November 8 2023

The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council hosted representatives from the Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate at the Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce for a discussion with member companies on 8 November 2023 in Washington DC. Officials gave an overview of the U.S. government’s goals, priorities, and objectives for COP28 just weeks before COP28 is set to begin in Dubai on 30 November. 

Elliot Diringer, Senior Advisor in the Office of U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, provided a broad overview of the United States’ goals and objectives to “accelerate climate ambition and action” at COP28. He noted the importance of COP28 being the first global stocktake since Paris, and he spoke about bridging both the “ambition gap” and “implementation gap” with keeping the goal of sticking to 1.5 C alive. He stated that the U.S. Government believes that every country should have economy-wide commitments that encompass all greenhouse gases to keep a rise of no more than 1.5 C within reach. He also described the State Department’s Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA), which is a partnership of the State Department and two philanthropies that aims to catalyze private capital supporting the transition from fossil fuels to clean power through innovative jurisdictional-scale carbon crediting.

Ambassador David Thorne, who serves as Special Advisor to SPEC John Kerry, stressed the importance of private sector engagement at COP28. He noted that success requires the “full and sustained engagement” and support of the private sector. He commented on numerous U.S. led initiatives such as the First Movers Coalition, AIM for Climate, The Leaf Coalition, PREPARE, and the Global Methane Pledge. He also noted that a number of businesses technologies will be showcased  at the U.S. Center in the Blue Zone of COP28 including those of GE Vernova, Boeing, Bechtel, and Baker Hughes among others. The COP28 Presidency has billed COP28 as a “a COP for action, a COP for all.” 

Jack McCaslin, Policy Advisor in SPEC’s office, discussed the Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE), which aims to deploy $100 billion and 100 GW of green energy by 2035. He noted that the $100 billion initiative is aimed at ensuring that the private sector has the information and tools needed to continue to develop clean energy in collaboration between U.S. agencies and U.A.E. entities, such as ADNOC, Masdar, and ENEC. He offered himself as a point of contact for industry. He highlighted the four focus areas of PACE: clean energy, carbon and methane management, nuclear energy, and industrial and transport decarbonization. Moreover, he stressed that this is a long-term initiative that will continue well beyond COP28. 

Heather Evans, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing for the International Trade Administration, offered an overview of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s goals and objectives at COP28, including plans to involve U.S. businesses. She described the International Trade Administration’s (ITA) capabilities, and how these will translate to support U.S. businesses on the ground at COP28. 

Ms. Victoria Yue, Senior Climate Trade Policy Specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce, provided further details on the Department of Commerce’s plans and priorities for COP28. She noted that the ITA will be focused on connecting the dots for U.S. businesses, and spreading the word about and demonstrating support for various events and announcements. She encouraged companies to contact her about their plans for participation in COP28. The Department of Commerce will publish a weekly newsletter of public events in the lead-up to COP28; please register for this here. For any inquiries related to publishing events on the newsletter, please contact Alec Hilton at Alec.Hilton@trade.gov.

Industry participants expressed great interest in COP28’s health day.  They expressed a desire to learn more and be involved with initiatives to mitigate and respond to the public health challenges exacerbated by climate change. 

The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council team will be on the ground for the duration of COP28 and will host a series of events for its members. For questions, please contract Graham Reitman at greitman@usuaebusiness.org.