Sultan Al Jaber highlights COP28 mission during China visit

COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber has met with a host of top-ranking officials in China during his two-day state visit to explore "pragmatic solutions to the climate crisis".

"The partnership between the UAE and China will be a key asset to the COP28 Presidency as we seek innovative solutions to boost industrial decarbonisation, expand access to clean technologies, and ensure a just energy transition," he said.

Al Jaber, who also holds the position of the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, also met and addressed students at the prestigious Tsinghua University Institute for Carbon Neutrality, where he highlighted China’s leadership in renewable energy development.

Building on the strength of the UAE-China strategic partnership, discussions focused on partnerships around practical, concrete efforts in the run up to COP28 for a step change to help achieve transformational climate progress. Given the size of China’s economy, and its leadership position in advancing clean technologies, the country’s potential to promote sustainable low carbon economic growth is immense.

"We cannot accomplish our climate objectives without significant adoption and development of technology for decarbonisation. We need to explore every available option. It is not renewables or hydrogen or nuclear or carbon capture or only using the least carbon intensive oil and gas. It is all of the above, plus new technologies yet to be invented, commercialised and deployed,” he stated.

In his meeting with Chinese business and industrial leaders, Dr. Al Jaber continued to advocate for investment in industrial decarbonisation. He said, “Steel, cement, and aluminium, like energy or manufacturing, are the industries that run the world. We simply cannot stop using them. But we do have to find a way to make them more sustainable. We must reduce emissions, not progress. We have to work with industry leaders to bring them on board as partners, and to source the solutions together.”

Dr. Al Jaber also hailed the strength of the partnership between the UAE and China as a model of cooperation toward sustainable, low carbon growth and prosperity. “Partnerships will be key to making COP28 a COP of Action, and a COP of solidarity, unity and impact. We need China, as we need all countries and Parties, at the table to meet the Paris goal of keeping global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. We need a major course correction and a massive effort to reignite progress. And I look forward to working with China to deliver a successful COP28," he stated.

COP28 President-designate concludes visit to China with common understanding to help achieve transformational climate progress at #COP28 #WamNews https://t.co/PkNPFRRJ8Y

— WAM English (@WAMNEWS_ENG) April 18, 2023