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As global temperatures reach record highs and countries are affected by floods and heat waves, there’s an urgent need for the world to reach its climate goals.

The UAE’s COP28 will boost an energy transition that “phases down the use of fossil fuels,” said Sultan Al Jaber, designated President of the climate summit and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology.

This can only be achieved when countries increase their renewable energy capacity, he pointed out. The phase-down of fossil fuels is both “inevitable” and “essential.” But “I don’t have a magic (wand)” as to when that will happen, he told AFP in Brussels.

At a meeting in Brussels, Al Jaber said that delegates from 200 countries at the United Nations COP28 summit must set targets for tripling renewables and doubling hydrogen production by 2030.

“We must be brutally honest about the gaps that need to be filled, the root causes, and how we got here today,” Al Jaber told ministers.

Setting a functional fund to compensate poor countries affected by climate change is a major goal for the summit. The minister urged countries to commit to providing $100 billion in annual climate finance.

At the meeting where ministers and representatives gathered from 20 countries in Brussels, Al Jaber emphasized that companies must “attack all emissions,” including Scopes 1, 2, and 3, which includes emissions produced directly by the firms and those by customers using their products. For oil and gas businesses, Scope 3 emissions comprise more than 80% of the total and usually don’t feature in their climate plans.

Representatives from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Kenya, Malawi, and Vanuatu have called on Al Jaber to ensure the summit succeeds in a letter published in the Financial Times.

As part of the Paris Agreement to help mitigate the impacts of climate change, countries have a target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.