The climate negotiations COP28 They were extended on Tuesday, with countries trying to find a new draft agreement while trying to close the gap on the contentious issue of ending the use of fossil fuels in the world.
Many countries criticized the draft agreement published on Monday for not requiring “progressive elimination” of oil, gas and coal.
The United Arab Emirates Director General for COP28, Majid Al Suwaidi, stated that the objective of the text was “spark conversations.”
“By publishing our first draft of the text, we have managed to get the parties to quickly address us with those red lines”he declared to the press.
The negotiators of the almost 200 countries gathered at the summit of Dubai They are trying to agree on a global action plan to limit climate change quickly enough to avoid more disastrous floods, deadly heat and irreversible changes to the planet’s ecosystems.
Al Suwaidi said the COP28 presidency was aiming for a result “historical” that included the mention of fossil fuels, but that it was up to the countries to agree.
The agreements of the climate summits of the UN must be approved by consensus. Each country is then responsible for fulfilling the agreement through national policies and investments.
Jennifer Morgan, German climate envoy, said the negotiations have entered a “critical phase”. “There is a lot of itinerant diplomacy”he said on the social network X, referring to the quick meetings between countries to seek a compromise.
The draft released Monday sparked negotiations that lasted through the night and into the early hours of Tuesday. The text suggested eight options that countries “could” adopt to reduce emissions.
One of them is “reduce both the consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a fair, orderly and equitable manner, in order to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by or around 2050.”
It would be the first time in history that a UN climate summit mentions reducing the use of all “fossil fuels”.
Lack of emphasis
However, the measure did not reach “progressive elimination” of coal, oil and gas demanded by many countries, nor the emphasis on reducing their use this decade, which some scientists describe as necessary to avoid an escalation of the climate change.
Negotiators expected a new text on Tuesday, when the conference was due to close at 0700 GMT. COP summits rarely end on schedule.
The draft was criticized as too weak by participants such as Australia, Canada, Chile, the European Union, Norway and the United States, among the hundred countries that demand a firm commitment to end the world’s dependence on coal, oil and gas. .
Greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are the main cause of climate change.
Despite the rapid growth of renewable energythese continue to produce around 80% of the world’s energy.
Some African nations said any deal must require rich countries, which have long produced and used fossil fuels, to stop doing so first.
It was unclear whether China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, supported Monday’s draft.
His climate change envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said progress was being made in talks but it was “hard to say” whether a deal could be reached by the end of Tuesday.
Brazil wants a stronger text on abandoning fossil fuels, but one that makes it clear that rich and poor countries could do so in different time frames, said Environment Minister Marina Silva.
Representatives of small island nations said they would not approve an agreement that would be a “death sentence” for vulnerable countries most affected by rising sea levels.
“We will not go silently to our watery graves,” said John Silk, head of the Marshall Islands delegation.
Sources familiar with the debates said that the president of the United Arab Emirates at COP28, Sultan al-Jaber, had come under pressure from Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the OPEC group of oil producers to which the UAE belongs, to remove from the text any mention of fossil fuels, something it did not do.
In a December 6 letter, OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais urged members to reject any COP28 deal that targeted fossil fuels.
Negotiators and observers of the COP28 talks told Reuters that although Saudi Arabia has been the staunchest opponent, other members of OPEC and the OPEC+like Iran, Iraq and Russia, have resisted attempts to introduce a fossil fuel phase-out into the deal.
Source: Gestion
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