Inside Abu Dhabi's Champions for change event

Sustainability leaders, climate change activists and environmental champions gathered at SailGP’s latest Champions For Change event to discuss the role of sport in driving change, clean energy innovation and young and education.

The event, which took place ahead of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix, saw discussions including ROCKWOOL DEN strategist Katja Salskov-Iversen, Mubadala co-CEO HE Homaid Al Simmari and SVP marketing at ROCKWOOL Mirella Vitale.

Speaking at the event, Salskov-Iversen said she was ‘amazed’ at the power of sport to ‘unite people’, pointing to King Frederik X of Denmark. “The cool thing is Frederik loves SailGP as well, he’s come to events and it’s not about sailing only, it’s also about sustainability and he can feel that.”

Reflecting on the event, Mirella Vitale added: “Here in the UAE, you learn that sustainability has been part of their DNA for a very long time and there’s a lot that we can learn - so listen and learn from this side and take something back to Europe - that’s the key takeaway from me.”

Champions For Change is SailGP’s thought leadership program, which gathers together sustainability leaders to share insight and learning on their approach to tackling the climate crisis.