COP28 UAE's diverse leadership team was unveiled today at the request of the UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the Minister of the Presidential Court. COP28 UAE will take place in Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12, 2023.
The COP President has been baptized by His Highness, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. Together with Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, and Sameh Shoukry, President of Egypt's COP27, Dr. Al Jaber will build the COP28 agenda.
As the UN Climate Change Elevated Champion and the Youth Climate Champion, respectively, Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui, the UAE's Minister of State for Youth Affairs, and Her Elegance Razan Al Mubarak, the IUCN's President, will accompany H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber's COP28 UAE delegation.
The UAE is dedicated to raising aim in this crucial decade for climate action as the first nation in the Middle East to embrace the Paris Accord, the first to pledge a reduction in emissions across the board, and the first to declare a Net Zero by 2050 strategic strategy. It is an honour that the UAE has been chosen to host COP28.
Given that COP28 is the first Global Stocktake (GST) evaluation since the Paris Agreement, its application for this position was motivated by a commitment to international support and climate action. In order to enable real, inclusive, and transformative progress as the result of a successful COP28, the UAE has nominated a robust and diverse leadership team.
Dr. Al Jaber, who is the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT), has held the position of Special Envoy for Climate Change twice (2010–2016 and 2020–present), and he actively participated in more than ten COPs, including the historic COP21 in Paris in 2015. He brings two aeons of executive business and leadership background to this role, including expertise in government, climate policy, and both the conventional and renewable energy sectors.
The first-ever CEO to hold the position of COP President, Dr. Al Jaber was instrumental in establishing the nation's renewable energy future. Throughout his career, he has led the way in developing a sensible and responsible strategy for quickening the energy transition that takes climate change, energy accessibility, energy security, and economic growth into account.
He oversaw Masdar's mission to hasten the implementation of renewable energy in the United Arab Emirates, the rest of the region, and around the world as its founding CEO. As CEO of ADNOC, he is now leading efforts to decarbonize and diversify the business' functions and investments in an effort to make today's energies cleaner while making investments in tomorrow's clean energies.
Dr. Al Jaber will play a key role in directing the intergovernmental process, forging consensus, and advancing climate outcomes with a wide variety of partners, notably business and civil society, to increase ambition as the COP28 President-Designate.
Dr. Al Jaber made the following remarks in response to being chosen to lead COP28:
" With the highest level of ambition and a strong sense of duty, the UAE is participating in COP28. Together with the UNFCCC and the COP27 Presidency, we would then promote an inclusive agenda that accelerates mitigation action, encourages a just transition to renewable energy that leaves no one behind, ensures that significant, affordable climate finance is allocated to the most vulnerable, speeds up funding for adaptation, and establishes a strong funding facility to address loss and damage.
" I truly think that there is a magnificent economic incredible chance to abet long-term development by delivering climate change now. Finance is the key that may enable climate action, and the UAE is dedicated to assisting and supporting the examination of international banks in order to increase federal subsidies, leverage private financing, and improve access.
"By doing so, we will contribute a pragmatic, grounded, and solutions-focused strategy that produces significant advancements for the environment and low-carbon economic growth. Being a country at a global crossroads, the UAE is already well at forging alliances, developing agreements, and uniting the world with the shared goal of preserving 1.5C and safeguarding the environment for future generations.
"We will employ a comprehensive approach that involves all interested parties from the governmental and private sectors, civil society, academic researchers, women, and young people. Given that the Global South is the region most affected by climate change, we must pay particular attention to how going green can meet their needs.
He said, "COP28 will conduct the first Global Stocktake (GST) ever since the Paris Agreement,". The UAE will be looking for an ambitious result from the negotiation in regard to the GST, which will serve as the platform to build impetus for these and future COPs. It will be crucial to muster the political will now to adapt to what the research indicates must be done to stay on track and keep global warming below 1.5C by 2050.
As part of a new position created to strengthen the voice of the world's youth during the COP process and guarantee that young people's abilities and competencies are prioritized, Her Highness Shamma Al Mazrui will act as the Young Global Champion. As Minister of State for Youth Affairs for the UAE, she works on the empowerment and capacity building of young people. Along with serving as Vice Chair of the Arab Youth Center, Secretary General of the Education and Human Resources Council, Chair of Special Olympics UAE, and President of the National Center for Education Quality, H.E. Al Mazrui also serves in a number of other leadership roles.
As the UN's High-Level Champion for Climate Change, Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak will be tasked with increasing engagement and enlisting the help of non-state players, such as business partners, local governments, and other subnational entities, indigenous peoples, and civil society. She is currently in charge of the organization's fight to protect biodiversity around the world as the President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The entire UAE government will support the COP28 leadership team, with Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, proceeding to play a crucial role in directing the domestic initiatives of the UAE in relation to addressing climate change, protecting the environment, and changing food systems.
The selection of this broad executive board for COP28 UAE occurs at a critical time as the globe struggles to reverse biodiversity loss, despite growing energy security and addressing growing climate impacts.
The UAE is excited to welcome everyone to COP28 and to collaborate with all interested parties in search of outcomes that are fair, ambitious, and inclusive as an optimistic legacy for our subsequent generations.
Distributed on account of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC - Masdar by Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. Washington, DC's Department of Justice has more information available.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
COP28 UAE:
- From November 30 to December 12, 2023, Expo City Dubai will play host to COP28 UAE. Over 70,000 people are anticipated to attend the conference, including leaders of state, top government officials, business executives from around the world, representatives from the private sector, academics, experts, young people, and non-state actors.
- In order to speed progress through a practical worldwide energy transition and an inclusive "leave no one behind" approach to climate action, the UAE will convene a process for all stakeholders to settle upon a clear roadmap.
- The Paris Climate Agreement requires that the first-ever Global Stocktake, a thorough assessment of progress toward climate targets, be presented during COP28 UAE.
UAE’s Track Record of Climate Action:
The UAE's selection as the COP28 host nation continues its long history of bold climate change action. The UAE backs this goal both domestically and internationally.
- The UAE became the first country in the area to ratify and implement the Paris Agreement, pledge to reduce emissions across the board, and establish a strategic program called Net Zero by 2050.
- The UAE was among only two dozen nations to alter its climate ambitions, increasing its 2030 target of reducing from 23.5% to 31% by 2030, in response to the call for all governments to support growth at COP26 in Glasgow.
At home:
The UAE is expanding the sources of energy it uses, becoming the first country to use peaceful nuclear energy.
- It has built three of the biggest and most affordable solar power plants in the entire globe and has broken previous records for solar and wind energy prices both locally and globally.
- It is the first nation in the region to introduce carbon capture technology on an industrial scale.
- It is a leader in the development of hydrogen energy.
- It is making investments right now to lessen the carbon footprint of hydrocarbon fuels.
International Leadership:
- The UAE has already committed $50 billion to renewable energy projects in 70 nations, and over the next ten years, it plans to invest an additional $50 billion in domestic and international clean energy initiatives.
- The International Renewable Energy Agency's headquarters have been located in the UAE since 2009.
- The Partnership to Expedite Switchover to Clean Energy (PACE), a new framework for clean energy, was established by the UAE and the US in November 2022 with the goal of accelerating $100 billion in the financing, financing, and other assistance to deploy 100GW of renewable energy by 2035, particularly in developing nations.
COP28 UAE Leadership Team:
Dr. Sultan Al Jaber
Dr. Sultan Al Jaber's appointment demonstrates the UAE's dedication to advancing a forward-thinking and practical global transition to renewable energy.
Dr. Al Jaber, who is the first CEO to ever hold the position of COP President, draws on his extensive knowledge of both conventional and renewable energy sources and his decades of expertise in the energy industry. In 2006, under the direction of UAE leadership, he oversaw the group that developed Masdar from an idea to reality with the goal of accelerating the use of renewable energies in the UAE, the region, and the world. Masdar has so far significantly aided the UAE in achieving its goals for renewable energy, playing a crucial role in diversifying the nation's inventory with clean energy assets in over 40 nations across the world, including numerous fragile Caribbean countries and African countries.
The ambitious goal of Masdar is to increase to at least 100GW of sustainable energy capacity locally and globally by 2030 thanks to a new cooperation with TAQA, Mubadala, and ADNOC. Masdar will soon rank among the world's greatest investors in renewable energy. He led Masdar's efforts in the UAE's successful bid to host the command center of the "International Renewable Energy Agency" (IRENA), with a mission to support and promote environmentally friendly technologies and sustainable development around the world, in Masdar City in 2009. This was done with the direction of and ongoing support from H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, also appointed Dr. Al Jaber to his Advisory Board on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC), which released its final report in 2010. The Sustainable Energy for All initiative, which was launched in 2011, was built on the report's recommendations.
The Indian TERI University, which is situated in Delhi and has a focus on sustainable development, awarded Dr. Al Jaber an honorary doctorate in philosophy in 2010. For his efforts to advance renewable energy technology to lessen the risks posed by climate change, Dr. Al Jaber was given the UN Champions of the Earth award in 2012. In addition to participating actively in more than 10 Conferences of Parties, such as the historic COP21 that was held in Paris in 2015, he has twice served as a climate envoy.
He has presided over ADNOC's emergence as one of the world's most carbon-efficient oil and gas corporations in his current capacity as Group CEO and Managing Director of ADNOC, building on a long history of sustainability that presumably includes being one of the first NOCs to pledge to zero gas flaring. Since being hired in 2016, he has used technology to improve ADNOC's carbon efficiency with the aim of further reducing GHG intensity by 25% by 2030.
Under the direction of HE Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, ADNOC is putting money $15 billion over five years into its emissions reductions strategy, its new cleaner energy solutions business, and its ownership stake in Masdar as it aspires to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and its target of reducing its carbon intensity by 25% by 2030.
He oversaw the expansion of a pioneering carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) program in the area. With an aim to increase by more than 500 percent by 2030 to absorb 5 million tonnes of CO2 annually, ADNOC's Al Reyadah CCUS project now captures 800K tonnes of CO2 annually. Additionally, commencing in 2022, ADNOC has sourced all of its system electricity from solar and nuclear sources that produce zero carbon emissions, marking an industry first. ADNOC has also increased its investments in zero-carbon energy sources like wind, solar, and hydrogen.
Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui - @shamma
H.E. Shamma Al Mazrui represents youth's challenges and aspirations in the UAE cabinet in her current capacity as Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Vice Chairman of the Arab Youth Center. She does this by using the voice of youth to continuously develop and implement strategies to increase opportunities and engage youth. The Youth Climate Title holder position recognizes the necessity of involving the younger generation in the environmental policy process and utilizing the over 2 billion young people around the world who possess innovative skills, talents, and abilities.
Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak
The UAE's continued dedication to using natural solutions is shown in the nomination of Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak, a global expert in ecosystem and biodiversity protection. H.E. Al Mubarak is well-positioned to link non-state actors with government initiatives to encourage more climate action because of her long career and effect in environmental management and conservation in both the public and commercial sectors. Currently, H.E. Al Mubarak is in charge of carrying out the vision, mission, and strategy of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has over 1,400 members, including states, governmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations from 160 different countries.
Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri
The entire UAE government will support the COP28 UAE leadership team, including Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), who will continue to spearhead the UAE's domestic efforts to combat climate change, organize the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and establish the course for the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.
