UAE- Paris Agreement opportunity for Gulf Region: UNFCCC Chief
Date
1/18/2016 7:35:38 AM
(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
ABU DHABI 18th January 2016 (WAM) -- The UAE has abundant opportunities to diversify its economy away from oil as a result of the impulse of the Paris Agreement the head of the UN climate convention said to a distinguished audience at the Diwan of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Addressing the Crown Prince's Court Christiana Figueres Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC said that opportunities ranged from displacing coal on world markets via low cost gas supplies to ramping up the global deployment of renewable energy.
She also called on the region to invest in research and development in cutting edge technologies in generation distribution and storage of renewables and invited the UAE to find ways to de-risk investments in technologies like wind and solar especially in developing countries.
Ms. Figueres invited to deliver the Court's first prestigious Majlis Lecture of 2016 which coincides with Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week praised the UAE's founder for his vision saying that the new global climate agreement matched the vision of a sustainable world outlined half a century ago by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Ms. Figueres informed H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court and the attending Sheikhs diplomats and guests that Paris had been a turning point in international cooperation on climate change.
She underlined the significant economic shifts in energy highlighting how wind power was now cheaper than conventional coal globally and how investments in clean energy were today outstripping coal and oil.
Ms. Figueres's presentation which also noted the significant low carbon opportunity in the region for other Gulf Cooperation Council GCC nations including investment in more efficient cleaner cooling systems came on the day that the government of the UAE announced it would be taking the outcome of the Paris Agreement to plan for an economy 'beyond oil'.
Later in the day Ms. Figueres spoke at the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA during a Financial Times organised 'Question Time' debate: 'Scaling Up Renewables: Taking Climate Action to the Next Level'.
She described the dramatic fall in the price of oil as a 'golden platter' for investing in less risky and more predictable clean energies like solar wind and geo-thermal.
Ms. Figueres was joined by the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Henry Puna European Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete and Kyung-Ah Park Head of Environmental Markets at Goldman Sachs.
WAM/Moran