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The private sector must participate in addressing global challenges like climate change and humanitarian crises that governments can’t solve alone, Badr Jafar, UAE special envoy for business and philanthropy, said in an interview at Davos.
On climate, Jafar said a “whole of society approach” was needed and cited the UAE’s leadership of COP28 as an example. Those climate talks were successful because the “process transcended politics” and included business and private capital, which have historically been sidelined. The UAE hosted 1,300 CEOs — half from the “Global South,” Jafar said — at COP28, an initiative that he described as fostering collaboration between policymakers and industry leaders.
This isn’t to discount the role of states, and specifically the US: Jafar said there’s concern about the future of climate action under a Trump administration, which has pulled out of the Paris climate agreement. It’s difficult to get “countries around the world to come together and sit around the table and talk about climate when the US is not on the table, when the US is potentially encouraging others to withdraw from the process,” he said.
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Jafar, who is also the chief executive of the Sharjah-based conglomerate Crescent Enterprises, said the private sector’s contribution to humanitarian crises has remained stagnant over the past decade, with just 5% of global appeals being met by businesses. This comes as the average duration of humanitarian emergencies has increased from 17 years to 20, spanning a “whole generation.”
On Gaza, Jafar said there was a dual need for immediate humanitarian aid and long-term state-building — even in the case that the conflict restarts. “You’ve got to rebuild the house while putting out the fire,” he said, “because there’s no time to spare.” The UAE was committed to addressing basic needs and working toward a two-state solution, according to Jafar, adding that almost everyone he met at Davos agreed on the “need for Palestinians to have self-determination and be custodians of their own futures.”
Correction
The original version of this article mis-stated two quotes attributed to Badr Jafar. It has been corrected.