COP28 Presidency attends UN General Assembly to mobilise global leaders to deliver on mandate of UAE Consensus, drive sustainable socioeconomic growth

This week, the COP28 Presidency attended the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and New York Climate Week, to mobilise global leaders to deliver on the mandate of the UAE Consensus as a framework for keeping 1.5°C within reach.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President, called on all countries to submit “transformational” Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of schedule to build momentum in this critical decade of climate action.

Spearheaded by Dr. Al Jaber, the Presidency participated in high-level events and held a number of bilateral meetings during the week, with the delegation also including Shamma Al Mazrui, Minister of Community Development and UN Youth Climate Champion, Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, Director-General of COP28 and Adnan Amin, CEO of COP28.

Throughout the week, the COP28 Presidency emphasised the economic opportunities presented by three megatrends: a fast evolving transformation of energy systems, the exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the rise of the Global South.

In a landmark moment, the COP28 President announced that the UAE will submit its third NDC ahead of COP29, taking place in Azerbaijan in November. Speaking at a COP Presidencies Troika event on the sidelines of the Assembly, Dr. Al Jaber called on all Parties to be “early movers and to provide concrete signals on their NDCs” by or before the Baku event, declaring that Parties should view their NDCs “not as a burden but as opportunities to fast-track new streams of growth, green jobs and a bright, clean future.”

The UAE’s NDC will cover all greenhouse gases and every sector of the economy, including energy, industry, transportation and waste, and will leverage the latest technologies, including AI, to drive decarbonisation and enhance adaptive resilience by transforming food, health and early warning systems.

The UAE will deliver an economy-wide NDC covering all sectors and gasses for the first time, demonstrating the country’s commitment to lead the way in taking forward COP28’s outcome from the first Global Stocktake. The third round of NDCs are officially due for submission by February 2025.

“Let’s deliver transformational NDCs backed by serious investment to deliver on the mandate of the UAE Consensus,” Dr. Al Jaber said at the event, Roadmap to Mission 1.5: NDC 3.0. “And let’s drive a new era of sustainable socio-economic growth that keeps 1.5°C within reach, advances prosperity and leaves no one behind.”

The COP Presidencies Troika, an unprecedented collaboration between the COP presidencies of the UAE, Azerbaijan and Brazil, is focused on stimulating ambition in the next round of NDCs. The event this week was attended by Selwin Charles Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition, and Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Dr. Al Jaber also spoke at the high-level segment of the Global Renewables Summit, the first-ever high-level public-private summit to discuss the progress, opportunities, and challenges of tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030 – a key outcome of the UAE Consensus agreed at COP28 in Dubai.

“Tripling renewable capacity is not just a benchmark, it is an essential enabler of all global efforts to keep 1.5 within reach, advance sustainable prosperity and leave no one behind,” Dr. Al Jaber said. “We urgently need to shift gears in three key areas,” Dr. Al Jaber said, calling for greater investment in infrastructure, technology, particularly AI, and in the Global South.

At the first in-person Industrial Transition Accelerator Leadership Council, Dr. Al Jaber underscored how the multi-stakeholder partnership launched at COP28 is working to unlock investments and drive decarbonisation across six hard-to-abate sectors that collectively make up 30 percent of all global CO2 emissions.

Speaking at a roundtable hosted by ALTÉRRA, the UAE’s $30 billion catalytic climate investment vehicle, Dr. Al Jaber provided an update on progress made on the $6.5 billion in commitments ALTÉRRA announced at COP28, in collaboration with BlackRock, TPG, and Brookfield.

These investments are already starting to drive real progress by helping companies with a combined portfolio of more than 40GW of clean energy across five continents in mature and emerging markets.

ALTÉRRA is also driving impact through the funds it is backing, which are financing companies like Evren, which has a 7GW clean energy project pipeline in India, in addition to firms like Neoen, H Energy, and OnPath Energy, which are building out renewable power at gigawatt scale.

During the week, the Presidency held bilateral meetings with leading global figures, including Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece; Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy; Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; Espen Barth Eide, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway; Alexander Schallenberg, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Austria; Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank; Mike Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies; and Larry Fink, Blackrock CEO.

Shamma Al Mazrui attended and spoke at a series of engagements, including a flagship youth event held with the COP29 Youth Climate Champion (YCC) Leyla Hasanova, COP30, and supported by the UNFCCC.

The event reviewed the development of the COP Presidency Youth Climate Champion role since its institutionalisation under the UAE Consensus, and announced the establishment of a new permanent PYCC secretariat team within the UNFCCC that will support future COP Presidencies. The event also explored the future potential of the PYCC as a pivotal new element in the UN system, and how the role can best deliver for children and youth through collaboration between stakeholders.

She also joined a UNICEF roundtable which, aligning with the Pact of the Future outcomes and Declaration on Future Generations, explored how children and future generations can better be protected from climate change impacts.

“COP28 was a groundbreaking milestone for youth inclusion, culminating in the institutionalisation of the Presidency Youth Climate Champion role in the historic UAE Consensus,” Shamma Al Mazrui said. “As we get closer to COP29, it is critical that we continue the legacy of youth empowerment, by pushing the boundaries of youth inclusion to new limits and ensuring they have a seat at the heart decision making table. True youth inclusion can only be fulfilled by bringing together the efforts of Parties, UN agencies, youth advocates, civil societies and philanthropies, laying the groundwork for meaningful change to happen.”

Meanwhile, Razan Al Mubarak took part in several engagements, including an event co-hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies highlighting the importance of the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) for Climate Action, which has since been endorsed by 73 countries.

She also delivered remarks at a UNFCCC COP28 and CPD COP15 Presidencies-hosted ministerial roundtable on accelerating the climate-nature agenda to drive synergies across climate and biodiversity, and at an event on strengthening finance flows to and increasing direct access to finance for Indigenous-led organisations.

“COP28 marked a pivotal shift towards integrating nature into our climate strategies and aligning efforts between the Rio Conventions,” she said. “It is crucial that nature remains central to our climate and biodiversity efforts. To achieve this, we must mobilise even greater finance for nature, including ensuring direct access to funding for Indigenous Peoples whose stewardship and climate leadership are vital for reaching our collective climate goals.”

On the sidelines of UNGA, the UAE and Ghana signed an agreement having identified investment priority areas in Ghana across climate adaptation and nature-based solutions.

Elsewhere, Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi participated in an event with the B20 Secretariat and the Bank of America to explore ways to catalyze private-sector innovation and finance new climate champions.

The UN General Assembly is an essential and milestone step in the road to COP29. The COP28 Presidency will continue its efforts to rally the international community into action and drive forward the UAE Consensus with the support of the COP Presidencies Troika.