The world is still anxiously awaiting a new draft of the text of the agreement.
A spokesperson for the summit said on Tuesday evening that the negotiations will initially continue until midnight Norwegian time (03:00 in Dubai).
However, there will be no closing plenary meeting for the day, the Norwegian delegation informs NRK. This means that the parties will have to meet again tomorrow morning, and that there will therefore also be no draft agreement before that time.
The negotiations are now well into overtime. According to the plan, the summit should have ended on Tuesday morning.
– Could be historic
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) is traveling home tomorrow. He chooses to be positive despite the disagreements.
– There is no text out, but this meeting could become historic during the night, or tomorrow, because it could be that for the first time we are talking about the world having to move away from fossil sources, and that there is something every country in the world says at the same time, says Barth Eide.
Espen Barth Eide explains to NRK’s reporters where the negotiations stand.
Photo: Truls Alnes Antonsen / Truls Alnes Antonsen / NRK
He believes there is considerably more optimism among the participants at the meeting today than yesterday.
At the same time, the minister hints that there will be no agreement on the use of the words “phasing out” and “phasing out”.
– It is a package on energy transition, which, among other things, is about the use of language in the direction of transitioning away from fossil energy, i.e. not phasing out or phasing out, which we have not agreed on, but a transition in the direction of something that is compatible with The 1.5 degree target.
Barth Eide believes that such a formulation would be a good thing.
– It may seem strange that we had to have 28 climate summits before we started talking about the elephant in the room, but we are doing that now. There is much more movement, says the former climate and environment minister.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs actively participated in the final work. Together with Singapore’s foreign minister, he has been responsible for bringing the part of the negotiations that deals with emission reduction to fruition.
Barth Eide tells NRK that this work is now complete.
COP28 takes place at the state-of-the-art and giant Expo Center in Dubai, the largest city in the oil country of the Emirates.
Photo: AP
Aroused strong reactions
On Monday afternoon, the first draft of the agreement was presented. It led to strong criticism because many believed that it contained too few binding statements about reducing the use of coal, oil and gas.
– The Marshall Islands did not come here to sign our own death warrant, was the formulation of John Silk, minister for natural resources on the vulnerable island state.
– The text is not good enough, a view shared by the majority of the world’s countries, said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide to NRK. He made it clear that if the text does not improve, Norway cannot sign.
Former vice president of the United States, Al Gore, went even further: “By the petrostates, by the petrostates and for the petrostates”, he signed X/Twitter.
Says it was a starting point
-. We are now trying to find a balanced way out, and we hope to be able to present a text that people can get behind. People should read the text as a complete package, says Cop 28 Director General Majid Al Suwaidi.
Photo: Reuters
On Tuesday morning, Cop 28 Director General Majid Al Suwaidi responded to the criticism after the first draft.
– We expected that many would say that the text did not fully take concerns into account. The text we sent out was a starting point. When we sent it out, we knew opinions were going to be polarized. But we were not familiar with the countries’ red lines. Now we have taken a position where we can make a new draft, said Suwaidi.
He added that the host wants what he calls a historic final document.
– At this climate summit, we will try something that has never been done before. Something historical. Parts of this involve including fossil energy sources in the text. If we can, it will be historic, he told reporters on Tuesday.
Important little words
Key concepts during the negotiations lie in the seemingly small words “phase out” or “phase down” and “abated” or “unabated”.
Linguistically, the difference is not that great, but in practice it makes a big difference.
Which and how these little words are used is one of the most important things in the ongoing negotiations in Dubau.
2023-12-12 18:46:03
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