COP28 President: ‘We must reduce emissions by 22 gigatons by 2030’

By Andrea Tornielli

One week ago, Pope Francis released Laudate Deum, his Apostolic Exhortation containing his appeal to address the climate crisis.

On Wednesday, 11 October, the Pope received in audience Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates and President-designate of COP28: an important event scheduled to take place in Dubai from November 30 to December 12, which Pope Francis deems crucial to promote shared action before it is too late.

In the following interview with Vatican Media, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber explains the objectives of the upcoming COP and comments on the contents of the exhortation.

Q: Mr. president, can you briefly outline the objectives of the upcoming COP in Dubai?

We are guided by a single north star: keeping 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach. The first Global Stocktake has already told us how far off track we are. We now have to reduce 22 gigatons of emissions before 2030. At the same time, you see it in the news everyday – climate change is already affecting us and we need to adapt to that change. Ultimately, to address climate change, we need to put people and the planet at the center of the climate. This process is imperative.

The COP28 Presidency has developed its Action Agenda with four key pillars: Fast-tracking a just and orderly energy transition, fixing climate finance, focusing on people, nature, lives and livelihoods, and underpinning everything with full inclusivity. It is time to unite the world and act together to deliver actionable solutions to the climate crisis.

Pope Francis with Dr. Sultan Al Jaber

Q: Pope Francis has recently released the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum: a cry of alarm before it's too late to contain the consequences of the climate crisis. What are your thoughts on this document?

We welcome the Pope’s urgent call for increased climate action. We share his hope “that COP28 will allow for a decisive acceleration of energy transition.” COP28 will be a COP of action. It needs to be. Our Presidency is fully committed to doing all we can to unite the Parties, to ensure inclusivity, to drive clear commitments and action, and to deliver ambitious climate action for people around the globe.

In my meeting with His Holiness, I underlined the UAE’s appreciation for his unwavering advocacy for positive climate action to advance human progress. We need to reduce annual emissions by 43% by 2030 to keep 1.5C within reach. We must rapidly build an energy system free of all unabated fossil fuels, including coal, while comprehensively decarbonizing the energies we use today.

We need a fast, fair, just and equitable energy transition that leaves no one behind, particularly the 800 million people who have no access to energy today. And it would be irresponsible to unplug the energy system of today, before we have built the new one. We need to focus on emissions regardless of the source, and we need to recognize that many fuels will be in the energy mix for the foreseeable future. We must rebalance that mix and drive down the emissions of the energies used today. Let’s curb emissions, not progress.

A key focus will be tangible progress that moves the needle in the real world alongside an ambitious negotiated outcome. As such, I have called on oil and gas companies to zero out methane emissions and flaring by 2030 and align around net zero by 2050. At the same time, we need all heavy emitting industries to accelerate their transitions and eliminate their emissions. And we need governments to set smart policies to scale up and commercialize solutions, including hydrogen and carbon capture technologies.

Q: In the exhortation, Pope Francis briefly summarizes the history of COPs, not hiding his disappointment because the commitments made have not been kept and harmful emissions continue to rise. How can COP28 change this course?

COP28 seeks to deliver a course correction by translating pledges into projects, trends into transformation, and agreements into action. We have launched our Action Agenda with ambitious but achievable calls to action for everyone. He is absolutely right about previous promises not being kept and this is disappointing.

We need all parties to fulfil the pledges they have made, including a more ambitious second replenishment of the Green Climate Fund and the 100bn dollars in annual climate financing promised over 10 years ago. Financing is the key that can unlock the current stalemate.

Q: Pope Francis laments the lack of international bodies serving all countries - not just the larger and economically more developed ones - to ensure that the commitments made in COPs are enforced across various nations. He calls for a new "bottom-up multilateralism." What needs to be done to make this path a reality?

Transparency and accountability are central to successful climate action. The COP28 Presidency has called on all parties to update their Nationally Determined Contributions before COP28 and reach for the highest possible ambition. At the same time, we are seeking to involve everyone and make COP28 the most inclusive COP ever.

Meeting our collective climate ambitions will require action from every level of society, and we are making provisions to enable all groups to participate. This includes supporting the largest ever youth delegate program, 1,000 mayors, 200 climate tech start-ups, amongst others, as well as ensuring that there are spaces and pavilions for all groups, including people of faith, Indigenous Peoples and women.

Q: In the Laudate Deum exhortation, Pope Francis states that a well-managed ecological transition to renewable sources creates jobs. The United Arab Emirates, whose economy heavily relies on fossil fuels, how do they plan to engage in this transition?

Well, first I would like to correct this misperception. The UAE is a nation that has been going through an energy transition for almost 20 years.  Our leadership viewed the energy transition as an opportunity to build economic resilience and contribute to a global challenge that affects us all.

Today, more than 70% of the UAE’s GDP comes from outside the petroleum industry a percentage which rises every year as the UAE continues to diversify through other sectors. We are very aware that the transition creates jobs because we have done it ourselves. For example, Masdar is among the world’s largest renewable energy companies in the world with a goal to expand its global clean energy footprint five-fold to 100GW by 2030. The UAE is also 6th in the global ranking of solar per capita consumption.

The UAE has invested $50 billion in renewable energy in 70 countries and has pledged to invest over $50 billion at home and abroad over the next decade. That’s the kind of ambition we are encouraging the whole world to adopt to fast-track a just and orderly energy-transition and keep 1.5C within reach.

The UAE has always made progress by practising genuine partnership with like-minded partners around the world. We take on the role of hosting COP with a great sense of responsibility, a deep sense of humility and a clear sense of urgency. And we are determined to ensure COP28 is a platform that powers progress through partnership.