UAE delegation to attend pivotal UN climate change negotiation in Paris

A delegation from the United Arab Emirates will attend the highly anticipated 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, France. The UAE will join more than 190 nations to discuss and potentially agree upon a binding universal agreement to tackle the threat of climate change.

"No nation is immune from the effects of climate change," said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change. "The Paris negotiations offer an unprecedented opportunity for the world to unify around a common cause, and to ultimately, secure a sustainable and low-carbon future."

"We are optimistic that these negotiations will result in a binding agreement, creating a pathway forward to address climate change," said Dr. Al Jaber. "Climate action is not a zero-sum scenario. By working together, we can simultaneously achieve economic growth and protect the environment."

UN negotiations stem back to 1992, and for the first time in more than 20 years, the gathering in Paris aims to reach a binding, universal agreement applicable to all countries that combats climate change in an effort to avoid a temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius. The climate negotiations are expected to attract 50,000 participants, and more than 25,000 official delegates.

"The UAE is committed to climate action and to working with government leaders to agree upon an ambitious solution," said Dr. Al Jaber. "We believe the outcomes from Paris should be comprehensive, allowing for a diversity of action, while also recognizing the wide-ranging national and geographic circumstances. The agreement should also encourage advanced countries to fulfil their pledge to fund climate-action initiatives for developing nations, supporting mechanisms for public-private partnership, technology transfer, adaptation and other critical measures."

"We also believe the agreement should lock-in a long term, flexible approach that encourages countries to take ambitious action, as reflected in the INDC submissions," Dr. Al Jaber added. "We should recognize that Paris is just a start and our opportunity following will be to develop the practical actions that turn political agreements into investments."

A key distinction of the Paris negotiations from previous summits is the voluntary submissions of Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions (INDC) by individual countries. To date, more than 160 countries, including the UAE, have submitted national action plans aimed at addressing climate change, carbon emissions and related factors.

The INDC submitted by the UAE outlines an ambitious roadmap to curb emissions at home by setting a bold target of generating 24 percent of the country s electricity from clean sources by 2021. The action plan is fundamentally aligned with the UAE s broad economic diversification strategy, which is committed to sustainable development and the maturation of knowledge-based industries.

"The UAE is embracing the challenge of climate change to create economic opportunities at home," said Dr. Al Jaber. "Climate action represents a multi-trillion dollar global economic opportunity and the UAE is already taking swift action through the development of exportable clean technologies, the installation of wind and solar power globally and by training future leaders who are able to compete in a 21 century economy."

The UAE delegation is led by Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State and the special envoy for energy and climate change. Members of the UAE delegation include representatives from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Masdar, Masdar Institute, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Environment and Water, National Center of Meteorology and Seismology, General Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai Carbon Center for Excellence, and Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi.

The final day of the Paris COP21 is 11 December, which is when the outcomes of the negotiations are expected to be made public.