The contentious COP28 President-designate, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, has declared that the Paris Agreement’s non-negotiable target of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels is unavoidable.
His comments were made during his Wednesday speech at the International Sustainable Development Conference in New Delhi, according to The National.
It is also obvious that continuing with business as usual won’t get us there, he continued, according to The Hindustan Times. We require a paradigm shift in how we handle loss and damage, finance, adaptation, and mitigation.
When Al Jaber was chosen to lead the COP28 UN climate summit, which will take place in Dubai from November 30 to December 12, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) aroused worries among climate campaigners.
Because Al Jaber also serves as group CEO and managing director of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation (ADNOC), several people were concerned that the fossil fuel business would have a disproportionate influence on how the negotiations turned out. A group of nearly 30 U.S. congressmen even wrote to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry asking him to convince the UAE to choose someone else.
They noted that the selection of the chief executive of one of the biggest oil and gas firms in the world to lead the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference runs the risk of undermining the climate progress made at previous U.N. Climate Conferences.
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Al Jaber is the CEO of the renewable energy company Masdar and the UAE’s climate ambassador, a choice that Kerry himself has defended. Al Jaber gave a speech that emphasized the seriousness of the climate catastrophe, which Kerry mentioned in an interview with The Associated Press shortly after Al Jaber’s nomination.
Al Jaber adopted a comparable stance this week in New Delhi when he appeared to support the switch to renewable energy.
He said, as reported by Argus, “[We] need to quickly construct the clean energy systems of tomorrow while making the energy systems of today considerably cleaner. “We must hasten the energy transition to ensure that no one is left behind, especially the 800 million people in the global south who do not currently have access to energy.
According to The National, he specifically discussed the necessity of tripling the capacity of renewable energy sources, doubling the production of hydrogen, and enhancing nuclear power, battery storage, carbon capture, and efficiency.
He added that it was crucial to change the world food system and encourage investment from foreign banks and other financial organizations.
One of the main objectives of the Cop28 presidency would be to scale up and accelerate climate funding, and we will mobilize all pertinent parties to make this happen, he stated, according to The National.
Al Jaber stressed further the ways in which India and the UAE might collaborate to increase the capacity for renewable energy. India has pledged to produce 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel electrical generation by 2030 and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070.
India’s intention to add 500 gigawatts of clean energy over the next seven years is clearly stated. Al Jaber added that the UAE, one of the biggest investors in renewable energy, will investigate all possibilities for cooperation with India in order to support its high development, low carbon pathway.
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Al Jaber also met with Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Minister of Foreign Affairs S. Jaishankar before his address, according to The Hindustan Times.
I’m pleased to introduce you to Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s minister of industry and advanced technology and the COP 28’s incoming president. Jaishankar tweeted, as The Hindustan Times reported, “Exchanged ideas on taking forward our shared priorities during India’s G20 Presidency and @COP28 UAE.”
