ABU DHABI // UAE efforts to minimise its contribution to climate change could serve as a model for the rest of the Gulf, says the UN diplomat heading up efforts to reach a global climate deal.
Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, is in the capital for the World Future Energy Summit.
Through its commitment to incorporate renewable sources of power in its energy mix, and initiatives such as the clean-energy Masdar city, the UAE "stands out" among other oil producers, Ms Figueres said on the sidelines of the summit yesterday. "The UAE has become a very clear leader in integrating climate concerns in their national policy."
While investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy - derived from the sun, wind or ocean power - were good for the environment, they also made business sense, she said. Even for oil-rich countries such as the UAE, "investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency make a lot of sense from a national point of view".
"We are expecting that will become more of the situation in other oil-producing countries," said Ms Figueres.
While the UAE is only taking initial steps towards limiting its negative impact on the climate, rich industrialised countries have had to commit to legally binding targets for greenhouse emissions. Under the Kyoto Protocol, 37 industrialised states have to reduce their emissions by 10 per cent on 1990 levels. The first commitment period of the protocol expires next year.
During talks in Cancun, Mexico, in December last year, rich countries agreed to deepen the cuts to between 25 and 40 per cent by 2020. However, the new targets are not yet part of a legally binding agreement. Environmentalists are hoping that this will be finalised during a next round of talks at the end of this year in South Africa.
Ms Figueres said if catastrophic changes to the climate were to be averted, industrialised countries needed to commit to more. "It is very clear that what we have on the table now is insufficient."
While the pledges negotiated at the moment were "the deepest commitment" in the history of the Convention, they were only 60 per cent of [emission cuts] needed to ensure the planet warmed by no more than 2°C, Ms Figueres said.
She said she did not think the remaining 40 per cent would be on board by the summit in South Africa, because most of the gains had to come from industrialised countries facing a variety of political and economic barriers to reaching a domestic agreement.
"It is becoming increasingly urgent that they do come forward with that difference," she said. "The more they delay, the more expensive it is going to become."
A successful outcome in South Africa would require several preliminary meetings among countries. A session in June has already been scheduled, while additional talks in April and and the autumn are also likely.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
Youth YouTuber Programme
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- Learning, scripting, storytelling and basic shots
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The First Monday in May
Director: Andrew Rossi
Starring: Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, John Paul Gaultier, Rihanna
Three stars
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
THREE
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2)
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Asia Cup Qualifier
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6: Final
Asia Cup
Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Schedule: Sep 15-28
Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.