Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week has become an early marker for where the global energy conversation is heading. In 2026, attention centred on accelerating clean energy deployment, while ensuring systems remain reliable, affordable and investable. For the UNEP Cool Coalition, the week provided a platform to advance a clear message with energy leaders: cooling is now one of the fastest-growing drivers of electricity demand, arriving at the same moment grids are being reshaped by variable renewables, electrified transport, and new high-intensity loads like data centres. The challenge is no longer only about building clean generation capacity, but increasingly about whether energy systems can integrate rising demand where it is growing most rapidly, at the local and distribution level. Cooling sits squarely at the heart of that equation.

High-level engagement across the energy system

The Coalition’s presence in Abu Dhabi focused on positioning cooling within the broader energy transition across policy, delivery and private-sector leadership.

A meeting with the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Energy spotlighted cooling and clean energy integration directly within national energy priorities, linking efficiency, demand growth and infrastructure readiness to long-term delivery strategies.

Alongside this, the Head of the Cool Coalition, Lily Riahi, met with the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Francesco La Camera, as part of the week’s wider convening around renewables and energy security, including IRENA’s 16th General Assembly. 

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The delegation also engaged with senior stakeholders including Norway’s Envoy on Energy, Climate and Food Security, Hans Olav Ibrekk, connecting national ambition on clean energy and climate to the local delivery conditions that ultimately determine success. These exchanges reflected the growing convergence between clean generation goals and the need for system-level planning to absorb rising demand.

On the delivery side, the Coalition strengthened partnerships central to scaling efficient cooling solutions. Discussions with H.E. Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower and Chair of the District Cooling Operators Association, focused on accelerating energy-efficient district cooling systems that can reduce emissions, while meeting surging urban demand.

Innovation was also in the spotlight. UNEP partner Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) Foundation was awarded the 2026 Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Energy category, recognising its Cooling-as-a-Service model for tackling upfront cost barriers and expanding access to sustainable cooling.

The week also underscored the importance of building future capacity. UNEP Junior Energy Expert Viktoria Nagy was sponsored by IRENA to attend the 8th IRENA Youth Forum and General Assembly as a Youth Delegate, where she moderated a session on translating energy and climate policies into people-centred solutions.

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Why cooling has become an energy system issue

The energy transition is now being shaped as much by demand as by supply. A growing share of renewable energy connects at the distribution level, while new loads, including electric vehicles, green industry, data centres and cooling, all meet the system through local networks. This shifts the constraint away from generation targets toward the infrastructure and frameworks that convert capacity into usable power: grids, substations, planning standards, connection processes, flexibility mechanisms and financing structures.

In emerging markets and developing economies, the gap is particularly acute. Grid investment is lagging behind both electricity demand growth and renewable deployment, even as project pipelines expand. The risk is that clean energy supply outpaces the ability of systems to absorb it, undermining reliability and slowing progress toward decarbonisation.

Between national targets and projects that utilities and financiers can execute lies a “missing middle” of integrated energy planning, local diagnostics and investment packaging. Cities and subnational authorities are central to closing this gap. They are where demand growth concentrates, where infrastructure decisions are made, and where coordinated pipelines can be assembled.

This is where UNEP brings distinct value, linking power, heating, cooling, water and waste into integrated approaches, and translating that cross-sector logic into programmes that are technically robust, environmentally sound and structured to attract investment.

From planning to delivery: lessons from cities

In China, UNEP and partners conducted rapid energy system assessments across multiple locations, identifying Xi’an’s Chanba Ecological District as a priority area for deeper engagement. The work combined district-wide GIS-based energy mapping with pre-feasibility studies for clean local energy solutions, including low-carbon heating and cooling systems.

UNEP and IRENA have also launched a multi-year, multi-city technical assistance programme, supported by the Government of Italy, to help Ukrainian municipalities plan and attract investment into decentralised, sustainable energy systems. The collaboration combines IRENA’s renewable resource analytics and system modelling with UNEP’s experience in integrated urban planning, safeguards and investment structuring to transform fragmented recovery efforts into coordinated pipelines that deliver cleaner, more resilient local energy systems.

Looking ahead

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week highlighted both the momentum behind renewables and the growing recognition that delivery now depends on system readiness. For the UNEP Cool Coalition, the message is increasingly clear: sustainable cooling, electrification and clean energy integration rise or fall together.

As energy demand accelerates worldwide, the Coalition’s work aims ensure that clean energy systems are built in ways that can absorb rising demand, deliver resilience and support sustainable development at scale.