Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Achieves New Milestones

January 29, 2020 | Alternative Energy | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 4min

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2020, the region’s largest sustainability gathering, has again achieved new milestones for attendance, participation and business deals.

A total of 10 heads of state and more than 160 government ministers attended the ceremony, while His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Chairman of Masdar, delivered the welcome address.

Throughout the week-long event, ADSW hosted more than 840 exhibiting companies, as well as 45,000 attendees from 170 countries, more than 500 speakers, 4,000 opening ceremony delegates and 3,000 students at Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S).

To align more closely with the UAE Vision 2021 and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, ADSW has widened its scope beyond renewable energy since first being launched in 2008, becoming a key platform for the Women in Sustainability Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) Forum and Y4S, which was held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan The Festival at Masdar City was also a runaway success, with the city’s newest attraction, Central Park, proving popular with families.

The newest platform launched at ADSW 2020 was the Smart Cities Expo & Forum, which brought forward-thinking governments and municipalities together with pioneers in smart infrastructure, future transportation and next-generation building technology to develop the potential of connected communities – from sustainable planning to smart mobility.

The second edition of the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum (ADSFF) also continued the momentum generated by last year’s event, with ADSFF 2020 highlighting the latest progress in Abu Dhabi’s Sustainable Finance Agenda, as well as promoting the second edition of the Abu Dhabi Declaration, and revealing new UAE Sustainable Finance Principles.

Key to the event’s success in 2020 was the closer involvement of ADSW’s sponsors, partners and stakeholders, including the Department of Energy Abu Dhabi, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, Abu Dhabi Power Corporation, Mubadala Investment Company, and Abu Dhabi Global Market.