COP28 President Designate Urges Decisive Global Response to Get Back on Paris Agreement Track during China Visit
His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and President Designate of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), affirmed that in line with the directives of the United Arab Emirates' leadership, the COP28 presidency is working towards forging consensus among all stakeholders and implementing an approach that builds bridges of communication with the international community to enhance cooperation and collective action, striving for desired progress in global climate action while ensuring sustainable growth for present and future generations.
This transpired during His Excellency's address at the fifth meeting of the High-Level Dialogue of Friends of the Paris Agreement, which took place this week in the Chinese capital, Beijing. He applauded China's pioneering role in global efforts to achieve responsible economic, an orderly, and equitable energy sector transition.
His Excellency concluded his visit to the People's Republic of China, where he met with His Excellency Wang Yi, China's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Yingmin, China's Vice Minister of Environment, Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Envoy for Climate, and Lawrence Tobian, President of the European Climate Foundation and one of the architects of the Paris Agreement.
In his address, His Excellency emphasized the need for a decisive response to the global assessments of progress in Paris Agreement objectives, stating, "The time the world has for taking necessary actions is short and limited, necessitating the development of a clear and detailed action plan that delivers the desired response across all the major pillars of the Paris Agreement."
His Excellency stressed the urgent need to agree on an ambitious action plan concerning mitigation, finalize the adoption of a comprehensive and decisive framework for the global adaptation objective, activate the Loss and Damage Fund and its funding mechanisms, and agree on a fair and equitable methodology for means of implementation.
Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber reiterated that the world is far from being on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals and that the COP28 action plan will ensure that the agreement's ambitions translate into practical and tangible results. He highlighted that the first pillar of the plan is to accelerate an orderly, responsible, and equitable transition in the energy sector. He also praised China's pioneering role in efforts to realize this transition and expressed confidence in the world's ability to make the desired progress in this area.
His Excellency added, "China has been able to increase its renewable energy production capacity to 1,000 gigawatts and is set to produce an additional 500 gigawatts of wind and solar energy in the next three years, aligning with COP28's call to increase global renewable energy production capacity by three years by 2030."
His Excellency stated, "China will also play a pivotal role in expanding the scope of green growth by strengthening cooperation among Southern countries through the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to boost investments in green infrastructure in emerging and developing economies."
His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber also emphasized the need to activate the Loss and Damage Fund and its financing mechanisms during COP28, renewing his call for donor countries to double adaptation financing by 2025 and replenish the resources of the Green Climate Fund.
He stressed the importance of incorporating nature conservation efforts into climate action and praised China's commitment to the "ecological civilization," a set of economic, educational, political, agricultural, and other reforms aimed at achieving sustainability, and its success in improving air quality by nearly 100% since 2015.
It's worth noting that the High-Level Dialogue of Friends of the Paris Agreement serves as a non-governmental platform for climate action leaders to meet, explore, and exchange ideas and opinions on ways to implement Paris Agreement objectives. The fifth dialogue meeting featured discussions on specialized topics, including the energy sector transition, transitioning industrial sectors to climate neutrality, and the provision of climate financing and the development of its mechanisms.