COP28 chair urges tripling of renewables capacity by 2030

Sultan Al Jaber, the president of this year’s UN climate talks hosted by the United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday called on participants to drastically ramp up their use of renewable energy.

“We will accelerate delivery in sectors like renewables that must triple capacity by 2030 and double it again by 2040,” Al Jaber said in a speech at the opening of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue -- a meeting of climate diplomats in Berlin.

Al Jaber’s call marked a public endorsement of a target laid out by the International Energy Agency. Last month at a closed-door meeting with G7 leaders in Japan, he had also raised the target.

At the same time, he did not call for a complete end to the use of fossil fuels.

Rather, the COP28 chair said the focus must be on removing the emissions they produce while stepping up renewables.

“We must be laser focused on phasing out fossil fuel emissions, while phasing up viable, affordable zero-carbon alternatives,” said Al Jaber in his speech ahead of the climate summit in November.