(Sapporo) Developing countries are “extremely important” in the global fight against global warming and must therefore have greater access to funding in this area, the president of the future COP28 in Dubai pleaded on Saturday.
“I am in favor of stronger ambitions” in the fight against climate change, said in an interview with AFP Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who attended the G7 ministerial meeting on Climate, Energy and Climate. ‘Environment organized this weekend in Sapporo, in the north of Japan.
But more ambitious measures on this front must be “coupled” with more “accessible” financing to emerging countries, he argued.
“The time has come” to have “a fair deal for the countries of the South”, which so far receive the least funds concerning climate issues despite being “those who need it most”, has still insisted Mr. al-Jaber, also Minister of Industry and Advanced Technologies of the United Arab Emirates.
The G7 should commit on Sunday to work with other developed countries to succeed in mobilizing this year an envelope of 100 billion dollars per year for the fight of emerging countries against global warming, according to a last provisional version of the group’s final press release. consulted by AFP.
“There are a lot of expectations [of the countries of the South vis-à-vis those of the North, editor’s note] but a very low confidence,” observed Mr. al-Jaber, who undertook a major world tour to hear the grievances of developing countries.
He also stressed the need to find a “balance between passion and realism” on climate, in order to reach a “concrete” and “pragmatic” agreement at COP28.
His appointment at the start of the year to head this major UN climate conference was greeted with suspicion by environmental NGOs. Because Mr. al-Jaber is also the managing director of ADNOC, the national oil giant of the United Arab Emirates.
He defended himself on Saturday to AFP by recalling that he was also the founder of Masdar, the Emirati national giant in renewable energies and by stressing that his country has been working on its energy transition “for more than 20 years”.
In a speech he made on Saturday behind closed doors to G7 ministers meeting in Sapporo and of which AFP obtained a copy, Mr. al-Jaber also called on the world to triple the funds available for the fight against climate change for emerging countries by 2030.
“We need to triple” global capacity in renewables by 2030 and “six times by 2040,” he said.
