The World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) have signed a partnership agreement in Dubai to fast-track green investments into bankable smart city projects.
What goes into making a Smart City? Investment and cooperation, first and foremost. Global forecasts indicate that spending on smart city projects will grow to US $34.35 billion by 2020 worldwide. These statistics become an excellent framework for understanding why Dubai is well-poised to become a leader among 177 other cities investing in smart technology. In an effort to bolster its facilitation and implementation of various green investment projects in the UAE, the World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO) has signed a partnership agreement with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) in Dubai. The joint initiative will make it possible for smart green cities and sustainable infrastructure projects to gain access to grants and investments through the WGEO Trust Fund. The project aims to serve as a platform to identify, develop and fund long-term, high-impact bankable projects. GGGI will deliver sixty bankable smart green city projects worth a total of US$1.1 billion to this initiative over the next 3 years, and each of the projects will benefit from the explicit support of the Dubai government, and, as such will present a competitive advantage to interested investors. The UAE sees green growth as an approach to address its complex set of challenges and is pursuing its Federal Vision 2021 and its Green Economy for Sustainable Development Vision as a framework for long-term sustainable development. Sustainable economic development means that the green economy must include the reduction of inequalities and bring multiple social, economic and environmental benefits to all citizens. Recognising that people are at the center of sustainable development, the partnership between WGEO and GGGI aims to contribute to securing a world that is equitable and inclusive.
“Smart green cities and sustainable infrastructure projects create unprecedented opportunities for long-term prosperity, leading to more vibrant and attractive markets, healthy economies, poverty reduction, and sustainable development”, says HE Saeed Mohamed Al Tayer, Chairman of the World Green Economy Organisation. “The World Green Economy Organisation is uniquely placed to provide systematic and holistic catalytic support to the promotion of the green economy, meaning that it will handle all aspects of the promotion of green economy. Access to green finance through the WGEO Trust Fund is one among a number of practical value propositions offered by the organisation”, he added.
In 2017, the GGGI reportedly helped to mobilize over half a billion US dollars for green investments that aim to support developing countries and emerging economies transition toward environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive economic growth. The UAE, with the support of GGGI, has strived to close identified gaps in achieving its vision through systematically building a national framework where inter-emirates and cross-sector coordination and collaboration can effectively take place and progress can be monitored. These renewed policy frameworks now need to be implemented and made fully functional. Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI says: “I see a tremendous opportunity in our collaboration from jointly setting up the process to managing the Project Preparation phase and developing green city bankable projects. I’m confident that our projects will attract the GGGI Member countries as well as WGEO investors to want to invest.” GGGI is championing green growth and climate resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement commitments. GGGI is a trusted advisor to governments in over 30 countries transitioning to green economic growth. GGGI results support 6 outcomes critical to achieving SDGs and NDCs: greenhouse gas emission reduction; creation of green jobs; increased access to sustainable services; improved air quality; adequate access to ecosystem services; and enhanced climate adaptation. The WGEO emerged in response to the call by the international community, as reflected in the outcome document of the Rio+20 conference, entitled “The Future We Want”, where governments, the private sector, and all other stakeholders are called to support countries interested in the transition to a green economy. The organisation seeks to promote the mainstreaming of the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, by linking financing, technology, capacity building and all other elements of the enabling environment for green economy. Building on the UAE’s success in developing and mainstreaming green growth and drawing on the understanding of the need for collective action to address common regional challenges, the UAE is on the path to sharing expertise gained from its experiences with other countries in the region as well.
SORCE: The Sustainabilist