Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2025 Concludes with Commitment to Supercharge Sustainable Progress and Deliver New Era of Prosperity – EQ
In Short : The Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2025 concluded with a resounding commitment to accelerate global sustainable development. Leaders, innovators, and policymakers pledged to drive renewable energy adoption, climate action, and green innovation. The event emphasized collaboration to deliver a new era of prosperity, ensuring economic growth aligns with environmental sustainability and climate resilience goals.
In Detail : Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2025 concluded with a renewed global commitment to accelerate sustainable development and deliver a new era of prosperity for all.
Global leaders, including 13 heads of state and over 140 ministers and government officials, as well as over 3,500 business and civil society leaders, convened to advance dialogue on supercharging socioeconomic and environmental progress and unlocking a potential $10 trillion economic transformation opportunity. Taking place from January 12 to 18, ADSW 2025, hosted by Masdar, connected over 50,000 attendees from over 170 countries, to explore pathways for a sustainable future.
Held under the theme ‘The Nexus of Next. Supercharging Sustainable Progress,’ ADSW provided a platform for dialogue and collaboration, focusing on leveraging the convergence of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), energy innovation, and human expertise to drive inclusive, impactful progress. Policymakers, business and civil society leaders, and innovators engaged in a series of events and discussions designed to foster multi-stakeholder collaboration and drive widescale systematic change.
The Opening Ceremony, held on January 14, was attended by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, along with the heads of state and government representing Albania, Azerbaijan, Finland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Uganda and Uzbekistan. The event concluded with the Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards Ceremony, which recognized the innovative solutions of 11 pioneering organizations and high schools from around the world. His Highness awarded the winners across the six categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action, and Global High Schools, for their remarkable achievements, encouraging continued innovation in every corner of the globe.
Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, said: “ADSW 2025 stands as the launchpad for a new era of supercharged progress, convening heads of state, policymakers, business and civil society leaders to leverage the power of dialogue and collaboration to help build a resilient, inclusive and sustainable future. The partnerships forged here in Abu Dhabi will resonate far beyond our borders and unite the global community on impactful action to accelerate sustainable development.”
ADSW 2025 began with the 15th annual Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which took place on January 12 and 13, and was attended by 1,500 delegates, representing 140 countries from IRENA’s global membership. The Global Climate Finance Centre (GCFC), in collaboration with Masdar, hosted its Annual Meeting on 13 January, connecting over 300 professionals and facilitating vital discussions on advancing climate finance.
The ADSW Summit, the anchor event of ADSW 2025, featured 34 dedicated sessions over two days, with more than 70 speakers and heads of state including H.E. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan, H.E. Bola Tinubu, President of Nigeria, H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, H.E. Wavel Ramkalawan, President of Seychelles, H.E. Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda, H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan, H.E. Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, H.E. Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, H.E. Petteri Orpo, Prime Minister of Finland, H.E. Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, H.E. Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Key topics included the global energy systems transformation, the impact of AI and other emerging technologies on universal sustainable development, and the reshaping of global investment patterns through the digital-climate nexus.
The Green Hydrogen Summit, held on January 16 under the theme ‘Accelerating Green Hydrogen: Charting the Course for Industry Scale-Up,’ brought together over 40 industry leaders sharing their insights and driving the adoption of green hydrogen across various sectors. The Summit featured dialogue on unlocking investment potential, sustainable financial models, harmonizing global standards, and identifying concrete steps to accelerate the global uptake of green hydrogen.
Under the theme ‘Igniting a Global Sustainable Economy’, the Women in Sustainability, Environment, and Renewable Energy (WiSER) Annual Forum, brought together over 100 international experts from government, industry, nonprofits, academia, and intergovernmental organizations, to explore the transformative role of women entrepreneurs in advancing the global sustainability agenda.
Under the theme ‘Generation Now – Building the Future’, Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S), Masdar’s global initiative to empower the next generation of sustainability leaders, delivered a packed program focused on youth innovation, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills in sustainability, community involvement and international representation. The three-day program featured 45 sessions with over 100 speakers and moderators, including three heads of state, and explored how young people can use AI and other emerging technologies to develop climate solutions.
Held under the theme ‘Voices of Resilience: Delivering Inclusive Climate Action’, the Zayed Sustainability Prize Forum brought together an inspiring lineup of speakers to discuss the vital role that indigenous, marginalized and youth communities can play in advancing sustainable development and the power of philanthropy to drive meaningful change. The Zayed Sustainability Prize also hosted Investor Connect, a high-impact networking platform where Prize finalists and winners pitched their solutions to an audience of investors, buyers and other key industry stakeholders. By connecting entrepreneurs with financiers, Investor Connect drives the scaling of innovations that generate a lasting, measurable impact and contribute to a sustainable future.
The World Future Energy Summit took place from January 14-16 at the ADNEC Centre and featured 11 country pavilions and more than 450 exhibitors. The 2025 event saw record-breaking attendance, with significant increases in the participation of female and international speakers, as well as trade buyers. It also provided a dynamic platform for over 55 entrepreneurs and startups to showcase their cutting-edge technologies. Notably, the CLiX showcase highlighted female innovators from around the world who are leading the charge in combating climate change.
Masdar, in collaboration with Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), announced the launch of the world’s first large-scale ‘round the clock’ gigascale project combining solar power and battery storage to dispatch renewable energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Delivering up to 1 gigawatt (GW) of baseload power, the project will feature a 5.2GW (DC) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant, coupled with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery energy storage system (BESS), making it the largest project of its kind in the world.
Masdar also announced its entry into the Philippines market, signing agreements to develop up to 1GW of clean energy projects, covering solar, wind and BESS solutions, in the Southeast Asian nation, strengthening its growing portfolio in the region.
ADSW 2025 concluded with The Festival at Masdar City, which engaged the public in celebrating sustainable solutions and inspiring action through various activities at Masdar Park. The festival attracted over 12,000 attendees over the course of three days.
Key partners for ADSW 2025 included the Department of Energy (DoE), Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), World Wide Technology (WWT), Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), EMSTEEL, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Mubadala, Huawei, GE Vernova, HSBC, Agility, Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), TotalEnergies, Fertiglobe, 1PointFive, bp, BEEAH, Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) and Dii Desert Energy.
Reflecting ADSW’s commitment to driving sustainability, Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) provided this year’s event with Clean Energy Certificates covering the consumption of approximately 305 megawatts (MW) – the required amount to power the event from January 14-16 at ADNEC.
