The Finance World Magazine| Edition: March 2023

Maire commended the “extremely strong
cooperation” between Paris and Abu
Dhabi in the area of renewable energy
when visiting the site recently. Le Maire
stated that he intended to “support”
the Gulf oil-producing nations on their
“decarbonisation” journey while on
a regional visit that included stops
in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Masdar, a
company focused on renewable energy,
said that French and Emirati firms
have “partnered in the development,
investment and operation of over 6.2
gigawatts of clean and renewable
energy programmes across the globe”.
Businesses from both countries have
also “mobilised over $6B in investment,
displacing some 10 million tonnes of
carbon dioxide annually”, Masdar said
in a statement.
The two parties will work to provide
“concrete, beneficial benefits” on
biodiversity conservation and climateoriented
project adaption. “This
initiative builds on the long-standing
partnership between the UAE and
France to take advantage of practical,
commercial opportunities for lowcarbon
growth that will accelerate
the energy transition and promote
climate action and sustainable
economic development in both our
countries and across the globe,” said
H.E Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of
Industry and Advanced Technology
and President-Designate for Cop28,
and the UAE’s special envoy on climate
change. “Leveraging our combined
technological and energy expertise,
we will intensify our efforts to promote
renewable and zero carbon energies
to decarbonise economies and, in
particular, hard-to-abate sectors,” he
added.
As the UAE prepares to host Cop28,
“we are intent on making it a Cop of
action and a Cop for all”, said Dr. Al
Jaber, who is also MD and group chief
executive of ADNOC and chairman of
Masdar. “We are extending an open
invitation to the world to join us in
constructive efforts to raise ambition,
move from deliberation to delivery and
achieve the central goal of the Paris
Agreement to keep 1.5[°C above preindustrial
levels target] alive,” he added.
In order to make Cop28 a tremendous
success for the UAE as well as the rest
of the region and the world, the French
government and its business sector
will help the UAE, according to Bruno
Le Maire, Minister of Finance and the
Economy of France. “I want to make
very clear to my Emirati friends, you can
count on the support of France,” Mr. Le
Maire, who also met Dr. Al Jaber told
top business executives and investors
at the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
At the Cop28 climate conference,
presidents of state, executives from big
businesses and financial institutions,
and representatives from civil society
will gather to assess progress made
since the 2015 Paris Agreement. The
newest effort by the UAE and France
expands on their current collaboration
in the field of clean and renewable
energy. Through their activities, the
firms have attracted more than $6B
in investment and eliminated nearly
10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
yearly. “This targeted programme will
leverage synergies between public and
private sectors from both countries
to accelerate the implementation of
impactful projects of clean energy
development for transportation,” Mr.
Le Maire said. “I am very happy [about]
this new illustration of France-UAE
strategic partnership and our common
objective to raise ambitions towards
Cop28,” he added.
March 2023 www.thefinanceworld.com 43