conclusion of the session, participants collectively called for better assessment of the value of nature, the development of new business models, and the development of integrated policies that enable positive outcomes for nature.
As part of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Innovation Day, a dialogue session entitled “Integrating Renewable Energy for Competitive Sectors” discussed the expansion of renewable energy projects in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, with a focus on methanol production from wind and solar energy. By 2030, the goal is to achieve cost parity with fossil fuels. The session also touched on the strategic importance of institutional power purchase agreements in enabling the growth of renewable energy to serve industrial sectors. Marina Sergeeva, senior consultant in the field of institutional PPAs and green energy procurement at DNV, emphasized that PPAs typically last between 12 and 15 years, and that shortening their duration may reduce price competitiveness for industrial customers.
She added: “Long-term PPAs enhance the bankability of developers’ projects and attract large, solvent industrial partners, such as those working in the mining and cement sectors. These agreements ensure a stable revenue stream and support greater investment confidence among both energy suppliers and financiers. The profitability and financial security provided by PPAs are key elements for expanding the scope of renewable energy projects and providing the industry with reliable and affordable green electricity.”
The discussion also highlighted challenges including the maturity of regulatory frameworks, the need for strong purchase and supply agreements supported by solid public budgets, in addition to the importance of extending the duration of power purchase agreements to make renewable energy solutions more attractive and competitive for adoption in the industrial sector.
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