Abu Dhabi, UAE– In a pivotal UN report released ahead of the upcoming Cop28 conference in Dubai, it is urged that fossil fuel exploration come to a global halt by 2030. The report further stipulates that funding directed toward mitigating the climate crisis’s impact on impoverished nations should range between $200 billion (£165 billion) to $400 billion annually, all by the same target year.
The document underscores that countries remain “significantly off course” in their pursuit of the objectives outlined in the 2015 Paris climate accord. This raises the imperative for intensified efforts to enable the containment of global temperature increases to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
Published on Wednesday, the UN’s synthesis report on the global stocktake serves as the foundation for discussions slated to take place at Cop28. This report serves as a crucial element of the Paris agreement’s mandate, designed to evaluate countries’ progress in achieving their emissions-reduction targets every five years.
Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief, remarked that the report offers governments a spectrum of actionable strategies. He stated, “[These are] clear objectives that provide a guiding principle for the requisite actions to be taken by nations.”
The global community grapples with the urgency of curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which continue to ascend. There is a broad consensus that emissions must reach their zenith by 2025, at the very latest, if the prospect of constraining temperature increases to 1.5°C is to remain viable.
Stiell emphasized, “[The report] lays out elements that can be incorporated into a response.” However, while there is concurrence regarding the need for a shift in direction, there exists “significant divergence” on the precise mechanisms for achieving the necessary alterations.
Among the proposals outlined in the report are a tripling of global renewable energy capacity and a twofold increase in energy efficiency, all to be realized by 2030. This report represents the second part of a two-pronged set of documents that will inform the Cop28 discussions. The first installment also presented proposals to phase out fossil fuels, an issue of high contention that was sidelined during the last two UN climate summits, Cop27 in Egypt last year and Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021.
However, there is no guarantee that such proposals will secure a place in the final outcomes of the two-week negotiations at Cop28, or even that they will formally feature on the summit’s agenda.
The global stocktake papers are set to undergo examination in the coming week during technical meetings of UN member states. They will undergo further scrutiny at a “pre-Cop” meeting scheduled in Abu Dhabi at the close of this month. Stiell emphasized that the decisions regarding the agenda for Cop28 lay within the purview of governments, with the host nation, the United Arab Emirates, tasked with shaping the summit’s format.
Numerous activists harbor concerns that the UAE, a significant producer of oil and gas, may not champion the global phase-out of fossil fuels, a stance advocated by more than 80 nations.
Catherine Pettengell, Executive Director of Climate Action Network UK, called for the recommendations presented in the global stocktake reports to be translated into concrete action. She asserted, “Cop28 must represent a decisive juncture in the transition away from fossil fuels, bringing about a just and equitable transformation. Today’s synthesis report for the global stocktake makes it abundantly clear that an accord to terminate fossil fuels must stand at the core of Cop28’s outcomes to be deemed successful.”
Harjeet Singh, Head of Global Political Strategy at Climate Action Network International, highlighted the burgeoning consensus around the necessity of fossil fuel phase-out. He contended, “Faced with irrefutable evidence linking fossil fuels to the climate crisis, the industry has long evaded accountability under the UN.” He stressed that the time for mere rhetoric had passed and urged the commencement of action. “Cop28 must deliver more than words – it should initiate a process to craft a new global fossil fuel treaty, filling the void left by the Paris agreement.”
Additionally, Singh underscored the importance of considering the needs of developing countries and marginalized populations. “This new global framework needs to ensure that all workers and communities reliant on fossil fuels for jobs or energy, especially in developing nations, receive support through international cooperation. Their right to a just transition to a greener, safer world must be honored.”
The forthcoming Cop28 holds profound significance in the context of global efforts to combat climate change, as nations grapple with the urgent imperative to adopt transformative measures to safeguard the planet’s future.