Masdar CEO discusses clean energy investment at World Energy Congress

Masdar’s Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, participated in a panel discussion titled “Financing energy: Closing the clean energy investment gap,” at the 24th World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi. 

Joining Al Ramahi on the panel was Steve Bolze, Senior Managing Director, Blackstone, Dr Ahmed Ali Attiga, Chief Executive Officer, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), Mohamad Abunayyan, Chairman of the Board, ACWA Power International, and Vijay Iyer, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). 

Moderated by Jon Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the panel session discussed the global trends and dynamics of clean energy investments, the challenges and strategies of investing in renewables and how investment can be accelerated globally to deliver against climate objectives. 

“The growing interest in sustainable finance is a positive sign for the renewable energy sector. However, continued investment in infrastructure is required to be able to integrate ever growing renewables capacity in existing grids. In addition, access to financing remains a key issue in developing countries where energy is needed most. Closer collaboration among stakeholders is needed to increase financing flows, which could be supported by implementing a more transparent permitting and approvals processes, a stable regulatory regime, enforceable contracts that can be bankable, and access to grid infrastructure for electricity generators,” Al Ramahi said during the panel.

At Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2019, Masdar was one of 25 signatories from government and business to the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Declaration issued by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to create a robust and sustainable finance hub serving the MENA region.