Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, President-designate of the Conference of the Parties (COP28), affirmed the endeavor of the presidency of COP28 to provide an opportunity for all parties, sectors and segments of society to work together and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving global climate aspirations and sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations.
This came during the announcement of the COP28 presidency that it would host the “Climate Forum for Business and Charity” on the first and second days of next December, in conjunction with the Global Climate Action Summit, which will be held at the level of state leaders at the beginning of the conference.
Al-Jaber said: “The world needs everyone’s cooperation and concerted efforts to change the usual traditional methods of work and develop climate financing mechanisms. The COP28 presidency is committed to ensuring that everyone is included in all aspects of climate action in COP28, and we are keen to bring together the main stakeholders to reach the desired solutions through collective action. Therefore, we will host the Climate Forum for Business and Charity to enhance the ability of the private sector and charitable and humanitarian institutions to reach radical and effective results and solutions during (COP28). The conference presidency will be keen to provide the appropriate platform for commercial and charitable businesses to play their required pioneering role in supporting action paths towards climate neutrality and sustainable development.
The CEO Forum seeks to mobilize and activate the contributions of global business and philanthropic leaders to support and enhance the collective effort to achieve tangible progress in climate action in line with the agenda of the COP28 presidency, and to achieve progress towards climate neutrality and conservation goals across various sectors.
The forum is chaired by Badr Jaafar, the special representative of “COP28” for commercial and charitable works, and he is the managing director of the Crescent Group and CEO of Crescent Enterprises. He is also a member of the “COP28” advisory committee, and an active participant in many activities, programs and various initiatives in the fields of social entrepreneurship International development, humanitarian aid, philanthropy and corporate governance.
Badr Jaafar said: “The private sector has promising capabilities that make it the most capable of accelerating the achievement of our global goals related to climate action and nature conservation, and therefore (COP28) is keen to ensure the presence of representatives of business and charitable work as essential partners in the conference, and the climate forum will be for business and charitable A platform for action, empowerment and removal of obstacles between multiple sectors, and bringing together all concerned parties from around the world to cooperate in order to reach results and outputs that are supported by the (COP28) plan and achieve substantial and radical progress, and this is what we really need to find solutions that contribute to positive change in the lives of billions of people ». .
Participants in the forum seek to discuss options aimed at accelerating technology transfer, removing risks in green investments, enabling effective investment to preserve the environment, developing pioneering and ambitious green initiatives in order to stimulate climate action on a large scale, and empowering small and medium enterprises and emerging companies in the field of climate action. , and investing in enhancing the resilience of communities most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change, in addition to a number of other expected results and outputs from the private sector.
More than 500 corporate CEOs and philanthropists from around the world are scheduled to participate in the 90-minute main session of the forum, which will be held on the first of next December in the Blue Zone.
The session, which will be held under the title: “Business and Charity Together: A New Model for Climate Action and Nature Protection”, will focus on examining the best ways to gather and stimulate expertise and resources in the private sector, in order to take effective and concrete actions, and provide more private sector financing flows to the countries of the Global South.
The forum will then move to the Green Zone Conference Center for afternoon sessions on December 1, under the theme “The Role of Business and Philanthropy in Achieving Substantial Advances in Climate Action: Paving the Way to Action.” Participants will also meet for full-day sessions in December 2nd at the Green Zone Convention Center to discuss Shaping Green Growth Pathways.
The forum will be held at the beginning of the COP28 program of specialized topics, which will last for two weeks, from November 30 to December 12. The conference program was prepared on the basis of open consultations conducted by the conference presidency with all stakeholders around the world over a period of six weeks, in an approach followed for the first time in conferences of the parties.
• 500 CEOs and pioneers of charitable and humanitarian work participate in the forum.
