Wednesday, December 6, 2023 | |
|
Participants walk past the Russia pavilion at Cop28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in Wednesday (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) |
|
|
Welcome to a special newsletter from The Independent, bringing you the latest on everything from Cop28 in Dubai. You are receiving this email because you are signed up to our Climate newsletter.
As the first week of Cop28 draws to a close, battle lines have been drawn over the central issue of the summit: the future for fossil fuels. Divisions have emerged between countries calling for a phase out of fossil fuels, the root cause of the climate crisis, and those set against it.
At the heart of negotiations is the "Global Stocktake", where countries take an inventory of their collective progress to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius this century – a goal that remains far off track.
On Wednesday, a lengthy "work-in- progress" draft text gave few clues as to what will emerge from Cop28.
Options on the table included:
- An "orderly and just phase out" of fossil fuels
- Rapid phase out of unabated coal power this decade
- No mention of phase out of fossil fuels.
But United Nations climate secretary, Simon Stiell, made clear just how difficult it will be to get the first of those options agreed, warning that the highest ambitions must stay front and centre. He called the current draft "a grab bag of wish lists and heavy on posturing".
"At the end of next week, we need COP to deliver a bullet train to speed up climate action. We currently have an old caboose chugging over rickety tracks," he said. "All governments must give their negotiators clear marching orders. We need highest ambition, not point-scoring or lowest common denominator politics."
Whatever is agreed between the 197 countries, it will act as a critical signpost not only to governments and civil society but energy and financial markets on climate ambition.
"Language and symbolism is the most important part of geopolitics," Aarti Khosla, director of think-tank Climate Trends told The Independent. "It decides where we are headed."
As it stands, some countries are poles apart on fossil fuels, which need rapid cuts for any hope of remaining at 1.5C. Instead, still-rising emissions have the world on track for 3C – a heat bomb that could trigger irreversible tipping points, more catastrophic weather, and sea level rise.
On Tuesday, the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, a group of more than a dozen countries and states, said that Cop28 would not be a success if the final agreement did not include a call for fossil fuel phase out. Wopke Hoekstra, a former oil executive who is the European Union's new climate commissioner, also said that all fossil fuels must be phased out.
Small islands, facing existential threats from sea level rise and other climate issues, were also calling for greater ambition. Samoan minister Cedric Schuster, who chairs the Association of Small Island States, said without a call for fossil fuel phase out it would "make it significantly more difficult to leave this Cop saying we can achieve the 1.5C limit". However these calls were coming up against a hard-no from others.
"Absolutely not," said Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister of petrostate Saudia Arabia, when he was asked by Bloomberg if he was on board with a fossil fuel phase out. Russia has also rejected language for phasing out fossil fuels.
Others have expressed hesitation, including the world's largest polluters. India is not expected to support a call for phasing out all fossil fuels because its economy relies so heavily on coal. China's position is unclear and Brazil's lead negotiator said there was a "need for clarity" on what is meant by a phase out.
However John Kerry, President Joe Biden's special envoy on climate, said on Wednesday in Dubai that we must follow climate science - which calls for cutting emissions nearly in half by 2030 - before appearing to say that the United States supported a phase out.
The first week at Cop28 saw flashy announcements including the finalizing of the Loss and Damage fund to support vulnerable nations and a pledge by 110 countries to triple renewable energy this decade.
The summit pauses for a rest day on Thursday before countries' top negotiators gear up for round-the-clock talks to try to reach consensus. But with so many decisions still in play, it looks increasingly likely that the summit will overrun beyond the 12 December deadline.
Only half of the money for a fund to help developing countries adapt to more extreme climate impacts from wealthy countries has been delivered and is a major sticking point. It is now down to the United Arabs Emirates, the oil-rich nation leading the conference, to get a final package of agreements over the line.
But how they will wrangle the rest of the world toward an ambitious outcome is unclear following a spate of controversies. Earlier this week, Cop28 president Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who also leads the UAE's national oil company, was forced to insist that he and the UAE "very much respect science" to quell a backlash over comments questioning the need to phase out fossil fuels.
Mr Jaber said that his comments had been taken "out of context" and that he has been "quite surprised with the constant and repeated attempts to undermine the work of the Cop28 presidency".
In other news on Wednesday:
|
- The world faces "point of no return" for five of Earth's natural systems due to the climate crisis, reported 200 scientists on Wednesday
- Vladimir Putin visited the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday before departing for Saudi Arabia, his first visit to the Middle East since Russia invaded Ukraine
- We will not leave anyone behind in the transition to a clean energy world, said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, as a ministerial meeting made recommendations on how to progress
It's halfway at Cop28 and Thursday is the scheduled rest day. The Independent's newsletter will be back on Friday. |
|
|
Do you really think Shell or Chevron or ExxonMobil are sending lobbyists to passively observe these talks? |
|
|
How much hotter 11 months of 2023 were than before the Industrial Revolution, European scientists reported on Wednesday |
|
|
Join the conversation or follow us |
| |
Download the free Independent app |
|
|
Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's climate newsletter. To unsubscribe from The Independent's climate newsletter, or to manage your email preferences please click here. This e-mail was sent by Independent Digital News and Media Ltd, 14-18 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1AH. Registered in England and Wales with company number 07320345
Read our privacy notice and cookie policy
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.