The event was held on the sidelines of the IPCC’s recent two-week meeting in Abu Dhabi.
The panel session saw faculty members engage in a discussion with the SRREN authors regarding the SRREN findings as well as the impact of these findings on a research-based institution.
MIST panelists included faculty members Hosni Ghedira and Sgouris Sgouridis.
Based on the work being done at MIST and recommendations of the SRREN, it was concluded that advancement in technologies as well as policies will be key for development of the energy systems that will need to be implemented in order to bring greenhouse gas emissions to levels that will prevent global temperature increases and related climate change that would be potentially devastating to society in the future.
“There is vast room for collaboration between the Masdar Institute and the IPCC. We hope that this panel discussion is the first of many future joint discussions,” said MIST President Fred Moavenzadeh.
“As we look for new research opportunities, we use the technology, policy and systems framework to achieve a balanced research portfolio that addresses energy resource potentials, specific technologies for maximizing the harvest of energy from these resources, the environmental and social impacts of technology choices, the potential for technology innovation and the cost of deploying technologies now and in the future,” said Steven Griffiths, executive director of Masdar Institute Office of Institute Initiatives.
IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri said: “This special report on renewable energy was extremely important because we wanted to tell the world what can be done to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases and thereby prevent or reduce the impacts and possible harm to the planet.”
The government of Abu Dhabi established MIST as a not-for-profit, private graduate university to develop indigenous R&D capacity addressing issues of importance to the region.
In collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the institute has developed an academic and research platform that articulates its mission and vision according to critical energy and sustainability challenges.
