Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the UAE, Edward Hobart, has publicly stated his support for the UAE hosting of COP28. Noting the UAE’s energy history, Hobart discusses financing, the urgency to focus on emissions, and adapting to the climate emergency.
COP28 in the UAE
‘’In COP28, we think that the UAE is a great country to be hosting it, understands energy, has a long history in energy, has a long history in renewable and clean energy including nuclear. So, it has an example it has set and we need to bring more countries with us. But it’s a huge challenge,’’ said Edward Hobart in an interview with Emirates News Agency (WAM).
He goes on to say, ‘’It is a huge challenge for the world, for the UAE to lead that process and we want to do whatever we can to support it. To support it we need to increase renewable and clean energy, and as a target, we’d like a bold target to maybe triple renewables by 2030. We have to reduce emissions, and just like the UAE has just published its own commitment to net zero, its refined commitment, we need countries around the world, the big emitters to put out what are called ‘NDCs’, (Nationally Determined Contributions) to reduce those emissions.”
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“We have to phase out unabated fossil fuels, while at the same time providing alternative and energy sources. And we also need to address the countries which had been affected right now by climate change through development assistance. All of this requires a huge amount of finance. There’s no reason why businesses can’t get involved in investing private money in order to make money and be commercially driven by it, but we need to provide the right incentives,” he added.
A history of partnership
On the UAE and UK’s energy relations, the Ambassador draws on the decades of shared investment between the two nations. The UAE is invested in renewable energy, wind farms, and hydrogen projects in the UK. Away from home, there are third countries where the UAE and UK governments collaborate.
As to how the two nations will collaborate at COP28, the ambassador says, “Certainly, there will be bilateral initiatives I’m sure with the UAE, as well as UK initiatives on things like nature. We want to make sure that we bring huge funding to nature-based solutions because this is a flipside, is that part of the mitigation to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is ensuring that we have the right vegetation on the ground. So, mangroves is a very important project that we work jointly on with Emirati organizations, developing and sustaining forests around the world and supporting indigenous groups of people that understand how to do that.”
COP28 will reportedly be more focused on trade and community education and participation.
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