The UAE Sustainable Finance Working Group has issued a High-Level Statement on Sustainable Finance, detailing their commitment to achieving the UAE’s sustainability objectives and the Net-Zero 2050 ambition as the first country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The Statement was released on the sidelines of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). ADGM heads the ‘UAE Sustainable Finance Working Group’, which will chart strategy plans for the country’s companies to offer more transparency on the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
According to the statement, the UAE Sustainable Finance Working Group is now part of a larger forum aimed at accelerating the development of sustainable finance policies in the UAE. It includes the UAE Ministry of Economy, the UAE Ministry of Finance, the Office of the UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the Central Bank of the UAE, the Securities and Commodities Authority, ADGM, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Dubai Financial Market, and Nasdaq Dubai.
The Statement sets a clear and necessary roadmap for the participating authorities to contribute to the UAE’s sustainable and climate change goals, as outlined in global frameworks such as the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which the UAE fully supports, and the country’s own UAE Net-Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.
Three major deliverables are outlined in the Statement, which the UAE authorities will aim to complete in order to give real expression to these international commitments. The deliverables include:
- A targeted study aimed at encouraging consistent ESG corporate disclosure standards across the UAE,
- Examining how to strengthen good corporate governance by UAE companies to contribute to driving the sustainability agenda and,
- Developing a UAE taxonomy of sustainable activities, which constitutes a major milestone defining the path for the economic transition to sustainable development.
The implementation of the deliverables will be achieved through both legislative and non-legislative means and in collaboration with the authorities on the monitoring and technical support required to incorporate sustainability into regulatory frameworks.
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