With the world in the grip of extreme weather events, Cop28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber has announced a four-pillar climate action plan ahead of the forthcoming summit.
The UAE’s climate envoy went on to issue a rallying cry to delegates to build the “energy system of the future”.
“We need everyone to play their part in a global effort that transforms our current course and supercharges solutions across negotiations and the action agenda,” Al Jaber wrote in a letter last week to parties attending the Cop28 summit on 30 November and 12 December.
Al Jaber’s action plan centres on the following four strands: fast-tracking the energy transition by slashing emissions before 2030; transforming climate finance to make funding more affordable and accessible; protecting nature, lives and livelihoods; and underpinning everything with a focus on inclusivity.
The plan calls for a global tripling of renewable energy capacity to 11,000 gigawatts by 2030, doubling energy efficiency measures and doubling hydrogen production to 180 million tonnes per year, also by 2030.
“Cop28 presents an opportunity to fast-track the energy transition by building the energy system of the future, while rapidly decarbonising the energy system of today,” Al Jaber said.
“This year, more than ever, unity is a prerequisite for success,” he added. The summit could be the “turning point we need on climate action over this critical decade.
“We know that if we do the right things now and take them to scale, we will create vast economic potential for everyone.”
Al Jaber noted that the financial firepower needed to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement – which seeks to keep rises in temperature to 1.5 degrees centigrade – is significant.
Citing a report by the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development published this month, Al Jaber said developing nations including those in the Middle East need at least $2.4 trillion of investment in sustainability each year to 2030.
At the Ministerial on Climate Action in Brussels last week, Al Jaber also urged countries to update their Nationally Determined Contributions – self-defined national climate pledges made as part of the Paris Agreement – by September 2023, far ahead of the 2025 deadline.
In delivering them early, Cop28 seeks to pair them with the first global stocktake of countries’ progress against cutting emissions since the Paris Agreement, to accelerate action. “The umbrella of this first global stocktake and our urgent response to its outcome provides us with the chance we need to get the world on track,” Al Jaber said.
