The Dubai Can initiative which was launched last year, played a major role and installed many water fountain sources in many parts of the city to avoid and reduce plastic use.

A Dubai-based hotel with 800 rooms has managed to use plastic bottles nearly 1.4 million from heading to a landfall by providing on-site pure filtered water instead of packaged water bottles.

The chief executive of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Issam Kazim said this hotel one month prior to the sustainable initiative churned through a number of  117,000 500ml plastic bottles.

On Tuesday, September 26 during Dubai Climate Future Week, Mr. Issam Kazim said they even installed a bottle plantation system which will help to distribute reusable glass bottles in each and every room. Those bottles are refillable.

While the name of the hotel hasn’t been revealed there are many more details unveiled, and statistics presented during the event that show the hotel will be able to prevent nearly 116 tonnes of CO2 in a year from getting inside the atmosphere as they have chosen to switch with the filtered water.

Switching to filtered water was a major step, taken due to the Dubai Can initiative launched in 2022. To cut down on the usage of single-use plastic containers it installed water fountains across Dubai city. The initiative also encourages all people to use reusable water bottles to avoid plastic waste which will help to build a sustainable ecosystem in the Emirates.

“By reducing the consumption of single-use plastic bottles, Dubai Can aims to significantly decrease plastic waste in the city leading to a substantial reduction in carbon emissions and environmental pollution. “Dubai Can” has achieved substantial cost savings for businesses through the installation of water filters,” said Mr Kazim.

The Dubai Climate Week is a five-day-long event filled with guest talks, art exhibitions, films, and workshops to research the climate change process. The event is expected to be addressed by the reputed ministers of the UAE, experts, and people with unique solutions during the upcoming days of the event.

Khalfan Belhoul, the chief executive at Dubai Future Foundation said, “I don’t need to reiterate the importance [of the issue] and the risk we are all facing, This is a serious topic and we all understand that.”

The director general at Emirates Nature – WWF, Laila Mostafa Abdullatif addressed the audience and all the attendees that she strongly believes that climate change faces a major crisis due to the continuous ignorance of the impact of human activity and how it is affecting the planet in real-time continuously from years.

She also said this was brought home to her during a recent journey to Greenland’s ice sheets. Over almost 30 years according to scientists the global sea level has risen massively, and Greenland’s contribution behind it is due to global warming.

“The most shocking thing I experienced in Greenland wasn’t necessarily the data or charts. It was the sound of massive pieces of ice that were crashing into the sea time and time again. This highlights the raw power, sheer scale, and urgency of climate change. When you are in a situation like that, you really start to think about the impact your daily actions have around the globe,” said Ms. Laila Mostafa Abdullatif.

On Monday, among all the other speakers at the event of Climate Future Week, there was Najeeb Saab, the Secretary General of the Arab Forum for Environment spoke about many important topics from regional challenges to water scarcity and carbon footprint. Toby Gregory, who was chained across the Atlantic, raised marine pollution awareness. There was  Alzainah Albabtain, who is an organic gardener based in Kuwait.

“People were questioning: ‘What’s next? “We knew we had to do something,” said Mr. Toby Gregory, as he finished his epic trip across the ocean this year.

Later this year the UN Climate Talk will take place in the United Arab Emirates, Mr.Toby Gregory has initiated a new drive named “Row to COP28”, which will be available and open for all to join from business personalities to students. During this drive, people can join in rowing the boat around the coastline of the country to raise awareness of climate change and empower the importance of the summit. He is also a supporter of “the Plastic Pledge” which seeks support from various companies and all the people to cut down the usage of single-use plastics.

“Everywhere I go now you see plastic pollution. It really is a scourge of society, It is not the only problem the world faces but we can’t tackle everything all the time,” said Mr Gregory.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, Omar Al Olama, and the Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani Al Zeyoudi both are ready to address the conference going to take place on Wednesday, September 27 and this will come to a climax on Saturday, September 29 with a special event to remark the two-month countdown of COP28.

Cop28 President-designate, UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber has scheduled a talk at the UN Climate Talk joined with  UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Cop28, Mr. Razan Al Mubarak.

Cop28 is scheduled to take place from 30th November to December 12 at Expo City Dubai where all the leaders will come along to handle and escalate the emergency situation of climate change.

“Cop28 is a Cop for action, Let’s hope the contribution of this series of events can contribute to the action of Cop28,” said Mr. Belhoul.

Climate Future Week which is organized by the Museum of the Future with a successful collaboration with the Fiker Institute, going to run till Saturday, September 29. The event includes a film festival and a regional climate photography exhibition.