Nawal K. Al-Hosany

Dr. Nawal Al-Hosany is the Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), a position she has held since it was created in April 2018. Previously, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability at Masdar, the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy leader, from 2008 – 2017. At the same time, she directed the Zayed Future Energy Prize (now the Zayed Sustainability Prize) from 2011 – 2018. She then served as Deputy Director General at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy (now Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy) from 2017 – 2018.

Currently, Dr. Al-Hosany holds various roles across public, private, and academic sectors, both in the UAE and internationally, including the COP28 UAE Advisory committee, which brings together climate diplomats and scientific experts from across six continents to help shape the COP28 Presidency’s action agenda. She sits on advisory councils and boards, such as National Geographic magazine, the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, the Momentum for Change initiative of UNFCCC, Investcorp Capital, and the UAE Sailing and Rowing Federation.

Dr. Al-Hosany also serves as Vice Chair for the Global Council of the SDGs. Her previous board memberships included Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), the international organization working to accelerate action on SDG7, and Khalifa University, the public research university in Abu Dhabi.

Throughout her career, Dr. Al-Hosany has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Doctor of LeUers Honoris Causa from Keele University in 2018, the Arab Woman Award, and the Emirates Business Women award. She is one of the first two Emirati women to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Since 2019, she has hosted On Renewables, a podcast featuring global climate, sustainability and energy leaders.

Dr. Al-Hosany graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the UAE University in 1992 and earned her PhD from Newcastle University in 2002.