Qatar, GGGI partner for green growth and sustainable development

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) will support Qatar to reach its goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030. 

Speaking to The Peninsula in an interview, Director-General of GGGI, Dr. Frank Rijsberman, said that the Seoul-headquartered institute aims to help Qatar become a circular economy that will enable the country to achieve the objectives of green growth and sustainable development. 

The GGGI is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. 

According to the Director-General, the Middle East region is more vulnerable to the climate change than other regions and one of the ways to address this challenge is to become a circular economy. A circular economy involves many sectors including waste management where all waste in the country is recycled or reused. 

“If it becomes two degrees hotter on average in the world, it could become four degrees hotter here. So, this is actually an area that is very vulnerable to climate change, and there are many things we could do together. We have agreed to start to work on what we call a circular economy. It means trying not to have a lot of waste in society, whether it’s food waste or plastic waste. The waste is recycled in a circular economy” he said. 

“So our goal would be that if we work on this together, hopefully the government could adopt policies that make it possible for private investors like agriculture companies to tackle the problem of waste,” Dr. Frank Rijsberman added. 

In October last year, the State of Qatar, represented by Ministry of Municipality and Environment and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise cooperation to promote climate resiliency and green growth in Qatar.  

“Now we are working with the newly established Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), to have effective policies for Qatar that can help implement the 25 percent reduction of emissions that Qatar has committed to,” he said.  

“Qatar has made that commitment and we can work with the ministry to make practical plans to achieve that.. Also, we can help the country think through how to adapt to climate change,” he said. 

Graduating ‘Greenpreneurs’ from the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati and their coaches and Guests of Honour, the Honourable Mayors Baraniko Baaro and Botika Matinnara. The event was covered extensively by local Kiribati television. Local dancers entertained and garlanded guests to recognize Kiribati participants successful completion of the Pacific Greenpreneurs Incubator program implemented by the Global Green Growth Institute and funded by the Qatar Fund for Development.

GGGI plans to hold the training sessions together with its partners in Qatar and work with universities and to come up with courses including for public officials. 

GGGI is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization that means that countries or countries that are members of the United Nations can join.  

“We help our member governments to transition to a green economic growth model, which is an economic growth model that is more environmentally sustainable and more socially inclusive. We help governments with plans like how to plan for that, and that can be a green growth strategy or a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals,” Dr. Frank Rijsberman said. 

GGGI also helps the countries to come up with projects to implement those policies, to invest in renewable energy any other green investment projects. It has helped mobilising money for many projects in developing country members. 

“We come up with innovative projects and we demonstrate that those are actually technologically feasible, commercially attractive under the right circumstances and that you can actually find investors interested in investing in renewable energy or energy projects,” he said. 

Talking about initiatives taken by Qatar to reduce emissions, he said “Qatar will hold the first global carbon neutral World Cup this year. That’s quite an interesting development. The country has set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030.”  

He said that renewable energy can play a big role in Qatar’s pursuit of green growth. “Renewable energy I think will have to be a part of a circular economy, as mentioned it can reduce waste and therefore lead to a more efficient economy. And yes, growing more of your own food is another option,” Dr. Frank Rijsberman added. 

He said countries are using their sovereign wealth fund to support initiatives relating to sustainable development and said Qatar can also follow that path. 

Dr. Frank Rijsberman is impressed by the pace of development in Qatar. He said Qatar has accomplished a lot by creating a world class infrastructure in a short span of time.  

“Qatar is an amazing place. I am impressed by the investments made here. And of course, it’s for the World Cup, which will be a wonderful tournament, but it will also be an investment in the future of Qatar that hopefully will be just the beginning of that transition that we’re talking about,” he added. 

He said that hosting the World Cup can be huge enabler for growth of Qatar’s tourism sector. 

“Qatar has put in place a lot of facilities, not just stadia, but hotels and other things that I think and you will get a lot of first time visitors, right people who can come and discover Qatar. You’ve seen other countries in the region that have become very successful in tourism. So why not here? The country already have a world class airline and other facilities as well,” he added. 

He added that while there are a lot of separate initiatives in Qatar, there is need for a plan to have a more integrated view on how the economy can get to the 25 percent reduction objective.  

“People believe that LNG has a role as a bridge fuel to a cleaner economy. But in the end, of course, net zero by 2050 by countries around the world would also mean Qatar will also have to think about diversifying its economy,” he added. 

Qatar is also associated with GGGI in other programs. Funded by Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), the GGGI is implementing four 3-year projects, two of which support ‘greenpreneurs’ in Pacifc and Caribbean regions. These are ‘Pacific Green Entrepreneurs Network (PGEN)’ and ‘Caribbean Greenpreneurs’  benefitting 12 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in these two regions.  

The programs are offering incubation and accelerator programs, including virtual courses, a mentorship program, in-person events, and networking opportunities to grow businesses that directly contributes to climate change and sustainable development goals of the country.  

The incubator programs are targeting existing innovative early-stage medium, small, and micro-enterprises (MSMEs), including women-owned firms, with demonstrated growth potential.  

Successful entrepreneurs in the incubator program will have the opportunity to participate in a business competition to secure grant seed funding.  

The accelerator program will target high-potential startups in growth stage and will offer repayable grants as well as mentorship and networking with potential investors.  

The programs are designed to directly contribute to climate resilience and COVID-19 recovery of these countries by nurturing local innovation on climate action and jobs creation for youth and women.