Climate today: 'Worse than worst predictions'

The effects of climate change are now outstripping worst-case scenario predictions, the UN chief warned nations as he inaugurated the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting on Sunday.
Describing climate change as the "defining change of our times", UN Secretary-General António Guterres said its staggering impacts have manifested in more frequent, more intense extreme weather events in recent years. And it calls for an urgent, all-hands-on-deck approach to climte action.
"Climate emegency is evolving faster than predicted. We must accelerate our response, with ambition and urgency," said Guterres. "This is a battle for our lives and it's a battle we must win."
Guterres noted that global action is desperately needed as the world needs a "green economy, not a grey economy".
"Let's use all the available resources and new technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the environment," he added.
The two-day, action-focused climate meeting, which kicked off at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, aims to lay the groundwork for strategies, including drafting resolutions for the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September.
More than 1,000 political leaders, heads of state, and climate change action experts have gathered at the Abu Dhabi meeting to discuss how alarming environmental changes should be addressed.
UAE efforts
In his keynote speech, Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said: "Most of us here today have had a direct or indirect experience with an extreme weather event, such as a hurricane, heat wave, a flood...or a storm.
"Climate change is not just about the planet, it is also about the people. Climate change is the best investment case that we have ever known and, here in the UAE, we are leading this reality of climate action."
The UAE is at the heart of the clean energy transformation. Since 2013, the country has provided around $1 billion in aid that allowed developing countries to deploy renewable energy solutions and has committed itself to reducing climate change impacts through its $5 billion annual aid package.
Record-breaking solar project to come up in Al Dhafra: Minister
A two-gigawatt solar energy project will soon be taking shape in the Capital's Al Dhafra region, the UAE's environment minister announced on Sunday.
"The project will eclipse the record-breaking one-gigawatt Noor Abu Dhabi Plant,"  said Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment. He added that bidding for the contract has already been opened.
The Emirates Water and Electricity Company recently announced that the Dh3.2 billion, 1,177-megawatt Noor Abu Dhabi solar plant at Sweihan has started its commercial operations.
According to Al Zeyoudi, the UAE joins the world in combating climate change, with a national target to achieve 27 per cent clean power by 2021 and 50 percent by 2050.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com