The UN Climate chief on Monday called on countries meeting at COP28 to lift “unnecessary tactical blockages” in the home stretch of negotiations in Dubai, as Saudi Arabia appears increasingly isolated and China appears to be the keystone of a possible agreement on fossil fuels.
Sports metaphors are in order on Monday in Dubai while COP28 is supposed to end on Tuesday and the last night was short for everyone.
“We are in a race against time,” thundered the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, who arrived the evening before, before calling on countries to “good faith” and “maximum flexibility” to avoid a huge disappointment on Tuesday.
He was very clear: COP28 must call for an “exit from fossil fuels”, but “this does not mean that all countries must exit fossil fuels at the same time”. That is to say, rich countries must set an example, and help the poorest to finance their solar power plants or the electrification of their factories.
“We do not have a minute to lose in this crucial final stretch,” urged Simon Stiell, head of the UN Climate, before him, judging that “the highest levels of ambition are possible” on the two inseparable subjects. at the heart of the latest talks: the end of oil, coal and gas on the one hand, and the dollars that poor countries need to develop without fossils on the other.
NGOs are on fire, eager for a “COP which is a pivotal moment in our history, which we will remember with pride”, reacted Teresa Anderson, at ActionAid International.
A sign of the ambient excitement, several announced public events were canceled at the last minute.
And a new draft agreement expected at dawn had still not been published at midday in Dubai, exhaustion showing among the thousands of participants at COP28.
“We are still waiting for the text,” indicated the head of a large bloc of countries at the start of the morning, disappointed at still not having any new options to comment on.
Chine constructive
This new document will launch an intense sprint of negotiations, before a plenary session at 6 p.m. (9 a.m. EST) and potentially one or more sleepless nights for delegates and observers. In 28 years, the COPs have rarely finished on time.
But the determined Emirati president of COP28, Sultan Al Jaber, boss of the national oil company, promised a “historic” agreement from December 12, the anniversary of the Paris agreement, of which he assures that the objective of limiting warming to 1.5°C, seriously threatened, is “its pole star”.
“Everyone must be flexible,” he said on Sunday. “We need to move much, much, much faster.”
The new text expected on Monday, probably punctuated with options or formulations in parentheses, will test his ability to shape a compromise in the final hours, since this time it is established under his leadership.
China and its emissary Xie Zhenhua, veteran of the COP and close to the American John Kerry, are in every conversation.
The Sunnylands Joint Declaration signed in November by China and the United States could serve as the basis for a possible agreement at COP28. The two leading global emitters of greenhouse gases (41% between them) avoided talking about “exiting” fossil fuels, but indicated that renewable energies (solar, wind, etc.) should gradually replace them.
The camps are waiting for the new text to truly “unveil their cards”, explains a source close to the presidency of the COP.
The Saudi game
Increasingly isolated, Saudi Arabia, the leading oil exporter, Iraq and some OPEC allies are sticking to their positions hostile to any exit or reduction of fossil fuels, brandishing the threat of an upheaval of the Mondial economy.
Yet, from NGOs to negotiators, participants express the same feeling that an agreement has never been closer to signal the beginning of the end of oil, gas and coal, which has been burning since the 19th century.e century enabled global economic growth at the cost of a warming of 1.2°C.
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2023-12-11 13:00:54
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