Climate action ‘must not be a burden for developing nations’
Global efforts on climate change must adopt flexible solutions and climate action must not become an economic burden on developing nations, said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change.
A “one-size-fits-all” approach will not work and developing nations require solutions through finance, technology, incubation, policy and regulations to tackle the challenge of climate change, he said during the Saudi Green Initiative forum in Riyadh yesterday.
“We need to accept the fact that the developing world requires a completely different set of policies and incentives. We cannot allow for climate action to become an economic burden, especially on developing nations, so we need to develop all kinds of instruments,” Dr Al Jaber said.
“It is going to take a mindset that is progressive, open, inclusive and ensures that the economics stays central in this discussion.”
Dr Al Jaber, who is also managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc, said the “world has sleepwalked into a supply crunch” after underinvesting in hydrocarbons over the past seven to eight years.
“We must come to terms with the realities on the ground: 80 per cent of the total energy requirements today come from fossil fuel; 60 per cent is well presented by oil and gas. We cannot just come out of nowhere and speak of energy transition and ignore or underestimate the impact of oil and gas in helping meet global energy requirements,” he said.
The UAE is committed to cutting emissions but this will take time, Dr Al Jaber said. The country aims to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“The lowest carbon emitter and lowest cost producer will be the last barrel standing but this is going to take time, we must accept the fact that an energy transition is simply a transition and it is going to take time,” Dr Al Jaber said.
“We need to be mature and sober in carrying out this discussion. We need to shift gears; we need to go back to the drawing board.”