Latest / DEWA Podcasts / WGES 2026’s first-day sessions explore ways to scale up green solutions and accelerate the sustainable transition

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WGES 2026’s first-day sessions explore ways to scale up green solutions and accelerate the sustainable transition · DEWA Podcasts

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  The first day of the 12th World Green Economy
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  Summit 2026, held under the patronage of His
• 0:04
  Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
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  Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE
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  and Ruler of Dubai, featured high -level panel
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  discussions that examined the policies, technologies,
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  and business models shaping the transition to
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  a green economy. The summit is organized by the
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  Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, Dubai Electricity
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  and Water Authority, DEWA, and the World Green
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  Economy Organization. It ran on 21st and 22nd
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  October 2026 at the Dubai World Trade Center,
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  under the theme From Success to Scale, showcasing
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  the green economy. We begin with cost. The innovation
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  equation, how to bring down the cost of green,
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  brought together Vineet Mittal, founder and director
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  of finance and strategy at Navitas Solar, Dr.
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  Arshad Mansour, president and CEO of the Electric
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  Power Research Institute, EPRI, and Ali bin Zayed
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  Al -Falasi, deputy managing director of Downstream
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  at Emirates National Oil Company. Al -Falassi
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  highlighted Enoch's clean energy investments.
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  Since 2017, solar has become the norm at its
• 1:02
  Dubai stations. Its vapor recovery system saves
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  over 500 ,000 liters every year, and a hydrogen
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  pilot is underway at Expo City. The panel also
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  highlighted the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
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  Solar Park, the world's largest single -site
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  solar park, and its seventh phase, one of the
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  largest solar plus storage projects globally.
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  Green as a Growth Strategy, the Business Case
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  for Sustainability, featured Nick Falkowski.
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  CEO and co -founder of Meaningful Planet. Johan
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  Kama, Head of Corporate Sustainability at GEMS
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  Education. Professor Susanna Elmasa, Professor
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  of Economics and Director of the Sustainability
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  Program at Zayed University. Dr. Aisha Al -Nuaimi,
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  Vice President of the Sustainability and Innovation
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  Center at DEWA. And Deepthi KB, Senior Director
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  at GBCI MENA and the U .S. Green Building Council.
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  Water as a Business Imperative was moderated
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  by Amna Al -Noor, Program Specialist at the UN
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  Global Compact Network in the UAE, with Komal
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  Sharma, head of sustainability and ESG governance
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  at Emirates NBD, and Marianne Fletcher, acting
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  general manager at ASRAC on water governance,
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  blue bonds, and board -level oversight. Decarbonizing
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  at scale. Clean energy solutions for net zero.
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  Examined carbon capture, utilization, and storage,
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  and waste -to -fuel pathways, with finance decarbonization
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  projects doubling last year. The speakers were
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  Dr. Dharmesh Kumar, Associate Director for Earth
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  and Environment at WSP. Robert M. Chadley noted
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  that Schneider Electric's Smart Dubai headquarters
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  saved 762 tons of carbon dioxide in one year,
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  and that the UAE built a 200 -megawatt data center
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  from desert in under a year. Youth, innovation,
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  and the next generation of sustainability leadership
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  was moderated by Dawar Hameed, Senior Program
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  Officer at the Global Green Growth Institute,
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  and featured Ahmed Al -Amra, the Institute's
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  representative in the UAE, Mona Ghandour, Vice
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  President of Innovative Solutions and Strategic
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  Partnerships at the Abdullah Al -Ghorair Foundation,
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  and Mohamed Sahli. Engineer at the Rochester
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  Institute of Technology, Dubai's Sustainability
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  and Energy Center. Green and human skills represent
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  59 % of the sought -after skills listed in UAE
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  job postings. Circular by Design. Redesigning
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  business models for the green economy. Brought
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  together Timothy Clark, CEO of Warson Waste Management
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  Company, and Ansi Mikola, CEO and founder of
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  River Recycle, on river plastic recovery, plastic
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  credits, and turning low -value plastics into
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  construction materials. Driving success. The
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  Middle East's energy storage solutions featured
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  Avantika Satish, Director of Consulting at Customized
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  Energy Solutions, CES, for the MENA region, and
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  Jin Xiaolong, Vice President of the Shanghai
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  Electric Group, moderated by Bilal Khurshid,
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  Executive Director of Global Energy and Utilities
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  at Microsoft. Battery installations are expected
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  to grow significantly by 2030, with calls for
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  diverse storage technologies and strong safety
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  measures. MRV 2 .0, the intersection of AI, big
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  data, and regulation for delivering climate transparency
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  and integrity at scale. Featured Dr. Titia Demes,
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  Senior Vice President for Sustainability at Tucker
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  Water Solutions, and Dawah Hamid of the Global
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  Green Growth Institute. Moderated by Siddhartha
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  Naduri, MENA Regional and Program Lead for Climate
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  Actions and Transparency Systems at GGGI. Scaling
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  lower carbon aviation fuels in the Middle East,
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  from production to end -use market readiness,
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  looked at how lower carbon aviation fuel complements
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  sustainable aviation fuel. Exporting utility
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  excellence under DEWA International. examined
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  how Dubai's utility expertise, technology, and
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  public -private partnerships can extend to global
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  markets. Powering AI sustainably, advancing smarter
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  and greener data centers, brought Mohammed bin
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  Sulaiman, CEO of Morohub, a digital daewa company,
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  together with Darren Kimura, President and CEO
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  of A2, and Jad Dib, partner at McKinsey & Company's
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  Dubai office, on the energy and water demands
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  of AI data centers, efficient AI models, advanced
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  cooling, and clean energy investment.