The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council hosted Mohamed Al Ramahi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), on 19 September for a luncheon discussion with senior executives representing key member companies. The event occurred concurrently with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings and U.N. Climate Week. 
 
Ramahi outlined Masdar’s 2030 goals and objectives including growing its clean energy capacity to 100 GW and adding 1 million tons per year of green hydrogen production. He said Masdar in on track to double its current renewable energy production from 20 GW today to 40 GW by the end of this year. 
 
He reviewed Masdar’s impressive portfolio of projects in the United States, including solar farms in California and wind farms in New Mexico and Texas. He discussed further opportunities for partnership and collaboration between Masdar and U.S. companies, particularly under the Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE) that was announced between the U.S. and the U.A.E. in 2022.  Masdar is committed to deploying $5B in capital in U.S clean energy sectors and with knock on investment effect this will likely result in $15B worth of total project value.
 
Ramahi gave insights into ways to overcome the challenges of sustainable finance. He drew on the example of Masdar’s investments around the world to demonstrate how to de-risk projects and make them more economically viable.  He spoke of the role governments must play in this process and outlined some very successful public-private partnerships that Masdar has concluded in countries like Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and countries in Central Asia and Africa.
 
Ramahi elaborated on Masdar’s plans for COP28, which the U.A.E. will host from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in Dubai. He indicated what he expects to see as significant outcomes from COP28, and concluded by giving his advice on what companies can do to support and stay involved with COP28. 
 
For more information on the Business Council’s COP28 activities, please contact Graham Reitman at greitman@usuaebusiness.org.