Dr Sultan Al Jaber, President of COP28, UAE Minister for Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate, Chairman of Masdar, and CEO of Adnoc, has urged the world’s energy leaders to act on the Dubai COP28 declaration.

"I want to keep the spirit alive and build on the momentum and the traction achieved at COP28 in Dubai. As I said after the final gavel in Dubai: We are what we do, we are not what we say. The UAE Consensus set a new direction and a clear course correction. We must now turn an unprecedented agreement into unprecedented action and results. And now is the time for all stakeholders – state and non-state actors – to step up," he said at a high-level roundtable hosted in February in Paris by IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol and attended by energy and climate leaders from around the world.

This was his first major public engagement with the energy and climate communities since the Dubai summit.

He lauded IEA for being at the heart of global dialogue on energy.

"The IEA has been a true thought leader, the IEA has been a true partner, in helping drive the conversation around a just, fair, orderly and responsible energy transition, a conversation that has always been centred around and based on the science, and laser-focused on keeping 1.5 within reach," he said.

In December, nearly 200 governments at COP28 reached a key agreement on energy and climate, often referred to as the UAE Consensus, that set new global 2030 goals of accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels, tripling renewable energy capacity, doubling energy efficiency progress and substantially reducing methane emissions.

Participants at the event identified a number of key actions that must be taken in the next year – from securing more financing for clean energy transitions, especially in emerging and developing economies, to enhancing the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that countries make under the Paris Agreement.

Countries are now beginning the process of setting climate goals that run through 2035, which will be crucial in determining the pace at which global greenhouse gas emissions decline.

Dr Birol pledged to work closely with the COP28 Presidency, as well as with Azerbaijan and Brazil, which will host COP29 and COP30.

Dr Al Jaber has been vocal about his support for energy transition, before and after COP28.

Last month, in an interview to an American broadcaster, he said energy transition means that the only source of energy that will increase over time will have to be the least carbon intensive and renewable energy.

Speaking to CNN’s Becky Anderson at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, he said: "We believe in the transition, we embraced the transition before anyone else. And we invested hundreds of billions of dollars in the transition and we will continue to do so."

He added: "The transition will happen in different places and different places. We have to accept the fact that the world today consumes not less than 275 million barrels of oil equivalent. With this transition, we understand that the only source of energy that will increase over time will have to be the least carbon intensive and renewable energy.

"And that's why, for the first time, a comprehensive agreement came out of a COP with a very clear target of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030," Dr Al Jaber said.

On his role as COP 28 president, Dr Al Jaber said: "The challenge of addressing the global problem drove my motivation. The leadership saw me and my team as capable of tackling it. I did not want to miss out on this opportunity of showing the world what a young nation like the UAE can actually do as a true global citizen in addressing such a global challenge."