'It's the one planet we live on': UAE vows no decrease in global climate action

Cop29 must focus on finance if world is to remain serious about climate action, assistant minister says

Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability, says the UAE will continue to play a promiment role in global climate action. Ahmed Ramzan for The National

The UAE expects to see no decrease in global climate ambitions at Cop29, a senior official has said, as leaders, government officials and environmental activists from around the world prepare to meet for the UN talks in Azerbaijan from November 11 to 22.

Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability, told The National in an exclusive interview that the world sealed an ambitious agreement at the crucial Cop28 talks in Dubai last year and now the focus needed to turn to implementation, with scaling up climate finance at the heart of this approach.

“Cop29 will be a finance Cop,” Mr Balalaa said on Wednesday. “If we are serious about climate action – and if there is no finance to support that action agenda – then we will not solve the problem and eventually not keep the 1.5ºC goal within reach.

“We want to see no decrease in the ambition that Cop28 had.”

Countries need to agree in Baku on a new target – called the New Collective Quantified Goal – to replace the $100 billion a year for developing countries to help them shift from fossil fuels and embrace sustainable energy systems.

Trillions of dollars are believed to be needed but countries remain some way apart on a deal.

Mr Balalaa, a member of the UAE's Cop29 delegation, said there were a lot of “discussions” at the pre-Cop gathering in Baku earlier this month, and elsewhere, but finance could not be negotiated in separation from other areas. He said he believed “our colleagues in Azerbaijan will come up with something”.

“We're at the last mile of that discussion and we're getting closer to Baku, so it depends on how the negotiations will go,” he said.

When asked if countries remain far apart on how much money is needed, he said there will “always be a discussion between the Global South and Global North” and predicted that this discussion will continue during Cop29.

“The hope is to come up with a scalable finance goal … that can meet the ambition [of] what the world agreed in Dubai,” he said.

Loss and damage funds

One of the main achievements at Cop28 was the deal to bring the contentious loss and damage fund into operation, which he describes as “one of those moments that I will never forget”.

The climate disaster fund aims to help vulnerable countries deal with the effects of climate change and was agreed on the first day of the summit. Such a fund was long-sought by countries on the front lines of climate change who often have done the least to cause the problems.

“I'm old enough to remember that it used to be once in a blue moon that we heard about a catastrophe or a natural disaster,” he said. “Today, we see this every two weeks.”

Mr Balalaa noted that the increasing prevalence of extreme weather events was at the heart of the UAE’s drive towards an “open to business” fund being finalised by Cop29, to get the money out to those who need it most.

“Because we realise how big the need is for such a fund,” he said. “Hopefully we're at the final stage to get it open for business within Cop29.”

More than $850m has been pledged so far and he said the UAE was now working on turning pledges into contributions.

Some have argued that funds can be hard and time-consuming to access but Mr Balalaa said there would always be terms, references and eligibility criteria but it was “the intention” this fund would be more accessible.

Water at heart of climate action

Water is also expected to be a central part of Cop29. Climate change and water are linked to patterns such as rising seas and droughts and these are particularly important for the UAE.

“We Emiratis understand the importance of water,” he said. “When we talk about water today, you cannot talk about it in isolation from food security, from energy and of course, from climate change.”

Noting that the UAE is committed to tackling this issue globally, he pointed to how President Sheikh Mohamed in February launched the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative and at Cop28 the UAE pledged $150m to fund water security initiatives in vulnerable countries. The UAE and Senegal are also co-hosts of the next UN Water Conference, which will be held in the UAE in 2026

Globally, the UN’s new special envoy on water, Retno Marsudi, starts on November 1 and Mr Balalaa said he had picked up signals the world was taking this issue seriously.

Geopolitical landscape heading into Cop29

Cop29 takes place amid a challenging geo-political landscape including wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Mr Balalaa said the impact of climate change is happening regardless of these conflicts.

“I really hope people see that climate is affecting everyone,” he said. “It's the one planet we all live on. We really hope countries and member states look at it in a way that can benefit us all.”

The Cop28 deal - known as the UAE Consensus - also included pledges to transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy along with the galvanising of more than $80 billion in climate finance. He said the UAE was “walking the talk” and is investing in renewable energy across the world.

“It can be profitable, it's deployable, it's scalable,” he said, regarding global renewable energy. “I think the issue remains finance.”

Cop28's imprint on the UAE

Azerbaijan takes over the Cop presidency from the UAE in just days. But the Cop Presidencies Troika – where the UAE has teamed up with the next two hosts of the climate conference, Azerbaijan and Brazil, to keep the momentum going – means the UAE will continue to have a major role in global climate action.

A new UAE climate plan – known as a nationally determined contribution – is also expected before Cop29. Regardless, the impact of the Cop28 presidency on the UAE has been clear.

“The legacy of Cop28 has actually been worked out by multiple organisations within the UAE," Mr Balalaa said. “Climate change is in every single agenda meeting we have, whether it be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Environment; or Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.

“If there is something we don't compromise with, it is our credibility,” he said. “When we say we will do something, we do it, especially if it's for a noble cause such as climate change.”