“CRITICAL STAGE”
With the summit’s scheduled to end on Tuesday (Dec 12), government ministers from the nearly 200 countries at the Dubai summit have joined in trying to resolve the fossil fuel impasse.
Climate-vulnerable countries said a rejection of a fossil fuel mention at COP28 would threaten the entire world.
“Nothing puts the prosperity and future of all people on earth, including all of the citizens of OPEC countries, at greater risk than fossil fuels,” said Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege in a statement.
The Marshall Islands, which faces inundation from climate-driven sea level rise, currently chairs the High Ambition Coalition group of nations pushing for stronger emissions-cutting targets and policies.
To meet the global goal of holding climate warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures, the coalition “is pushing for a phase out of fossil fuels, which are at the root of this crisis,” she said. “1.5 is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels.”
The latest version of the negotiating text, released Friday, shows countries were still considering a range of options – from agreeing to a “phase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science”, to phasing out “unabated fossil fuels”, to including no mention at all.
Germany’s climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said counties were “moving into the critical stage of negotiations”.
“It is time for all countries to remember what is at stake,” she said. “I am concerned that not all are constructively engaging.”
Asked about the OPEC letter, COP28 Director General Majid Al Suwaidi avoided the term “fossil fuels” but said the United Arab Emirates, as president of the summit, wanted a deal to get the world on track to limit warming to 1.5 C.
“Our COP president … clearly wants to see an outcome that is as ambitious as possible, and we believe we are going to deliver it,” he told a news conference.
Speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, Samoa’s environment minister, Cedric Schuster, worried that this year’s talks were getting bogged down by disputes.
“We are extremely concerned about the pace of negotiations given the limited time we have left here in Dubai,” he told the summit from the main stage on Saturday.
“A target for renewables cannot be a substitute for a stronger commitment to fossil fuel phase-out and an end to fossil fuel subsidies,” he said. “COP28 needs to deliver both.”
Azerbaijan looks set to host next year’s COP29 climate change summit after winning backing from other Eastern European nations, unblocking a geopolitical deadlock over the next global gathering to address climate change.
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