Dr Sultan al Jaber, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina call for climate action to focus on world’s most vulnerable

Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and COP28 President-Designate, met with the Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh in Dhaka, as per state news agency WAM.

Dr Jaber is meeting with global leaders to focus on delivering for COP28, UN’s climate change conference.

The COP28 President-Designate and the Prime Minister jointly committed to working constructively in the lead up to COP28 to protect the world’s most vulnerable communities. As a former Chair of the V20-CVF countries, a global forum dedicated to support economies systemically vulnerable to climate change, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pledged to work in partnership with the COP28 President-Designate over the coming months.

Prime Minister Hasina commended the COP28 President-Designate for placing food systems at the heart of climate discussions. They also discussed climate finance, including the need for international financial institutions (IFI) and multilateral development banks (MDB) reform to attract more private finance, the importance of ensuring the $100 billion commitment from donor countries is met and the imperative to operationalise the fund for Loss and Damage.

Bangladesh as model of climate change adaptation

Dr Al Jaber acknowledged Prime Minister Hasina’s leadership on food and agriculture innovation and that Bangladesh had been a role model for climate adaptation.

Prime Minister Hasina agreed to champion the food agenda of COP28 and underscored how crucial food systems transformation and agricultural innovation is to sustainable development.

Prime Minister Hasina said, ‘‘I welcome COP28’s focus on lives and livelihoods and putting people at the centre of climate action, in particular the focus on food systems transformation.

“I hope that COP28 will make a realistic assessment of the progress made and close the huge gaps that remain in climate finance and technology transfer.

“As a fellow advocate for the climate vulnerable, I hope that under the strong leadership of Dr Sultan, COP28 will progress operationalising ‘Loss and Damage Fund’ in line with COP27 agreement.”

Following his speech in Brussels last week, Dr Jaber is working to share his core action agenda to fast-track a just energy transition; fix climate finance; focus on people, lives and livelihoods; and underpin everything with full inclusivity, reported WAM.

The COP28 President-Designate called on Bangladesh to continue sharing its innovative climate solutions, such as renewable energy targets and global preparedness, with other vulnerable countries.

Following the meeting, Dr. Al Jaber said, “Bangladesh is very aware of the urgency of the need to address climate change, as it faces heatwaves to floods. And while Bangladesh contributes only 0.25 percent of global emissions, the country’s goal of 40 percent clean energy by 2040 shows real leadership.”

“I commend the vital work that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has done to advocate for climate vulnerable communities on the international stage and I am delighted to be partnering with the Prime Minister to supercharge climate, social and economic solutions.”

After the meeting, Dr Al Jaber co-chaired a roundtable on climate action, where he emphasised the need to keep the global temperature goal of 1.5 degrees C within reach. The roundtable was hosted by AK Abdul Momen, Foreign Minister and Md Shahab Uddin, Minister of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

During his visit in Dhaka, Dr Al Jaber also met with Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Bangladesh Special Envoy for Climate Change.

Dr Jaber in Bangladesh

The COP28 President-Designate met students from Dhaka Residential Model College, where he planted a tree, and commended them on their pioneering work to sustainably increase crop production through the use of microorganisms. Dr Al Jaber was then welcomed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Shahrayar Alam, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs where he delivered a special address to an audience of university students from Dhaka University and met with winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize

Whilst there, he also met with Bangladesh-based COP28 International Climate Youth Delegates, alongside winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, including Dipal Barua, the inaugural winner of the prize, Founder and Chairman of Bright Green Energy Foundation (BGEF), SOLshare and LEDARS Bangladesh.

During his remarks, Dr Al Jaber said, “If we are going to make transformational progress, we need an unconventional approach that includes all sectors of society to work in solidarity on the solutions we need.”

COP28 UAE will take place at Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12, 2023. The climate conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants, including heads of state, government officials, international industry leaders, private sector representatives, academics, experts, youth, and non-state actors.

As mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement, COP28 UAE will deliver the first ever Global Stocktake – a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals.

Read: COP28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber lays down big agenda items for climate summit