2023-12-15 18:58:42
After multiple controversies, discussions and threats of abandonment, the president of the COP28Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, finally announced the success of the summit at the last minute.
In this agreement, almost 200 countries reach a global commitment to progressively abandon fossil fuels, a concept that is explicitly mentioned for the first time in a COP agreement.
Image about the COP28 climate summit agreements / Infographic: EA
This summit is the 28th edition of the UN Climate Change Conference. After the first climate agreements reached by the UN, since 1995 it was agreed to hold a summit every year to bring together all the world’s governments and coordinate a series of measures and policies that would allow them adapt and fight together against the consequences of climate change.
After being held last year in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), the designation of the United Arab Emirates was controversial as it was carried out in a country whose economy depends on oil. The next two editions will be held in Baku (Azerbaijan), another gas and oil extraction enclave, and in Bethlehem (Brazil).
The Dubai headquarters was marked by controversy due to its indissoluble ties with the oil industry. It has been argued that precisely these ties served to incorporate this lobby into the process with greater intensity than on other occasions. In this context, and before the final agreement, the hosts were also accused of taking advantage of the summit to negotiate oil agreements.
The multiple pressures suffered from different areas during the Summit threatened at many times with complete failure. The strongest pressures came from the oil industry where, especially, Saudi Arabia led the OPEC countries in lobbying. and try to avoid the resulting text targeting fossil fuels instead of greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, in previous summits there had always been talk of reducing these emissions, instead of pointing directly to the consumption of fossil fuels, as has happened on this occasion.
To reach the agreed text, nuances had to be made regarding the elimination of fossil fuels, a term that was not accepted by oil-producing countries, despite the fact that many attendees advocated for it. So, An agreement should have been reached that mentions the reduction and progressive abandonment of dependence on fossil fuels, but without requiring their elimination..
Another group unhappy with the way COP28 was proceeding were island countries, one of the main countries threatened by climate change. Countries such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the Maldives would see a large part or all of their territory flooded if the rise in sea levels continues.. At a summit where their future was literally at stake, this group of countries expressed their indignation at not being allowed to participate in the decisions.
Also There has been much discussion about the degree of involvement of the most developed countries in these commitments.. Although this group of countries has historically benefited the most from the use of fossil fuels and, to a certain extent, is the one that has contributed the most to this dramatic situation, at no time is there any talk of them being the ones who should lead. this change.
Among all these difficulties, a final document of 21 pages and 196 clauses was reached, which summarizes a future fighting strategy to achieve the goal of reducing fossil fuels and fighting climate change.
There’s a clear goal of reaching 0 net emissions by 2050. To this end, a greenhouse gas reduction itinerary of 43% by 2030 has been designed; 60% by 2035 until reaching that goal of 0 in 2050. Somehow it is feared that this concept of net emissions may hide CO2 reduction mechanisms or other types of technologies that continue to allow emissions while they are compensated in another way.
The progressive abandonment of fossil fuels is another agreement, although without mentioning their total elimination. Within this reduction there would also be energy from coal while a shift of the energy model towards renewable energy, nuclear or the development of new technologies for the reduction or capture of emissions.
On this path towards changing the energy model, it was agreed triple the use of renewable energy by 2030, as well as double energy efficiency by that same year. In that same sense, subsidies for energy from fossil fuels would end, an idea that would also be focused on reducing emissions from transportation as well as the development of low-emission vehicles. In this environment of emissions reduction, a reference is also made, although not very specific, to the reduction of methane.
This entire series of measures is geared towards an ambitious common goal, the 1.5ºC Objective. This means maintaining the level of warming at a maximum of 1.5 degrees more than in the pre-industrial era.. This agreement was already reflected in the 2015 Paris Summit and now there is an attempt to resume and redirect this idea, which had been somewhat forgotten. Currently the average temperature is 1.1 degrees warmer than at the end of the 19th century and, to meet that limit figure that would restrict the damage of climate change, the use of fossil fuels must be reduced and the energy model changed.
One of the first agreements reached at the summit was the creation of a loss and damage fund of 700 million dollars by developed countries to help countries vulnerable to climate catastrophes, ironically the least responsible for emissions. In addition to this common fund, other financing mechanisms have been created such as Altérra, a fund for solutions to climate change launched by the Arab Emirates with million-dollar investments.
One issue on which no agreement was reached is aid to developing countries to boost their renewable energy. In fact, it was recognized that aid in this sense has not been sufficient, but neither was aid imposed on the most developed countries for the less privileged in a process of energy transition towards a model based on renewable energies, as well as the progressive abandonment of fossil fuels.
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