'Qatar takes serious steps in addressing climate change'

HE the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali al-Thani has said that Qatar has taken serious local and international steps in combating climate change.
In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), he said that Qatar's participation in the Climate Ambition Summit held in New York City comes in the context of Qatar's engagement with any positive effort to deal with climate change, and its belief that this phenomenon requires redoubled efforts and co-operation between countries to prevent its escalation, pointing out that international climate indicators show that the world is moving in the wrong direction and confirm that carbon emissions have reached record levels, which warns that temperatures in the coming years will be higher than in previous years.
He added that the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change realises the importance of this summit, which brings together most of the world's countries and international decision-makers, which made it participate actively and seriously through its delegation.
He said that there is no doubt that the devastating effects of climate change will greatly affect developing and limited-income countries and will also cause severe damage to fragile and vulnerable societies through natural disasters such as drought, fires, and floods, which will contribute to an increase in the pace of displacement and mass migration of these communities.
He expressed the hope that the current summit will work to rebuild confidence between developing and developed countries, which will contribute to accelerating joint climate action during the next five years.
He also pointed out that the financial commitments made by some countries are still not fulfilled and do not meet the repercussions of the phenomenon of climate change and its global impacts.
He said that the Climate Ambition Summit will be held immediately after the Sustainable Development Goals Summit (2023 SDG Summit). HE Dr Sheikh Faleh said that Qatar recently launched National Climate Change Action Plan 2030 (NCCAP), which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%.
He added that the NAPCC identified more than 35 initiatives to reduce emissions, in addition to 300 measures to reduce the actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects. He said that the MoECC participated in the session on investing in climate change education for a green future, in addition to the participation of young people, organized by the Education Above All Foundation (EAA) in co-operation with Silatech.