Mukesh Ambani, chairman and CEO of Reliance Industries, has been selected to serve on the Advisory Committee to the President of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Other than Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment, Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian, on the Advisory Committee to the President of COP28.

With Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Olafur Grimsson, Chairman of the Arctic Circle (former President of Iceland), Laurent Fabius, President of COP21 / Paris Agreement, Former Prime Minister of France, Francesco La Camera, Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Bob Dudley, Chair of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), Former CEO of BP, Ambani has joined other significant global leaders on the COP28 Advisory Council.

The COP28 UAE Advisory Committee brings together the climate expertise of thought leaders from countries across six continents.

Also Read: Climate crisis transcends all political, economic spats: European Commission’s Frans Timmermans

From November 30, 2023, to December 12, 2023, the UAE will serve as the host country for the Conference of Parties (COP 28) to the UNFCCC. It will take place in Dubai Expo City. The Conference of Parties, sometimes known as COP, is the UNFCCC's top decision-making body. The UNFCCC was established to address the escalating threat posed by climate change. It was ratified in 1992 during the Summit at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, also known as the Earth Summit or the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The UNFCCC Secretariat is situated in Bonn, Germany.

The 31 members of the Committee, 65 percent of whom are from the Global South and represent policy, business, energy, finance, civil society, youth, and humanitarian action, will offer advice and direction to the COP Presidency in the lead-up to COP28 and beyond.

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change for the UAE, was named by the UNFCCC Secretariat as the COP 28 President-Designate in January 2023.

The Presidency and venue of COP rotate among the five recognised UN regions — Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Central, Eastern and Western Europe. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March 1995. COP is held every year unless the Parties decide otherwise.

(With inputs from ANI)

Also Read: Energy security — an academic's take on why nuclear can't be a loner at the G20’s people-centric energy transition agenda

(Edited by : Pihu Yadav)