114 states signed the statute approving the establishment of the organization, and representatives of all 114 countries will be meeting in the Egyptian city Sharm El Sheikh on June 29-30 to vote on where the headquarters of the new organization will be located.
“It’s Masdar,” Eduardo Goncalves of the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) said when asked why Abu Dhabi was the favorite to win. “It’s both the Masdar Initiative and Masdar City.”
“The Masdar Initiative is undoubtedly the world’s biggest single investment in the renewable energy revolution and the world desperately needs it right now,” Goncalves told The Media Line. “Masdar City really embodies all that IRENA should be about. It’s about leading by example; it’s about showing that a sustainable future built on the foundations of renewable energy is feasible and desirable,” added Goncalves, who has helped the Abu Dhabi government set up the guidelines for Masdar.
The other main candidates are the Austrian capital Vienna and Bonn in Germany. Only a handful of United Nations and international organizations are hosted outside Western capitals, one of which is the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya.
But with the Masdar Initiative on its side, Abu Dhabi may well be joining the minority few.
The Abu Dhabi government launched the Masdar Initiative in April 2006. It was aimed at advancing the development, commercialization and deployment of sustainable and renewable energy technologies and solutions. One of the chief components of the initiative is Masdar City, a multi-million dollar ‘green’ city currently under construction in the desert outside Abu Dhabi.
When completed in 2016, the city will be the first carbon-neutral city in the world, according a statement by Masdar. It will house 1,500 businesses, 40,000 residents and 50,000 commuters. The proposed offices for IRENA will be located in a positive energy building, meaning that the building will generate more energy than it uses by utilizing renewable energy sources.
Supporters of Abu Dhabi include United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Nobel Prize laureate Rajendra Pachauri, the WWF and the 22 member states of the Arab League.
But Abu Dhabi’s bid to be IRENA’s host city isn’t a foregone conclusion: has a relatively poor history of using renewable energy, and UAE residents have one of the world’s largest carbon footprints, according to the World Bank’s Little Green Data Book, which calculates the carbon footprints of residents of countries across the globe.
“I would be very pleased if Abu Dhabi won. It would be where people could look and see a living breathing example of a renewable energy future,” Goncalves said.