New York / Information Office / July 25
The State of Qatar renewed Saturday its commitment to partnership and cooperation with the international community in dealing with climate change, stressing that the country's efforts were both on the national and international fronts.
This came in a statement by HE the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani to the UN Security Council, which held a high-level teleconference meeting on climate and security.
Her Excellency said that the State of Qatar will not hesitate to play its role as an active partner in the international community, in light of the urgent need to address the negative impacts of climate change that the cooperation on an international level that such efforts require. She highlighted the State of Qatar's leading role in the Climate Change Summit held in September 2019, through the leadership of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani along with Jamaica and France, in an alliance focused on climate finance and carbon pricing.
Her Excellency noted that the contribution of $100 million announced by HH the Amir to support small developing island states and the least developed states to deal with the climate change, reflects the State of Qatar's strong belief in the important role everyone can play in addressing the phenomenon.
Her Excellency said that Qatar Fund for Development is currently finalizing the disbursement mechanism, with three levels of determining the mechanism represented in financing, supporting policies, and building capabilities. She added that the fund will work on multiple sectors with a focus particularly on education as a main pillar in responding to climate change, economic development, and health. HE the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations added that, in the framework of cooperation, the strategy will help small developing island states and the least developed states achieve the Paris climate agreement goal, and long-term goals related to sustainable development in order to enhance peace and security.
Her Excellency highlighted that, in response to the threat of desertification, HH the Amir launched the Global Dryland Alliance, as one of the mechanisms aiming to achieve food security for dryland countries. She said that the initiative will help enhance international peace and security, noting that the alliance's agreement was signed in 2017 and is currently being implemented after a number of countries ratified it.
HE the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Ambassador Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani said that environmental development is one of the main pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030, noting that the State of Qatar has many plans and programs aimed at addressing climate change and environmental sustainability, adding that the country is pursuing efforts and projects in the field of clean energy and achieving energy efficiency, through the use of solar energy and will increase use of solar energy to more than 20 percent of its energy mix by 2030.
She noted that Qatar Investment Authority, which invests in climate-related financing projects, is a founding and active member of the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Fund that emanated from the One Planet Summit held in 2017 in Paris. The fund aims to increase efficiency in allocating global capital in order to contribute to the smooth transition towards a more sustainable economy characterized by low carbon emissions.
The Ambassador stated that the commitment of the State of Qatar and its involvement in the efforts made at the global level to combat climate change is not a novelty, it was several years old, noting in this context to the hosting of the 18 session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change in Doha in 2012.
She stressed that the State of Qatar will spare no effort to continue working to fulfill the obligations that are dictated to ratify the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
HE the Ambassador praised the Security Council meeting, saying that its taking place in unprecedented circumstances represented by the exceptional challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and its major implications for livelihoods, the exacerbation of risks associated with climate change, and its effects on food security and large-scale human displacement, as a result of drought and frequent natural disasters and scarce resources.
Her Excellency stressed that no country was immune to the negative impact of climate change, which has become a common concern of the entire international community, noting that these impacts are more severe for groups living in fragile situations, whether due to geographical factors, poverty, or otherwise, among them small island developing states and least developed countries.
She also pointed to the significant repercussions of climate change on achieving the goals of sustainable development and human rights, stressing the growing relationship between climate change and the maintenance of international peace and security, which is occupying space in the work of the Security Council, as a number of its decisions have reflected the effects of climate change on peace and stability.
In conclusion, Her Excellency said that Qatar will continue its commitment to work based on the principle of partnership, cooperation, and strengthening multilateral action with the international group in the context of addressing the risks posed by climate change, one of the most important challenges facing humanity.