Western governments should stop preaching to developing nations about climate policy and instead work to improve inter-governmental cooperation, recognize economic realities, and prioritize sustainable development, Badr Jafar, CEO of Sharjah-headquartered Crescent Enterprises, has said.
In his opinion, there should be “less finger-pointing” by developed nations and “more extending hands of cooperation.”
Appearing on the Arab News program “Frankly Speaking,” Jafar, who is also special representative for business and philanthropy for the 28th UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, due to be held in Dubai next month, added that the human-development agenda must not be decoupled from the climate agenda.
“This is a problem with a lot of the green political agenda being preached today, with so many struggling to make ends meet or even survive, who may see this rhetoric as Western elitist bigotry, ignorant of their human realities on the ground,” he said.
“So, we can no longer decouple the human-development agenda, which is 12 of the 17 SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals) from the climate agenda, or the nature agenda for that matter.”
Jafar added: “They are two sides of the same coin. And the edge of that coin is conducive climate policy that embraces a greener evolution of all of our systems, while ensuring equitable opportunities for the billions who haven’t yet been afforded them, including the 800 million without access to electricity today, or the 2.3 billion with no access to clean cooking fuels.”—AN
