The plan was announced Friday at opening proceedings of the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference, which the UAE is hosting this year in Dubai. It was unveiled as the petrostate tries to burnish its credentials as a leader in the clean energy transition, even as it continues the oil investments that have brought Emiratis tremendous wealth. The money to fund the projects will come largely from oil revenue.
The newly established fund was “specifically designed to bridge the climate finance gap” and stimulate further investment of $250 billion by 2030, UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan told leaders gathered at the talks known as COP28.
Some $5 billion of the investment is earmarked for developing nations that lack the capital to cut electricity emissions and update their energy systems.
While the overall dollar amount is considerable, experts caution that its ultimate impact on curbing warming and bringing new energy resources to poorer countries in the Southern Hemisphere will hinge on how the UAE structures the spending.
The Emirati announcement came on a day when some 170 world leaders attended the Dubai summit — a record for any COP — with U.N. Secretary General António Guterres issuing another stern climate warning. He told them the planet is “minutes to midnight” in its goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and he urged them to prevent a “planetary crash and burn.”
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
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