AHK Sustainability Series - On the Road to COP28
The second session of the AHK Sustainability Series focused on the topic Urban Mobility and was hosted on 10th of May in Dubai. H.E. Sybille Pfaff, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Dubai opened the event and highlighted once again Germany’s commitment to tackle the climate crisis. Pfaff referred to the recent Petersberg Climate Dialogue, where representatives from 40 countries met at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin preparing for COP28 Climate Change Conference 2023 in the UAE. During the conference Federal Chancellor Scholz announced that Germany would be contributing another two billion euros to the Green Climate Fund. Pfaff underlined that the mobility sector and especially urban public transportation are important areas on the road to net-zero and that she sees great potential for German technologies in the UAE.
Mohammed al Mutawwa, Sustainability & Green Economy Manager at RTA stated that sustainable cities are designed to address social, environmental, and economic impacts through urban planning and city management. Public transport needs to be accessible, affordable, connective and last but not least environmentally friendly. He explained RTA’s Roadmap towards shifting to zero-emission public transport in Dubai by 2050 with the three pillars green economy, infrastructure and circular economy.
Dr. Kaan Yildizgoz Senior Director Global Growth at UITP- The International Association of Public Transport shared insights on the contribution of public transport to sustainable cities from a global perspective. He stated that by 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas, which will create a huge task for governments and urban planners. Cities account for 70% of carbon emissions, the majority of which come from the transport and energy sector. He concluded that Sustainable Urban Mobility Systems need to consider innovative and efficient mass public transport systems, optimised road and street management to tackle Urban Space Scarcity, and lastly have regulations and funding in place.
During a panel discussion on e-mobility, moderated by Mounir Kabbara Senior Manager, Consulting: Government & Public Sector, PwC, the current state, trends and projections of the e-mobility sector were discussed. Electric mobility is among the major topics driving the transformation in the automotive industry. The BMW Group is known as innovator in the industry researching and developing electrified models over the past 10 years. Dr. Hamid Haqparwar, Managing Director of BMW Group Middle East explained, that a swift development of an efficient and customer-friendly charging infrastructure will lead to an increased demand of EVs. The company’s goal is to provide eco-friendly vehicles beyond carbon-free driving from material sourcing to recycling. The future could be hydrogen-powered electric vehicles as a complement to electric mobility with batteries, paving the way to a continuous reduction of carbon emission.
Siemens Mobility acts as driver towards sustainability standards enabling decarbonization and dematerialization of the mobility value chain through innovative technologies. The EV segment plays a significant role for the overall effort, stated Karim Mousa, Senior Vice President eMobility, Siemens Middle East. Ultra-fast chargers, smart grids and further technologies contribute to a seamless user experience beside the necessary infrastructure, financing and government support, which is needed to accelerate the eMobility sector over the next years.
INIT is a worldwide leading supplier of integrated systems for buses and trains and supports transport companies by offering a wide variety of services that cover all operational processes within a fully integrated ITS system. Electrifying public transport fleets requires extensive planning from investment stage to operational processes and maintenance. Dr. Jürgen Greschner, Deputy CEO of init innovation in traffic systems SE, pointed out that the basis is a reliable range prediction that comes along with an efficient charging infrastructure. Further he predicted that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions, allowing travelers to use a single mobile application to manage all their multimodal trips, may be a key driver for a sustainable transport in future urban cities.
The panel concluded with a call to action, underlining the importance of international framework and regulations for enhancing EV charging infrastructure.
Advanced Air Mobility - Powering the future of aviation was introduced by Yuri Jongkind, Business Development Director - Middle-East, Turkey and Africa, Rolls-Royce International Ltd., UAE. The Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) consists of three main areas: Urban Air Mobility (UAM), Regional Air Mobility (RAM) as well as Infrastructure (Vertiports). Jongkind stated that the global urban air-mobility market is estimated: 15,000 eVTOLS in operation by 2035. Key challenges for eVTOL operations are logistics and location of vertiports, charging infrastructure as well as maintenance of the vehicles. However, there is huge potential in the near future with UAE being one of the prospective markets.
Many thanks to our Premium Partners of the AHK Sustainability Series – on the Road to COP28:
BMW
Init Innovation in Traffic Systems
Krohne
Siemens
Wilo
