UAE pushes for a fair clean energy transition

UAE pushes for a fair clean energy transition

PARIS: The world’s transition to clean energy sources must be “just” and financed by the hydrocarbon trade, the climate change minister of oil-rich United Arab Emirates told AFP. Mariam Almheiri was interviewed in France where a fierce heatwave set record temperatures as western Europe wilted under a scorching sun and wildfires that devoured forests.

Experts are blaming climate change and predict more frequent extreme weather to come. “It’s not a switch. We’re not ready yet. And oil and gas will still be part of the energy mix for some time”, she said in an interview Monday as UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan visited Paris for energy talks.

“We need… a just transition because every country is not at the same level,” the minister of climate change and the environment added, stressing the UAE was using its oil and gas wealth to ramp up renewable sources. “You need to build your equipment from what energy you got to do that,” she said. “Clean and renewable energy costs money.”

The international community largely agrees that climate change poses an existential threat to the planet and future of mankind. But action to cut carbon pollution and prepare for the accelerating impact is lagging, as