Climate change was on an accelerating course, 700 million people still lived in extreme poverty and conflicts in war-torn countries remained entrenched.
More than 815 million people remain hungry and an additional two billion people are expected to be undernourished by 2050, while almost a billion people have no electricity.
Furthermore, without action, the world’s average surface temperature rise is likely to surpass 3°C this century.
As the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) returns to the emirate this week, doubling down on those UN SDG’s — in particular, a push for better and more coordinated international action on climate change — has been earmarked as a key priority for this year’s agenda, as delegations from around the world, including Saudi Arabia, head to the UAE capital to discuss advancing the world’s sustainable development.
“We welcome the expanded pillars of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week as a means of attracting an even broader range of stakeholders to join the sustainability discussion and to innovate new approaches to addressing the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and energy access.” The focus on climate change (SDG 13) at ADSW will be a call to action for global leaders to get behind sustainability goals and turn the tide against climate change, under #WeAreCommitted, an online campaign which has brought together sheikhs, government ministers, ambassadors, business leaders and young innovators to share their commitments to sustainability.
Since the UN SDGs were established, GCC leaders in nations that are most likely affected by increasing average temperatures, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have been doing their part to push forward environmental programs and implement renewable energy projects that will reverse the impact climate change.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, led the way for renewable energy developments in 2018, with up to $7 billion worth of new tenders, according to an official from the International Renewable Energy Agency, while the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 aims to achieve the UN objectives by encouraging more investment in alternative energy.
Speaking to Arab News, Marine Pouget, policy advisor for climate politics and civil society in the MENA region at Germanwatch, which aims to tackle climate change, said: “Saudi Arabia is a key player for the energy and ecological transitions” to a more sustainable world, as one of the most important oil countries.
“This region is extremely affected by climate change, because of its natural dry climate.
“The (GCC) needs to reduce emissions, work on energy transition with ambitious targets for renewables, establish climate laws and legislation, and work on adaptation to tackle desertification, water scarcity and heat waves.” Adnan Z. Amin, director general of the IRENA, said ADSW has become the “premier meeting point for those invested in the transition to a sustainable world.” “The reason it is so important today… is that over the over past couple of years our attention has been focused on game-changing events.