COP28: UAE to follow north star of keeping 1.5°C climate rise limit within reach

The UAE is highly-focused in following its ‘north star’ as it hosts COP28 or the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from November 30 to December 12 at Expo City Dubai.

“We are guided by a single north star, keeping 1.5°C within reach,” COP28 president-designate Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, said on Saturday at the conclusion of the inaugural ‘Climate Future Week’ at Dubai’s Museum of the Future.

The 1.5°C is the global pledge taken by world governments to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C on pre-industrial levels under the 2015 Paris Agreement during COP21.

COP28 UAE is hailed as a milestone moment when the world will take stock of its progress on the Paris Agreement that set the goal to keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5°C to substantially reduce the effects of climate change.

Speaking at the special session ‘Countdown to COP28’ on the last day of Climate Future Week, Al Jaber said: “As hosts of COP28, we are guided by a single north star, keeping 1.5°C within reach. We aim to do that with a four-part action agenda: (1) fast-tracking a just and orderly energy transition, (2) fixing climate finance, (3) focusing on people, lives and livelihoods and (4) underpinning everything with full inclusivity.”

Acting together

Al Jaber, who is also the UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, underscored: “The UAE assumes the responsibility of hosting COP28 with humility and a deep sense of urgency to deliver a future-proofed world for us all. We live in a region where heat is extreme, water is scarce and food systems are fragile. And we also live in an ever-more interconnected world where the impacts of climate change anywhere will affect us everywhere.”

COP28 is expected to produce a comprehensive assessment of the global progress since adopting the Paris Agreement on April 22, 2016. It will also provide measures that are needed to be put in place to bridge the gaps in addressing climate change.

The country’s hosting of the climate conference comes at a time when the world has witnessed summer of 2023 as a season of weather extremes marked by devastating wildfires and debilitating heatwaves across US and Europe, while torrential rains and flash floods hit China and many parts in the Asian and Scandinavian regions.

Al Jaber noted the way to move forward is to “seize the opportunity of COP28 to unite the world and act together to deliver actionable solutions to the climate crisis.”

Whole-of-society approach

Joining Al Jaber in the discussion was UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) president Razan Al Mubarak. She said: “We need a whole-of-society approach to address climate change and drive a just system transformation. This is why inclusion has been the cornerstone of the COP28 Presidency.”

“While we are seeing closer alignment between the climate and nature agenda, we urgently need to scale up implementation. COP28 will be a pivotal moment to elevate nature as a critical lever to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement,” she underscored.

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