On Saturday, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, stressed the importance of applying a comprehensive and practical approach that leads to accelerating the paths of confronting the repercussions of climate change and achieving a radical shift in climate action mechanisms.
In a speech to the Global Energy Forum of the Atlantic Council, Al Jaber said that the UAE deals with responsibility and full awareness of the importance of hosting the COP28 Conference of the Parties and that it will focus on contributing to achieving global ambitions and accelerating climate action, stressing the urgent need to make progress in implementing the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Regarding the first global outcome to assess the progress made in implementing the Paris Agreement, which COP28 will witness its completion, he added: “We do not need to wait for this assessment to know its results, as we are very far from the right track, and the world is still lagging behind in implementing the main objective of the Paris Agreement, which is Avoiding the rise in the planet's temperature exceeding the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius," explaining that achieving this goal requires reducing global emissions by 43 percent by 2030, according to the Emirates News Agency.
Al Jaber stressed that despite the obvious challenges and threats posed by climate change, there are significant economic benefits to investing in clean energy and climate action, pointing to the UAE's success story in considering climate action as a cornerstone of its development plans.
He added that the UAE, which hosts the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), is the first country in the region to sign and ratify the Paris Agreement, submit its nationally determined contributions, and set a roadmap for achieving climate neutrality.
After noting that more than 70 percent of the UAE's economy has now become dependent on sectors other than oil and gas, Al Jaber said: "In my capacity as the founding CEO of Masdar Company and Chairman of its Board of Directors, and CEO of ADNOC, I will continue to work to achieve the leadership's vision and directives to reduce emissions from energy sources." We will continue to invest in the development of the clean energy system of the future, and we will use our experience, ambition and close partnerships to inform our approach to COP28.”
Al-Jaber pointed out that the UAE will focus during the COP28 conference on achieving a qualitative development in the existing work system, and accelerating work paths to achieve the 2030 goals, through partnerships, solutions and outputs that contribute to a positive qualitative leap.
In the field of "mitigating" the repercussions of climate change, Al-Jaber called for expanding the scope of adopting renewable, nuclear and hydrogen energy sources, carbon capture solutions and enhancing energy efficiency, as well as oil and gas production with the lowest possible carbon emissions, and benefiting from new technologies.
Al-Jaber pointed to the world's need to triple the production of renewable energy, from 8 to 23 terawatt-hours by 2030, and to more than double the production of low-carbon hydrogen, to reach at least 180 million tons, for use in sectors that are difficult to mitigate. its emissions.
He stressed the need to continue focusing on reducing emissions, not reducing growth and progress rates, pointing to the need for more investment in agricultural technology, and the adoption of smart solutions in the use of water and food production to achieve a transition in the vital agricultural and food systems sector, in parallel with other sectors, and the need to undertake With this in an accelerated time frame he can meet the impending deadline.
Regarding "adaptation", he indicated the need to do more to protect communities most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change, and ecosystems, in the face of harsh climate fluctuations and the deterioration of biodiversity, and to ensure the ability of the global food system to withstand the volatile weather patterns that threaten farmers in around the world.
Al-Jaber called for doubling the financing allocated for adaptation in the countries of the South, to reach $40 billion annually by 2025, in order to be able to achieve this progress, and called for facilitating access to climate finance on concessional terms.
On the subject of "financing", he added: "We must ensure that every dollar of concessional financing is matched by two or three dollars of private sector investment. To achieve this, we must respond to the international community's call to develop the work of multilateral development banks and international financial institutions."
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