The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday that it had reached the terms of an industrial deal with Colombia, which it called the first bilateral agreement of its kind between the Gulf and South America.
“The UAE and Colombia have concluded the terms of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement – the first bilateral trade deal between the Gulf and South America,” Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE minister of State for Foreign Trade, wrote on X.
“We can look ahead to a new era of cooperation that will deliver growth for both nations.”
The UAE’s official news firm WAM said the agreement, once implemented, will “eliminate or reduce price lists across most product lines, remove unnecessary industrial barriers, market access and deepen collaboration” across various sectors, adding energy, telecommunications and tourism. food production.
The Biden administration on Saturday released final regulations to crack down on methane discharges from the U. S. oil and fuel industry. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will be part of a global plan to control emissions that contribute to climate change.
The rules, which have been in the works for two years, were announced through U. S. officials at the United Nations COP28 climate replacement convention in Dubai. The U. S. and other countries attending the summit were expected to detail how they would fulfill the pledge made through 150 countries two years ago to reduce methane emissions by 30% below 2020 degrees by 2030.
Methane tends to leak into the atmosphere undetected from drill sites, gas pipelines and other oil and gas equipment. It has more warming potential than carbon dioxide and breaks down in the atmosphere faster, so reining in methane emissions can have a more immediate impact on limiting climate change.
“From day one, President Biden has restored America’s critical role as a global leader in fighting climate change, and we have subsidized that commitment with aggressive action,” said Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. United States, in a statement.
EPA’s new policies would ban routine flaring of natural gas produced by newly drilled oil wells, require oil companies to monitor for leaks from well sites and compressor stations and establishes a program to use third party remote sensing to detect large methane releases from so-called “super emitters,” the agency said in a statement.
The rules would prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane from reaching the atmosphere between 2024 and 2038 — nearly the equivalent of all the carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector in the year 2021, EPA added.
Environmental groups praised the rules.
“Strict methane criteria are critical to reducing climate pollutants and better protecting the health and safety of personnel and communities living near fossil fuel extraction sites,” Jill Tauber, Earthjustice’s vice president of weather and energy litigation, said in a statement.
The rule will produce climate and fitness benefits of up to $7. 6 billion through 2038, the EPA said. It will also increase herbal fuel recovery by up to $13 billion during this period.
The rule differs somewhat from draft proposals EPA released in 2021 and 2022, in part by giving the industry more time to comply.
The agency also tweaked the Super Emitter Program so that third parties send information on methane leaks to EPA directly for verification. Previously they would have been able to send the information directly to companies, a provision the oil and gas industry said would put too much power in the hands of environmental groups that search for methane leaks.
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry organization for the petroleum and fuel industry, said it was reviewing the rule.
“To be truly effective, this rule will have to balance emissions rebates with the desire to continue to meet growing energy demand,” Dustin Meyer, API’s senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
Leaders of emerging countries attended the second day of the United Nations climate summit on Saturday to press wealthy industrialized countries to share their knowledge to combat global warming and ease the monetary burden they face, while touting their own heat-absorbing natural resources. -trapping carbon in the air.
The annual United Nations Conference of the Parties, known as COP28, in the United Arab Emirates featured about 150 presidents, prime ministers, royals and other leaders who are presenting their plans to cut heat-trapping emissions and mostly seek unity with other nations to avert climate catastrophe that seemed to draw closer than ever in 2023.
The developing world took center stage early Saturday, with Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States set to speak later.
African leaders noted their continent’s rainforests help gobble up excess carbon dioxide in the air and their countries have belched out a tiny fraction of heat-trapping emissions compared to richer countries.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea — one of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest oil producers — faulted developed nations for failing to deliver on their pledges to meet their commitments on financing for climate action and meet their own targets to curb their industries’ emissions.
“Africa is one of the regions in the world that sequesters the most carbon and emits oxygen,” he said.
President Jose Ramos Horta of Timor-Leste, next to Indonesia and north of Australia, blasted “shark loans” from multilateral lending institutions, saying developing nations cannot recover from heavy debt burdens that squelch their ability to put money into fighting climate change and grow economically.
Harris’ appearance at COP28 in Dubai marks the first time since COP3 in Kyoto, Japan, that a vice president has led the U. S. delegation. At COP3 in 1997, then-Vice President Al Gore spoke. level representatives.
As Harris made her way toward the Dubai venue, US climate envoy John Kerry and French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for development of nuclear energy — which does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, even if it also presents security and waste challenges.
In total, an organization of more than 20 countries aims to triple global nuclear power generation by 2050.
“I need to reaffirm here that the nuclear force is a blank force and this will have to be repeated,” said Macron, who gets about two-thirds of his electric power from the nuclear force, the largest component of all industrialized countries, and even exports some of it. . . to their neighbors. ” The nuclear force is back. “
A document issued at the time did not specify how much cash should be set aside, but suggested that the World Bank and others “encourage” more borrowing for nuclear projects.
“We have to invest — I’m not saying give away,” Kerry said. “I’m saying invest the trillions of dollars that are sitting on the sidelines looking for bankable deals but not willing to move as fast as we need to move.”
Whatever their perspective or national interest, leaders almost universally voiced their shared views that Earth is in crisis — with the United Nations and other environmental groups warning that the planet has recorded the nine hottest years on record over the last decade.
Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca called for “saving Mother Earth and avoiding the crises caused by neocolonial, capitalist, imperialist, patriarchal and Western culture. “
“The climate crisis is only the latest breakdown in a long history of hypocrisy and lies: the ‘North’ is to blame for the global imbalance we are witnessing,” he said, an all-encompassing term for industrialized countries. for permanent expansion at the expense of the Global South. “
Worries are rising that the world is set to blow past — even obliterate — targets in the Paris climate accord of 2015 to cap the increase in global temperatures by the end of the century by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since the start of the industrial era.
In a fiery opening on Friday, U. N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after watching melting glaciers in Antarctica and Nepal, declared that “Earth’s important symptoms are failing” and told leaders, “You can save yourselves from a planetary shock and a fire. “
In a direct challenge to fossil fuel-aligned nations, the UN chief said the only way to limit warming to the goal set in 2015 is by eliminating oil, coal and gas use. “Not reduce, not abate. Phase out,” he said.
The pledge to triple the world’s installed renewable energy by 2030 will win approval from more than 110 countries at the COP28 climate summit on Saturday, with some pushing for the agreement to be global until the end of the U. N. conference.
The European Union, United States and COP28 host the United Arab Emirates have been rallying support for the pledge as a means to the sharp drop in planet-warming emissions needed this decade to avoid unleashing more severe climate change.
“More than 110 countries have already joined,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday at the COP28 summit on the commitment to renewable energy. “I now call on all of us to pursue those goals in the final POLICE resolution. “
It remains an open question whether governments and businesses will mobilize the massive investments needed for this goal. While the deployment of renewables such as sun and wind has been expanding globally for years, emerging costs, hard labor limitations, and chain of origin issues have led to allocation. delays and cancellations in recent months, costing developers like Orsted and BP billions of dollars in write-downs.
Getting the deal into the final UN climate summit decision would also require consensus among the nearly 200 countries present. While China and India have signaled support for tripling global renewable energy by 2030, neither has confirmed it will back the overall pledge – which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.
The countries that have already pledged are South Africa, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados, officials told Reuters.
The commitment to renewables will be part of several other energy-related announcements at COP28 on Saturday, adding new measures and investments to tackle methane emissions, agreements to reduce coal use and the promotion of nuclear power.
Phase out?
One of the central decisions nations will face at COP28 will be to agree, for the first time, to “phase out” global fossil fuel consumption. The burning of coal, oil and fuel to produce energy is the main cause of climate change.
A draft of the renewable energy pledge, seen by Reuters, called for “the phase down of unabated coal power” and ending the financing of new coal-fired power plants.
According to research by the think tank Ember, tripling blank resources such as wind and sun and doubling energy savings would account for 85% of the fossil fuel consumption discounts needed this decade to meet global climate goals.
The goals will add to pressure on wealthy nations and international financial institutions to unleash the massive investments needed to hit 11,000 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030 – in particular, by reducing the high cost of capital that has stymied renewable energy projects in Africa and other developing nations.
“The mismatch still exists between our potentiality and our limitations to attract investment,” said Najib Ahmed, a consultant at Somalia’s climate ministry.
Africa receives just 2% of global investments in renewable energy. Somalia has the highest onshore wind power potential of any African country, yet one of the lowest electrification rates in the continent, according to the International Energy Agency.
The World Bank announced Friday that it will increase the amount it spends on climate-related projects to 45% of its financing between 2024 and 2025, from 35% currently, as part of a policy review to better respond to climate change.
The COP28 Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum focuses on implementing tangible responses to climate and nature-related challenges.
This year’s COP 28 convention will bring together more than 1,300 CEOs of organizations and leaders of charitable corporations representing more than 100 countries.
The Forum seeks to address key priorities set out in the COP 28 agenda, such as energy transition, climate finance, nature conservation and inclusion.
Its objectives are to safeguard the Earth’s herbal heritage and biodiversity, finance adaptation plans and promote more sustainable agricultural systems and practices.
The Forum serves as a platform for practical and actionable solutions, bringing together diverse stakeholders to tackle pressing issues on a global scale.
COP28 Special Representative for Business and Philanthropy and Chair of the Forum Badr Jafar stated that the gathering marks a pivotal breakthrough in global climate discourse.
According to Jafar, the Forum will bring together a significant number of business leaders and philanthropic innovators to convey a powerful message about the importance of collaboration and comprehensive action for all.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of COP 28, Jafar said: “Dr. Sultan Al-Jaber, the President of COP 28, calls for what he terms effective change in the working approach that energizes the private sector and its resources with a passion for climate issues.”
“This Forum provides vital sectors with a platform to contribute effectively to shaping global climate policies,” added Jafar.
“The COP 28 president’s vision commits to adopting an implementation approach that supports the energy transition, improves climate finance, and focuses on responses that respect human and environmental needs, ensuring that all projects are inclusive,” he explained.
Emphasizing that the Forum will be a dynamic interactive platform, Jafar pushed for it to provide delegations with an unprecedented opportunity to interact on new day-to-day work and goals, charting a transparent path for the next steps and moves required.
“The main objective of the Forum is to enable the sector to take practical steps that will take it from the realm of theoretical agreements and commitments to the global practical realm of implementation and tangible results,” Jafar said.
Jafar explained that $3 trillion represents the total global investment needed each year to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Developing countries need investments totaling $2.4 trillion each year until 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement targets and address issues like biodiversity loss, land degradation, and soil deterioration.
“We want radical herbal answers costing $8 trillion by 2050,” Jafar told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“These amounts are undoubtedly enormous and reflect the magnitude of the dangers involved. The hard truth that is becoming increasingly clear to us is that these trillions need to be mobilized, or even achieved, without the inventive participation of the personal sector with its capabilities, cutting-edge resources and experience,” he explained.
The challenge, according to Jafar, is the lack of a global framework that organizes collaboration between all capital resources on a temporary basis and on an incredibly giant scale.
Officially unveiled in the colorful city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP28, is already underway.
The conference aims to address the challenges of climate change, marking a pivotal moment since the Paris Agreement.
Invitations have been issued to explore ways to cope with the effects of climate change and navigate the complex path traced by the foreign community.
This event represents a significant milestone in the ongoing global efforts to combat climate change since the Paris Agreement, and expectations are high for substantial outcomes.
On the opening day of the week-long conference, a vital milestone was reached with the adoption of the first core resolution.
Delegates to the COP28 climate negotiations in Dubai on Thursday officially followed a loss and a fund to shift the budget to the countries most affected by the climate crisis.
The main points had already been agreed this month at a pre-COP session, when it was decided that the World Bank would host the fund.
Participants highlighted the role of the convention in global collaboration for effective and timely action.
The newly created fund has raised more than $300 million in its first of the pledges.
In a groundbreaking move, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed announced the country’s commitment of $100 million to the new fund to address climate-related disasters.
“We congratulate all parties on the historic adoption of this fund for climate impact response and announce the UAE’s commitment of $100 million as our contribution. We call on all countries in a position to do so to contribute generously, as an important symbol of solidarity,” Sheikh Abdullah posted on X.
Other countries that pledged to contribute to the fund at the last convention in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, included India with $100 million, the United Kingdom with up to £60 million ($75. 89 million), the United States with $17. 5 million and Japan with $10 million.
As part of a remarkable early victory for the Cop28 presidency, a loss and damage fund official from day one.
“We’ve delivered history today. The first time a decision has been adopted on day 1 of any COP. And the speed at which we have done so is also historic. Getting this done demonstrates the hard work of so many, particularly members of the transitional committee who worked tirelessly to get us to this point. This is evidence that we can deliver. COP28 can deliver,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, president, COP28.
In a statement, Al Jaber said the fund will support billions of people, lives and livelihoods that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) and Al-Jabr Automotive have collaborated to transport thousands of vehicles annually by train from King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, aiming to boost operational efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize damage and carbon emissions.
The four-year contract plays a vital role in boosting operational processes, cutting costs and minimizing the occurrence of damage similar to the transportation and handling of new cars.
In addition, it serves to alleviate the load at the port.
CEO of SAR Dr. Bashar Al-Malik told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saudi Arabia Railways aims this year to finalize the removal of more than one million truck trips.
In 2022, trains contributed to keeping 1.8 million trucks off the Kingdom’s roads.
Al-Malik noted that every truck taken off the road has a positive effect on the environment by reducing carbon emissions, saying that transporting goods by rail improves the power of operational processes and reduces traffic.
In order to reach new consumers and achieve a tangible impact on the environment and society, the CEO of SAR stressed that the agreement represents an important step towards achieving the strategic vision of a comprehensive transformation of the maritime transport and logistics sector.
“We are taking an important step forward with this agreement. Not only are we expanding and diversifying the facilities provided to our customers, but we are also offering shipping logistics solutions that help reduce carbon emissions and road protection levels,” he said.
He further emphasized that the recent collaboration underscores full dedication to achieving sustainability goals and offering transportation solutions that prioritize the future of the nation and succeeding generations.
Bandar Al-Jabri, former president of the national committee of transport in the Council of Saudi Chambers, told Asharq Al-Awsat that this step backs economic, trade, and logistical movements among the cities of the Kingdom for the aim of achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.
He noted that the train complements the maritime, land and air sectors, and expressed confidence that rail and truck freight transport will be more or less the same.
The agreement underscores SAR’s unwavering commitment to delivering sustainable responses in the transport and logistics sector.
Aligned with the National Transport and Logistics Strategy, the SAR aims to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2030, in line with the Kingdom’s environmental initiatives.
Established in 2006, SAR is the owner and operator of the North Train Railway Network and carries on the vision to build sustainable passenger and cargo transport. SAR was assigned to take over the operations and management of the network from the Saudi Railway Organization in 2021.
Al-Jabr Automotive opened its first automotive showroom in 1959 in AlKhobar. The company occupies a leading position in the Saudi automobile market, having 28 showrooms and 38 fully-fledged service centers across the Kingdom.