The United Arab Emirates climate envoy and designated president of the COP28 climate summit, Sultan al-Jaber has said that the world needed a “course correction” to limit global warming and promised that he would lay out an inclusive and innovative roadmap as the world is off track.
“The world is playing catch-up when it comes to holding global temperatures down to 1.5 degrees and the hard reality is that global emissions must fall 43% by 2030,” Al-Jaber was quoted as saying at the World Government Summit in Dubai when he was referring to the goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius. “We need a major course correction,”.
Scheduled between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12, the summit will be the first global assessment of progress since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 to limit global warming.
Al-Jaber, whose appointment to lead the climate summit this year fuelled activists’ worries that big industry was hijacking the world’s response to the global warming crisis, also maintained that his presidency at the conference would bring a much-needed fresh approach to tackle climate change challenges.
“As COP28 president, I will lay out a roadmap for COP28 that is inclusive, results-oriented and far from business as usual,” he said.
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The UAE, a major OPEC oil exporter, will be the second Arab state to host the climate conference after Egypt in 2022 and it has alongside other Gulf energy producers called for a more realistic transition in which fossil fuels would keep a role in energy security while making commitments to decarbonisation.
Al-Jaber said that the logical and sensible thing to do is for stakeholders in the energy industry to work hand in hand to provide solutions the world needs, adding that the UAE is working towards energy transition and policies should support growth and help battle climate change at the same time with capital as key.
“Capital is critical to make the loss and damage fund real and operational and it is the key to a fair deal on climate finance for the Global South,” he said, referring to developing nations.
The loss and damage fund, agreed to at the COP27 conference in Egypt last year, was hailed as a breakthrough for developing countries. But climate activists have since complained that the fund remains empty.
“We need a real reform of international financial institutions and multilateral banks to unleash more concessional dollars, lower risk and attract more private finance to vulnerable communities,” Al-Jaber said.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
