The UAE and IRENA have partnered to assist 20 developing nations enhance their climate policies. This partnership was introduced at the 79th United Nations General Assembly.
Key Points:
- The objective is to assist these countries to give better climate pledges and act faster on climate change.
- It involves the skills of the UAE in renewable energy and IRENA in formulating climate plans.
- It is intended to assist developing nations address issues such as the absence of technical expertise and funds.
UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Dr Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi stated that there is a need for countries to cooperate to achieve climate change goals. She opens that this partnership will assist the countries to ensure that global warming is kept to a minimum of 1.5°C.
Francesco La Camera, the director-general of IRENA, thanked the UAE for its position as a leader in clean energy. He said it is important to support developing countries to be able to draw investors and develop more strategies.
The Need for Better Climate Plans:
- Such policies at the moment would only cap global warming to 2.8 °C by the year 2100.
- Newer plans and zero-emission targets could achieve up to 20% reduction of emissions by 2030, but that is far from the 1.5°C target.
Focusing on Renewable Energy:
The partnership calls for even more ambitious renewables targets in climate strategies. IRENA says:
- Renewable energy capacity must increase threefold to more than 11 TW by 2030 to achieve climate targets.
- By October 2023, only 148 of the 184 countries that have submitted their climate plans had incorporated specific renewable power targets.
- Many of these targets are aimed at the power sector only.
To commemorate this, there was a signing ceremony where diplomats and other influential people came together to talk more about climate goals.
Such an alliance of the UAE and IRENA reveals that it must not only remain a national struggle against climate change but it has to go up a notch.
