Climate-friendly clean energy from Abu Dhabi?

Masdar City, designed as a CO2-neutral sustainable model city for the future. It has its fans and its critics – I will have a look for myself this week.

Ever since it was decided to hold the 2012 UN climate conference in Qatar, I’ve been interested in the position of renewable energies in the oil- and gas-rich Gulf region. These countries would have the wealth to invest in innovative technologies and plenty of sun to harvest – but is there the motivation, given that their prosperity is  based on the fossil fuels business? Recently, things seem to be moving with regard to solar energy in the area.Tonight I arrived in Abu Dhabi, the home of Masdar city. The World Future Energy Summit will be held here this coming week, as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. Given the huge ecological footprint and per-capita emissions record of the region, thinking about sustainability can only be a good idea. I’ll be visiting Masdar in the course of the week and attending some of the events – including an international water summit, as well as the energy meetings. It will be good to get an impression first-hand of what is happening in this key region with regard to halting climate change – and what would still need to be done.