Countries need to go ‘further and faster’ to reach climate targets, Alok Sharma says

Countries need to “further and faster” to meet climate targets, Alok Sharma said.

The president of last year’s global climate summit in Glasgow also urged world leaders to reaffirm their commitment to limit global warming to 1.5C as agreed at the Paris summit of 2015.

Alok Sharma was speaking at Cop27’s Saudi Green Initiative panel discussion on the need for climate action.

Starting the conversation Mr Sharma pointed to the success nations have had in reducing the impact of global warming, but said countries now need to “go a lot further and a lot faster.”

“The scientists were telling us before the Paris Agreement that we were heading to 4C before the end of the century, post Paris it was 3C plus and now because of all the commitments we got in Glasgow, we're told its heading towards 1.7C,” Mr Sharma said.

“We have seen progress but we just need to go a lot further and a lot faster.”

Also on the panel was Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudia Arabia’s minister of energy, Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE minister of climate change and environment and Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian minister of foreign Affairs and Cop27 president.

Mr Sharma also praised the dedication of nations to the Glasgow commitments despite global challenges brought on by the war in Ukraine and economic backlash to Covid.

He said: “This year it is the case in Europe and other parts of the world to wean themselves off Russian hydrocarbons, we have seen more fossil fuels being used and more coal.

“What the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said, this year globally we will see a less than 1 per cent increase in emissions and the reason is there’s been much faster roll out of renewables.”

Saudi energy minister, Mr Al Saud said Saudi Arabia was taking a “proactive” approach to climate action as a G20 nation.

He added that Saudi Arabia was “very attentive” to the issues of climate change, energy security and economic prosperity, and the nation needed to set an example for climate action - one of them being the commitment to plant 10 billion trees.

Mr Shoukry, the Cop27 president said the impacts of climate change on the Middle East and Africa had to be tackled by “cooperative action” and “maintaining the ambition demonstrated in Paris and reiterated in Glasgow.”

He added that was key “To maintain the 1.5C goal, to maintain commitment in providing the necessary finance and deal with issues of loss and damage that considers the interest of developing countries.”

Mr Al Saud also announced a new knowledge hub that will open in January 2023 to create a space to understand different climate technologies and share lessons.

Find out more about the MGI summit and SGI forum here: greeninitiatives.gov.sa