COP28: UAE launches new $30 billion climate investment fund

The United Arab Emirates said Friday it is launching a new $30 billion private investment fund focused on climate projects in developing countries.

The oil-rich host of the crunch United Nations COP28 climate negotiations in Dubai said it hopes the fund, called Alterra, will stimulate investments totalling $250 billion by 2030.

"I am pleased to announce the establishing of a $30 billion fund for global climate solutions," UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told the summit.

COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the UAE's national oil company ADNOC, will chair the board of the new fund, according to a statement.

It said the fund "will drive forward international efforts to create a fairer climate finance system, with an emphasis on improving access to funding for the Global South."

Emerging markets and developing economies, except China, will need to spend $2.4 trillion every year to address their climate and development needs, according to a UN economic expert panel, far above the current levels of investments.

The UAE initiative is seen as part of the country's broader strategy for COP28, pushing to involve the private sector while voluntarily pledging big sums.

Money has already been set aside to develop more than six gigawatts of clean energy capacity in India, including building wind and solar projects by 2025, the statement said.

Other projects in Africa and Latin America were also being explored, it added.

Asset managers BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG are launch partners of the fund, according to the statement.

The UAE sees itself as a bridge between the rich developed nations most responsible for historic emissions and the rest of the world, which has contributed less to global warming but suffers its worst consequences.

But the decision for it to host has attracted a firestorm of criticism -- particularly the appointment of ADNOC's Jaber to steer the talks.