UAE's climate envoy says keeping 1.5 deg C goal 'alive' is top priority for COP28

As COP28 president, Sultan al-Jaber will help shape the conference agenda and intergovernmental negotiations. PHOTO: REUTERS

DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates climate envoy and designated president of the COP28 climate summit said on Wednesday his main priority would be to keep alive the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 deg C as the world falls behind on the target.

Sultan al-Jaber brushed off criticism over his designation as COP28 president given his role as head of the UAE’s state oil giant, telling Reuters in his first public remarks on the matter that tackling climate change required a united effort.

The UAE, a major Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries oil exporter, is hosting the climate summit this year, the second Arab state to do so after Egypt in 2022.

Sultan Jaber’s appointment fuelled activist concern that big industry was hijacking the world’s response to the global warming crisis.

“I have no intention whatsoever of deviating from the 1.5 deg C goal,” Sultan Jaber said in his first interview since being assigned the role. “Keeping 1.5 deg C alive is a top priority, and it will cut across everything I do.”

Scheduled to take place in Dubai between Nov 30 and Dec 12, the conference will be the first global assessment of progress since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 to limit global warming.

As COP28 president, Sultan Jaber will help shape the conference agenda and intergovernmental negotiations.

He said he would focus on building consensus and was ready to listen to all parties that wanted to engage positively.

“We have a major challenge ahead of us,” Sultan Jaber said.

“How about for once we capitalise on everybody’s capabilities and strengths and fight climate change rather than going after each other,” he said when asked about the criticism.

With a decade of climate diplomacy experience, Sultan Jaber is not short of green credentials.

His first chief executive role was at Masdar, the Abu Dhabi green energy vehicle that he founded in 2006 and is now among the largest investors globally in clean energy.

Sultan Jaber told Reuters it was that experience that led the UAE’s leadership to assign him to head Abu Dhabi National Oil Company with a mandate to “transform, decarbonise and future-proof” the energy company.

Balancing passion with realism

The Paris Agreement commits countries to limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2 deg C above pre-industrial levels and to aim for 1.5 deg C, a level which, if crossed, could unleash far more severe climate change effects, scientists say.

Sultan Jaber said a major “course correction” was needed to stick to the target. “We need to be honest with ourselves, we know the whole world is way off track.”

An approach that leaves no one behind, including oil and gas companies, was necessary so they can be part of the solution rather than being categorised as part of the problem, Sultan Jaber said.

While voicing appreciation for climate activists’ passion and the need for their voices to be heard, Sultan Jaber added: “You have to balance passion with being realistic, this is what we need to focus on”.

On the need to mobilise more capital, he pointed to the reform of international financial institutions and engagement with the private sector.

“The private sector will be interested in exploring opportunities, especially in the vulnerable communities, if concessional instruments are out there supported by international financial institutions to help lower the risks,” Sultan Jaber said.

He also sees the Just Energy Transition Partnership model that was approved for South Africa at COP26 and Indonesia at COP27 as a successful way to drive progress in transitional economies that should be expanded.

“The key to their success so far has been the public private partnership approach that blends concessional and private finance to lower investment barriers and risks.” REUTERS

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