13 December 2023, Dubai, UAE - PAM welcomes the agreement reached at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held under UAE Presidency. After weeks of prolonged negotiations, in which PAM has been directly involved, world delegates agreed, for the first time ever at a COP, on a joint declaration stressing the need to transition away from fossil fuels.
PAM President, H.E. Senator Enaam Mayara, Speaker of the House of Councillors of the Kingdom of Morocco, led the PAM delegation. The Assembly took part in the COP28 with a robust and high-level team that included several MPs experts on climate change and energy transition, from seven PAM countries.
PAM representatives actively engaged in discussions on mitigation and adaptation strategies, sustainable urban management, water issues and gender, among others, and provided substantial inputs on the impact of climate change in the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf regions.
The Assembly also took part in several COP28 Side-Events on crucial issues for the PAM regions, including, inter alia, sustainable urban management and urban forestry, organized by UNECE, on “Accelerating the Just Energy Transition: decarbonizing industrial value chains with clean hydrogen” jointly organized by UNIDO, UNECE and UNESCAP and the High level Dialogue on Gender Responsive Just transition held under the COP28 Presidency.
PAM delegates met also with key stakeholders, including, the UN Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Antonio Guterres, and the Presidents of the UAE Federal National Council, H.E. Mr. Saqr Ghobash, and H.E. Mr Hassan Abdulla Al-Ghanimof, Speaker of the Shura Council of Qatar, to discuss parliamentary support for climate actions in the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf region, a widely recognized Climate Change Hotspot.
On 10 December 2023, President Mayara addressed the High-Level Segment of COP28. PAM Presidents are invited every year to take the floor and deliver a statement during that special session of the conference, due to the Permanent Observer status of the Assembly at the UNGA.
In his intervention, President Mayara praised the work of the UAE, and of its Federal National Council (FNC), a full-fledged Member of PAM, for the organization of COP28 and for the progress being made in negotiations.
Pres. Mayara also recalled the need to promote further and immediate actions in two key areas: climate finance and justice and energy transition. After highlighting the decision made by several countries to double their civilian nuclear energy capacity by 2050, he reaffirmed PAM’s commitment towards the establishment of a Parliamentary Energy Community for Sustainable and Renewable Energies in the Euro-Mediterranean and the Gulf, which will see its operationalization at the forthcoming second gathering of its Economic Forum of Marrakesh, on 6-7 June 2024.
The agreement reached at COP 28 on the first Global Stocktake represents a milestone in the international climate negotiations, as it advocates for a just transition from fossil fuels. PAM remains firmly committed towards this goal and to unlocking the regions’ potential in terms of renewable energy sources.
PAM will also continue to work with relevant international stakeholders, including, among others, the UNFCCC and UNEP/MAP, to pursue a correct implementation of the agreement reached at COP28, combined with those included in the Ministerial Declaration of COP23, adopted in Portoroz, Slovenia, on 7 December. //