UAE to Invest Extra $50 Billion for Climate Action & Renewable Energy

UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan urged the international community to unite under the principles of peace, stability and collaboration, and its ensuing impacts on the global economy, energy, food security and resource scarcity.

Speaking at the Leaders Meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), His Highness exhorted the audience to to pave the way for long-term sustainable economic and social development.

The UAE is doubling down on efforts to address climate change and accelerate the global energy transition, added Sheikh Mohamed.

He pointed to the UAE’s investment of more than $50 billion in renewable energy projects across 40 countries, and plans to invest an additional $50 billion over the next decade.

The President also confirmed that the UAE is committed to achieving a safe emissions trajectory and will submit an updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) within the agreed timeframe.

At the MEF leader-level meeting hosted by US President Joe Biden, Sheikh Mohamed joined heads of state from 17 major economies – accounting for 80 percent of global GDP, population and GHGs – to represent the UAE as the host country of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28).

Sheikh Mohamed acknowledged that climate change is an issue of grave importance and must be addressed through collective cooperation, because if left unabated, the impacts of climate change will come at a great cost to people, the planet and the global economy.

He emphasized that the UAE has long held the view that climate action is an opportunity to achieve new pathways for economic and social development, with a focus on practical solutions that can benefit all countries.

His Highness emphasised that the UAE, as an active partner of the global community, is determined to deliver a COP28 in 2023 that rises to the challenge, by adopting an integrated and inclusive approach that ensures the concerns and needs of all stakeholders are heard.

During the MEF meeting, U.S. President Biden urged leaders to maintain climate action as a top priority on the global agenda, against the backdrop of geopolitical instability and its repercussions on energy and food security.

He also invited leaders to cooperate and ease these immediate impacts by supporting initiatives that accelerate the clean energy transition and reduce the vulnerability of the food system to climate and supply-chain disruptions.

This includes the new Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway; Collective 2030 Zero-Emissions Vehicle Deployment Goal; Clean Energy Technologies Demonstration Challenge; Green Shipping Challenge and the Global Fertilizer Challenge.

As the first country in the region to sign and ratify the Paris Agreement and announce a net zero by 2050 initiative, UAE has demonstrated a proven track record in climate - action, diplomacy and multilateral cooperation which led to it being selected as the country to host COP28 in 2023.

The UAE has also emerged as a regional leader in renewable and clean energy investments both domestically and internationally, as the first in the region to deploy peaceful nuclear energy and home to three of the largest and lowest cost solar plants in the world.