World Future Energy Summit 2026 to Spotlight AI’s Expanding Role in Clean Energy Systems

📷WAM

ABU DHABI, November 27, 2025 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) – Artificial intelligence (AI) will take center stage at the World Future Energy Summit 2026, which will highlight the technology’s growing influence on clean energy production, transmission, and data-driven distribution. The event will run from January 13–15 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2026.

The 2026 edition will introduce the FUSE AI Zone, where more than 40 companies will showcase advanced AI technologies aimed at supporting clean energy, smart infrastructure, and climate resilience. AI will be a cross-cutting theme on all seven conference tracks.

The Summit will also host the inaugural Artificial Intelligence Conference, a new forum examining how AI can be responsibly deployed across the energy, infrastructure, and smart cities sectors.

Organizers said the Summit will gather experts, innovators, and policymakers to explore AI’s predictive capabilities and its ability to optimize clean energy flows, helping low-carbon systems scale more efficiently. In the Middle East and North Africa region, AI uptake is accelerating across grid management, sector coupling, forecasting, system maintenance, and energy storage.

Key Challenges and Opportunities

The Summit will address questions facing the sector, including whether AI can compensate for gaps in energy policy, accelerate technology testing, or support new innovations in carbon capture and mineralisation. The event is recognized as a leading global business platform focused on future energy and sustainability.

The UAE’s clean energy targets, aligned with its Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative, include tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, reducing carbon emissions by 70 percent, and raising clean energy’s share to 50 percent of the national energy mix by 2050. Organizers said AI will be an essential enabler of these goals.

The 2025 AI and Technology Insights Report, issued by the World Future Energy Summit and Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week’s Advisory Committee, said AI can significantly improve the efficiency and resilience of clean energy and infrastructure networks. Smart grid algorithms, the report added, can predict and balance supply and demand in real time, integrate renewables, and reduce the need for new power plants. Investment in digital infrastructure and skills remains essential for utilities.

AI in Buildings and Urban Efficiency

The 2026 edition will highlight AI’s growing role in increasing the energy efficiency of buildings. According to the World Economic Forum, AI has helped some organizations reduce energy consumption by up to 60 percent.

Panel discussions will examine AI-powered design tools that support energy-, water-, and cost-efficient building planning. Sessions will also address software that tests multiple design options, along with discussions on innovation, collaboration, and supply chain resilience to support sustainable urban development.

Shyam Parmar, the Summit’s Event Director, said the gathering “plays a pivotal role in unlocking the vast potential of artificial intelligence” across the clean energy and sustainability ecosystem. He said the FUSE AI Zone and AI-focused conference would offer a platform for collaboration and dialogue on how AI can be used responsibly and effectively.

Growing Energy Demand Driven by AI

Despite AI’s potential, the report noted that AI-related electricity consumption could grow by up to 50 percent annually between 2023 and 2030. Data centers’ power demand may increase from 1 percent of global energy use in 2022 to more than 3 percent by 2030.

In January 2025, Masdar and Emirates Water and Electricity Company announced the launch of the world’s first large-scale, round-the-clock renewable energy project in Abu Dhabi, combining solar power with battery storage. The system delivers up to one gigawatt of continuous renewable baseload power and is the largest combined solar and battery facility globally.

The report suggested that similar projects could power AI data centers with clean energy and reduce dependency on fossil fuel backup, helping move toward low-carbon digital infrastructure.

The Summit will host a dedicated panel session on reducing AI’s energy footprint, aligning AI growth with climate goals, and supporting sustainable innovation.

Mehdi Ajana, Head of Strategy at Nabat, said AI’s growing role in climate and environmental systems requires careful guidance. He said the Summit will examine practical approaches to habitat classification, health assessment modeling, and tracking carbon and biodiversity metrics to align AI with measurable climate outcomes.

AI Across Additional Sectors

The 2026 Summit will also explore the role of AI in healthcare, food security, and weather forecasting. A keynote will spotlight Earth Two Climate, a new AI-powered weather prediction system by G42 and NVIDIA, capable of assessing conditions down to a one-square-meter resolution. Organizers said this level of detail could help farmers and smart agriculture planners make more accurate decisions on crops, yields, and maintenance.

The 2025 AI and Technology Insights Report said AI’s promise must be guided by human-defined goals, emphasizing oversight, strategic vision, and cross-sector collaboration to convert innovation into measurable sustainability gains