Ahead of hosting COP28 later this year, The UAE government signed a Net Zero by 2050 charter, launched initially as a net zero 2050 strategic initiative at Expo 2020 in Dubai, followed by an announcement with the UN secretary general and at the COP27.
As part of UAE's ambitious strategic initiatives, the government has invested Dh600 billion in clean and renewable energy sources in the next three decades, strengthening its commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 2050.
In terms of the coordination of efforts, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) will lead and coordinate with other critical stakeholders like civil society, foreign governments, and international organisations, including the International Renewable Energy Agency from various sectors such as energy, economy, industry, infrastructure, transport, waste, agriculture, and the measure to mitigate the effects of climate change on biodiversity, the environment, biosecurity and public health.
The charter also presents the development of action plans, policies and strategies for climate action. It relies on measuring and monitoring greenhouse gas emissions in the seven emirates and identifying the activities and procedures that generate such emissions.
UAE's initiatives align with the Paris agreement as they began financing clean energy projects over a decade ago. One of the country's most significant advantages is owning the world's most extensive solar facilities and being the first Arab country to develop a peaceful nuclear energy programme. With its long commitment to protecting the environment and embracing clean energy, the government is leading efforts to drive innovation in agritech, particularly in reducing water and energy use in farming.
Updapt Views:
This is a significant step in tackling climate change at a national level, and this would also welcome other countries to collaborate with the UAE in developing climate mitigation solutions and creating opportunities for sustainable socio-economic development. However, UAE is a significant oil and gas producer, so the government must start drafting a detailed plan to transition from fossil fuels, making the collaboration more promising.
The Ocean Treaty, or the high seas treaty, was agreed upon at UN headquarters in New York after two weeks of intense exchange of talks, although the negotiations had been held up for years due to disagreements on funding and fishing rights.
Interestingly, the last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982, called the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Although two-thirds of the world's oceans are currently considered international waters, where all the countries have the rights to fish, ship and research, only about 1% of such waters are known as high seas and are protected, while the marine life living outside the protected waters has been at risk from climate change, overfishing and shipping traffic.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its latest assessment of global marine species, nearly 10% were at risk of extinction, including Sharks, whales, and abalone species with high use as seafood and for drugs.
The pillar coral is just one of the 26 corals now listed as Critically Endangered in the Atlantic Ocean, where almost half of all corals are now at elevated risk of extinction due to climate change and other impacts.
Growing concerns that the mining processes disturb animal breeding grounds, create noise pollution and be toxic to marine life. Climate change has significantly increased marine heat waves that can lead to extreme events like cyclones and other events.
The treaty is expected to establish marine protected areas on the high seas to achieve the global goal of saving 30% of the world's oceans, including limiting the fishing numbers, the routes of shipping lanes and exploration activities like deep sea mining - when minerals are taken from a seabed 200m or more below the surface.
The International Seabed Authority that oversees licensing will monitor any future activities in the deep seabed to be subject to strict environmental regulations and oversight to ensure that they are carried out sustainably and responsibly.
Equally, sharing marine genetic resources across countries was one of the significant issues addressed, according to the IUCN Ocean team.
Updapt Views:
The historical moment of this treaty is that it recognizes oceans as an essential part of the earth's ecosystem, acknowledging the threat of marine biodiversity and calling out for action.
An eight-year-long synthesis report was released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in March 2023, summarising the impacts and risks of climate change with its mitigation and adaptation strategies.
The report identifies the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies through its status and trends, future climate change risks, and its near-term and long- term responses.
It is considered the most in-depth climate change assessment involving 700 scientists in 91 countries, and it took eight years to complete the entire cycle of reports.
The Synthesis report has integrated the findings of the following working groups: physical science foundations, impacts, adaptations, vulnerabilities, and mitigation. which specifies the effects of 1.5C of global warming on land and oceans, as well as the changing climate on the cryosphere and oceans.
A few key areas that were deeply noticed are:
Earth's unprecedented climate is due to human-caused activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases from energy use, land-use change, lifestyle and consumption patterns, and production, especially since industrialization.
Every fraction of temperature of warming will intensify the climate impacts on people and ecosystems with its future risks with severe water scarcity, higher temperatures, the spread of diseases, the quality of agricultural productivity, extreme floods, and storms.
Adaptation measures can effectively build resilience, with 170 countries having climate policies in place, but in many nations, the efforts are still in the planning phase, which is reactive and focused on immediate impacts or near-term risks, which must change with more climate finances to scale solutions.
The areas beyond adaptation to climate change impact due to economic, political and social obstacles, including lack of technical support or inadequate funding, require an urgent need to minimize and address the losses and damages as discussed and presented at COP27.
Working with indigenous people and local communities will be a meaningful collaboration to include ecosystem-based adaptation measures like the protection, restoration and sustainable management of ecosystems and sustainable agricultural practices like integrating trees into farmlands and increasing crop diversity.
Updapt Views:
The report's conclusion is for across countries and industries to cut emissions by 50% by 2030, scale up climate investments 3-6 times, rank up existing technologies rapidly and protect highly vulnerable communities worldwide.
Canada's financial regulator, The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), has released a set of new requirements for the federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) to publish climate disclosures aligned with the Task Force on Climate - related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework.
The expected outcome of this new release is to understand and mitigate the potential impacts of climate-related risks in the financial system and work on its business strategy to set up appropriate governance and risk management practices.
The FRFI is also expected to articulate the roles and responsibilities of different business lines and oversight functions in managing climate-related risks and incorporate climate- related risks into its internal control framework, policies, and practices, including in its portfolio of exposures (credit, market, operational, insurance and liquidity).
Regarding calculations of GHG emissions, the FRFI is expected to use the latest GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and the latest GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard or comparable reporting standards.
Under the governance category, the disclosure expectations are to: Describe the board of directors' oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities.
While under the strategy, the expectation is to highlight the climate-related risks and opportunities the FRFI has identified over the short, medium and long term, the impact these risks and opportunities have on its business, strategy, and financial planning, as well as to describe the FRFI's climate transition plan and the resilience of the FRFI's process, taking into consideration of different climate-related scenarios, including a method which limits warming to the level aligned with the latest international agreement on climate change or lower.
Updapt Views:
With growing pressure from policymakers, regulators, and investors to channel global financial flows to sustainable investments, climate-related disclosures are vital for capital market development. Canada making it mandatory for the FRFI is the first step of progress.
The Prague Stock Exchange adopted sustainability reporting guidelines aimed at offering issuers guidance on how to approach ESG reporting in line with investors' growing expectations and emerging EU regulations.
The guidelines are developed with the technical assistance of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Deloitte Sustainability Consulting Central Europe and Frank Bold Advisory and technical cooperation support from the Taiwan Business - EBRD specialised corporation fund.
EBRD is the first to consider the latest EU sustainable finance regulatory requirements and has assisted other stock exchanges like the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the North Macedonian Stock Exchange, and the Bucharest Stock Exchange in developing and publishing ESG reporting guidelines.
As part of its commitment to supporting the Czech Republic's transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, the EBRD has invested €111 million in the Czech Republic in 2022, 80 per cent of it into green projects with the target to increase its green financing.
The EBRD also hold a record of €2.35 billion investment in central Europe, with its 70 per cent in projects furthering the green economy transition from new renewable energy generation and e-vehicles to green bonds and similar instruments.
Updapt Views:
Transitioning to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy is crucial to shift towards greener or sustainable assets, which requires more detailed ESG data. Without a uniform standard and evolving regulatory practices for sustainability reporting, The EBRD guidelines are set to be consistent and comparable enough for corporate ESG data and increase issuers' awareness of its methods.
