First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions will bring together aviation thought leaders and industry stakeholders for a one-day summit which seeks to explore economic development opportunities as the sector transitions to net-zero.
The Summit closely follows FAB’s announcement that it would become the first bank in the MENA region to set financed emissions reduction targets across oil and gas, power generation, and aviation. FAB’s target for aviation is a 15% reduction in financed intensity by 2030 based on the bank’s 2019 baseline.
FAB believes that the Summit will hone in on solutions to ensure the global aviation sector can achieve its net-zero ambition.
Held in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the Aviation Sector Summit will comprise of a series of talks, panel discussions, and presentations. The agenda has topics that will focus on overcoming challenges related to decarbonisation as well as how to unlock the economic and development opportunities arising from this transition to a net-zero economy.
The agenda will also explore the role of finance, emerging technology, and sustainable aviation fuel. Taking a broader sectoral view, the summit will examine how the aviation sector will play a decisive role in supporting the UAE’s objective to achieve net-zero by 2050.
Participants will be made up of aviation stakeholders from across both the public and private sectors including representatives from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the General Civil Aviation Authority in the UAE, as well as speakers including:
Adel Abdullah Ali, CEO, Air Arabia; Sven Deckers, Director of Strategic Planning and PMO, Dubai International Airport; Nili Gilbert, Vice Chairwoman Carbon Direct; Tony Rooke Executive Director, Real Economy Transition Planning and Sectoral Pathways and Head of Transition Finance, GFANZ; Kuljit Ghata-Aura, President of Middle East, Türkiye and Africa (META) at Boeing, as well as many others.
They will be joined by FAB’s senior leadership including: Martin Tricaud Group Head of Investment Banking of FAB; Sara Al Binali, Group Head of Corporate, Commercial, and International Banking at FAB; and Shargiil Bashir, Chief Sustainability Officer of FAB.
Martin Tricaud, Group Head of Investment Banking at FAB, said: “The decarbonisation of the global aviation sector is not optional but necessary if the world is to reach its collective climate objectives. Here in the UAE, the aviation and tourism industries are key pillars of the economy representing 13% of national GDP – so there’s a unique opportunity for the entire ecosystem to collaborate and to drive sustainable outcomes that will shape the entire global economy. At FAB, we’re playing our part by financing fleet renewals with next-generation aircraft; we’re supporting the widespread adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel; and we’re encouraging our aviation clients to use high-quality offsets for residual emissions. We’re fully committed to supporting and investing in the aviation sector as it embarks on its journey towards carbon neutrality by 2050.”
Sara Al Binali, Group Head of Corporate, Commercial, and International Banking at FAB, said: “Collaboration is the word that best describes what’s needed to achieve net-zero by 2050 and at FAB we’re actively collaborating with stakeholders across the aviation value chain to unlock the economic possibilities of net-zero, together. We believe that the aviation sector has the potential to be a catalyst of the UAE’s net-zero ambitions – and as the sector transitions to a more sustainable future, we stand ready to provide the strategic advisory and funding necessary to help place the industry on a greener flight path.”
Pelayo Losada, Managing Director and Partner at BCG said: “Building strong ecosystem partnerships is crucial for the aviation industry to achieve its net zero emissions goals. Collaboration across the entire value chain, from airlines to airports, governments to tech innovators, is essential to address the complex challenges of decarbonising the aviation industry. We are proud of our role as knowledge partners in this summit as we believe it will contribute to catalysing collaboration and transformation across the industry.”
FAB has a strong track record of climate action through its innovative sustainable financing solutions and advisory services – and has set a target of USD 75 billion for the period of 2022 to 2030, of which 15 billion was achieved by Q1’23.
FAB continues to lead through proactive engagement and partnerships with customers, clients, and the UAE government and regulators, to enable them to move faster towards a low carbon economy.
The FAB Aviation Summit is the first in a series of planned sector focused summits to be held in 2023 where FAB will also hold similar summits for oil and gas, power generation, and construction
