2023-12-13 17:47:00
A pat on the back after the summit: COP 28 President Sultan Al-Jaber and UN climate chief Simon Stiell hug at the UN climate summit.
Photo: dpa/Kamran Jebreili
After COP 28 President and oil company boss Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber presented the first draft text for the final declaration of the Dubai climate conference, which many described as scandalous, Brianna Fruean appeared before the press on Tuesday. The Samoan climate protector, an experienced activist, lost her voice in view of the climate policy disaster that Al-Jaber is threatening her island state with his fossil-based design. For the Pacific countries, the 1.5 degree limit is non-negotiable. “It’s a question of survival for our island,” says Fruean, fighting back tears.
Countries like Samoa, which is part of the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), actually have strong allies at climate conferences in the so-called High Ambition Coalition. This also includes many countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa, more than 100 in total. At halftime of the Dubai summit, the chairman of the Coalition of Ambitious, John Silk, announced in front of cameras: The 1.5 degree limit is non-negotiable, one global warming of two degrees by the end of the century is unacceptable. Two degrees Celsius would devastate millions, if not billions, of the most vulnerable people and communities, the Marshall Islands’ foreign minister has said.
This now continues to threaten the people on the islands. Jan Kowalzig from the aid organization Oxfam criticizes that the Dubai decisions are not a blueprint for compliance with the 1.5 degree limit. The loopholes in the summit paper are problematic. “Some countries and the fossil fuel industry will see this as justification for further expansion of gas production,” Kowalzig suspects, probably rightly.
According to the spirit of the summit paper, natural gas can de facto be used for decades to come. A shutdown of coal combustion is only required if the CO2 emissions are not captured and stored, i.e. “disposed of” using CCS technology. Before the summit, the once powerful High Ambition Coalition expressly sought the global phase-out of all fossil fuels in a declaration before the summit. Germany, however, had not signed this demand.
During the climate conference, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock evaded the question of whether the Federal Republic would do the same in Dubai. In response, she presented the story that she and the German delegation liked to spread about finally establishing the long-demanded fund to compensate for losses and damage caused by climate change. At the start of the summit in Dubai, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was able to announce the success: the fund had been set up at the World Bank and was immediately filled with $200 million, including $100 million from Germany. The partner was not the High Ambition Coalition, but the summit host, the United Arab Emirates, which contributed the same amount. Baerbock carried this initial success until the end of COP 28.
In fact, this initiative is more of a diplomatic success than a climate policy success. The Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad made one reason for this clear: In her country you can see what climate adaptation and resilience really mean. Their experience is therefore: “Beyond 1.5 degrees there is no more adjustment, there is only loss and damage.”
The minister from Colombia made it clear: If the world does not follow the path to complying with this upper limit for global warming, then no amount of money will be enough to pay for the climate damage. Cutting down CO2 emissions is therefore the most important thing in climate protection.
Seen this way, Germany and the Emirates should have better started the summit with an initiative in which they increased their climate targets in anticipation of the global community. But that is currently impossible for Germany. The weak climate policy at home was always the elephant in the room when the German delegation appeared.
The summit was also characterized by a weakened climate movement. Discussing, organizing and protesting – there is little room for this at this year’s climate conference in the Emirates, complained Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future at half-time. She couldn’t confirm at all that Dubai was the most “inclusive,” as the hosts had promised.
In the final plenary session on Wednesday, Samoa’s Environment Minister, Anne Rasmussen, also spoke on behalf of the small island states. The Aosis chairwoman explains clearly that they came to the conclusion that the summit paper did not ensure the necessary course correction in terms of climate. There is no obligation that the peak in CO₂ emissions must be reached in 2025. The island states would have to leave the summit with decisions that do not do justice to the extent of the climate crisis.
By the time Rasmussen explained this to the world, the summit text had long since been accepted. The plenary session did not wait for the island states. Their representatives were still standing in front of the hall when other countries greeted the acceptance with standing applause.
Subscribe to the “nd”
Being left is complicated.
We keep track!
With our digital promotional subscription you can read all issues of »nd« digitally (nd.App or nd.Epaper) for little money at home or on the go.
Subscribe now!
#Climate #conference #Dubai #COP28 #degrees #loss #damage