MOCCAE hosts workshop on climate change with pvt sector

Dubai / Emirates Business

The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) hosted a workshop with representatives from the private sector, to seek their input into the UAE National Climate Change Plan. In line with Vision 2021, the UAE Climate Plan will further the country’s ambitious economic diversification agenda, and its transition into new, knowledge-based industries.
MOCCAE has acknowledged the crucial role the private sector stakeholders will play in designing the Climate Change Plan. “This Plan will show that climate action can go hand in hand with continued economic growth,” said His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment. “Engaging the private sector is a key priority for the Ministry across all our activities – we want to find new and innovative ways in which we can leverage the huge steps which UAE businesses and companies are already taking to reduce their emissions and enhance their corporate social responsibility. “
The workshop was the first step in seeking private sector input and alignment. MOCCAE, together with advisors from the Global Green Growth Institute, heard from high level representatives about their existing plans, and the regulatory gaps that could be filled through the new Climate Change Plan.
“This is only the beginning of our engagement with the private sector and we aim to keep these dialogues going. We are preparing a comprehensive national strategy for climate change in accordance with our leadership’s vision to boost the UAE’s economic, social and environmental competitiveness and resilience”, Dr. Al Zeyoudi added.
The national strategy, which is the first of its kind in the region, seeks to integrate environmental policies and existing measures in accordance with the country’s economic development plans. It will also build on the National Green Growth Strategy and Green Agenda, the UAE’s plan to transition to a green and diversified economy by 2030.
MOCCAE will draft the strategy in collaboration with various stakeholders including federal ministries, emirate-level authorities, the private sector and civil society, with technical support from the Global Green Growth Institute, whose Middle East and North African regional headquarters has been hosted by the UAE since 2011. The Climate Plan is expected to be completed during October this year.
Climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing the world today. Scientific consensus has been established around the fact that human activity is causing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to rise, leading to increases in temperatures and changes to weather patterns across the globe.
In December 2015, over 190 countries reached a historic agreement in Paris to limit global temperature rise due to climate change this century to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The UAE officially signed the agreement, along with 174 other countries, in a ceremony at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York on April 22.