Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation, Empower, has announced its participation in the fourth Annual Partners’ Meeting of United Nations Environment, UNEP, Global ‘District Energy in Cities’ initiative, which will be held on 24th May, on the sidelines of the Nordic Clean Energy Week, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO of Empower and special advisor on district cooling of the initiative, will be attending the meeting and addressing the participants about the best practices adopted by the UAE in the district cooling industry.
Empower is an official and active partner of the UNEP’s Global District Energy in Cities initiative, launched to boost district cooling solutions in developing cities around the world. This is the fourth time Empower is attending meeting as part of its efforts to support sustainable development goals in cities, by enhancing the efficiency of district cooling.
"The Annual Partners’ Meeting of the UNEP is a platform to review the latest steps and technologies adopted by the cities in district cooling solutions. This meeting is an opportunity to exchange experiences, identify challenges, review steps, plan further stages of the initiative and work towards finding innovative and effective solutions to support sustainable development goals," Bin Shafar said.
Empower’s partnership with the initiative aims to increase the use of district cooling systems worldwide. This would increase energy efficiency, reduce harmful emissions, strengthen local and regional economies and enhance the social and environmental benefits of district cooling systems.
As the energy sector is among the biggest contributors to carbon dioxide, CO2, emissions, the UN has adopted various initiatives in the global efforts to reduce the sector’s impact on the environment. District cooling has been listed as one of six energy efficiency accelerators under the UN’s ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ initiative.
Bin Shafar will also be participating in the Project Steering Committee Meeting of the Initiative. The meeting will review last year’s results, follow up on the implementation of the recommendations, address the direct reactions of the countries and cities participating in the initiative, highlight the challenges and lessons learned, and review next year’s work plans.
The meeting will be also attended by senior UN officials, and other top official representatives from around the world. At the meeting, country representatives from Chile, Malaysia, India, Columbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, Egypt, China, and Serbia will present the initiative’s latest updates. In addition, updates on Argentina, Mongolia, Philippines, Russia, Seychelles and Tunisia will also be presented.