A delegation of senior officials from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for energy will be in Abu Dhabi next week to further strengthen EU cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on global energy issues ahead of the Climate Change Conference COP28. Following on from the political agreement on 27 June between President von der Leyen and COP28 President Designate Dr Sultan Al-Jaber, and the President’s visit to the United Arab Emirates yesterday, the Commission team, led by Director-General Ditte Juul Jørgensen, will continue working with the UAE Presidency of the COP28 on the Global Pledge on renewables and energy efficiency targets. The aim is to rally countries behind a global commitment on renewables and energy efficiency at this year’s COP28 in December in Dubai - an ambition the EU put on the international agenda in the spring. The world is not on track to meet the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement, which puts the global clean energy transition dangerously off-course.
The analyses by the European Commission, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) show that we must collectively triple renewable energy capacity worldwide to 11,000 GW and in the same timeframe, we need to double annual energy efficiency improvements globally.
As well as chairing COP28, the UAE is also a particularly important player in the region on the energy transition, and was the first Gulf country to pledge achieving net-zero (domestic) emissions by 2050. Commission officials have taken the opportunity to explore how EU-UAE energy cooperation can create further economic opportunities and accelerate investments in clean technologies. The UAE plans to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2030 (to reach a total of 14.2 GW), and underlines its aspiration to become a leading producer of hydrogen by 2031. UAE investors are planning to invest also in the development of renewables across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which creates a potential for (trilateral) cooperation through Global Gateway. The UAE also has enormous potential as a regional hub for EU exports of energy technologies.
Related links
Details
- Publication date
- 8 September 2023
- Author
- Directorate-General for Energy