The Paris Agreement, A Chance For The Gulf Region

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The head of the UNFCCC praises the vision of the founder of the UAE to the Court of the Crown Prince

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have numerous opportunities to diversify their economies beyond oil as a result of the momentum of the Paris Agreement, said the head of the UN climate convention to a distinguished audience at the Court of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

Speaking to the Court, Christiana Figueres described these opportunities as a matter of replacing coal in world markets through the provision of gas at low cost, the enhancement of the global deployment of renewable energy.

She also called the region to investment in research and development of advanced technologies in the production, distribution and storage of renewable energy.

Finally, Ms. Figueres called on the UAE to find ways to reduce the risks of investment in technologies such as wind and solar, in particular in developing countries.

Ms. Figueres, invited to give the first Majlis prestigious conference in 2016, which coincided with the Week of Sustainability Abu Dhabi, welcomed the founding of the UAE for his vision.

The Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said the new universal climate agreement reflected the vision of a sustainable world, there are presented half a century by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Ms. Figueres informed Hamed ben His Highness Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the Court or “Diwan”, the other members of the royal family and the government of the UAE, members of the diplomatic service and the participants from abroad, as Paris was a turning point in international cooperation on climate change.

She highlighted the important economic changes in the field of energy, noting that the wind was now cheaper than conventional coal worldwide that renewable energy installations were now superior to fossil fuels and the investment in clean energy today outstrip those of coal and oil.

With the Paris Agreement, the UAE plan an economy beyond oil

Ms. Figueres conference, which also focused on the importance of low-carbon opportunity in the region to the other nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including through investments in cleaner cooling systems and more efficient, coincided with the announcement the same day, the government of the UAE he was going to use the Paris Agreement to schedule an economy “beyond petroleum.”

Later in the day, Ms. Figueres spoke at the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), during a debate organized by the Financial Times entitled: Renewable Intensification: Skip climate action the upper level.

She described the dramatic fall in oil prices as a “golden opportunity” to invest in clean energy, less risky and more predictable as solar, wind and geothermal.

Ms. Figueres was joined by Henry Puna, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Miguel Arias Cañete, European Energy Commissioner, Kyung-Ah and Park, head of environmental markets at Goldman Sachs.