Today marks 100 days until the start of the United Nations COP28 climate summit that will convene governments, NGOs, businesses, and the financial sector to advance solutions to climate change.

As an Emirati citizen who works alongside colleagues from around 90 different countries and territories every day in our UAE headquarters in Dubai, it is a source of great pride that my country is hosting a convention of such global significance. The UAE is, of course, no stranger to welcoming events that resonate around the world.

As an investor, the UAE has already committed more than USD 50 bn in 70 countries to create 11 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity. With plans to invest USD 50bn more in the coming decade, it signals clearly that large-scale, cross-border investments are key to economic diversification and decarbonisation.

As the leading international bank in the Middle East with an ambitious net zero agenda, HSBC is focused on channeling finance and investment to where it can have the greatest impact.

With our help, carbon-intensive industries can invest and create the green business models of the future, which is why, across our global business, we aim to facilitate USD 750 bn to USD 1 tn of sustainable finance and investment by 2030 to support our customers in their transition plans. We had delivered USD 210 bn of that total by the end of last year.

We have made a USD 100 mn investment in the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst that funds green technologies in four key areas: direct air capture of carbon, the development of clean hydrogen, long duration energy storage, and sustainable aviation fuel.

We are partners in Pentagreen, a blended finance platform partnering with Singapore’s Temasek to accelerate sustainable infrastructure project funding, aiming to build a project pipeline growing an initial USD 150 mn of funding to more than USD 1 bn of loans within five years.

We are the leading bank on ESG products across this region, participating in 30 green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bond deals. These included the first sovereign green / social offering from the GCC region, the USD 1 bn green bond for the Emirate of Sharjah, and the USD 1 bn sustainable sukuk for Dubai Islamic Bank, the world’s second largest Islamic bank, earlier this year.

A key role for us is overcoming challenges and opportunities in scaling up climate finance. We connect the markets in this region with new businesses and new technologies, as well as build capacity for each country to accelerate their energy transition.

This is a huge challenge, manifesting itself in national, regional and global economic policy, but we will bring our international expertise to our clients and partners, and help COP28 deliver on its vital responsibilities to society.

The fact our region has been invited to host two successive COPs — COP27 in Egypt and now COP28 in the UAE — is both a recognition of the contribution we have made to tackling global climate change, and also a call to action for the Middle East to show leadership for the benefit of our world.

I am confident that our region can continue to rise to the occasion as we prepare to welcome the world again in 100 days’ time.

Mohamed Al Marzooqi is the CEO of HSBC UAE.

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