At the end of November, the UAE will host this international conference in Dubai, which environmental activists condemn for choosing Sultan Al Jaber, head of the giant Emirati oil company, ADNOC, as its president.
Maryam bint Muhammad Al Muhairi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment in the UAE, which is one of the largest oil-exporting countries in the world, stressed that her country wants to contribute to keeping climate warming “below” a margin of two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, in line with the commitments stipulated. in the Paris Climate Agreement.
In a statement to reporters in Dubai, she said that the state is doing its best to ensure that the margin is 1.5 degrees Celsius, recognizing that this goal is not currently within reach.
And while stressing that hope should not be lost in this regard, she acknowledged that her country is capable of making more efforts in this regard.
Signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement agreed in 2015 to cap global warming at “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above average levels recorded between 1850 and 1900, and to 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.
According to Al Muhairi, the UAE is pursuing an approach to building a “climate-friendly and growth-enhancing economy” and is seeking to accelerate its path to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
And the UAE, which is full of hyper-air-conditioned skyscrapers and where large SUVs cause widespread pollution, is considered one of the countries that emit the most carbon dioxide per capita, knowing that the number of its population is about ten million.
The UAE plans to triple its investments in the renewable energy sector over the next seven years and is working to establish a specialized national center for research and development in the hydrogen sector.
In the Gulf region, temperatures for several months are close to 45 degrees Celsius and may reach fifty degrees Celsius. Experts warn that parts of the region may, in the long run, become unlivable in the summer.
Last month, the world witnessed the hottest month of June ever, according to the United Nations, with the accumulation of the effects of climate warming caused by human activities and the return of the “El Niño” phenomenon, which results from the movement of huge masses of hot water in the vicinity of the equator from east to west.
© 2023 AFP
2023-07-11 19:52:08
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