“When we talk about sustainability, we are broadly talking about what we do now, and how our actions will affect the resources of our future generations”, HE Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlements Program told ADSW Talks.

“We would like to see development that is not just economically viable, but also environmentally, socially and psychologically viable. These four factors are critical when we talk about about sustainable development.”

Ms Maimunah heads up the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), which is the United Nations program for human settlements and sustainable urban development. The twin goals of the Habitat Agenda are to achieve adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world.

When discussing the importance of how to approach sustainable development, Ms Maimunah said: “We only have one planet, so a ‘one ecosystem’ integrated [approach] to planning is very important’. In addition to “strategies, plans, and urban policies, financing is one of the key items of sustainable development.” Financing, “is not just important for implementation, but also for monitoring and evaluation.”

“We want to change the narrative that cities are the source of all problems, including climate change”, said Ms Maimunah. Cities are a “center of innovation, creativity, education, and health”, and they should be, “used as an accelerator to look for urban solutions to climate change.”

Ms Maimunah said her aspiration was for climate change to be tackled through “one ecosystem” and “not in compartments”. “My personal hope is that we need to find the roadmap, the solution and the action, and the “action should have started yesterday”. “The UAE is bringing inclusive stakeholders to COP28” and this will allow participants to learn, rethink and understand from a sharing of best practice, challenges and lessons learnt.”

When asked what her wish for the future was, Ms Maimunah said: “I wish a better world for my grandchildren and for my great grandchildren”. We have to make the cities right, and this starts with, “planning, implementation and management”.

The ADSW Talks series hosts influential figures from across the sustainability sector to share their perspectives on the most pressing sustainability challenges facing the world and the collective willpower and solutions needed to build a more sustainable future for all.

The UAE leadership’s early focus on sustainable development set it on a progressive path for climate action that contributed to its selection as host for the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in 2023, Masdar’s Chairman told ADSW Talks.

“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, wanted to build on his father’s legacy of sustainable development,” Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, UAE Special Envoy for Climate, and Chairman of Masdar, said on the latest edition of the web series. “And long before anyone in this region saw a future in renewables, His Highness saw renewables and sustainable development as the future.”

Dr Al Jaber, who has played a key role at over ten COPs, including the Paris COP21 in 2015, said the UAE recognized that sustainability was about progress and innovation. “For us, sustainable development is about never settling for the now, it is always about the next, about building on previous breakthroughs building new partnerships, staying one step ahead, never hitting the pause button because next never stops,” he said.

The UAE is ready now to take its focus on ambitious and progressive sustainable development into its role as host of COP28, to ensure its success and impact.

“This is the mindset that makes us optimistic about hosting COP28, where we will convene all stakeholders to drive transformational progress across mitigation, adaptation, climate finance, loss and damage. The UAE has been built on the principle of partnership and we will apply this to COP28 to make sure it is a COP for action and a COP for all,” Dr Al Jaber said.

The ADSW Talks series hosts influential figures from across the sustainability sector to share their perspectives on the most pressing sustainability challenges facing the world and the collective willpower and solutions needed to build a more sustainable future for all.

Hollywood actor and environmental activist Adrian Grenier believes the COP28 climate change conference, to be held in the UAE later this year, will go down in history for securing ‘big deals.’

“I’m excited about the Emirates Climate Conference, COP28. I find it’s going to be a very promising COP. “I think it will go down in history,” Grenier - who starred in ‘Entourage’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ - said on the latest edition of ADSW Talks. The former United Nations Goodwill Ambassador shared his views while attending Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in the UAE capital this January.

Grenier, who is also Chief Earth Advocate for space tourism firm World View, added that he believed the right leadership and vision were in place to achieve results at COP28.

“The stage is set for countries around the world to come together and really make some big deals,” he said. “Based on my experience here, so far, it feels like there is the right vision and the right leadership to set the stage.”

The actor also said that he was beginning to hear different people using “similar rhetoric” at ADSW 2023, which indicates a growing willingness to work toward the same goal.

“So, I’m very much encouraged,” he said. “People are starting to talk in the same direction. So, it’s now just a matter of how to start implementing the programs and putting the money in the right place, so that we can make the changes that we as a collective, united planet want to see.”