DUBAI, Dec 1 (Reuters) – World leaders from nearly 200 countries were due to address the U.N. climate summit underway in Dubai, where their countries’ delegations are assessing their progress toward meeting global climate goals.
Here are the latest comments:
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whose country is hosting the COP28 climate summit, announced on Friday the establishment of a $30 billion climate fund for global climate solutions that aims to attract $250 billion of investment by the end of the decade.
Dubbed ALTÉRRA, the fund will allocate $25 billion towards climate strategies and $5 billion specifically to incentivise investment flows into the Global South, according to a statement by the COP28 Presidency.
In collaboration with global asset managers BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG, ALTÉRRA has committed $6.5 billion to climate-dedicated funds for global investments, including the Global South, the statement said.
The vehicle “aims to steer private markets towards climate investments and focus on transforming emerging markets and developing economies, where traditional investment has been lacking due to the higher perceived risks across those geographies,” it added.
ALTÉRRA was established by Lunate, a newly set up Abu Dhabi-based alternative investment manager with over $50 billion in assets.Lunate is owned by its senior management and Chimera Investment LLC, which is part of a business empire overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and the president’s brother.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told a COP28 UN climate change summit panel on food systems in Dubai Friday that we must not give ‘healthy’ food to the rich and synthetic, lab-grown food to the poor.
She said food production should not be considered a means of survival but a “measure for a healthy lifestyle”.
Meloni said research was “essential” but “not to produce food in the lab, perhaps going towards a world in which the rich can eat natural food and the poor get synthetic ones, with an impact on health that we can’s predict, that’s not the world that I want to see”.
Meloni said “the challenge is to guarantee healthy food for all”.
BRAZIL PRESIDENT LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA (via translator):
“No country will solve their problems alone. We are all obliged to act together beyond our borderlines. Brazil is willing to lead as a role model.”
“The world is already convinced of the potential of renewable sources of energy. Now is the time to face the debate about the slow motion pace of the decarbonisation of the planet, and to work towards an economy that will be less reliant on fossil fuel. We have to do it, and in a way that is urgent and fair.”
KING CHARLES III:
“I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another critical turning point towards transformational action at a time when, already, as scientists have been warning for so long, we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached.”
“Unless we rapidly repair and restore nature’s economy, based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be imperilled.”
U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES:
“We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuels… The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate.”
“I urge governments to help industry make the right choice – by regulating, legislating, putting a fair price on carbon, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and adopting a windfall tax on profits.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah :
“This year’s conference of the parties must recognize even more than ever that we cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us,” he said.
“In a region already on the front lines of climate change, the massive destruction of war makes these environmental threats of water scarcity and food insecurity even more severe,” he said, in a clear reference to fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza that resumed on Friday after a seven-day truce.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said at the summit on Friday that Germany aimed at tripling the use of renewable energy by 2030, doubling energy efficiency and finalizing its exit from fossil fuels.
INDIA PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI (via translator):
“Friends, we do not have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century. Over the past century, a small section of humanity has indiscriminately exploited nature. However, entire humanity is paying the price for this, especially people living in the global south.”
“We must resolve that every country shall fulfil the climate targets it is setting for itself and the commitments it is making.”
