ABU DHABI: WWF International, also known as the World Wide Fund for Nature, yesterday described the UAE’s bid to host the interim and eventually permanent location of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) headquarters praiseworthy.
The UAE is proposing to house IRENA headquarters in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, the world’s first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city powered entirely by renewable energy. “Masdar City is fast developing into a global showcase of sustainable development in action and a driving force for the world’s renewable energy sector,” said Eduardo Goncalves, global manager of WWF International’s “One Planet Living” sustainability initiative.
IRENA is the first international organization to focus exclusively on the issue of renewable energies, addressing both the industrialized and the developing world. Its members will vote in a meeting on June 29, 2009 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to determine the agency’s director-general and the location of its headquarters.
