The 28e United Nations climate conference must open up to the private sector “in proportions never before seen” to succeed in the global energy transition and provide the billions of dollars that are missing, the future Emirati president of COP28 defended on Monday in Abu Dhabi.
One month before the conference, Sultan Al Jaber once again took the opposite view of those who are worried about seeing negotiations on the fight against climate change hampered by the massive presence of polluting industries at the huge economic fair. organized on the sidelines of the negotiations.
More than 70,000 participants, a record, are expected at COP28 from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai.
“Inclusiveness is a fundamental principle of COP28. This includes opening up to the private sector on an unprecedented scale,” said Sultan Al Jaber, also chairman of the UAE oil and gas company ADNOC.
He was speaking at the opening of two days of discussions with around 70 ministers from around the world, gathered to resolve the hard points in the negotiations on the first global assessment of the Paris agreement. Its most ambitious objective, limiting warming to 1.5°C since the pre-industrial era, is currently compromised.
At COP28, “decision makers from the financial sector will be with us… personalities from the technology sector will be with us… leaders from all important industrial sectors of the global economy will be with us,” defended Sultan Al Jaber.
This captain of the hydrocarbon industry has, as usual, reminded rich countries, historical polluters, of their obligation to finance the adaptation and ecological transition of developing countries.
Rich countries have not yet honored their promise to provide $100 billion in aid per year and must give additional signals to hope for an ambitious final agreement at the COP.
But even so, this public aid remains very far from the needs, estimated at several thousand billion.
“We need to transform international financial institutions, create carbon markets and encourage private investment to turn billions into trillions,” added Sultan Al Jaber. “This is how we will restore trust” between the North and the South.
“More than 20 oil and gas companies responded to the COP28 call to end methane emissions by 2030,” he recalled as an example of industry mobilization in parallel with negotiations between country.
Concerning the latter, Sultan Al Jaber declared, allusively: “I know that there are strong opinions on the idea of including” in the final COP28 agreement “wording on fossil fuels and energy renewable”.