 Ladies and gentlemen, as always, it is a great pleasure and privilege to be back at the World Policy Conference. And I can tell you, usually a moderator comes on stage and says, welcome to a very timely session, but I can tell you this time it is really heartfelt because the session, of course, is titled Climate Change. Is there still a collective will? And I couldn't have asked for two better individuals to guide us through this very timely indeed conversation a few weeks before COP28 right here in this very country. To my immediate left, of course, somebody who needs very little introduction in this part of the world and increasingly beyond, nonetheless, I will give one anyway. She is, of course, the UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mariam Al-Hiri. And I'm equally delighted because when we talk about COP, obviously COP28 is the one we're all very excited about. But there was one COP, COP21 in particular, in Paris that set the standard very high for all the following ones, the Paris Climate Agreement, obviously being the main result of this. We have the President of the COP21 with us. He's currently the President of the French Constitutional Council and needless to say a former French Prime Minister. Please welcome Laurent Fabius. Madam Minister, let's dive right into it. First of all, thank you for making time. I know your schedule must be super busy. We're only a few weeks until COP28 gets underway in Dubai. And you will be hosting the world, you just told me backstage, more than 100 heads of state, including the Pope, have confirmed their attendance. So the eyes of the world will be on you. And you're also, aside from being the Minister of Climate Change and Environment, you'll also be leading the UAE delegation for COP. Give us a glimpse here. And we have the privilege of having you. So obviously I cannot pass up the opportunity of asking how are the preparations coming along? Thank you so much, Ali. Thank you for having me. And let me first say what a pleasure it is to share the stage with Laurent. And thank you so much for your time here today. I know you've had some great sessions. It is 27 days until COP28 starts. And you can imagine us as a country. We're extremely excited to welcome the world. And the time is so critical to have all countries convene in a place that is serious and committed on the climate journey. The UAE has a great track record. When you look at where we are on the energy transition, as you know, we house three of the largest solar parks. We're just embarking on wind energy. We've got also the nuclear power plant. We've really diversified. And today more than 70% of our GDP is non-oil based. So we have a track record, the geography of the UAE, and also our bridge building abilities with so many countries makes us really the ideal place to convene the world to talk about climate action. And as you know, we're off track. We all know that. The first global stock take will happen at COP28. This is a huge endeavor to let us know what are the gaps. How do we have to course correct? I think it's really important that everyone realizes this is the time we need to unite. This is the time when we need to look at solutions and upscaling the solutions really quickly. And for us, the solutions-based unification of the world to combat climate change is so critical. And that's why we're actually extremely excited. Preparations are underway, Ali. We can always look at what else needs to be done, but from our experiences in the other COPs, from looking at what we want to achieve in this COP, I think we're well underway. And of course we will- Yes, for certain. Of course we will talk more about your aspirations and expectations and the many sticking issues that will have to be addressed once COP gets underway. But you could not have been more blunt in the past and in present saying the house is on fire. And Mr. President, that is of course something that unites us all, the collective will, at least on paper. The house is on fire. We do want to get it extinguished. Now you, of course, have been the president of COP 21 and you have been part of every single COP since then. Give us a glimpse. How has the trajectory changed throughout the years? What have been the biggest, most significant and most notable differences from COP to COP? Thank you and good morning to everybody. What are the differences between Paris in 2015 and Emirates today? There are some differences. In Paris, the objective was to have a conjunction between three different planets. And today it's true, but the planets have evolved in a different way. What do I mean? The first planet is a scientific planet. It was very important in Paris that science, IPCC and all that stuff be more understood by the general public. It was done and since Paris, I think science and technology have improved very much. Therefore, I have no doubt about this scientific planet. The second planet is much more difficult. It's civil society. As far as general public is concerned, there is a greater awareness of the climate problem. As far as the cities are concerned, the NGOs, many companies, there have been improvements. Though, and we shall probably discuss that, there are some groups which are still resisting. But the main difference is about governments. In Paris in 2015, we were lucky to have an international setting which was positive, in particular a sort of alliance between US and China. And diplomacy was such that we are able to get everybody together. Today, obviously it's a different story. And it would be one of the main difficulties. And meanwhile, another difference which is very important is that the situation of climate is worse than it was before. Because we know that compared to Paris, there are different commitments. But the main one was about the 1.5 degrees. And honestly, we are off track. And therefore, there are similarities with Paris and there are differences. But my guess is that anyway, the Emirates Cup, the Cup 28 is a decisive one because we are in danger and we hope that this Cup will be helpful and a success. Yeah, the situation has in many ways worsened as you have pointed out. The imminency and the dangers of climate change are becoming much more noticeable, Madam Minister. That's why you have repeatedly said we have to walk the talk. We have to raise the ambition. We have to step up the efforts. And you're leading by a good example. You've put forth a plan in the UAE that cuts emissions by 40% by 2030 and become net zero by 2050. Now, you're of course one of the biggest oil and gas producing countries attempting to lead the energy transition here. That's quite ambitious indeed. So I just want to give you all a story. I know you've heard a lot of speeches, but I just want to share something with you. I was in Iceland two weeks ago. And what I saw there, and of course being close to the glaciers, what is climate change about? It's because the ice is melting. And because the ice is melting, you're having this whole ripple effect that's happening. So when you want to explain to a child what is climate change, it's about we've disrespected nature too long. We're seeing the glaciers melting. And by the way, they told me a fact which really scared me actually. If a quarter of the Greenland ice masses melt, this leads to a two meter sea level rise across the globe. This is huge. And you actually hear the ice melting the whole time. It's consistently melting. You see the ice breaking and falling into the water. So actually seeing these things with my own eyes was a huge eye opener. Now, when it comes to us here in the UAE, we've been very serious about the whole climate change journey. I mean, we ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016. We were one of the first in the region to do so because we understood the implications. We understood this is a serious subject that we have to follow. So we directly set up, also Mazdar was set up in 2006 because already our leadership said we need to diversify from where we get our energy. We need to build the knowledge. Because, ladies and gentlemen, it's not just about putting money into making a facility. You need the intellectual transition as well. You need the capacity building. That's why we're always talking about a just energy transition. And by the way, COP28 is going to try to solve four things. First of all, it's about the just energy transition. And because ourselves as a country are going through, we are going through this transition. We understand we need political will. We need money. We need to build up the national capacity. We need to diversify. We know from experience what it means when we talk about a just energy transition. And everyone needs to do it in their own ways because every country is different, is at a different level, has accessibility to certain financial funds or no funds. So it's really complicated. The second thing we'll be looking after is fixing climate finance. That's a huge deal. That's kind of the enabler in everything we're trying to do. And of course, His Excellency Sultan, the COP28 president-designate, is really pushing for the $100 billion commitment. The loss and damage fund is another area that needs to be fixed. The whole financial institutions needs to be re-looked at so that money can be accessible, available, and affordable, and needs to go to the places it needs to go to. The other aspect we're looking at is making sure that nature, people, livelihoods is in the center of COP28. It's so important to think of the food systems, to think of health, to think of nature, make nature our ally. How can we use the force of nature to our benefit? And we need to do that. And then, of course, the inclusivity. We are trying to make the COP28 the most inclusive COP ever done. And what I mean by this is the indigenous people, the women, the youth, faith-based organizations all coming together because what they have in common is about we need to do more to respect nature and bringing them all together and making sure that all voices from across the world are here is our commitment. What's so important, Ali, I'm so sorry because I'm very passionate about this, is that we need to bring hope back to this whole process. We need to enlighten the young people because this is about their future. We need to showcase solutions and technologies and innovations which I've seen to be able to scale it up in the places that's needed and make sure the funding goes there. So the UAE walking the talk, yes, we have updated for the third time our second NDC to 40%. Last year we were at 31%. And look, we were just and we were improved it by 9% in one year. And this is to show because we can see technologies are maturing. And again, we're very lucky that we have the political will. So for us, we are on the transition in our own country, but we're making sure to also help others. That's why in Africa climate week, we have put forward a $4.5 billion fund to help the African countries in their transition because we understand how important funding is for this transition. Hope is of course the word that you have mentioned that everybody wants to rally around. We have many young people also here in the audience who I'm sure would very much like that sound of your message. I will come back to you a little bit more about the ambitions that your country has, but I want to bring in Mr. President here once more because hope is one thing, but if we're looking at the naked numbers, energy still accounts for two-thirds of total greenhouse gas. So the energy sector is still the central player in the efforts to reduce emissions and combat climate change. Now, it is very admirable to hear Madam Minister talk about trying to wean itself off fossil fuel in the long run, more diversification, more renewable energies. But are we really at a point right now where we can completely phase out fossil fuels? Many people say and Madam Minister, you're one of them who say that oil, gas and coal still have a role to play. So the balance that we're trying to do here, the movement towards renewables, but at the same time still being dependent on fossil fuels. How do we narrow that gap? It's obviously one of the main difficulties of this carp and of all the carp. Now, all of us, we read a lot of reports and the main thing is what is serious, what is not serious. As far as I'm concerned, I take my positions stemming on three elements. A, the work of IPCC because they are serious, they agree, there is a consensus. And when they write something, it's serious, IPCC. B, International Energy Agency, they are very serious and what they say, it's not nonsense. And C, more generally, what the Secretary General of UN, Mr. Gutierrez says, because he's well informed, he's a reasonable man. And if, with my own judgments, I am stemming on these elements, I think if we want Emirates Cup to be a success, we have three main objectives. I don't mean that they are easy, but it will be the success. The first one is about what we call global stock take. It's a bit technical, but it means that in Paris we have decided that periodically every single country has to deliver what we call a national determined contribution saying I will do that and then it is checked. And this time in Emirates we have to see where we are and we know that we shall be off track and where the different nations want to be in the future. The first element which will be decisive is how about this global stock take. The second one is obviously about energy. The idea is developed that there must be a real commitment at least to triple the renewable. And there are a lot of discussion about phasing down or phasing out of fossil fuels. I will add, which is very important, the question of methane, CH4, which is less popular than CO2, but which is a decisive element and where we can get enormous results. Probably something like a diminishing of 75% till 2030. And then obviously the question of finance which will be decisive. What you said, Mariam, is absolutely true. We have to make operational the loss and damage fund. It was about the only result of the 27 Cup and we have to make it real. We have to make real the objective of $100 billion a year from the rich country to developing countries. It has been promised in 2009 and it ought to be delivered in 2020 and we are in 2023. And obviously the question of investing more in renewable and disinvesting in fossil fuel because otherwise the objective of a better balance has no sense. And then there is, but it will take time, the general reform of the international financial system and especially the direction of developing countries and especially the direction of Africa because they are not responsible for the emissions and they have not enough money in order to get the renewable and so on and so forth. If we are able, if we are able to reach these elements, Cup 28 will remain as important as Paris Cup. Stressing the need to balance the green transition with affordability and energy security inclusivity you've already mentioned, Madam Minister, will be very high on the agenda of Cup 28. And of course the question is always switching of fossil fuels and solely depending on clean and renewable energy. Net zero by 2050 is what your country has set out to do. We're in 2023. That's not too long from now. No, it's not too long. So we announced our strategic initiative, which is net zero by 2050. That was in 2021. Last year at Sharma Sheikh, we actually announced our pathway. So where we want to be every five years when it comes to emissions that's already been set for the country. And now we're actually looking into the how, how we're going to reach it, what policies, which sectors need to be involved, what projects, where should the money go? All that is being discussed now heavily in the UAE. Yeah, I can imagine it's a very intense discussion and one that the world is following. Already been said that energy accounts for two-thirds of total greenhouse gas. But many people might not know this. Global food supply actually accounts for nearly a third of global emissions and will be from what I understand a major focus of Cup 28 as well. I know you're very passionate about trying to create a sustainable agriculture that will be resilient to changes in climate. That's something that you will put at the forefront in a few weeks. Absolutely. So as you rightly said, food systems accounts for the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases emissions after the energy sector. Many people don't realize that. And that's why we need to fix our food systems, fix our agriculture, fix our behavior when it comes to food. Fix the food loss and food waste problems. So much goes into it. And I was before getting the position as Minister of Climate Change and Environment where food security is also embedded in our ministry. I was the Minister of State for Food Security. And already in 2017-18, we embarked as a country. We have the national strategy for the country. We've invested heavily in technologies. In those days when I started, we didn't have any ag tech companies. Now we have nearly 200 ag tech companies. So these are companies that basically recirculate the water in a closed environment and we're able to grow many high value foods in the desert. So I don't know if any of you have tried any of the blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. They are most probably grown here in the desert. And this is something we couldn't have done without the power of innovation and technology. So companies now are seeing it's commercially viable to do that. And this is the excitement of changing our food systems. And why I also mentioned behavior, it really comes down to us as people as well. How much food or edible food is going into the bin at the end of the day? Now I've been a big advocate of food systems and I promised everyone I would make sure that food systems has center stage at COP28. And thankfully, supporting also the COP28 presidency, I am the food lead and food will have center stage on the first day of the leaders summit. And we're so excited because I've worked with many of you as partner countries, as experts on the food systems agenda. And there were two things that I was hearing from everyone. We need an agenda and we need political will. So the agenda I announced in July in Rome at the UN Food Systems Summit. What's the agenda? It's basically four pillars, getting political will, getting non-state actors on board, scaling up finance into food systems and focusing on innovations. Those are the main four pillars. And on pillar number one, political will, we have managed as many partner countries to put together a declaration. This declaration is called the Emirates Declaration for Resilient Food Systems, Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Action. I know it's long, but this is what the partners wanted and it's been sent out to all the countries already a week ago to get endorsement. And I hope and I plan that at COP28, I will be able to announce many countries who have endorsed this, meaning that their countries have said yes. The political will is there. I'm going to make sure food systems is part of my NDC, which is what Lauren spoke about, the National Determined Contributions. My food systems, I'm going to make sure it's in our national biodiversity strategies. And I'm going to make sure my food systems is also part of our national adaptation programs. So this is what the declaration is about. It's a two-pager and it's just building that political will that we need to transform food systems. I also just want to add something about the energy. You were talking about a switch. I often ask people, do you know how much energy you need to build a solar panel? Do you know how much energy you need to build a turbine for a wind turbine? It's so much energy. You cannot do that with the renewable energy you have today. So it's so important you use the energy systems of today to build the energy systems of tomorrow. And that's why traveling renewable energy, the UAE is on a pathway to travel its renewable energy by 2030, but other countries need help. They need technical help. They need financial help. So it's really important that at COP28, we all support each other to travel renewable energy globally. But everyone has their own challenges. And that's why we need to step up. And that's why you've seen Mazdar is now in so many countries really stepping up their knowledge, their financial means that they can put into this. But that part is so important. And that's why I always say this needs a just transition because you need so much energy and power to build the future energy systems of tomorrow. And the importance, of course, of multilateralism in this regard and building synergies to align these responses to climate change, as you just pointed out, are very, very critical indeed. Mr. President, you've been the president of COP21. We have ahead of a delegation of an upcoming COP. So a lot of expertise here amassed on this stage. Clearly COP serves a very important function. But there are a lot of people who also say, look, these are important gatherings, but at the end of the day, a lot of pledges are being made, pledges for actions. And then people leave and there's no accountability and there's no transparency afterwards. How can we track the steps and developments better in the aftermath of what is undoubtedly an important event? But where's the longevity here? Well, it's a big question. There are critics about COPs and we can share these critics because they are heavy and so on and so forth. But what else? What else? Do you know another opportunity to get together all the governments, the companies, the NGOs and to compel the different states to take commitments and to check if the commitments are fulfilled or not? We don't have right now a better system. And therefore, the question is still there. How to be sure that the commitments will be fulfilled? It's a more general question. It doesn't apply only to climate. And the problem is that today, it's rather a philosophical observation, the main problems of humanity are international, interdisciplinary and intergenerational. And we don't have a system of governments which is able to tackle these new elements, okay? But I think what is necessary, first, during the COP and it is the importance of the presidency to gain the trust of the 200 states which will be there. You know, there's always a sort of fear by the different member states saying, well, probably the president of the COP has the solution in its pocket and, okay, no, you have to build trust. And if you build trust, you can do very important things. I remember, for instance, that the famous figure of 1.5 degrees in Paris at the beginning of the conference, nearly all the powerful states were against it. The science was for, but they were against because obviously it was a problem for them. But by the dynamics of the conference, by some particular speeches, by the discussions, and at the end, by the arbitration of the presidency, it was decided. And today we know that it is the objective. There is another point which is the continuity of COPS. And from this viewpoint, I'm a bit concerned by the fact that it's not clear what will be COP 29, okay? Because you know, it's a strange thing. The president of the COP becomes president of the COP in the second week of the COP. Well, it's a figment of our imagination. In fact, is president of the COP since once here. Then from the legal point of view, it will be president of the COP during this COP. But what's next? If we don't have in COP 29 a solid COP and today we don't know who will be the country. We know that COP 30 will be Brazil. And for different reasons, I think that Brazil will be very active. But if we have an excellent COP in Emirates, but a sort of haul in next year, we shall, I would say, lose or waste probably one year. Therefore, the continuity, the fact that we must always be in advance, move forward. But to ensure continuity, it's absolute necessity. One other point. Let's be careful about long term. It's not surprising to say that. I remember a chat with Mr. Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, and he said to me two things. And I think he was right. And I very often think about that. He said, you know, Mr. Fabius, there are two mistakes that you must avoid. A, to be too long term, because in the long run we are all dead. If you say to people, okay, that is the aim in 2016. Therefore, the question of climate is raised against time. We have to act urgently. And it's necessary to have a long term view, but not too long term. And the second one is, let's be careful about over pessimism. We have enough pessimism right now. If you say to people, today it's difficult. Tomorrow it will be more difficult. And I don't speak to you about, okay, they will do nothing. Therefore, to keep, while being honest, a feeling of hope and to act urgently, it's absolute necessity. Yeah, the race against time, I think. Yes, I will just add something to what Lauren said. Partnerships is so important here. And, you know, for those of you who don't know, the cops are, of course, there's a huge negotiations team behind it, and they are sitting for hours until past midnight talking and talking and talking and looking at one word. You have to get people tired. If they are tired, it's okay. You see, you need to get people tired until they give in. The same system at the World Policy Conference, by the way. Tired and good food. Yes, I wanted to come to that. So what we've found that's been really good is to find something that partners are excited about and work together with the partners to make kind of platforms. So Aim for Climates, for example, the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate, that we're spearheading with the US, for example. It's been up and running for two years. We have over 500 partners, $13 billion of committed investments, and they're all about looking at innovations in smart climate-resilient agriculture. And this has been really, it's become a platform made for partners, by partners, and they choose their innovation sprints. They're calling innovation sprints the areas they want to work together in. They get money from outside, and they're sprinting innovations. And this, I find, has been a powerful tool of how to accelerate things. And then, of course, hopefully, even after the COP, it just keeps moving. Another thing was the mangrove Alliance for Climate. This is a platform for getting countries who understand the power of mangroves and restoring mangrove forests. By the way, we don't have any forests in the UAE, but we do have mangrove forests. These are basically our trees, and they are amazing swamps or sinks for carbon. And seeing the power of that, plus the power of biodiversity, and they're beautiful to look at as well, we've managed to create MAC. We've got 20 countries on board now. The latest newcomer was Germany. And this is about bringing countries together that want to champion certain things to accelerate quickly, because that's what we need right now. Coming to food. Again, food. At the cops that I've been to, the last two, the food wasn't too good. And when you are doing meeting after meeting, and the negotiators are negotiating, and they don't have good food, and they don't have good coffee, the result isn't good. So what I've done is I said, this COP, I want to make it a little bit different when it comes to food. So what I did, Lauren doesn't know this, I invited all the suppliers, the restaurants, let's say, kitchen staff, and we did a workshop called the Climate Conscious Catering Workshop for Cops. And we started this, there were more than 200 chefs, restaurant owners, and we said, we want you to make sure that at COP28, we are serving 1.5 degree aligned food. And with that, we taught them, or let's say the experts taught them, how to make a burger. The burgers still can taste good, but now you're taking it with a climate conscious mind. You're looking more at where you can source locally, what kind of flavors you can bring into it, and believe me, the chefs had fun doing this. And then of course, taking into account how can we reduce the waste, make it a no-waste COP. So all this, we started in a way, a legacy, hopefully, that will continue to all Cops, starting from COP28. So we may not have it perfect, but I tell you, I hope you can all look forward to the food, because it will be very much low-carbon food, low-carbon snacks, and 1.5 degree aligned menus as well. So one thing is for certain, that throughout these long and contentious discussion, no one will be hungry. That's for certain. So the lack of food will not be one of the reasons why things might fall apart. Rest assured. Now, being mindful of the time, of course, the session is coming to an end. And if we're looking, we talked about credibility, we talked about hope, something that is extremely important. Of course, the aspirations and expectations of COP28 that lie ahead of us. Now, interesting. It already has garnering momentum as we speak. There's real impetus at a pre-COP28 meeting where countries have come together to agree on a fund to help deal with efforts of climate change. So already some positive steps leading up to this big event. Same question to both of you. What in your opinion, what would constitute, what would you consider to be a successful outcome of COP28? Mr. President, we'll start with you. Very practical things. A, operationalize loss and damage fund. B, to really achieve the $100 billion a year. C, a commitment to renewable. D, a commitment to phasing out or phasing down fossil fuel. I would add a final comment. Let us not forget from my own experience that the climate problem is always a social problem. We know what are the answers. But if you propose answers to populations who are not in a situation to make them efficient, that doesn't make sense. If you say, okay, I raised taxes because I want less classical vehicles, energy and so on. Okay, but if people need them and if you don't have the money to solve the problem, forget it. Therefore, it is always a social problem which means it is always a financial problem and all that we have talked about which is very interesting. Without a financial reform, it doesn't make sense. That is clear words. Now, the Paris Climate Agreement 2015 as raised above. Of course, it would be wonderful if post COP28, we talk about Emirati climate agreement that people start referring to. But in all seriousness, I know the ambitions are high. What are you aiming to get out of this? What is the goal? What would be success in your opinion? So on top of everything that Laurent said because those are extremely important, I will look a little bit more from the human side of things. First of all, to bring trust and hope back into the process. We for the first time have brought in a youth climate champion into the process and we hope this will continue onwards and you will see a huge number of young people not only just being part of a delegation but these young people will be in the negotiations room because it's about their lives. I hope to get commitments from more than 100 countries on the Emirates declaration on food systems. I hope also this will be a great platform to show the world who we are as Emiratis, what our values are, what our journey has been and how committed we are to this cause and that we are a credible partner in this. And of course, hopefully people will leave COP28 with a smile feeling that they've had a great experience that they've come out with an outcome to say, you know what, I'm proud to go home to my kids and tell them I've done something for your future. But I think we all need to step up because we don't have time to discuss and discuss and discuss. I think everyone needs to know that everyone has to give in a little bit so that we can get to where we need to be. We all know what we want at the end of the day. So we need to provide the best ecosystem for everyone to come and be able to convene and discuss. But we also hope that with all the list of things that Laurent just mentioned, those are the main outcomes. And for me, it's about hope and positivity. Let's course correct where we are. We owe it to our kids. Hope and positivity. Walk the talk, raise the ambition and step up the efforts. Ladies and gentlemen, I think to say that there's a global anticipation for this upcoming event is certainly no overstatement. We're very much looking forward to COP28 and hopefully the results that it will produce climate change. Ladies and gentlemen, is there still a collective? Well, I guess we will find out soon enough here in this very country, not too far from here in Dubai. I think I speak for all when I say this has been an extremely insightful discussion and is wetting the appetite, if you will, for things to come. The UAE Minister of Climate Change Environment, Merriam, and of course the President of the French Constitutional Council, Laurent Fabius. Thank you so much. This is your applause. Much appreciated.