UAE, France to form bilateral partnership focussing on decarbonisation of HTA industries

UAE, France to form bilateral partnership focussing on decarbonisation of HTA industries

ABU DHABI, 31st January, 2023 (WAM) -- Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, President-Designate for COP28, and Chairman of Masdar, yesterday conferred with Bruno Le Maire, France’s Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, as part of the French minister’s visit to the UAE.

In light of the COP28 climate change conference, the UAE and France have agreed to launch a bilateral programme that combines French and Emirati expertise to develop commercial and investable opportunities that accelerate clean energy development, notably in the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate (HTA) industries, including clean hydrogen solutions for mobility.

The initiative builds on the partnership successes between Emirati and French companies in the clean and renewable energy sector. Industrial leaders from both countries have partnered in developing, investing, and operating over 6.2 gigawatts (GW) of clean and renewable energy programmes across the globe. In addition, two of the largest single-site solar projects in the world located in the UAE, which displaced some 10 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, mobilised over US$6 billion in investment.

The programme’s operations will be officially launched during COP28, the 28th session of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Dubai