UAE grants key climate envoys roles ahead of Cop28

Germany and Canada to push rich world to keep financial promises

A general view of Al Wasl Dome Plaza in Expo City Dubai. The site will host the Cop28 climate summit later this year. Ruel Pableo / The National

The UAE’s presidency of Cop28 has turned to key global players such as Canada and Germany to help achieve the goals of the Dubai climate summit.

The two G7 countries have been given the task of ensuring that the rich world keeps its promises to put more financial firepower behind climate action.

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Cop28 President-designate and UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, has also asked Denmark and South Africa to take soundings on a key global progress check.

An expert group has been commissioned to draw up a report on climate finance that will be handed to world leaders on the first two days of Cop28.

Plugging gaps in funding is one of four pillars of the UAE’s plan for Cop28 that Dr Al Jaber unveiled at climate talks in Brussels, which ended on Friday.

The investments needed to switch to clean energy have been estimated at $35 trillion. Germany and Canada have led a push for rich countries to make good on $100 billion in annual climate funding that they first promised the developing world in 2009.

Dr Al Jaber said rich countries should “provide assurances” on the delivery of the $100 billion, with Canada and Germany resuming a role as co-ordinators they have held since Cop26 in Glasgow.

At a press conference after the talks ended, Canada’s Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault said he was “honoured for the trust” placed in his country by the UAE presidency.

Mr Guilbeault said he welcomed Dr Al Jaber’s “clarity on his vision” for the summit and his “commitment to working with Canada and all countries to securing a hopeful, ambitious and inclusive Cop28”.

The EU believes it is “well on track to delivering the EU contribution” to the $100 billion, an official said on Friday.

However, the EU’s assessment is that “there are some of our developed partners who are lagging quite significantly behind with their contribution”.

“Particularly for the countries that are not necessarily least developed any more, but have graduated, there are still huge challenges in accessing the transition financing that is needed,” the official said.

An official told The National that the EU would use meetings with Caribbean and Latin American leaders next week to try to bridge divides on another key Cop28 issue – a “loss and damage” fund to meet the costs of climate disasters.

Dr Al Jaber told ministers in Brussels it was “absolutely imperative” to agree the details of a fund at Cop28 so that it can be activated “soon after”.

Stocktake plans

A further focus of Cop28 will be the first ever “global stocktake” of whether the world is on track to limit climate change to a 1.5°C rise in temperatures – and what action should be taken if it is not.

Denmark’s Minister for Global Climate Policy Dan Jorgensen and South Africa’s Environment Minister Barbara Creecy have been enlisted to consult on the stocktake on Dr Al Jaber’s behalf.

The Danish and South African ministers will hold discussions in the coming weeks and report back to the UAE presidency in time for the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September, Dr Al Jaber said.

Mr Jorgensen said he was grateful to be trusted with an “important assignment”.

Dr Al Jaber used the meeting to set out the “four pillars” of his plan for the summit. The UAE presidency also circulated the daily schedule for Cop28.

The four-part plan concentrating on the energy transition, finance, livelihoods and inclusivity is “science-based, action-oriented and focused on a new way forward”, Dr Al Jaber told ministers.

The summit begins on November 30 at Dubai’s Expo City. A two-day world leaders’ summit will be followed by seven themed days that focus on issues such as finance, energy and health.

Dr Al Jaber’s plan was praised by ministers in attendance. Jennifer Morgan, a German special envoy, said on Friday she welcomed the vision to “drastically cut emissions” and pave the way for a “cleaner, more resilient and prosperous planet”.

Mr Guilbeault added the UAE presidency was “working very hard to put in place all of the conditions necessary to ensure that we have a successful Cop28 meeting in December”.

He praised the UAE for submitting an updated climate plan that aims for a 40 per cent cut in emissions by 2030, compared to the 31 per cent planned previously.

The UAE as an oil-exporting country is “in some ways in a similar position to Canada, in finding solutions to transition from where they are to where they need to be”, he said.