His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and President of the Conference of the Parties “COP28”, confirmed that in line with the vision of the leadership in the UAE, the presidency of “COP28” is keen to enhance cooperation with all parties and include everyone in the conference’s work system to ensure the completion of concrete and effective work and reach To the highest ambitions, for a future that supports economic growth and climate action simultaneously.
This came in his opening speech before the tenth Annual Arctic Circle Assembly in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, where His Excellency conveyed the greetings of the UAE leadership to the heads of state and leaders of the business and environmental sectors participating.
The Arctic Circle Society is the largest annual international gathering in the Arctic, and this year’s edition was attended by more than 2,000 participants from more than 60 countries, including Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, former President of the Republic of Iceland and Chairman of the Arctic Circle, and His Excellency Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister Iceland, His Excellency Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and an elite of policymakers from several countries, along with a number of indigenous leaders, scholars, activists, representatives of the business sector, civil society, and other stakeholders. The event is planned to witness more than 200 sessions and 700 Speaker, focusing on climate change and energy security.
His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber highlighted the negative repercussions of climate change on threatened ecosystems in the Arctic, and called on the Assembly’s countries to support the COP28 action plan to protect the environment and preserve the possibility of achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
His Excellency praised the prominent role of the Arctic Circle in leading the dialogue on the impact of climate change on threatened ecosystems in the Arctic during the past ten years, and its warning to the world that the temperature of the Arctic is rising at a rate four times faster than the rest of the planet.
His Excellency pointed out the necessity of reducing 22 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions in the next seven years to maintain the possibility of avoiding the rise in global temperature exceeding the level of 1.5 degrees Celsius, pointing out that the magnitude of this task requires the concerted efforts of the whole world.
His Excellency stressed that the action plan of the COP28 presidency focuses on the practical aspects of achieving tangible and effective progress that transforms the goals of the Paris Agreement into a road map that the world can follow and achieve the desired goals by applying its four pillars, which are: accelerating the achievement of an orderly, responsible, fair and logical transition in the energy sector, and developing financing mechanisms. Climate change, protecting people and nature, improving lives and livelihoods, and fully including everyone in the international climate action system.
With regard to accelerating the transition in the energy sector, His Excellency explained the importance of this transition being orderly, responsible, fair and logical, so that it does not leave anyone behind, and is in line with the “COP28” goal of increasing the production capacity of renewable energy sources globally by three times by 2030.
He pointed to the progress made by the COP28 presidency in achieving international consensus in this field, as about 85 percent of the world’s economies support the goal of tripling the production capacity of renewable energy and doubling the efficiency of energy use by 2030, and he pointed to his call to all international and national oil companies. To reduce methane emissions and intensify its efforts to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and its discussions with sectors whose emissions are difficult to mitigate, such as steel and cement, to accelerate the timelines for their transition to clean energy, and reduce the emissions of the energy sources they currently use.
His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber renewed his call for expanding the scope of climate financing, including developed countries fulfilling their pledge to provide $100 billion in climate financing to developing countries, replenishing the resources of the Green Climate Fund, doubling adaptation financing, and activating the Loss and Damage Treatment Fund. He stressed the importance of developing the work of Multilateral development banks to provide more climate financing in a convenient and affordable manner, in conjunction with developing market mechanisms with the aim of stimulating the private sector to provide more financing.
He explained that all climate action efforts must aim to preserve people and life and improve livelihoods. Therefore, the COP28 presidency was keen to ensure that the issues of health, food and nature were at the top of the conference’s agenda.
His Excellency called on countries to sign both the “COP28 Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate-Resilient Food Systems,” and the “COP28 Declaration on Health and Climate,” to provide food for the growing human population, without causing temperatures on the planet to rise.
He stressed the keenness of the COP28 presidency to support its action plan by fully including everyone, and its welcome to listen to all voices and viewpoints, and the need for COP28 to take into account the needs of everyone everywhere, from the Arctic to Asia, and from Africa to the Americas, stressing the The presidency of the conference was keen to make it a platform that transcends differences and reminds the world that partnership is the only path to real progress.
During his speech, His Excellency praised Iceland’s pioneering efforts in the field of geothermal energy, and its use to build the largest facility to capture carbon from the atmosphere in the world.
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