UN Secretary General tours world’s largest solar project ’Noor Abu Dhabi’

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, took a helicopter tour over the 3.2 million solar panels of the world’s largest single solar project, Noor Abu Dhabi, as the solar plant commenced commercial operation for the first time today.

With a production capacity of nearly 1,177 MW, Noor Abu Dhabi is set to reduce the UAE capital’s carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million metric tonnes per year, the equivalent of removing 200,000 cars off the roads. The AED 3.2 billion solar plant is a key component of the UAE’s Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix from 25 per cent to 50 per cent by 2050 and reduce the carbon footprint of power generation by 70 percent.

Commenting during the tour, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said: "Sometimes it's as much opportunity as a necessity that is the mother of invention. Here in the United Arab Emirates, it is eye-opening to see renewables on the rise. Scaling up renewables in all countries is not just an urgent need for tackling global warming – it makes economic sense. It’s a huge opportunity to create new and better jobs, and to improve people’s health by cutting pollution. To do that, we need to get much more climate finance flowing and the Climate Action Summit will be an opportunity to do exactly that."

António Guterres and more than 1,000 political leaders, heads of state, high level dignitaries and climate action advocates are gathering under one roof to discuss climate change and renewable energy at the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting, which will be held from June 30 to July 1. The event will serve to craft the agenda for the United Nations Climate Action Summit taking place later this year.