On 10 February 2023, the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council hosted a luncheon conversation in Washington, D.C. with His Excellency Ambassador Majid Al-Suwaidi, Director General and Special Representative of COP28, in which he stressed the “critical” role of the private sector in a successful COP 28. This luncheon was held under the auspices of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council’s COP 28 working group. Please click here for his presentation.

H.E. Al-Suwaidi spoke to Business Council members and partners about the vision for COP28, noting that COP28 will strive to deliver a convincing response to global challenges and opportunities in sustainability. COP 28 will be the first comprehensive assessment of global progress under the Paris agreement. It intends to catalyze “bold action” in the areas of mitigation, adaptation, loss & damage, and finance, the latter of which “underpins everything.”

H.E. Al-Suwaidi honed in on the 10 primary ways that the private sector can engage with COP28:

• Speaking opportunities: Participate in events to report climate action and commit to new ambition
• Site visits: Enable delegates to visit world-class, pro-climate sites in the U.A.E.
• Entity-level commitments:  Commit to credible target-setting initiatives for individual entities – SBTi, Race to Zero, First Movers Coalition, etc.
• Sectoral mobilization: Rally peers and supply chains in key sectors around a quantifiable policy, technology, or financing COP28 outcome
• Scaling up existing U.A.E. partnerships:  Bring new resources and partners to existing U.A.E.-based climate initiatives and align outcomes with COP 28 U.A.E.
• International coalition Mmmbership: Join major international coalitions that are already driving change in their sectors
• Host pavilions: Engage stakeholders via pavilions at COP28 U.A.E.
• Youth delegate support: Enable youth from around the globe to participate in COP28 U.A.E. and develop their careers (travel sponsorship, mentorship, workshops, training, etc.)
• Traditional sponsorship: Sponsor different physical and service components of COP28 U.A.E.
• Secondment: Provide technical expertise to the COP 28 U.A.E. team, and bring networks and knowledge from the COP process back into the U.A.E.

H.E. Al-Suwaidi provided background on the roles and responsibilities of the COP 28 leadership team, including His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber as COP 28 President, Her Excellency Razan Al Mubarak as UN High-Level Champion, and Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui as the first-ever Youth Climate Champion. He described H.E. Dr. Sultan as “perfect” for his role given his vast experience as Chairman of Masdar, CEO of ADNOC, and Special Envoy for Climate as well as his involvement with ten previous COPs. He stressed that H.E. Dr. Sultan has tasked the COP 28 team with being “positively disruptive” and was “serious about real outcomes” of the COP process.

H.E. Al-Suwaidi spoke about PACE – the U.S.-U.A.E. Partnership for accelerating Clean Energy, which is set to catalyze $100 billion in financing, investment, and other support and to deploy 100 gigawatts of clean energy globally by 2035. He noted that PACE is focused on four core areas: (a) clean energy innovation, deployment and supply chains, (b) carbon and methane management, (c) nuclear energy, and (d) industrial and transport decarbonization. He noted Masdar’s “$20 billion foray” into this project, and he asked private sector companies what bankable projects they are interested in supporting, and in what ways the COP 28 team can help.

To engage with the COP 28 team directly, please contact engagement@climateenvoy.gov.ae, or visit their website here. For more information on the Business Council’s ongoing activities related to COP28, please contact Graham Reitman at greitman@usuaebusiness.org.