Countries must honour green pledges made at summit, says Cop26 chief in Dubai

Alok Sharma says the world faces a decisive time, ahead of climate summits in Egypt and the UAE

Cop26 president Alok Sharma at Expo 2020 Dubai. He said there is a real commitment to green growth in the UAE. Pawan Singh / The National

Cop 26 president Alok Sharma is on a mission to get countries to keep to sustainability pledges they made at the stormy climate talks last year.

Mr Sharma visited Egypt and the UAE this week – including a trip to Expo 2020 Dubai – meeting ministers and officials from the countries that will host the next global meetings.

His visit to the Middle East is part of with visits to 35 countries – some of which the Cop 26 president visited twice last year – to build relationships and momentum for climate action.

“We are going to need all countries to deliver on the commitments, and that’s why this year and the next few years is going to be so decisive,” Mr Sharma told The National in Dubai.

“I describe this as a decisive decade and it is precisely that. We will be working with countries and partners around the world – particularly with Egypt, which has the presidency of Cop27 summit to be held in 2022, and the UAE, which has the presidency of Cop28 in 2023.

“I hope we can work seamlessly together, because this is a shared global agenda.”

Working with UAE and Egypt

The former British business minister, who led the climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, last November, said there has been excellent co-operation with the UAE and Egypt.

“The reason we were able to deliver the Glasgow Climate Pact is because we had friends and colleagues around the world we worked very closely with,” he said.

“We had very good co-operation with Egypt and we had excellent co-operation with the UAE on the road to Cop26.

“What we can’t do is take our foot off the accelerator in tackling climate change.

“We want to ensure we work very closely with Egypt and the UAE to ensure that Cop27 and Cop28 are successes.”

UAE's historic 2050 net zero initiative

He praised the UAE for pledging to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

“The UAE did something really historic when at the end of last year it was the first in the region to announce a net zero by 2050 commitment,” Mr Sharma said.

“That helped to provide momentum for others to make commitments across the world and in the region but also provided momentum going into Cop26.”

His meeting with UAE ministers including Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and officials from renewable energy company Masdar made him confident of the country’s green agenda.

“There is a real commitment to green growth here,” Mr Sharma said.

“That is what we want to see from all countries around the world. Cop28 will also be an opportunity for the UAE to showcase all that it is doing in terms of energy transition, and we look forward to that.”

Keeping 1.5°C alive

The Glasgow Climate Pact was seen by many experts as a victory for keeping the ambition to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in sight.

If temperatures rise by more than 1.5°C, scientists have warned of extreme conditions.

But there was disappointment about the weakening of language on coal, as countries agreed to "phase down" rather than "phase out" coal – leaving Mr Sharma close to tears in the final hours.

India and China led the opposition to the "phase out" wording, saying they should not be pressured into pledges to end the use of coal on the same timeline as wealthy Western nations.

However, Mr Sharma said significant progress was made, as it was the first climate deal to specify a plan to reduce coal, the worst polluting fossil fuel. “It is a process of transition that takes place,” he said.

“If we had been sitting a year ago and having a discussion about coal and I said by the time we got to Cop26 we would get a commitment from all the key countries financing coal projects overseas – that by the end of 2021 we would stop that support – I think you might have been very sceptical.

"But that is precisely what we managed to do during this past year,” Mr Sharma said.

Another breakthrough was that under the new framework countries will have to report emissions and progress toward their climate pledges.

This is a change from previous pacts that had different requirements for developed and developing nations.

“One of the important aspects of Cop26 is we got an agreement on a transparency framework,” Mr Sharma.

“From 2024, countries will be submitting detailed information in terms of emissions across different gases, different sectors so we are going to see whether commitments are being met and matched by actions.”

Working with world leaders and governments to deliver on assurances will be the key.

“Trust, I’ve come to understand, is a very fragile commodity in climate negotiations,” Mr Sharma said.

“That’s why it’s going to be so important this year, next year and in future years that we ensure that these commitments that countries have made are stuck to and they do deliver.”