UAE and France combine to decarbonize hard-to-abate (HTA) sectors

As part of the French Minister’s visit to the United Arab Emirates, His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, President-Designate for COP28, and Chairman of Masdar, met with His Excellency Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, yesterday.

In anticipation of the COP28 climate change conference, the UAE and France have agreed to launch a bilateral program that combines French and Emirati expertise to develop commercial and investable opportunities to accelerate the development of clean energy, particularly in the decarbonization of hard-to-abate (HTA) industries, including clean hydrogen solutions for mobility.

The program builds on the successful partnerships between Emirati and French firms in the domain of clean and renewable energy. Industrial leaders from both nations have collaborated on the development, investment, and operation of over 6.2 gigawatts (GW) of clean and renewable energy programs across the globe, including two of the world’s largest single-site solar projects located in the United Arab Emirates, and mobilized over US$6 billion in investment, displacing approximately 10 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

During COP28, the 28th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held in Dubai this November, the program’s operations will be formally begun. The program aims to capitalize on the joint commitment of both countries to accelerate the identification and financing of projects, as well as to support companies contributing to the development of new clean energy solutions that have the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of economic sectors.

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The initiative will help enterprises that have created novel clean energy solutions in green hydrogen and sustainable fuel by utilizing the origination, industrial experience, and finance resources of public and commercial institutions from both nations. When appropriate, the governments of both nations will investigate leveraging public funding instruments to enable climate-friendly initiatives that qualify. The program will focus primarily on the two countries, with an emphasis on the generation of low-carbon hydrogen and sustainable fuels, as well as their respective value chains.

Through this bilateral initiative, the UAE and France will strive to achieve measurable, positive outcomes in the areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as to maximize the impact of their climate-focused projects on biodiversity. The investable opportunities will be developed jointly, with Masdar taking the lead on the UAE side of the partnership, and will aim to be fully aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change, with each opportunity being evaluated according to the applicable and internationally accepted methodology.

HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said: “This initiative builds on the long-standing partnership between the UAE and France in order to take advantage of commercial opportunities for low carbon growth that will accelerate the energy transition and promote climate action and sustainable economic development in both our countries and globally. Utilizing our combined technology and energy knowledge, we will accelerate our efforts to promote renewable and carbon-free energies in order to decarbonize economies, in particular difficult-to-control sectors. As the UAE prepares to host COP28, we are determined to make it an action-oriented and inclusive conference. We offer an open invitation to the globe to join us in constructive efforts to increase ambition, move from discourse to action, and accomplish the Paris Agreement’s primary objective of maintaining 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.”

Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, stated: “This targeted program will leverage synergies between the public and private sectors of both nations in order to expedite the implementation of significant clean energy development projects for transportation. I am delighted by this latest example of the France-UAE strategic collaboration and our shared aspiration to enhance ambitions for COP28 “.