2023-12-01 09:49:56
The debate rages around the future of fossil fuels on the second day of the 28th UN conference on climate change (COP28) in Dubai. The world must reduce them or even get out of them, proposes a first version of a draft agreement which will now be debated by the negotiators.
Published on: 01/12/2023 – 10:49
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King Charles III “prays with all his heart” that COP28 will be a “decisive turning point”
King Charles III called on leaders meeting at COP28 in Dubai on Friday, December 1, to make this 28th UN climate conference a turning point worthy of the Paris Agreement to accelerate climate action, while countries two weeks of fierce negotiations on oil, gas and coal begin.
“Records are broken so often that we become insensitive to what they tell us,” said Charles, whose first presence at a COP as sovereign, and who recalled his participation at COP21, where The Paris agreement was born eight years ago and is still struggling to produce sufficient results.
“I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another watershed moment for real transformation,” he said. The king listed the cyclones that devastated vulnerable islands including Vanuatu, the floods in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the record fires from the United States to Greece.
“We are conducting a frightening experiment in changing all ecological conditions at the same time, at a rate that exceeds the capacity of nature,” he added, before calling for reform of global finance by favor of the energy transition.
“The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth,” the king concluded.
Emirates launches giant $30 billion private fund for transition
The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, announced on Friday December 1 the creation of a private fund dedicated to “solutions” to climate change, opening the summit of world leaders of the 28th Conference of Nations united on the climate.
“I am happy to announce the creation of a fund with $30 billion dedicated to climate solutions,” declared the sovereign from the podium, adding that the objective was to reach $250 billion. by 2030.
This is the main announcement on Friday from the host country of COP28, just before King Charles III and the UN Secretary General speak from the same platform, while multiple mechanisms and reforms are in the works. around the world to increase financing of renewable energy in developing countries.
The new Emirati fund, named Alterra, will be chaired by Sultan al-Jaber, president of COP28 and head of the Emirates national oil company, according to a press release.
Read alsoCOP28: United Arab Emirates caught in their contradictions on the climate
Fossil fuels appear in the draft agreement under negotiation
The world must reduce or even abandon fossil fuels, proposes a first version published Friday of a draft agreement which will now be debated by negotiators from nearly 200 countries during COP28 in Dubai.
Countries must prepare a “reduction/exit from fossil fuels”, according to the terms of this document prepared by the United Kingdom and Singapore, which will serve as a basis for discussion with a view to adoption by the end of the COP, officially scheduled for December 12.
An essential issue for countries will be to agree on the choice of the term “phase-down” or the much more ambitious term “phase-out”.
This key text, which might serve as the final text adopted at COP28, is in reality a “global assessment” of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
A technical report on this assessment of international action was published at the beginning of September, unsurprisingly noting insufficient action to limit the increase in global temperature to well below 2°C and if possible to 1.5 °C compared to the pre-industrial era.
It must now be the subject of a political decision during COP28, a challenge as the international community remains divided on a number of subjects, starting with the future of fossil fuels.
COP28 is officially the largest COP organized with 80,000 participants registered on a provisional list which reveals for the first time their precise functions, an attempt by the UN Climate to respond to criticism over the risk of conflicts of interest.
Including technical and security personnel, 104,000 people can access the “blue zone” dedicated to negotiations and the pavilions of states or organizations, i.e. twice as many as at COP27 which until then held the record with 49 000 accreditations. These accreditations figures do not necessarily correspond to the people actually present in Dubai.
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