KUWAIT CITY, Dec 2: The Kuwait Fund for Development reviewed its funded projects in the field of environmental conservation in the State of Kuwait’s pavilion participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), currently held in Expo City Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, reports Al-Rai daily.

The Kuwaiti Fund said in a statement that the representative of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah, visited the Kuwaiti pavilion at the conference, whose activities began on November 30 and continue until December 12, and which includes many representatives of agencies and institutions concerned with environmental and development issues on climate and sustainability.

He stated that Kuwait’s participation in such a global event comes with the aim of highlighting the role through development contribution in supporting the implementation of projects that seek to preserve the environment, reduce harmful emissions, and achieve sustainable development in developing countries.

The statement added that the Fund pays attention to the environmental sector, which represents one of the priorities of its work at the current stage, adding that the 28th session of the conference discusses several topics, including achieving a global goal regarding financing to support the efforts of developing countries in confronting climate change, accelerating the just and energy transition and close the big gap in emissions.

In this context, the Acting Director General of the Fund, Walid Shamlan Al-Bahr, stressed the Fund’s keenness to encourage countries to implement projects that would preserve natural and environmental resources as well as renewable energy sources, noting that such projects contribute to achieving the goals of sustainable development and thus constitute another step in order to achieve the millennium goals.

Al-Bahr stated that the Kuwait Fund had contributed last year, in cooperation with the United Nations Human Settlements Program, to financing the project of adaptation and resilience to sand and dust storms crossing the borders of Kuwait and Iraq, which aims to reduce the chances of storms occurring.

He pointed out that the cost of this huge environmental project amounted to about $12.9 million, providing a safer environment and a positive health and economic impact on current and future generations.

Al-Bahr stated that the clean energy projects that have a limited impact on the environment, which the Fund encourages, such as new thermal electricity generation plants and developing and raising the efficiency of existing plants, contribute significantly to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.