Global Courant 2023-05-10 13:20:40
Deep divisions exist between countries over how to combat the growing threat of global warming ahead of the UN negotiations, known as COP28, to be held in Dubai in December.
At UN climate talks this year, countries should agree to phase out fuel emissions — not oil, gas and coal production — according to the United Arab Emirates.
Mariam Almheiri, the UAE’s climate change and environment minister, said phasing out fossil fuels would harm countries that either depend on them for revenue or cannot easily replace hydrocarbons with renewables.
She favors phasing out fossil fuel emissions using capture and storage technology while ramping up renewable energy, saying this strategy will allow countries to fight global warming while using oil, gas and coal keep producing.
“The renewable space is developing and accelerating extremely fast, but we are still a long way from saying that we can switch off fossil fuels and depend only on clean and renewable energy,” Almheiri said on the sidelines of a Washington climate conference. DC.
“We are now in a transition and this transition has to be just and pragmatic, because not all countries have the resources,” she said.
The comments reflect deep divisions between countries over how to combat the growing threat of climate change ahead of the UN negotiations, known as COP28, to be held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12.
Some wealthy Western governments and climate-stricken island nations have pushed for a phase-out of fossil fuels, while resource-rich nations have campaigned to continue drilling.
‘Phasedown’ of hydrocarbons
At last year’s UN climate summit in Egypt, more than 80 countries, including members of the European Union and small island states, agreed to include language in the final agreement calling for “a phase-out” of all fossil fuels. Other countries, including Saudi Arabia and China, urged Egypt not to include that language in the final text.
This month, the Group of Seven countries with the largest and longest-developed economies agreed to accelerate their phase-out of fossil fuel consumption, although they did not set a firm date.
Almheiri pointed to the UAE’s example of relying on new carbon capture technology and renewables to reduce the emissions intensity of the OPEC member’s oil and gas operations.
Some experts said capture technology on a large scale is unproven and could require massive investment at the expense of cheaper alternatives, such as solar and wind power.
‘On a listening tour’
Sultan al-Jaber, a veteran technocrat who heads Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil company and oversees renewable energy efforts, will chair the UN climate talks as COP28 chair.
The appointment has drawn fierce criticism from environmentalists who questioned whether a major hydrocarbon-producing country should lead the negotiations.
“If we are serious about reducing industrial emissions, we need to get serious about CO2 capture technologies,” al-Jaber said at a climate technology meeting on Wednesday.
Since taking over as COP28 president, al-Jaber has advocated for a more inclusive approach to climate action that leaves no one behind, including the fossil fuel industry. His presidency includes shaping the conference’s agenda and inter-government negotiations.
“For nearly five months now and as part of our preparations for COP28, my team and I have been proactively conducting a listening tour where I heard many voices from the Global South, major economies, civil society and business,” he said. “What’s missing is a holistic, unifying ecosystem that brings all the key players together.”
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a series of dire warnings about the climate crisis in recent years.
Large numbers of people have been displaced by worsening extreme weather, with the world’s poor being hit hardest, the IPCC said. More people will die every year from heat waves, floods, disease and hunger caused by global warming, it warned.
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