UAE launches new $30 billion climate investment fund at COP28
PM holds informal interactions with world leaders on COP28 margins,
Dubai (Sadia Abassi/Webdesk)_The world’s biggest climate change conference COP28, kicked off in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday with conference President Dr Sultan Al Jaber saying “Hearing no objections, it is so decided,” followed by the sound of the gavel hitting the table and applause erupting all around the room.
Day 2 of COP28 UAE started on Friday with kings, presidents, and prime ministers entering the gates of Expo City Dubai.
Over $420 million was pledged for the ‘loss and damage’ fund, within an hour of the decision, demonstrating the collective political will to support those most vulnerable to climate change
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders on Friday that the burning of fossil fuels must be stopped outright and a reduction or abatement in their use would not be enough to stop global warming.
“We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuels,” Guterres said in a speech to the COP28 summit in Dubai.
“The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate.” He urged fossil fuel companies to invest in a transition to renewable energy sources and told governments to help by forcing that change – including through the use of windfall taxes on industry profits.
“I urge governments to help industry make the right choice – by regulating, legislating, putting a fair price on carbon, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and adopting a windfall tax on profits,” he said.
Pakistan faces climate change havoc ‘King Charles
Britain’s King Charles said on Friday the world was “dreadfully far off track” on addressing climate change and that the global economy would be in peril unless the environment was rapidly repaired.
In an opening address to the COP28 UN climate summit, King Charles told world leaders the dangers of climate change were no longer a distant risk, and urged them to take more action.
“I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action,” he said, in reference to the 2015 summit held in France.
“We are seeing alarming tipping points being reached.”
After a year of record temperatures, the pressure is on for this year’s summit to accelerate action to limit climate change. Countries, however, are divided over the future of fossil fuel, the burning of which is the main cause of climate change.
The summit, which runs until Dec. 12, clinched an early victory on Thursday, with delegates adopting a new fund to help poor nations cope with costly climate disasters.
The king, whose role is ceremonial but is attending the summit on behalf of the British government and after an invite from host nation the United Arab Emirates, did not single out any group in his speech, his first major climate address as Britain’s monarch.
He instead spoke about how to involve multilateral organisations and the private sector, the role of the insurance sector and speeding up innovation in renewable energy.
Charles cited the impact of climate change globally, including floods in Pakistan and India severe wildfires in the United States, Canada and Greece.
“Unless we rapidly repair and restore nature’s unique economy, based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be imperilled,” he said.
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Earlier,
The United Arab Emirates said Friday it is launching a new $30 billion private investment fund focused on climate projects in developing countries.
The oil-rich host of the crunch United Nations COP28 climate negotiations in Dubai said it hopes the fund, called Alterra, will stimulate investments totalling $250 billion by 2030.
“I am pleased to announce the establishing of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions,” UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told the summit.
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the UAE’s national oil company ADNOC, will chair the board of the new fund, according to a statement.
It said the fund “will drive forward international efforts to create a fairer climate finance system, with an emphasis on improving access to funding for the Global South.”
Emerging markets and developing economies, except China, will need to spend $2.4 trillion every year to address their climate and development needs, according to a UN economic expert panel, far above the current levels of investments.
The UAE initiative is seen as part of the country’s broader strategy for COP28, pushing to involve the private sector while voluntarily pledging big sums.
Money has already been set aside to develop more than six gigawatts of clean energy capacity in India, including building wind and solar projects by 2025, the statement said.
Other projects in Africa and Latin America were also being explored, it added.
Asset managers BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG are launch partners of the fund, according to the statement.
The UAE sees itself as a bridge between the rich developed nations most responsible for historic emissions and the rest of the world, which has contributed less to global warming but suffers its worst consequences.
But the decision for it to host has attracted a firestorm of criticism — particularly the appointment of ADNOC’s Jaber to steer the tall
Meanwhile,
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday held informal interactions with multiple world leaders, on the sidelines of the COP28 summit here. Among those whom the prime minister interacted with informally included British Prime Minister Rishi Sunik and Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredrickson.
The prime minister also held an informal interaction with British King Charles III as they participated in the family photo of High Level Segment of 28th Conference of Parties. At the Summit, the prime minister is accompanied by Caretaker ministers including Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Climate Change Minister Ahmed Irfan Aslam and Energy Minister Muhammad Ali.
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