The United Arab Emirates is on track to host the UN climate change conference in 2023, the Dubai ruler has told delegates at the UN climate talks in Bonn.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said during a plenary on Sunday that the UAE is determined to “strengthen [the] momentum by hosting the 24th session of the Conference of Parties [COP24] in 2022 and the 25th session of the [COP28] in 2023”, according to a translation by the UN climate change secretariat.
Following the Paris climate agreement last year, world leaders have pledged to make the most ambitious shift towards clean energy possible, with targets aimed at keeping global warming below 2C. Although the US has backed out of the Paris deal, China is leading the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Achieving the goals of the Paris accord will require unprecedented pressure from the private sector, which is driving the transition to cleaner energy.
In October, delegates from almost 200 countries are expected to meet in Katowice, Poland, for the first meeting of the new climate agreement to be made legally binding. Countries will also gather in 2020 to review progress made in slashing carbon emissions over the past few years.
The UAE’s announcement came as delegates in Bonn spent Monday reviewing progress towards a deal on how to implement the 2015 Paris climate change agreement. Officials from over 100 countries are meeting in Bonn to discuss how countries can increase energy efficiency and limit carbon emissions.
The UN is encouraging the world’s biggest emitters to set ambition goals for their economies, including how much they want to slash emissions and how soon they want to start bringing up plans to do so. The UN is hosting talks with representatives from countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, Indonesia and Brazil, who are tasked with guiding action toward a more resilient economy.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was established in 1992 to address climate change, though disputes between developed and developing countries continued until the 2015 Paris climate summit.