The world is “way off track” to hit climate goals, said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber in his first address since being named negotiator-in-chief of COP28 climate talks on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, where the gathering will take place in late 2023.
“The world is playing catch-up when it comes to the key Paris goal of holding global temperatures down to 1.5 degrees,” Al Jaber said, adding that “the hard reality is that, in order to achieve this goal, global emissions must fall 43 percent by 2030.”
The UAE’s decision to entrust Al Jaber to broker global climate negotiations has drawn an intense backlash from environmental activists across the globe. They worry that inherent conflicts of interests may jeopardize the outcome of the flagship gathering.
Speaking at an Atlantic Council event in Abu Dhabi, one of the seven emirates, Al Jaber defended the UAE’s green credentials.
“We’re proud to be the host country of the International Renewable Energy Agency, the first country in our region to commit to the Paris Agreement, the first in our region to submit Nationally Determined Contributions, and the first to set out the roadmap to net-zero,” he said.
However, the UAE itself is falling short of hitting its revamped pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 31 percent by 2030 compared to a 2016 baseline, up from an earlier promise of a 23 percent reduction. Climate Action Tracker, an NGO, estimates that the country will see a 30 percent increase in emissions above 2010 levels over the period.
Adding to that, internal governmental documents seen by POLITICO last week show that Dubai’s underwhelming effort to slash its carbon emissions are causing it to consider exiting C40, an alliance of green cities, to dodge a PR disaster ahead of COP28.
