From global oil chieftains to climate change negotiators, tens of thousands of energy specialists are set to converge on the capital this week.
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) is the broad event encompassing five days of conferences, state visits, product exhibits and glitzy gatherings at hotel ballrooms and ambassadors' residences. It also includes art installations on the Corniche and the chance to hear Queen Rania of Jordan speak on sustainability.
You can follow the conference on The National's website and on Twitter using the hashtag #WFES, the abbreviation that most veterans know it by. The National breaks down the agenda for the week:
International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) Assembly, today and tomorrow
Irena, a United Nations body, helps governments - particularly in developing countries - craft policies to encourage more use of clean energy. This week it launches a road map to double the share of renewables in the world energy mix by 2030 using everything from underground heat to subsurface ocean waves. Tonight there will be a "Question Time"-style debate hosted by Irena and the Financial Times with Adnan Amin, the organisation's director general, and Martin Lidegaard, the Danish energy minister.
World Future Energy Summit (WFES), International Water Summit (IWS), and Abu Dhabi International Renewable Energy Conference (Adirec), Tuesday to Thursday
Policymakers make way for solar panel vendors and oil company executives showing off their green credentials at the WFES, which has been divided into two extra conferences this year. The opening speeches are from Queen Rania of Jordan and François Hollande, the French president, in his first state visit to the UAE. Stop by the Energy Market Authority of Singapore's booth on Wednesday at 2pm for a chance to network with traders and market regulators in Abu Dhabi's growing Asian oil consumer base. International climate change negotiators - including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change head, Christiana Figueres, the US envoy Todd Stern and the European Climate Action Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard - will be on hand to offer views on multilateral action against flooding, famine and global warming.
Zayed Future Energy Prize, Tuesday
Abu Dhabi will award top contributors to sustainability from the corporate world, NGOs and high schools at this annual ceremony at Emirates Palace. Among the judges for the monetary prize - as large as US$1.5 million (Dh5.51m) - are the president of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and the actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Energy ministerial of South American and Arab countries (Aspa), Wednesday
Better known as Aspa for its name in Spanish (Cumbre América del Sur-Países Árabes), this high-level meeting is a first for energy ministers from the two hemispheres focusing on cooperation in fossil fuels and renewables. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosts the event. Expect to see news on the oil markets from Arabian Gulf Opec members.
