UAE positions itself as a platform for energy and AI infrastructure with long horizon investment
Sultan Al Jaber highlights data center power demand rising sixfold and hydrocarbons’ continued role
ADSW convenes governments, investors and technology firms as climate and industrial policy converge
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week opened its 2026 edition with a call for energy security, AI enabled industrial strategy and long term investment as computational demand grows and climate goals tighten. The event, hosted in the presence of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, set a decisive tone for the year’s first major sustainability and climate gathering.
AI, Power Demand and the Energy System
In his opening address, Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chairman of Masdar, pointed to a reshaped global economy powered by artificial intelligence, data centers and advanced manufacturing.
Artificial intelligence is rewiring every industry, reshaping every sector and resetting expectations for global growth, Dr Al Jaber said. While the world is changing around us, one constant remains. And that is energy. Every algorithm, every data center, every breakthrough in advanced technology needs power to drive it. Simply put, there is no artificial intelligence without actual energy.
Citing projections for the next 15 years, he forecast a sixfold increase in data center electricity demand and rapid consumption growth across mobility, buildings and industrial production. The outlook also includes 1.5 billion more urban inhabitants and a doubling of air travel.
Meeting all this demand responsibly, reliably and affordably means coming to terms with reality, he said, noting that more than seventy percent of energy supply will still come from hydrocarbons. He described this not as a constraint but as a catalyst, arguing that sustainable progress is not about slowing down growth, it is about designing a better engine.
UAE Strategy Across Molecules, Electrons and AI
Dr Al Jaber framed the UAE’s national strategy as an integrated system that links hydrocarbons, renewables, nuclear and advanced technology. The world still needs molecules to make electrons, he said. That is why we have always invested in both and fused them into a single integrated system.
He referenced ADNOC’s lower carbon hydrocarbons, gigawatt scale renewable assets developed through Masdar, the country’s flagship solar and nuclear projects and custom engineered wind capacity. He added that AI has become the operating system of the UAE’s industrial strategy, stating that it is being embedded across the energy and industrial base to optimize every barrel, every megawatt and every production line.
Dr Al Jaber credited President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed for founding Masdar twenty years ago, noting that the company has contributed to renewable cost reductions of more than ninety percent and has expanded projects to over forty countries. Masdar is now more than two thirds toward its target of a one hundred gigawatt portfolio.
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Capital, Policy and Partnership
The speech was also a pitch to global investors. Addressing CEOs, technologists and policymakers, Dr Al Jaber described the UAE as an open platform for partnership that offers stability, steady leadership, long term vision, policy clarity, advanced logistics, financial services and smart capital. If you want to engineer the future, this is where that work is happening, he said. The corridor to the future runs through here: where gigawatts of power meet terabytes of data, where energy meets intelligence, and where progress is not promised, it is delivered.
He linked this positioning to governance and values, describing the UAE as a nation of peaceful coexistence guided by wise stewardship and focused on people. We believe people are the ultimate purpose. In a world shaped by technology, it is our values that remain our North Star, guiding how we invest, how we build and how we partner.
Legacy, Human Development and Global Impact
Reflecting on the legacy of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Founding Father, Dr Al Jaber emphasized that Sheikh Zayed defined progress by one standard alone: human dignity. He believed that leadership is measured not by wealth or power, but by the difference made in people’s lives.
The Zayed Sustainability Prize, whose ceremony took place during ADSW, was cited as a practical embodiment of this ethos. Dr Al Jaber noted that the Prize has positively impacted more than four hundred million people. This prize is not symbolic, it is practical, and it is deeply human, he said. The Prize has saved lives, and it has changed lives permanently, for the better.
Outlook for 2026 and Global Significance
Dr Al Jaber closed with an appeal to channel ambition, ideas, capital and technology into real projects. The future of sustainable human progress is waiting, and its address is Abu Dhabi, he said.
For policymakers and investors, the platform message from ADSW 2026 is clear: the next phase of climate and sustainable development will be shaped by the intersection of AI infrastructure, power markets and industrial strategy. Financing models, regulatory design and cross border partnerships will determine whether rising energy demand can be met within climate constraints. With data center build outs expanding and capital markets reassessing long duration investment risk, the UAE is positioning itself as a venue for both.
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