His Excellency Dr Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, today headed the third meeting of the UAE Council for Climate Change and Environment for 2020. This is the first time the Minister presides over the gathering following his appointment as President of the Council on September 13.

His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi reiterated the importance of the Council’s meetings in facilitating public-private sector dialogue with the aim of identifying innovative solutions to environmental challenges and devising integrated plans that scale up the country’s climate and environmental action.

Council members received a briefing on the National Air Quality Platform that was launched on September 7 as an output of MOCCAE’s first Government Innovation Laboratory. Developed jointly with the National Center of Meteorology (NCM), the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, and the Environment and Protected Areas Authority in Sharjah, the platform is a centralized, official site that provides public access to real-time data on the current status of air quality in the UAE. In addition to serving the community, the information available on the site can benefit multiple sectors, including health and education.

His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi noted that MOCCAE will work closely with its partners to promote the platform as the ultimate source of air quality information in the UAE. He added that work is underway to link the platform to all 54 air quality monitoring stations in the country. 

Another item on the meeting’s agenda was an overview of the UAE’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. MOCCAE’s team is updating the NDC in coordination with strategic stakeholders ahead of submission to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).