Hot spot for change

Dubai is leading the charge when it comes to sustainable innovation and growth

- JOSEPH PHELAN

I recently spent a week in Dubai's desert, prowling the sands in a modified Land Rover in a bid to observe some of the Middle East's most elusive residents. I glimpsed an abundance of incredible wildlife - the Arabian oryx, various owls, lizards, eagles, vultures, flamingos - yet it's a far from natural sight that sticks in my mind above all others: the ethereal, sparkling Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

Rising from the dunes like an alien craft, the solar park - the largest single-site solar park in the world - is both a staggering feat of engineering and progressive thinking, and an awe-inspiring, almost celestial vision. The park provides clean energy for tens of thousands of Dubai residents, and since its launch, has trimmed Dubai's carbon emissions by around 214,000 tonnes a year. By 2030, it will be reducing approximately 6.5 million tonnes.

In many ways, the solar park epitomises Dubai's ongoing obsession with both being green and also the emirate's devotion to bringing the inconceivable to life. Dubai is a place that has, for decades, enabled innovative, determined thinkers, architects and artists to pursue their wildest dreams - the Burj Khalifa, Palm Jumeirah, Cayan Tower and Ain Dubai are testament to that.

This mentality is, if anything, quietly becoming more pronounced. Dubai is firmly on the way to becoming a global eco superpower. It has the ambition, drive, impetus and financial backing to make big things happen, and given the emirate's history of surpassing even the most aspirational of targets, the world is now sitting up, taking note, and getting very excited.

A city in the sand

Dubai, the UAE's most populous city, is an improbable, implausible beacon of ingenuity and technological accomplishment. It's a city that, to all intents and purposes, shouldn't really exist, yet exist - and thrive - it does.