Seventh Day’s Commitments of COP-28
Finance, trade, and accountability were among the topics discussed on the seventh day of the Dubai Climate Conference COP-28. Also, various important issues, including loss and damage, human rights, climate justice, and air pollution have come up.
Mia Motley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, one of the world’s leading negotiators on ‘loss and damage,’ said at the COP-28 ‘Finance Day’ opening press conference, “I have been working on these three issues for the past few years: Adaptation, Mitigation, and Loss and Damage.”
“But living in the modern age we see record temperatures and extreme weather, and we can’t handle it. This requires further development of the Loss and Damage Fund, he added.
At a conference later this week, ExxonMobil’s CEO complained, “Carbon capture and storage is not being focused enough at COP28, but studies show that achieving the net-zero goal by 2050 would cost at least $1 trillion a year from low-capacity carbon capture storage. Thirty trillion dollars more to spend.”
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch analyzed data from 30 government ground monitoring stations in September 2023.
As seen, 1872 people die annually from air pollution (PM2.5) in UAE. 88% of the country’s population are immigrants who work outside the home most of the time.
A new report has found that the global net-zero target is in jeopardy, as most countries have not set clear targets to phase out fossil fuel use.
According to Net Zero data, it covers 88% of global greenhouse gas emissions but only 7% of these emissions are committed to national consumption. Only 13% of countries have committed to the complete elimination of fossil fuels.
On the seventh day, Sultan Al Jaber, president of COP-28 on fossil fuels, said, “It was not scientifically necessary to phase out fossil fuels to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
He said, “Let’s remember why we are all here. We are all here because we have made a very clear call, and we have spoken about it very early, and we have said clearly and repeatedly that the UAE accepts this task humbly, and responsibly, and we fully understand the urgency behind this issue.”
“We are here because we strongly believe in and respect science. 43% of global emissions must be reduced by 2030,” he added.
Former US Vice President Al Gore said in a speech that an agreement between countries to phase out fossil fuels would be one of the most significant events in human history. He added that putting the CEO of a fossil fuel company in charge of Cop-28 is “absurd”.
At the COP-28 conference, representatives of small island states said they would continue to demand a fossil fuel phase-out and hold Sultan Al Jaber to that end.
At a press conference of the Alliance of Small Island States (AoS) on the morning of the seventh day, delegates made it clear repeatedly that fossil fuels must be phased out to stay within 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming. A particularly important goal for less-developed islands.
Notably, 123 countries signed the first Declaration on Climate and Health yesterday, which included commitments to finance addressing climate and health risks and to include health targets in their national climate plans.
The United Arab Emirates has announced a ‘collective’ funding commitment of $1 billion to implement climate action, coming from organizations, including the Green Climate Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
However it is not clear how much of this money is new, and it is not clear whether it constitutes grants or loans to vulnerable countries. The Declaration does not make a single mention of curbing fossil fuel emissions to prevent climate-related health risks.
