DUBAI: Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, COP28 president-designate, has returned from a two-day visit to Beijing, where he held a series of bilateral meetings with Chinese officials, Emirates News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Discussions centered around Emirati-Chinese partnerships in the run-up to climate conference COP28. Given China’s leadership position in advancing clean technologies, the country has significant opportunities to promote low-carbon economic growth.
“Given the size of China’s economy and the scale of its development of renewable energy and decarbonization technology, China provides a good model for sustainable economic growth and the global energy transition,” Al Jaber said.
“Over the past five years alone, China has been responsible for adding more than 40 percent of the world’s new solar and wind power capacity and has set a very ambitious target of deploying 1,200 gigawatts of renewable capacity by the end of this decade,” he added.
Al Jaber, who is the UAE minister of industry and advanced technology, emphasized that both the UAE and China were committed to diversifying their energy mix and seeking practical climate solutions.
“The partnership between the UAE and China will be a key asset to the COP28 presidency as we seek innovative solutions to boost industrial decarbonization, expand access to clean technologies, and ensure a just energy transition,” Al Jaber added.
During his visit, Al Jaber spoke to students at the Tsinghua University Institute for Carbon Neutrality, highlighting China’s leadership in renewable energy development and its unique capacity to strengthen South-South cooperation on climate action.
The president-designate also participated in a private sector roundtable with cleantech entrepreneurs and advocated for investment in industrial decarbonization in his meeting with Chinese business and industrial leaders.
“Steel, cement, and aluminum, 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,” he said.
“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,” the minister added.
Al Jaber lauded the UAE-China partnership as a model of collaboration toward sustainable, low-carbon growth and prosperity.
He said: “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.”
