Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, stressed that governments cannot work alone to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement while highlighting that they must come up with creative ways of involving institutions and individuals in this process.

He made this statement during a meeting of the Climate Action Network Founders Group, as part of the participation of a UAE delegation in the 72nd session of the United Nations, UN, General Assembly in New York, under the slogan, "Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet."

"Most of our particular national contributions currently concentrate on the three core elements of reduction, accommodation and capacity building. We can involve the business sector in climate action, create a robust tool to bolster investments and improve economic proceeds, by highlighting the economic benefits of specific national contributions," Al-Zeyoudi said.

On the sidelines of his presentation on the UAE’s contributions to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Al-Zeyoudi highlighted the UAE’s success in adopting a national climate change plan that primarily aims to involve the business sector and other non-governmental organisations in the policy-making process with regards to climate and the environment, as well as in encouraging innovation and technological development.

During the Sustainable Development Impact Summit of the World Economic Forum, which is part of the 72nd UN General Assembly, Al-Zeyoudi announced the UAE’s plans to create a roadmap for investing in specific national contributions, the first of its kind in the Arab region, which will identify potential paths and entry points for companies, to realise the UAE’s specific national contributions.

Al-Zeyoudi stressed that the UAE is continuing to promote its pivotal role in the clean energy sector while highlighting its ambitious goal of consuming 27 percent clean energy throughout the country by 2021, and 50 percent by 2050. This reflects the significant achievements of the nation’s companies in many areas related to climate, highlighting the UAE’s regional leadership and its international contributions to this field, he added.

Al-Zeyoudi also participated in the UN High-Level event on Innovation and Technology, where he spoke about the UAE’s contributions to the development and implementation of the UN’s sustainable development goals, which emphasised the vital role of the business sector in achieving these goals by 2030.

He further stressed that the UAE has placed innovation on the top of its priorities for its sustainable development plan, to achieve economic diversity, while noting that the National Innovation Strategy, which it launched in 2014, reflects its ambitions to be among the world’s most innovative countries. The UAE also launched the Mohammed bin Rashid Innovation Fund in 2015, with a budget of US$544 million, to support national inventors and facilitate funding for their projects through commercial loans, he concluded.