Dubai, UAE — 19 November 2025 — CARE MENA 2025, the region’s leading Climate Action & Renewable Energy Expo, will host a high-stakes Fireside Chat on 26 November 2025, bringing sharp focus to one of the most defining questions for the Middle East:
How can smart technologies and strategic partnerships reinvent the region’s water and energy systems for long-term resilience?
Featuring two of the most influential voices in MENA’s utility and infrastructure landscape, the session will deliver urgently needed insights at the intersection of technology, finance, and sustainable resource management.
🌍 A Critical Dialogue for a Resource-Challenged Region
With MENA facing extreme water stress and rapidly rising energy demand, the region is accelerating its shift toward efficiency, smart infrastructure, and clean-energy adoption. This session will explore the strategic solutions that can unlock that future.
Featured Speakers
Thomas Spannring
Chief Financial Officer, Etihad Water & Electricity
A key decision-maker shaping the UAE’s national water and electricity strategy, Spannring brings deep expertise in future-focused utility management and sustainable investment planning.
Dragos Fundulea
Vice President, Kearney
A regional leader in infrastructure and energy transformation, Fundulea advises governments and enterprises on capability building, digital modernization, and resilient system design.
💧⚡ Session Focus: Reimagining Water & Energy Through Innovation
This 20-minute executive conversation will unpack:
- The impact of AI, automation & digital twins on modern utility operations
- Strategies to strengthen grid resilience and water security
- How partnerships between government, utilities, and tech providers scale innovation
- The integration of renewable energy into national infrastructure
- Financing mechanisms powering the next generation of sustainable systems
- Where MENA can lead globally in smart energy and water management
The insights delivered will shape discussions across the full two-day summit.
📍 Session Details
🗂 Fireside Chat: Reimagining Water & Energy Systems Through Smart Technologies & Partnerships
🗓 26 November 2025
🕙 10:40 AM – 11:00 AM
📍 Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE
🔗 https://careforsustainability.com/mena/
🗣️ Organiser’s Comment
“This conversation comes at exactly the right moment for MENA,” said the CARE MENA 2025 organising committee. “Thomas and Dragos are directly involved in shaping real-world systems. Their insights will help the region accelerate toward smarter, more secure and more sustainable infrastructure.”
About CARE MENA 2025
CARE MENA 2025 is the region’s definitive platform gathering policymakers, CEOs, innovators, investors and climate leaders to accelerate sustainability, clean-energy systems and climate-tech deployment.
