2023-12-13 12:26:39
United Nations climate negotiators ordered the world on Wednesdays transition away from fossil fuels that warm the planet, in a measure that the head of the talks described as historical, Despite critics’ concerns about the legal loopholes.
“Humanity has finally done what should have been done a long, long time ago,” said Wopke Hoekstra, European Union Climate Action Commissioner. After nearly 30 years of talking about carbon pollution, climate negotiators in key document They explicitly targeted what traps heat: the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber approved the central document. Photo: Reuters
Within minutes of opening Wednesday’s session, COP28 President Sultan al-Jaberapproved the central document (the global balance sheet that tells how far the world is off track on climate and how to get back on track) without asking for comments. The delegates stood up and hugged each other.
“It’s a science-led plan,” al-Jaber said. “It is an improved and balanced historic package, but make no mistake, to accelerate climate action. “It is the UAE consensus.”
“For the first time in our final agreement we have terms about fossil fuels”said al-Jaber, who also He is CEO of the oil company of the United Arab Emirates.
“It is the beginning of the end”
United Nations Climate Secretary Simon Stiell told delegates that their efforts were “necessary to highlight a hard brake on the main climate problem of humanity: fossil fuels and the pollution that burns the planet.” While we have not turned the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this result It is the beginning of the end”.
Stiell warned people that what they adopted was a “lifeline for climate action, not a finish line.”
Simon Stiell and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. Photo: Reuters
The new agreement had been presented earlier Wednesday and was stronger than a draft proposed days earlier, but It had loopholes that bothered critics. Analysts and delegates wondered if there would be a floor fight over the details, but al-Jaber acted quickly and did not give critics a chance to clear their throats.
Criticism of the COP28 agreement
Several minutes later, Samoa’s chief delegate, Anne Rasmussen, On behalf of small island nations, complained that They weren’t even in the room. when al-Jaber said that the agreement It was closed. He said that “the course correction that is needed has not been achieved,” and that the agreement represents continue as before rather exponential emissions reduction efforts. He said the deal could “potentially set us back instead of forward.”
When Rasmussen finished, the delegates They shouted, applauded and stood up., as al-Jaber frowned and finally joined the standing ovation that lasted longer than his applause. Delegates from the Marshall Islands They hugged and cried.
Bolivia criticized the agreement as a new form of colonialism. But on Wednesday there was more self-congratulation than flogging.
“I am amazed by the spirit of cooperation that has brought everyone together,” said US special envoy John Kerry. He said this shows that multilateralism can still work despite what the world sees with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. “This document sends very strong messages to the world.”
With information from the Associated Press
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