The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) and the Youth Climate Lab (YCL), an international organization dedicated to creating collaborative youth projects to advance climate action, hosted a Youth Dialogue titled ‘Climate Mentorship for Youth’. The session ran on the sidelines of the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Katowice, Poland.
The side event highlighted the progress of the UAE’s Youth Climate Mentorship Program, launched at COP23 in Bonn, Germany. The Program seeks to bolster youth engagement in international climate negotiations and national climate change policy development processes, as well as increase youth contribution to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The session allowed the young participants to interact with ministers and other high-level attendees, and discuss issues related to climate change and mentorship. It also explored opportunities to increase youth participation in UN climate negotiations and national policy processes.
Meanwhile, the UAE delegation to COP24 participated in Global Climate Action Energy Day, held under the theme ‘Enabling Change through Energy Transition’. The event brought together policy makers, corporations, innovators and other energy stakeholders for a frank exchange of opinions on the ways to accelerate progress in the sector to meet the development and climate objectives under Goal 7 and the Paris Agreement. Energy Day examined diverse geographical, economic and social factors to provide insight into long-term planning and innovation in energy transformation.
The delegates presented an overview of the UAE’s experience in adopting energy transition plans and deploying clean and renewable energy on a mega scale. Furthermore, they outlined the country’s ambitious clean energy targets of 27 percent by 2021 and 50 percent by 2050, and the role of public-private partnerships in achieving these targets, using the experience of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) in deploying renewable energy solutions at home and abroad as a case in point.