UAE sets ‘mid-century’ target for fossil fuel phase-down on climate summit agenda

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The UAE president of the UN climate summit took a step forward in setting a “mid-century” timeline for phasing out fossil fuels produced without emissions controls, in its agenda for COP28.

Plans to cap greenhouse gas emissions, triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, and double energy efficiency to limit global warming have been widely welcomed, but the phasing out of new oil and gas production The demands of the countries and propagandists were not met.

Sultan Al-Jaber laid out his vision for COP28, to be held in Dubai in December, at a meeting of G20 ministers in Brussels on Thursday, urging them to “be completely honest about the gaps that need to be filled”. , the root cause and how we got to where we are today”.

In a 15-page letter to ministers, Jaber said his plan would accelerate the “inevitable and responsible phase-out of all fossil fuels” and lead to “an unabated fossil fuel-free energy system in the middle of this century”.

He said this would ideally limit global temperature rise to 1.5C, as set out under the Paris Agreement. The world has already warmed at least 1.1C since pre-industrial times.

COP28’s action plan relies on dramatically scaling up renewable energy, while simultaneously developing proven technologies such as green hydrogen and carbon capture at scale.

Following Jaber’s speech, EU climate envoy Frans Timmermans underlined the need to “supercharge COP28 with renewable energy”. The European Union has said it will “push for the phasing out of unsustainable fossil fuels well before 2050”.

In his speech, Jaber said that energy transformation “will require us to redesign the relationship between policymakers, the largest energy producers and the largest industrial consumers”.

Alok Sharma, president of the UK-hosted COP26 summit, welcomed the “clarity of the action plan” and said it would be “a remarkable achievement” if COP28 sets a “deadline to consign fossil fuels to history”.

But the preachers were not impressed by this. The California-based Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty said the science is clear that the 1.5C global warming target can only be met by eliminating new fossil fuel projects.

Along with the European Union and Canada, China was the co-host of the meeting in Brussels, which marks the halfway point of the COP28 summit. China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu told the gathering that this was “a very important turning point for global climate governance”.

COP28 will be a forum for “global stock taking” of progress by countries pledging to cut emissions under the Paris Agreement. Scientists believe emissions need to be cut by 43 per cent by 2030 to keep warming to 1.5C, but this continues to increase annually.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the world is on track for a temperature rise of between 2.4C and 2.6C by 2100.

Kate Hampton, chief executive of the charitable Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and an unpaid advisor to COP28, said Jaber “responded with a credible road map” after six months of “consulting with stakeholders around the world”.

In light of questions about the feasibility of the temperature target, he said, a commitment to limit warming to 1.5C was “particularly important”.

“The challenge now for the presidency is to ensure delivery of a comprehensive agenda, which can only be achieved with a transformative plan to raise finance,” Hampton said.

Avinash Persaud, economic advisor to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has supported reform of the international financial architecture to combat climate change, said Jaber’s “important call to action will focus efforts ahead of the COP”. .

However, “more vigorous efforts” were needed to fill the Loss and Damage Fund with a minimum of $100 billion annually, agreed at last year’s UN climate summit. “Without it, it would be a decisive failure that would eclipse important gains elsewhere,” he added.

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