About Year of Sustainability
About Year of Sustainability 2024
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, announced 2024 as ‘The Year of Sustainability’, running from January until December 2024. It aims to inspire sustainable practices and collective action, bringing together everyone who calls the UAE home. The year-long activations are overseen by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister President of the Presidential Court and Her Highness Sheikha Mariam bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairperson of the Presidential Court for National Projects.
Why are we continuing the Year of Sustainability
Building on the success of 2023, the Year of Sustainability has extended into 2024 to continue the momentum of raising awareness and making changes for a brighter future. While last year was dedicated to learning about sustainability together, this year is about putting those lessons into action.
Last year’s slogan, “Today for Tomorrow” drew upon the sustainable legacy of the nation’s ancestors to inspire and change behaviours towards sustainable practices in three key focus areas: responsible consumption, encouraging conservation initiatives, and impending climate change.
The decision to continue the Year of Sustainability reflects the UAE’s efforts to implement sustainability in every aspect of our daily lives, and supports the UAE’s strategic initiative to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Under the slogan “Plan To Action,” the goal in 2024 is to engage the public through planned activations for four sustainable behaviours: green transportation, water and energy reduction, responsible consumption, and planting wisely.
2015 was declared the Year of Innovation. It aimed to encourage and enable private and public sectors to cultivate and collectively work towards transforming the country into a global leader in innovation. UAE Innovates, launched in the same year, is a nationwide celebration and one of the largest innovation festivals in the world. The initiative has become a yearly flagship event in the United Arab Emirates. UAE Innovates is a consolidated effort by the government, the private sector, and individuals to help create a widespread culture of innovation.
2016 was declared as the “Year of Reading”. It aimed to cultivate a culture of reading in the country. In line with this, an integrated national literacy framework was created to produce a reading generation and establish the UAE as the world’s capital for culture, reading and knowledge content. As a part of the government’s initiative, March was announced to be the Month of Reading in the UAE every year starting from 2017. It is marked by a rich and diverse calendar of engaging activities and sustainable initiatives that motivate the community to read with the aim of transforming reading into a daily habit for everyone and equipping a future generation capable of driving the perpetual growth journey of the UAE.
2017 was declared the Year of Giving. It reinforced the culture of volunteerism, philanthropy and charity. It paved the way for the initiation of the UAE Food Bank in the same year, sending a message of love, tolerance and hope from the UAE leaders and its generous people to the region and the entire world.
2018 was declared the Year of Zayed, marking 100 years since the birth of the UAE's founding father — the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The year focused on promoting the life and legacy of the late leader and values.
2019 was declared the Year of Tolerance. It aimed to strengthen the values of coexistence and harmony aligned with the nation's goals in encouraging cohesion and openness. The year paved the way for a new outlook on inclusion for People of Determination and hosting The Special Olympics World Games 2019 the world’s largest humanitarian sporting event.
In the midst of the global pandemic's impact in 2020, the UAE announced that 2020 was the Year that propelled the nation Towards the Next 50. It focused on launching one of the largest national strategies for the next 50 years and preparing for the nation's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2021.
2021 was declared the Year of the 50th by UAE President, the Late Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The year celebrated 50 years of the founding of the country. During 2021, The Golden Jubilee Committee was responsible for creating year-long activities, long-term initiatives and celebrations, The year 2021 witnessed many initiatives, starting with its first nuclear power plant, the Barakah launch, announcing the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative in addition to introducing a new visa laws scheme and uniting 11 cities of the UAE through a railway project to starting a new Emirati interplanetary mission between Mars and Jupiter.
2023 was declared the Year of Sustainability. It aims to inspire and change behaviours towards sustainable practices and collective action. It fosters public participation in three key areas: responsible consumption, encouraging conservation initiatives, and impending climate change.
