Now only option left is going green

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

The Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) held the third panel discussion of 2019 on the topic of “Climate Change: Time for Action” hosted by the Modul University in Dubai.

Focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, the panel discussion addressed a plethora of issues encompassing logistics, decarbonisation of the economy, sustainable tourism, green infrastructure, energy diversification, arctic conservation and more.

The expert panelists, including Eugene Mayne (Founder and Chief Executive of the Tristar Group and Board of Director of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Network UAE), Ali Al Jassim (CEO of Etohad ESCO) and Dr Suhail Al Ghfeli (Assistant Professor in Environmental Engineering at Zayed University) and Brigitte Dierckx (Sustainbility Manager at Engie), represented their entities and shared their expertise and knowledge.

The critical topic of climate change: ‘Time for Action’ was strategically covered in full scope, bringing together a diverse panel of expert speakers. The meaningful panel discussion explored how different organisations in the UAE are leading the talk in the fight against climate change through their various policies and projects. The presentations were followed by a lively interactive session where the experts and audience members shared information, discussed queries, pondered on the challenges and the plethora of opportunities that presented themselves and uncovered the truths and complexities of our future.

“Going green is not a choice anymore, it is a responsibility” said Eugene Mayne, as he elaborated on the efforts he has taken Tristar into turning into a responsible business. For the success of the three major global inter-governmental resolutions: The Paris Agreement, the 2030 agenda and the Sendai Framework for disaster Risk Reduction, is vital to keep the average global temperature rise well below 2C degrees and as close as possible to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. Since then, the global average temperature has already risen by around one degree centigrade, this is the time for action if all wish to stay as close as possible to 1.5 degree centigrade. On May 10th2019 the earth passed another unwelcome milestone, crossing the dangerous concentration 410 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere.