Spotlight

The 11th World Green Economy Summit (WGES) convened in Dubai on 1-2 October 2025, under the theme ‘Innovating for Impact: Accelerating the Future of the Green Economy’.

Organised by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO), the two-day summit, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, featured over 50 speakers and panellists.

A plenary session titled ‘Green Technology for Resilience: Innovations in Smart Climate Solutions’, featured Saeed Al Abbar, CEO of AESG; Stwart Peña Feliz, co-founder and CEO of MacroCycle Technologies; and Seneca Cottom, Head of Sustainability at Alshaya Group. The speakers highlighted that climate effects cost the global economy more than $320 billion in 2024, adding that resilience and innovation are no longer optional. They emphasised that greatest challenge is not just finance, policy or technology – it is integration: deploying capital to bankable projects, aligning fast-moving technologies with evolving regulations, and co-ordinating city upgrades. Circular materials continue to lag due to weak supply (e.g. PET collection rates at just 20 per cent to 30 per cent), costly and unscaled manufacturing, and hesitant offtake driven by concerns over price and quality.

The speakers urged companies to accelerate this by offering pilot “sandboxes” and attention/time capital, not just money, with first-movers in the private sector taking the lead, and governments codifying their gains for the remaining market by embedding simple, aggressive requirements into mainstream building codes. The discussion highlighted that the GCC – especially Dubai – demonstrates rapid, large-scale, sustainable urban development. With consumers largely understanding sustainability, the speakers called on companies to offer superior sustainable products, educate staff and incentivise returns and recycling.

Najib Saab, AFED Secretary General, was panellist at a session titled ‘Reimagining Global Governance Bodies: The Future of COP and Global Efforts to Tackle Climate Change’, exploring prospects for advancing the global climate governance system. Besides Saab, the session featured Dr Abdallah Dardari, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Development Programme; Shaikha Mohammed Sharif, BESS and Thermal Solutions Engineer at Masdar and Lead Negotiator on the UAE delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Nirnita Talukdar, APAC Regional Lead at the UNEP Finance Initiative-PRI Investment Leadership Programme.

Saab expressed AFED view that “Achieving carbon neutrality is imperative in the fight against climate change, to which the Arab region is particularly vulnerable. This requires a transition away from fossil fuels extraction and consumption.”

He noted that “Leading Arab oil producing countries have been diversifying their economies, including huge investments in renewable energy and efficiency, alongside pursuing technological innovations for cleaner use of fossil fuels. Hosting WGES in Dubai is a manifestation of this genuine commitment.”

Saab concluded by asserting that “Green Economy is rooted in sound resource management, which respects nature’s regenerative capacity. Defying nature might buy time but does not save the environment or deal with long-term climate challenges.” (WAM)