Today's Edition
Taha Hasib (Abu Dhabi)
With less than 100 days to the launch of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), there are high hopes for the conference’s outcomes, given the ongoing daily challenges the world faces due to the escalating repercussions of climate change.
Aletihad interviewed Hakima El Haité, the former Moroccan Minister of Environment, to gauge her expectations for the conference and how she views the UAE’s role in advancing global climate action.
El Haité was selected by King of Morocco His Majesty King Mohammed VI to be the special envoy and high-level champion for the International Climate Conference (COP22) held in Marrakech in November 2016. She actively participated in the Paris Agreement negotiations, and was later elected the Deputy Chair of COP21, held in Paris in 2015. She also supervised waste projects for the World Bank in the Middle East and North Africa region, and was recently appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General as a member of the advisory council for the Zero Waste Initiative 2023-2026.Responding to a question on the importance of COP28 and the anticipated outcomes of the global climate event, El Haité said: “I’ll start with a quote from the late French President Jacques Chirac, who said in 2002, ‘Our house is burning, and we are looking elsewhere.’ Inspired by this statement, we realise the urgency of addressing the implications of climate change. I wonder what Chirac would have said if he knew that we just experienced in the past July the hottest conditions in 120,000 years!”
“Our house is still burning,” El Haité added, “Yet, we continue to divert our attention elsewhere despite the increasing awareness of climate challenges and their tragic consequences worldwide, especially impacting the most vulnerable populations.”
El Haité firmly believes that climate change is now the most existential global threat to humanity. “Just like war,” as she puts it, “climate change kills and impacts all sectors of human security, as outlined by the United Nations Development Programme.”
El Haité also said that since ratification of the Paris Agreement, carbon dioxide emissions have been on the rise. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are not ambitious enough to maintain the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2050, even though competitive low-carbon solutions have emerged in economic sectors accounting for 25% of emissions (as per the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change).
El Haité said that she is convinced that the success of COP28 can be measured through the tangible actions countries take to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance adaptation measures, and provide support for at-risk countries and communities. Implementing innovative and sustainable solutions, mobilising financial resources, and strengthening international cooperation will also be key indicators for the success of COP28, she added.
“Strangely,” El Haité noted, “the world deals with emergencies, but doesn’t prioritise them, even though the climate crisis is vital for humanity.”
The former Moroccan Minister of Environment stressed that COP28 has a tough task ahead: refocusing priorities and propelling climate action. “This is especially challenging…given that trust among the parties, especially weaker countries, seems to be eroding due to unfulfilled promises from wealthy nations, while the ambitions of advanced countries are questioned,” she noted.
The UAE, as the host of COP28, will be in the global spotlight, El Haité said. “What pleases us is that the UAE focuses on innovation and has a significant record in supporting sustainability, environmental protection, and renewable energy initiatives. This positions the UAE ideally to transform COP28 into a stronger global engine for innovation and solution production, guided by a realistic, technology-based vision, and developed through investments that ensure innovative carbon removal tools and flexible adaptation to the effects of climate change”.
The UAE ratified the Vienna Convention to protect the ozone layer in 1989, and in 1995, the country joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, going on to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 2005.
The UAE has undertaken numerous green initiatives as part of its commitment to address climate change. In collaboration with the U.S., the UAE proposed the Agricultural Innovation Mission (AIM) to mobilise significant investments in climate-smart agriculture and food systems over the next five years. The UAE has also committed to the Global Methane Pledge, and its hydrocarbon industries showcase some of the world’s lowest methane intensity rates. Further, The UAE is investing $400 million to assist developing countries in transitioning to renewable energy, and has allocated $17 billion for climate assistance to vulnerable island nations.
The country is also developing a roadmap to establish itself as a major hydrogen supplier and has plans to create a large-scale facility for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage, as well as initiatives to reduce solar energy costs. The country additionally has committed to planting 100 million mangrove trees by the end of the decade. Furthering its contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the UAE operationalized Barakah nuclear power plant in April 2022. Further exemplifying its commitment to climate action, the UAE announced its intention to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
El Haité emphasised the potential role of oil and gas producing nations in addressing climate change, urging them to “be ambitious”. The UAE’s hosting of COP28 is a historic opportunity for the climate community that could lead to positive reform in climate action, she said. In a word of caution, she noted that despite the recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) being scientifically grounded, they can be politically unrealistic. “To serve the Paris Agreement, a novel industrial, financial, and technological approach is needed. In this domain, the UAE can provide a positive and practical perspective beneficial to the world,” she said.
