Dr Sultan Al Jaber Urges Governments to Raise Climate Targets by September

The President-Designate for COP28 UAE, H.E Dr Sultan Al Jaber urged governments on Thursday to raise their climate targets within the next two months.

At the 7th Ministerial on Climate Action (MOCA) in Brussels, President-Designate Dr Sultan Al Jaber outlined COP28’s action plan focused on: Fast-tracking the energy transition; fixing climate finance; focusing on lives and livelihoods; and making COP fully inclusive.

Dr Al Jaber stated that this plan “came from listening to and engaging with all of you... and can only be realised by all of you. The key to its success rests on what you do next”.

UAE Accelerates to Net-Zero with Nationwide Emissions Reduction of 40% by 2030

During a gathering of climate ministers and delegates from almost two dozen nations, including Brazil, China, and the United States, in Brussels, Dr Al Jaber said: "I call on all governments to update their NDCs by September of this year, ensuring alignment with the Paris Agreement."

Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, are emission-reduction commitments that represent nations' national contributions to achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to slow global warming.

The UAE amended its own national commitment this month, pledging to reduce emissions by 40% by 2030, an increase of over 10% from its prior goal.

The COP28 summit will be the first global assessment of progress since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 to limit global warming.

"We are at the midway point between Paris and 2030, but we are nowhere near close enough to our destination," Dr Al Jaber said about the upcoming assesment, often referred to as the global stocktake.

The Paris Agreement commits countries to limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"We must be brutally honest about the gaps that need to be filled, the root causes and how we got to this place here today," H.E said and emphasised on "phasing down" fossil fuels. "As I’ve said many times, the phase down of fossil fuels is inevitable."

Read More: UAE Council for Climate Action Discusses Updates on National Plan for COP28 Preparedness