At a briefing for business and climate leaders during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the UAE and the US announced the formation of a committee to manage a strategic clean energy investment partnership.
The Committee will be co-chaired by Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change to the UAE, and Amos Hochstein, US Presidential Energy Coordinator.
The committee will include government and private sector representatives from both countries.
The strategic partnership between the UAE and the United States was launched in November 2022 with the goal of investing US$100 billion in clean energy projects with a production capacity of 100 gigawatts worldwide by 2035, including a wide range of existing practical initiatives and promising technologies. and to mobilize and catalyze bi-sector support, public and private, and roll out investments in clean energy in both developed and developing countries.
The parties announced that the first phase will provide $20 billion in funding for clean and renewable energy projects with 15 gigawatts of production capacity in the US through 2035, led by Emirati-based renewable energy company Masdar. and a group of US private sector investors.
The value of the first tranche of Strategic Partnership (PACE) funding will be secured by $7 billion from the private sector and $13 billion from financial instruments such as debt securities.
As the international community prepares to assess global climate progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement during the COP28 Conference of the Parties hosted by the UAE, this multisectoral partnership is helping to bring about a paradigm shift in advancing the goals of “mitigation” and “adaptation” by providing practical investments and scaling up clean energy projects around the world. the world, in the United States, Emirates and emerging economies around the world.
This partnership provides a model for the synergy and collaboration that the world needs during COP28 to make quality progress against climate change.
Committee members will meet monthly to make recommendations on four strategic areas for this partnership:
1 – Clean Energy Innovation, Financing, Diffusion of Solutions and Technologies, and Strengthening Supply Chains.
2 – Management of carbon and methane emissions.
3 – Advanced nuclear power technologies such as small modular reactors.
4- Reduction of emissions in the industrial and transport sectors.
Strategic Partnership Financing (PACE) will support renewable energy sources such as clean solar and nuclear energy, as well as new innovations such as green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage technologies.
In line with its focus on raising the level of climate change action and ensuring a practical, realistic, equitable and gradual transition in the energy sector, the partnership will prioritize the provision of technical, administrative and financial assistance to environmentally and commercially sustainable energy projects in the countries of the South.
The Committee of Experts will support the two Committee Chairs on both sides and key decision makers in managing and energizing the partnership, and will work to achieve the goals of the partnership by monitoring progress, suggesting new projects, developing funding. sources, setting standards for related initiatives, identifying potential partners, and a set of tasks.
A source: wham