Contributions of $100 million and initiatives to activate carbon markets

The third day of the COP28 climate forum, currently being held in the UAE, witnessed many important events on the economic and climate front.

And the FPSF Emirates News Agency (WAM), today, Saturday, December 2, 2023, the most prominent thing witnessed on the third day, was the UAE’s pledge to contribute $100 million to the World Bank Fund to support the partnership to reduce methane emissions and global combustion, and initiatives to activate carbon markets.

Business and philanthropy forum raises $5 billion

The COP28 Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum, hosted by COP28 as a platform to engage business and philanthropic leaders from the private sector, concluded its first day with the announcement of a range of climate and nature-related initiatives and commitments to raise more than AED 18 billion ($5 billion) in climate finance.

The forum, held in the blue and green zones of COP28, brought together more than 1,300 heads of state and government, business and philanthropic leaders and heads of non-governmental organizations seeking to accelerate and highlight progress made to achieve climate goals and move towards lower emissions in industrial sectors. As the first of its kind, it seeks the forum aims to engage the private sector and charitable organizations in climate action.

The UAE contributes $100 million to the methane emissions reduction fund

The Chairman of the COP28 Conference, Sultan Al Jaber, revealed the UAE’s pledge to contribute $100 million to the World Bank Fund to support the partnership to reduce methane emissions and global combustion.

Al-Jaber stressed that reducing methane is the quickest way to reduce temperature rise rates as quickly as possible, which prompted the COP28 presidency to make speedy elimination of methane its main goal.

During his speech on the third day of the conference, he pointed out that 50 companies operating in the oil and gas sector agreed to pledge to reduce methane emissions to zero by 2030, as well as sharing their expertise and technology with other companies in lower-income countries.

America pledges $3 billion in climate aid to poor countries

US Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed the United States' pledge to contribute $3 billion to the United Nations Fund aimed at helping developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, during its participation in the activities of the third day of the COP28 summit on Saturday.

This pledge is in addition to new commitments of $9.3 billion already announced by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and other countries. This is the second round of replenishment of the Green Climate Fund, and the American pledge would raise it to its highest levels yet, according to what was reported by “Bloomberg.”

In a related context, Harris announced that the United States will provide concessional financing to help build clean energy supply chains worldwide at a value of $568 million.

The European Union invests 2.3 billion euros to support the green transition

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed that the bloc will invest €2.3 billion over two years from its common budget to support the energy transition in neighboring countries and around the world.

During her participation in the activities of the third day of the Climate Conference of the Parties (COP28), held in Dubai, von der Leyen praised the commitment of more than 110 countries to triple renewable energy sources and double energy efficiency by the end of the decade, and track the progress made in achieving that goal. She added that the pledge should also be reflected in the final outcome of COP28.

The President of the European Commission stressed that the pledge represents an essential contribution to phasing out fossil fuels from the energy mix around the world, and added: “We need to launch the necessary financial support to the countries that need it.”

Von der Leyen said: “What we promote globally, we implement locally. In the European Union, there are 10 member states that have already abandoned coal.” A further 10 countries will phase out coal by 2030. Most of the remaining seven EU member states will follow suit.”

Abu Dhabi Global Market hosts the “Altera” Fund

The Abu Dhabi Global Market, the main climate financing partner at the Conference of the Parties (COP28), announced that it has embraced the “Altera” Fund, the largest investment fund to stimulate global climate action, with an initial seed capital of $30 billion, which was founded by “Lunit”, the alternative investment management company, and was announced during the events. Second day of the Conference of the Parties.

The market stated in a statement today that this historic initiative enables the “Altera” Fund to raise and stimulate about $250 billion in investments globally by 2030, with a focus on emerging markets and developing economies.