The UAE is a responsible energy supplier and will continue to play this role as long as the world needs oil and gas, its president said at the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference on Nov. 7.
“The UAE is a known as a responsible supplier of energy and will continue to play this role for as long as the world needs oil and gas,” UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed told COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
“The oil and gas [sector] in the UAE is among the least carbon-intensive around the world, and we will continue to focus on lowering carbon emissions from this sector,” he added.
The UAE, which is set to host COP 28 next year, is also boosting its renewables and clean energy investments, such as the recent partnership agreement signed with the US to invest $100 billion to develop 100 GW of clean energy projects globally by 2035.
The UAE, OPEC’s third-largest producer, is the first country in the Middle East region to announce net-zero by 2050 targets and was soon followed by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain with a similar pledge by 2060 and Oman by 2050.
Also, the UAE recently raised its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction target to 31% by 2030, from 23.5%, in an updated version of the oil producer’s second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.
The president’s comments followed UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’ comments on how the war in Ukraine has “exposed the profound risks of our fossil fuel addiction” and called for an end to dependence on fossil fuels and the building of coal plants.
