Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s flagship innovative and sustainable urban development, has officially broken the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest mosaic made from recycled materials.

The mosaic, which measures 1,015 square metres — around the size of two basketball courts — took one month to assemble and contains almost 90,500 recycled items, including plastic bottles, cans and cardboard. The local community participated in the project, including Masdar City employees, tenants and local residents, along with members of the wider Abu Dhabi community and schoolchildren.

The aim of the mosaic, which was officially unveiled ahead of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2020, is to encourage UAE citizens, residents and visitors to take more responsibility for their impact on the environment and inspire them to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste. The artwork shows the evolution of the UAE, from its origins through to today and looking to the future, and it features key landmarks from all seven emirates.

Representatives from Guinness World Records presented Masdar City with the official record certificate in a special ceremony today at the city, attended by Masdar City executives and UAE government officials.

“As a pioneer in sustainable urban community development, Masdar City will continue to lead in promoting best practice in waste management,” said Yousef Baselaib, Executive Director, Sustainable Real Estate, Masdar. “This wonderful mosaic makes the sustainability debate more tangible and accessible through the universal medium of art, and demonstrates the commitment of the people of the UAE to protecting the environment. Sustainability requires everyone to play their part and engaging the local community is an essential element of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.” The mosaic will be on display at Masdar City and can be viewed from the observation deck at the city.

Masdar City will be showcasing its expanding sustainable real estate and clean energy portfolio and projects at the Masdar stand at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES), one of the key events of ADSW 2020, from Jan.13-16. ADSW 2020, one of the largest sustainability gatherings in the world and a platform for accelerating sustainable development, is taking place in the UAE capital from Jan.11-18.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) is a global platform for accelerating the world’s sustainable development. The week brings together a unique fusion of policy makers, industry specialists, technology pioneers and the next generation of sustainability leaders. Through its initiatives and events, ADSW is a catalyst for sharing knowledge, implementing strategies and delivering solutions to drive human progress.

ADSW is committed to furthering our understanding of the major social, economic and environmental trends shaping the world’s sustainable development.

A recent report says that according to statistics from the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi, SCAD, in 2018, the emirate of Abu Dhabi achieved progress in terms of its electricity production from solar energy, increasing from 17,986 megawatt-hours in 2011 to 249,695 megawatt-hours in 2018.

The report also pointed out that 88.4 per cent of the electricity produced from solar energy was transferred through the emirate’s electricity distribution network while 11.6 per cent was consumed internally in Masdar City.

Abu Dhabi aims to expand the development of solar energy projects to support the “Energy Sources Diversification Strategy,” under the framework of the UAE Energy Strategy 2050 that aims to raise the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix from 25 per cent to 50 per cent by 2050 and reduce carbon footprint of power generation by 70 per cent.

These projects are in line with Abu Dhabi’s leading efforts in finding renewable energy solutions, and the establishment of Masdar City, the hosting of the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Irena, and the construction of the Shams 1 Solar Energy Plant in Al Dhafra.

The report explained that the demand for electricity in Abu Dhabi reached 60,807 gigawatt-hours in 2018, and the Abu Dhabi region accounted for the largest proportion of electricity demand, reaching 60.2 per cent, followed by Al Dhafra with 21.5 per cent, and Al Ain with 18.3 per cent.