IGF UAE 2022: Dr S. Jaishankar asks developed nations to act on climate justice

On Monday, the second United Arab Emirates (UAE) edition of the India Global Forum (IGF) opened in Abu Dhabi with a keynote by Dr S. Jaishankar, India’s Minister for External Affairs.

According to a statement, he outlined new areas of partnership with the UAE after the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) earlier this year.

On day one of IGF UAE 2022—organised by UK-headquartered India Global Forum—the minister demanded that it was time for the developed world to “walk the talk” on climate justice.

Climate justice must be delivered

"Combating climate change is also about delivering climate justice. We have all along seen that nations which occupy the highest carbon space are reluctant to make good on their promises on assisting developing nations to meet their climate goals," he said.

According to the Minister of External Affairs, developed nations must be sincere and keep their promises, particularly during a time when adverse climate events are more becoming frequent. "As more climate emergencies happen, there is a growing concern that developed nations are reluctant to walk the talk on climate justice. Either this is an existential crisis and we put all our resources in mitigating it or it isn’t an existential crisis at all,” he added.

Further, he highlighted areas where UAE and India can seek newer cooperation. These include education, artificial intelligence (AI), health, and startups. “The UAE and India share intrinsic and intuitive trust leading to immense comfort in relations between both nations. Today, the UAE is India’s third largest trade partner, second largest export destination and also hosts the largest community of Indian diaspora," he said.

“As both nations transform, we remain committed to expanding our partnership to other partners. We have a trilateral partnership with France and are also collaborating with Africa on healthcare. We have also established a unique I2U2 mechanism comprising India, Israel, UAE, and the USA. India can play a big role in bridging relations between nations,” he added.

“We are the first country with Net Zero results. We are looking forward to COP28 as a stage for taking action. We need to work together and work quickly, especially in assisting developing countries to meet their climate change goals," said Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the UAE.

Day one also marked a key announcement of the new Bloomberg-IGF Partnership. It is an alliance aimed at bringing together the best Indian and global innovators, financiers, and entrepreneurs to work on the most cutting-edge solutions to combat climate change.

The opening day witnessed discussions surrounding topics such as innovating, fuelling and funding the future, a showcase on greentech startups and a townhall on new ideas in combating climate change. It also saw a number of closed-door roundtables with industry chiefs and policymakers around sector focus areas including climate finance for impact and enabling energy transition and tech transfer.

IGF is the agenda-setting forum for international business and global leaders. It offers a selection of platforms that international corporations and policymakers can leverage to interact with stakeholders in their sectors and geographies of strategic importance.