The UAE Effect

Building the nation’s lasting impact through youth & diversity, innovation, and competitiveness?

In 2023, the world is learning a lot about the UAE. Some of its leaders are already household names in our universe of climate change and the energy transition. While this recognition is warranted with the UAE’s hosting of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the influence of the country and its leaders is a marked new direction that will have lasting impact far past December.

We are seeing the emergence of what I call the “UAE Effect”—a phenomenon where the country is showing leadership, investment, and initiative to emerge as one of the planet’s decarbonization and innovation trailblazers. Just as the Paris Agreement carries impact past 2015, the UAE is similarly going to make a permanent mark on the direction of climate action going forward.

I’ve previously documented how, in an unprecedented era of action, the UAE is investing to support its lofty goals—not just for the UAE, but for emerging economies across the Global South. For example, the U.S.-UAE Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE) agreement will leverage US$100 billion in financing, investment, and other support to deploy 100 gigawatts of clean energy globally by 2035. The goal is to drive innovation in breakthrough technologies such as clean energy innovation, carbon and methane management, nuclear energy, and hard-to-abate industrial and transportation decarbonization. These efforts are strongly promoted by leaders like HE Dr. Sultan Al Jaber , UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 UAE President-Designate and Amos Hochstein , US Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security.

Here, I focus on three observations from watching the UAE in action that are perhaps less visible, but just as critical to this legacy: the engagement of young and diverse voices, the focus on innovation, and approaching climate change as a competitive advantage.

1. Youth and diverse leadership: The UAE’s COP28 leadership includes Razan Al Mubarak , UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, and Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui , UAE Youth Climate Champion, who is responsible for engaging global youth in the runup to the conference. These leaders are committed to ensuring this year’s event brings diverse voices to the table to deliver outcomes representing women and men, youth and the elderly, and vulnerable populations.

Reflecting this commitment, the UAE established a non-governmental think tank and accelerator, the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators (UICCA), under the leadership of President & CEO HH Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan , to inform, advise and, ultimately, accelerate a socially inclusive transition to a cleaner economy.

GE is equally committed to the role of youth and diverse voices in solving these challenges. We were honored this week to sign an MOU with UICCA focused on the pillars of youth & diversity, innovation & technology, and policy collaboration. Under the first pillar of the MOU, we jointly hosted a STEM-focused innovation challenge for approximately 100 mostly female students from around the world. This successful event is only the beginning of ensuring our actions in this space represent fully diverse people and perspectives, and we thank the UAE for elevating youth and diversity to the top of its agenda. Learn more.

2. Innovation: In discussions with the UAE’s leaders, they articulate with clarity their path to one of the world’s most complex goals. Simply stated, they know they owe it to their people and the planet to be at the leading edge for several ambitions simultaneously: (1) decarbonizing their economy through innovative sources of power, renewable generation, and carbon capture; (2) enabling economic development through investing in breakthrough technologies; and (3) ensuring access to more sustainable, reliable, and affordable electricity for everyone.

Here, the UAE is ensuring it is not just deploying technology from elsewhere but that it is at the cutting edge of innovation and development itself. The intensity of its activities and its commitment to invest enable a ripe proving ground for breakthrough technologies from nuclear energy to sustainable aviation fuels, both in the lab and at the demonstration stage.

The UAE has deep experience in public-private partnerships and bringing government and business together to get things done on the scale warranted for these challenges. GE is proud to partner with the UAE in ensuring that its scientists, engineers, and technicians join us at the earliest stages to work shoulder to shoulder in innovating these needed technologies. Our power monitoring and diagnostics center and our aviation technology center in Dubai have been strong proving grounds for this.

3. Competitiveness: Perhaps the groundswell surprising me the most is the UAE’s investments in climate change for economic competitiveness. It was not long ago that some countries would be shy to sign up for Paris Agreement commitments for fear that others might be less ambitious and thus gain a competitive advantage. The UAE is turning that tide, pointing to its climate response as the next pillar in its economic evolution, and expressing the urgency of action to succeed for the benefit of its economy and its people.

As Dr. Sultan has said, he will run COP28 like a business—holding the UAE and its partners accountable for key performance indicators, metrics, and delivering on commitments. Just as Dr. Sultan himself is a diplomat, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, the founder of a renewable energy company, and CEO of an oil and gas company, the UAE too embodies all key components of the transition to succeed both for climate change and the economy at the same time.

At GE, we want to see all countries invested in the supply chain and the work force for the clean energy future. That’s why we’re committed to work with the UAE and other nations to not just install our technology, but help engineer, design, build, and operate it. Like the UAE, we see the opportunities for our engineers to work side by side, to share leadership in building breakthrough technologies, and to leverage our relationships and partnerships as a force multiplier beyond the UAE and for the Global South.

The UAE Effect

The UAE sits between the developed and developing worlds as it looks to decarbonize while diversifying its economy. Its arid environment and geographic position make it directly exposed to the impacts of climate change. Its people need the UAE to lead for both their economic and physical livelihoods.

By all these aspects and others that make up this nation of 10 million people – including its large population of expatriates from 200-plus nations – the UAE will guide this year’s negotiations with a holistic, experienced, and pragmatic eye to what it will take to achieve tangible, practical progress.

That is the UAE Effect, and a few of the reasons that COP28 is not the end of the UAE’s story, but the beginning.