2023-09-09 04:14:49
There is still a way to go, warn the United Nations. The world must phase out polluting fossil fuels, peak its CO2 emissions by 2025 and do “much more, now, on all fronts” to tackle the climate crisis, according to a UN Climate report which will be at the heart of the COP28 in Dubai in three months.
This new call to order comes at a time when the leaders of the major G20 nations are meeting in New Delhi, with little hope of ambitious progress on the climate issue. The greenhouse gas emissions of the United States and Europe have been falling for years, while those of China (1st emitter) and India continue to increase.
Long-awaited, this 90-page report and 17 “key lessons” is the first assessment of all the efforts made or not since 2015 by humanity to respect the Paris agreement and its most ambitious objective of limiting global warming to 1 .5°C. It constitutes the technical stage of the first “global stocktake” of the Paris agreement, which the signatory countries must conclude at the 28th UN climate conference, from November 30 to December 12 in the United Arab Emirates, by agreeing on a political decision that meets the challenges.
Especially after the hottest summer ever measured in the world, hit by multiple heat waves, floods, fires and other extreme weather events favored by climate change. Global warming has already reached around 1.2°C compared to the pre-industrial era.
Fossil fuels at the heart of the debate
Drawing on the alarming scientific reports of the IPCC, this assessment will therefore be the indisputable basis for the tough negotiations of the next COP, announced as the largest ever to be held (90,000 people expected), with the future of fossil fuels at the heart of the debates: coal, oil and gas. “The world is not on course to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement,” the report concludes, unsurprisingly.
“The fundamental principles of the Paris agreement are not yet respected by the 197 parties” but “the burden of the response lies with 20 countries” in the first place, the head of the UN Climate told AFP on Thursday. , Simon Stiell, towards the G20 leaders who represent 80% of global emissions. “While action continues, much remains to be done now on all fronts,” the report summarizes.
Objective expected in 2025
In particular, “developing renewable energies and phasing out all fossil fuels without CO2 capture are essential elements of a just energy transition towards carbon neutrality”, states the summary, completing the question of fossil fuels, which is not explicit in the Paris agreement, at the heart of the negotiations. Except for a dip in 2020, when the global economy slowed due to the Covid pandemic, CO2 emissions have hovered around 40 billion tonnes per year since 2019.
The report recalls that humanity must reach the peak of these emissions by 2025. This peak has already been reached in developed countries and in a few others, but they continue to increase elsewhere. Humanity must “reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 and 60% by 2035 compared to 2019 levels”, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, further recalls The report.
But time is running out. “There is a window, which is rapidly closing, to raise ambitions and implement existing commitments to limit global warming to 1.5°C”, warns the report, written by a South African expert and his American counterpart. , after years of consultation with experts from member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and observers from environmental NGOs.
In response, the report describes once again the ways to increase efforts in favor of finance, first and foremost towards developing countries, both for the energy transition and for adapting to the consequences of global warming. “Trillions of dollars” are needed, while some 1,342 billion dollars per year (investment and subsidies) financed fossil fuels in 2019-2020. At the same time, climate action had reached 803 billion dollars annually, or a third of the needs to respect the Paris agreement, according to the summary.
The President of COP28 and the Emirati national oil company, Sultan Al Jaber, reacted by calling for “tripling renewable energy by 2030, commercializing other carbon-free solutions, such as hydrogen, and developing a system energy free of any fossil fuel without CO2 capture”. “This report deals us a new terrible blow” and also says “that all is not lost”, commented Ambassador Fatumanava Pa’olelei Luteru, who chairs the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis): “but we must be realistic” and “stop putting profits before people”.
“The hour of truth will come at the beginning of 2025, when countries will have to put new climate objectives on the table”, in accordance with the Paris agreement, recalled Kaveh Guilanpour, from the C2ES climate research center. .
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