The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the sixth member of the Net Zero Producers Forum (NPF), a coalition of countries focused on creating and implementing ways to achieve net-zero emissions worldwide, the UAE and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced last week.
The Office of the UAE Special Envoy For Climate Change announced the decision May 12 in a post to Twitter, stating the country is "pleased to join the Net Zero Producers Forum alongside the U.S. and other partners to reinforce UAE’s commitment to making low-cost, low-carbon energy more available."
The UAE joins the U.S., Canada, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the NPF, a move "welcomed" by the member countries, the DOE reported May 13. NPF members, which make up 45 percent of global oil production and 40% of natural gas production, are "cooperatively developing net-zero emission strategies," according to the DOE.
"The inclusion of the UAE further strengthens the Forum’s ability to respond effectively and pragmatically to the global climate challenge," the DOE reports, "while supporting a sustainable and secure energy future."
The NPF was formed by the DOE in April 2021 as "a new international forum dedicated to developing long-term strategies to reach global net-zero emissions," the DOE reported at the time.
"To achieve our global climate goals we need cooperation from all major emitters," the DOE stated in the 2021 announcement, "including oil and gas producing nations, to identify and act on solutions to phase out unabated fossil fuel emissions, while reducing emissions to the maximum extent possible in the interim.
The International Energy Forum (IEF) praised the formation of the NPF and its pledge to "develop pragmatic net-zero emission strategies," the IEF stated in its April 2021 report on the NPF.
"Energy producers are faced with unique responsibilities to furnish the world with the energy it needs to operate," IEF Secretary General Joseph McMonigle said in the IEF report, "but the climate crisis requires serious leadership and a strong alliance to deliver a path to net zero."
