Dear Participants,
I am pleased to welcome you all to the iteration of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s International Sustainable Energy Event (iSEE) and together build on the momentum of this important intellectual and innovation platform.
Since 2020 the world has dramatically increased efforts to promote sustainability and resilience as we pull through and build back from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Having heard regional and global leaders commit to keeping a 1.5-degree pathway viable, the energy community across the globe has been given the task of transitioning to an energy system which can operate in line with net-zero carbon futures for our nations. The Kingdom of Bahrain’s own Energy Sector has taken important and momentous strides towards transitioning and diversifying the national energy mix in a more sustainable and low carbon context.
The global community has called for action in our sector, together we can learn from one another, highlight best practices, and develop new partnerships to leverage our collective abilities to address these global challenges. Sustainable development goal 7 – clean, affordable & sustainable energy for all is intricately woven into many of the other SDGs and as such the ability of our industry to make good on global, regional and national targets is a linchpin on which much rests.
H.R.H. Sh. Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa Crown Prince Prime Minister, announced at COP26 in Glasgow on 2nd November 2021, that Bahrain will double its national renewable energy target for 2030, refocus on energy efficiency, double tree cover, and reduce emissions by 30% by 2035, all leading towards an ambitious net-zero emission target by 2060. These targets demonstrate the profound commitment the kingdom is taking towards the global efforts made for climate change mitigation and sustainable development.
To achieve our targets, and provide the sustainable future our future generations deserve, we must work together as policy makers, technology providers, financiers, service providers, energy users & producers and I hope you will all join us at the third International Sustainable Energy Event: iSEE 2022 – ‘Sustainability for a Brighter Future’.
This conference will be one of the prominent opportunities as a community to come together and discuss the technological, human, business, and financial capital that we will leverage to achieve these targets and aspirations in this upcoming era.
iSEE has been an ideal event for budding energy professionals and students to be exposed to the industry and its wealth of knowledge, developing the youth and the next generation of energy professionals is enriching for us all and a very valuable part of the conference.
Our previous events have raised awareness, built business relationships, and demonstrated technologies, business models and financing mechanisms. This conference will aim to demonstrate how these can all work together and be implemented at scale.
I look forward to another productive event in which we come together to highlight the challenges, opportunities, and solutions which we can all leverage to make our communities more sustainable and resilient moving on from the pandemic and addressing the issue of climate change.
His Excellency Eng. Wael bin Nasser Al Mubarak
Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs – Kingdom of Bahrain