The Akhbar Al Sa'a (News of the Hour) Bulletin, has declared that the U.A.E. is the first "engine to invest in renewable energy in the region" and a global platform for collaboration and discussion about renewable energy and climate change.

Under the title, "Growth", the bulletin said that a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), where the agency talked about the leadership role of the U.A.E. in the sector of global renewable energy, focused on a number of points; most importantly, that the U.A.E. is the first engine for investment in renewable energy in the region and it is a global platform for cooperation and discussion about renewable energy and climate change. It exerts efforts within the framework of its cooperation with the agency in order to accelerate the spread of renewable energy projects around the world, and in order to develop the necessary frameworks to move the world to a sustainable future. In addition, the report said that the capital, Abu Dhabi, is today a role model in the field of renewable energy through its initiatives and projects such as Masdar City and Shams 1 among other initiatives.

The bulletin, issued by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, ECSSR, added that the U.A.E. is one of the countries most interested in sustainable development and regards it as major development work, continuing that it is the country most interested in renewable energy, in spite of being one of the oil-producing countries. This point was manifested clearly in its announcing at the end of 2009 of its intention to invest about US$ 500 billion dollars in these projects during the period from 2010 to 2015, thus becoming one of the most world's top investors in renewable energy and the most desirable nation in transition to the era of future energy.

The bulletin concluded that this is not the first time that international institutions have identified the U.A.E. as a leading model for the sector of global renewable energy, saying that there were many such occasions, including when Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the sidelines of his attendance at the World Summit on the Energy of the Future in 2011, commended the U.A.E. initiatives in renewable energy, when he said that Masdar City gave the world a bright picture of what the future would be like and praised the leading role played by Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E., stemming from a vision which is being converted into reality.

In the same context, the bulletin pointed to statements from Bill Richardson, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, when during his participation in the activities of the Summit in 2013, he said, "The U.A.E., not the United States or China, has become the centre of renewable energy in the world."

http://www.wam.org.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=WamLocEnews&cid=1290010338900&pagename=WAM%2FWAM_E_Layout