Dubai, 18 September 2012. As part of its Speaker Series, YPE Dubai & Abu Dhabi held a session on how to use environmental finance to support energy efficiency project. The presentation was given by Ivano Iannelli, renowned expert in the sector of sustainable development and CEO of the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence. The event gathered more than 50 young energy professionals from the UAE interested in learning more about environmental finance. During his presentation, Mr. Iannelli gave an overview of the existing local and international initiatives in the sustainability sector and outlined the trend to increased energy efficiency. The speaker elaborated the role and the mechanics of the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for funding and how carbon emission reductions can be monetized and used to fund energy efficiency projects. Mr Iannelli explained how to overcome one of the most common barriers preventing energy efficiency projects from seeing light of the day: high capex. Mr Iannelli says: “The proposed solution combines common energy performance contracting (EPC) with revenues from carbon credits.” Through this, “energy efficiency upgrades can be realized without initial investment by the building owner, but pre-financed by an energy services company (ESCO) supported by the carbon revenue from CDM programmes of activities and other related benefits such as the monitoring and verification structure and UN certification”. He also explained the importance of establishing an accurate and transparent emission baseline to help the government design the right policies. The event has strategic importance for the UAE with regards to its recent efforts in Green Economy for Sustainable Development, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in January this year. It was aiming to bring the young generation of professionals in the energy sector around the table in order to support the implementation of energy efficiency projects in the region. +++End About the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence The Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence is a private entity with governmental stakeholders operating under the Supreme Council of Energy and focusing on facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy. To achieve this goal, Dubai Carbon offers to help companies from the private and public sector generate carbon credits for their projects, designs market based mechanisms and implements large scale programmes of activities focused on sustainability and replicability.
