Dubai’s District Cooling Operators Association, the first of its kind in the region, held its fifth meeting that touched on the developments of the vital district cooling sector, developing mechanisms to enhance the sustainability efforts at the state level in general and Dubai in particular, and mobilizing the necessary drives to effectively contribute to achieving UAE’s ’Net-Zero by 2050’ Strategic Initiative.
Chaired by Ahmad Bin Shafar, Chairman of the District Cooling Operators Association, Dubai and CEO of the Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the meeting was attended by the representation of member companies, Emaar District Cooling, Emirates District Cooling LLC (Emicool), National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed), Al-Futtaim Engineering, South Energy and Meydan, besides the representatives from the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) and Regulatory and Supervisory Bureau for Water and Electricity (RSB) Dubai. During the meeting, the attendees reviewed the latest developments on licensing of district cooling; also, affirmed their commitment to implementing the Executive Council Resolution No. (6) of 2021 regulating the provision of district cooling service in the Emirate of Dubai.
The meeting agenda included a number of issues, most notably the initiation of action plans in the process of transforming Dubai into a green economy, integrating modern technologies into the sector’s operation mechanisms, and prioritizing the use of recycled water in district cooling operations. The participants touched on ways to increase operational efficiency and agreed on the need to unify efforts and energies to enhance the sector’s performance locally and globally.
“The Association assumes important burdens and responsibilities, the latest of which is the role it will play in the context of the UAE’s declaration of its goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, which culminated the country’s efforts for addressing climate change at the local and global levels during the past three decades since its accession to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1995. Since then, the UAE has adopted a wide range of legislation and implemented many measures aimed at reducing emissions and providing sustainable solutions, in line with best practices in all vital sectors, including energy, industry and agriculture,” Bin Shafar said.
Bin Shafar stressed the need to take advantage of the Dubai’s economic recovery, which was highlighted by the World Bank in its recent reports. He pointed out that the restoration of Dubai’s economic activity to its pre-pandemic performance requires actors in the district cooling industry to contribute to achieving the goals of strategic initiatives related to the green economy and Dubai’s leadership as a sustainable city worldwide.