Regional climate conference “MENA Climate Week 2023” begins in Saudi Arabia

The “MENA Climate Week 2023” conference is taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, these days (8–12 October 2023). It is part of a series of four regional conferences. As the second in the series, this conference provides a forum for discussion for the Middle East and North Africa region, following the conference in Kenya last month. Meetings will also take place in Panama and Malaysia before the end of the year. Each region is expected to map out its path towards the Paris Agreement goals, with an assessment of progress and a symbolic culmination of the entire series to be provided by the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, better known as COP 28, which is being hosted in Dubai this year.

Climate change, its impacts and how to mitigate it are the key topics of the conference currently under way. It brings together scientists, activists, politicians and other representatives whose shared goal is to cooperate on the issue of global warming.

The event is held under the auspices of the UN, and its programme covers four tracks:

• Energy systems and industry;
• Cities, human settlements, infrastructure and transport;
• Land, ocean, food and water;
• Societies, health, livelihoods and economies.

The overall schedule is also organised around these tracks and will feature several projects. On the first day, for example, the Saudi energy minister spoke about testing hydrogen trains and diversifying through small modular reactors. The programme also includes various exhibitions accompanied by cultural activities.

The event gives Saudi Arabia an opportunity to use its role as host to its advantage and present its efforts towards an energy transition to the world. These efforts include, for example, the Saudi Green Initiative and the deployment of renewable energy sources.

The Saudis are expected to promote their “Circular Carbon Economy Approach” during the week, which focuses on managing carbon. Another notable item on the programme will undoubtedly be Just & Inclusive Energy Transition, or a just energy transition, whose arguments will be interesting to follow in this region.

More broadly, this regional conference, together with the others, is one of the stages of the so-called “global stocktake”, which can be loosely understood as a global inventory of the Paris Agreement goals. In practice, this involves assessing progress, or conversely the shortcomings, countries have in meeting those goals. It may give them an opportunity to adjust their strategies to reach the goals faster, or to help one another meet them.

The conferences will feature an open, collective dialogue, following the initial collection and analysis of the necessary information. COP 28 will then mark the third phase of this process, which is considered essential to combating climate change. Its purpose is to identify measures relevant to the region and set timelines needed to accelerate progress towards keeping the planet’s warming on a reachable trajectory—that is, stabilising it.