DUBAI: Kuwait has reiterated its commitment to the international agreements to cut gas emissions to building a system capable of addressing future challenges. Kuwait is also moving forward to achieving New Kuwait Vision by insuring that 15 percent from the local electricity is renewable energy by 2030.

With the active participation of Kuwait, the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP28), kicked off on Thursday in Dubai Expo City. COP is considered the primary decision-making body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the participation of representatives of 197 countries which signed or are parties to the UNFCC, and thousands of experts and journalist in the field of climate change.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan welcomed the international community for the start of COP28 in Dubai, through a post on social media platform known as X. The conference aims to discuss ways to fight climate change, which increased and has a negative outcome on human rights, he added.

Kuwait’s Minister of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Jassem Al-Ostad affirmed to KUNA that His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, made clear instructions to build renewable energy stations in order to provide clean and cheap energy on one hand, and honor Kuwait’s commitment in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 on the other hand. He added that Kuwait will face power shortage in the coming years so that the planned approach is to invite corporates or consortiums to establish clean energy stations in what is known as the Independent Power Provider (IPP), adding that these companies would be building solar energy stations that provided clean and cheap electricity.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil Nimer Al-Malek Al-Sabah stressed the importance of Kuwait’s participation in COP28 and other ministerial meetings before the conference to unite the international efforts regarding climate change. These meetings are of great importance because it shows the international community’s ability to achieve and deliver a clear message on protecting the climate and looking into related important issues, Shiekh Nimer AlSabah said to KUNA in a previous statement during his participation in the COP28 preliminary meeting.

He expressed aspiration for fruitful valuable discussions in the conference, amid the participation of world leaders to enhance efforts to reduce emissions from the current energy system and cooperate to build a system capable of keeping pace with future requirements and challenges. COP28 is scheduled to witness the first global assessment of the ongoing efforts for two years to determine the extent of progress made by the concerned authorities in implementing climate action plans, to face global warming and other environmental issues.

The world has been witnessing outbreaks of forest fires and their spread to cities that are experiencing extreme heat, leading to drying up agricultural lands and storm-swept coasts, in addition to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting mainly from burning fossil fuels, is leading to serious consequences. –KUNA