His Excellency Eng. Awaidha Murshed Al Marar, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (DoE) stated that Earth Hour is growing in significance globally and has become an icon of unified global action to preserve nature. It indeed indicates that small collective actions, like switching off the lights at the same time for one hour, can have stable positive impact. Afterall, earth is our only home and preserving it is a joint responsibility.

His Excellency stated that In the wake of growing concerns about the fast loss of natural resources, rising global temperatures and climate change issues, discussions about the environment are taking center stage the world over and the UAE is no exception. We have released policies and initiatives to minimize our reliance on fossil fuels and diversify our economy. As a signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement, we are dedicated to minimizing green-house gas emissions and reducing global warming. To take this forward, the UAE National Energy Strategy 2050 targets to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix to 50% and minimize the carbon footprint of power generation by 70%.

In a quest for a sustainable future, Abu Dhabi is attempting to create an energy system that allows economic growth, energy security and environmental sustainability. We are proactively investing in clean sustainable energy. However, our commitment to the environment encompasses much more than just cleans energy production. For one, we have to create a clean energy ecosystem based on ethical use of our natural resources and conscientious use of energy.