The United Arab Emirates is in the spotlight this week as some 70,000 premiers, potentates, and poseurs descend on Dubai to attend the COP 28 climate conference, from which much is hoped but little is expected. Not far away, 35 kilometers outside of Abu Dhabi City, the Al Dhafra Solar Facility was switched on just days before the climate summit is scheduled to begin.
The timing is not a coincidence. It is meant to send a signal to the world that while the UAE remains one of the largest producers of oil and methane gas in the world, it recognizes that change can and must occur. The UAE is historically hot. Burning the fuels it produces makes it even hotter. The Al Dhafra solar installation is expected to reduce atmospheric carbon emissions by 2.4 million tons each year.
It is no coincidence that Sultan Al Jaber is both the leader of the COP 28 climate talks and head of ADNOC, the…
Read the full article originally published at cleantechnica.com.