The COP28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates has become a battleground for conflicting visions on the role of fossil fuels in the fight against climate change. On December 1, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to envision a future without fossil fuels, emphasizing that global warming could only be curbed by abandoning their use, Reuters reported.
This plea came just a day after COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber proposed continuing the use of fossil fuels. Guterres firmly stated;
"We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuels," highlighting the necessity of completely halting their combustion.
Achieving the 1.5-degree Celsius limit in global warming requires a complete cessation of fossil fuel combustion, rather than just reduction or mitigation, as stated by a participant at the U.N. climate summit in the United Arab Emirates.
The summit's challenges extend beyond the fossil fuel debate, with acrimony over lagging finance and geopolitical tensions around the Gaza conflict threatening to distract delegates from making meaningful progress.
King Charles III of Britain weighed in on the urgency of global climate action, aligning with scientists' warnings about alarming tipping points. However, his remarks appeared at odds with his government's stance, as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced climate finance while rolling back domestic measures aimed at achieving the country's 2050 net-zero targets.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his platform to admonish wealthy nations for disproportionately contributing to climate-warming emissions since the Industrial Revolution. He emphasized the need for urgent correction of past mistakes, particularly in the context of environmental exploitation affecting global southern regions.
"We do not have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century," Modi noted. "Over the past century, a small section of humanity has indiscriminately exploited nature. However, entire humanity is paying the price for this, especially people living in the global south."
Former Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine resigned from the main COP28 advisory board in protest against the UAE's alleged support for continued fossil fuel use. Heine expressed deep disappointment over reports of the UAE brokering oil and gas deals, a claim vehemently denied by the UAE's COP28 presidency.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his scheme- highlighted the urgent need for international cooperation to address climate challenges, emphasizing the impact on global sustainable development. He stressed the adverse effects of climate change in Central Asia, particularly the Aral Sea catastrophe, urging attention to the region's unique challenges.
“We intend to increase the area of green zones in cities to 30%. In order to create a resilient protective belt on the desiccated seabed of the Aral Sea, we have planted forests on an area of over 2mn hectares,” President Mirziyoyev voiced.
Adding to the geopolitical tension, some world leaders criticized Israel's actions in Gaza during their speeches, breaking an unspoken agreement to avoid political discussions at U.N. climate summits. Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of war crimes, while an Israeli official defended their military actions.
Amidst these challenges, technical committees and delegations worked on assessing progress towards global climate targets, particularly the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The first draft of a potential COP28 agreement, published by the United Nations, outlines options ranging from "phasing down" or "phasing out" fossil fuel use to increasing renewable energy capacity and addressing fossil fuel subsidies.
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