From ADSW to COP28: UAE’s pioneering journey leading up to the Year of Sustainability

From ADSW to COP28: UAE’s pioneering journey leading up to the Year of Sustainability

ABU DHABI - The announcement of 2023 as the Year of Sustainability in the UAE, made by President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crowned the country’s significant efforts in sustainability and environmental preservation, marking a turning point in driving global efforts to support climate action and paving the way ahead of COP28.

The UAE has had an inspiring journey in protecting the environment since the establishment of the Union in the 1970s, and has exerted considerable energies in climate action, beginning with its signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1989.

In the early 1990s, there was a global consensus for launching the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which the UAE joined in 1995 in an effort to perform what it saw as its duty in supporting such an important movement.

Subsequently, relevant international arguments and legal obligations related to climate action have progressed, leading to the Kyoto Protocol binding developed countries to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2005, the UAE ratified the agreements launched under protocol.

In 2015, the UAE joined the Paris Climate Agreement, which marked progress in climate action objectives and focused on addressing global warming and reducing