The leaders shaping Cop28 – The National

The leaders shaping Cop28 – The National

The year 2023 has only just started, and already the critical nature of the climate emergency has made itself clear. The US state of California, whose ongoing drought is well documented, has recently been inundated with rain and flooding. More positively, BloombergNEF, a strategic research provider, predicts that this year will see an 18 per cent growth in carbon-free energy.

These and many more issues will be discussed at Cop28, the UN’s climate summit that is being held in the UAE this year. It is one of the most important conferences the region will have ever held, and it is quickly taking shape.

On Wednesday, the country announced its president-designate and climate champions for the summit. Dr Sultan Al Jaber is president-designate. The Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology; who is also managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc and chairman of Masdar, has been the UAE’s special envoy for climate change since November 2020. He will essentially lead the global negotiations.