Qatar placed yet another magnificent feather on its cap in the fight against climate change when Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pledged $100m as Qatar’s contribution to support small developing island states and the least developed states to deal with their struggle against changing climate, natural hazards, environmental challenges and to build the capacity to counter their destructive effects. The announcement came during H H the Amir’s address to the Climate Finance and Carbon Pricing Coalition session at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
H H the Amir announced during his speech before world leaders that Qatar, as the host country of the FIFA World Cup 2022, is committed to organising an environment-friendly tournament and the first carbon neutral tournament through the use of cooling and lighting technology which will result in tremendous conservation of water and electricity.
Qatar has been taking a multi-pronged approach toward mitigating the phenomena of global climate change, which portends the destruction of several small island nations and calamities across the world if left unattended.
The country spared no efforts in making its voice of advocacy for the protection of the environment heard in every international fora. As H H the Amir mentioned in the address, the State of Qatar has assumed its responsibility as an active partner in the international community to confront climate change.
In 2012, the country hosted the 18th session of the Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Doha Carbon and Energy forum, in which hundreds of international experts participated to develop public policy recommendations for this sector and for governments on climate change and alternative energy and carbon capture and storage.
At the national level Qatar is taking every possible measure to reduce its carbon footprint. Qatar’s National Vision 2030, which defines the growth trajectory of the country’s projected development, gives paramount importance to developing climate-friendly technologies and adoption of clean energy, optimal use of water, improving air quality, promoting efficiency of using gas and energy, waste recycling and increasing green spaces.
Promoting the use of electric vehicles by installing charging stations, replacing electricity-gorging cooling and lighting systems with modern ones which consume less energy are a few examples of these measures. The greenery in this arid state is a feast for the eyes of every visitor to the country. By planting trees and creating gardens in every piece of available land nurturing them with treated water not only make the cities greener, but also cuts down on the use of desalinated water. The campaign to plant one million trees across the country is the latest step in this area.
The State of Qatar doesn’t rest on exhorting countries across the world to play their part in protecting the environment, but sets itself a model for others to follow by adopting every measures to ensure it fulfill its duty sincerely in making the world a greener one.
