Your Highness Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. Your highnesses, your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed my pleasure to welcome you to the United Arab Emirates, to Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and the awards ceremony of the Zayed Sustainability Prize. As I was preparing to address this very distinguished gathering, I remembered what I said last year: that we are standing at the edge of two worlds. And today I can say with confidence that we are crossing over into the new one, because the rules of progress are changing — not gradually, but decisively.
For more than 200 years, economic growth was defined by industrial capacity. Now, for the first time in history, it is measured in computational power and digital capability. Artificial intelligence is rewiring every industry, reshaping every sector and resetting expectations for global growth. And while the world is changing around us, one constant remains, and that is energy. Every algorithm, every data center, every breakthrough in advanced technology needs power to drive it. Simply put, there is no artificial intelligence without actual energy. By 2040, data center power demand is expected to grow by over 500%.
At the same time, energy demand is accelerating across every dimension. Air travel will double. Cities will expand by 1.5 billion people. And meeting all this demand responsibly, reliably, and affordably means coming to terms with reality. Over 70% of this energy will still come from hydrocarbons. And while some view this as a constraint, I view it as a catalyst, because sustainable progress is not about slowing down growth. It is about designing a better engine.
Distinguished guests, as a proud son of this nation, I can tell you that for the UAE, that engine for growth is grounded in pragmatism, guided by farsighted leadership, powered by ambition, and built for the long term. We are a nation that plans with patience, acts with prudence, and invests with discipline. We believe that progress must be rooted in reality, not rhetoric. It must be resilient, not theoretical. Practical, not ideological. Simply put, we follow the data, not the drama. And here is what I mean.
First, we recognize a foundational truth. The world still needs molecules to make electrons. That is why we have always invested in both and fused them into a single integrated system. From the carbon-efficient molecules of ADNOC to the clean gigawatts of Masdar. From the largest solar projects ever built to the first solar plants that work round the clock, from nuclear energy to custom-tailored wind turbines that work at low speed. Second, we apply technology system-wide. AI is no longer a tool we add at the margins. It has become the operating system of our industrial strategy. We are embedding AI across our energy and industrial base to optimize every barrel, every megawatt and every production line. And third, and most critically, we in the UAE offer an open platform for partnership. And let me explain how we partner. We practice radical collaboration, a bond that is forged out of conviction. Our word is our currency. Our consistency is our strength and our record is our credibility. We are never distracted by the noise of the moment and we are always focused on the work of a generation.
So to the CEOs, technologists, investors, and policymakers gathered here today, we offer what serious partners value most. We offer stability, steady leadership, policy clarity, long-term vision, advanced logistics, world-class financial services, smart capital, and much, much more. And if access to energy and high-tech infrastructure is important to you, here is where you will find them in abundance. If return on investment is critical, here is where ease of doing business is backed by good governance and rule of law. If you want to engineer the future, this is where that work is really happening. Ladies and gentlemen, the corridor to the future runs through the UAE, where gigawatts of power meet terabytes of data. Where energy meets intelligence and where progress is not promised, it is delivered.
Distinguished guests, no discussion of progress is complete without reflecting on the legacy of Sheikh Zayed Sultan Al Nahyan. Sheikh Zayed defined progress by one standard alone: human dignity. He believed that leadership is measured not by wealth or power but by the difference made in people's lives. That belief endures through the Zayed Sustainability Prize. The prize is not symbolic. It is practical and it is deeply human. Prize winners have delivered clean water to remote communities in Asia, eradicating disease; provided mobile health care to villages in Africa, keeping mothers and newborns safe and secure; brought solar power to schools, lighting up classrooms and igniting opportunities. And this year, for the first time, we used advanced agentic AI to measure and verify outcomes, and the results are very clear. To date, the prize has impacted the lives of more than 400 million people across every continent. And simply put, the prize has saved lives and it has changed lives permanently and for the better. That is the power of legacy multiplied through action.
Your highnesses, your excellencies, distinguished guests, before I conclude, allow me to acknowledge the efforts of the teams behind Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. Thank you. And to recognize what a special anniversary for Masdar. Your Highness Sheikh Mohammed, exactly 20 years ago you took a bold strategic decision to invest in renewables. Since then, Masdar has delivered clean power in 45 countries across six continents, reduced costs by more than 90%, enhanced efficiencies, and at 65 gigawatts is now more than two-thirds of the way toward our 100 gigawatt target by 2030. 20 years of Masdar is proof of what's possible when visionary leadership sets a clear direction, does not waver, and stays the course. Your Highness, on behalf of the whole Masdar family, thank you for your vision.
Thank you, Your Highness, for your resolve, and thank you, Your Highness, for your trust. Distinguished guests, the United Arab Emirates has made a deliberate choice to be a nation of peaceful coexistence, a nation of substance and a nation of action. We move forward with confidence because we know who we are and because we know what we seek to achieve. We believe the future is shaped through wisdom. The future is shaped through hard work and the future is shaped through sound stewardship. And we believe people are the ultimate purpose in a world shaped by technology. It is our values that remain our north star, guiding how we invest, guiding how we build and guiding how we partner. So my call to you is this: bring your ambition, bring your ideas, your capital, your technology, and put them to work where progress is empowered, where opportunity is operationalized, and partnerships are permanent. The future of sustainable human progress is waiting, and its address is Abu Dhabi. I thank you.
