Get the Latest Updates on COP28 and the UAE’s Ambitious Climate Goals
Introduction
As the global community continues its efforts to combat climate change, the upcoming COP28 summit in Dubai is set to play a crucial role in shaping the future of international climate governance. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) president and head of the country’s national oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, unveiled an ambitious agenda for COP28 at a recent G20 ministers meeting in Brussels. In this article, we will delve into the key highlights of the UAE’s plan and explore the reactions from various stakeholders.
UAE President’s Vision for COP28
Sultan al-Jaber’s vision for COP28 centers around the goal of phasing out fossil fuels and achieving an unabated fossil-fuel-free energy system by the middle of this century. While this agenda aligns with the aim of keeping the global temperature increase within the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris Agreement, it falls short of addressing the phase-out of all new oil and gas production. Some countries, including the UAE, have criticized this omission, calling for a more comprehensive approach to tackling climate change.
The Roadmap for COP28
The COP28 roadmap presented by Sultan al-Jaber outlines several key strategies to accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy system. These strategies include tripling renewable energy capacity, increasing energy efficiency, developing unproven technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture, and providing climate finance for developing countries. While these proposals have received support from many stakeholders, there are concerns that the roadmap still allows for the continued production of new oil and gas, as long as the emissions are captured.
Reactions from Non-Governmental Organizations and Campaign Groups
Non-governmental organizations and campaign groups have raised concerns about the UAE’s COP28 agenda. The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, based in California, argues that phasing out new fossil fuel projects is essential to achieving the 1.5°C limit. They assert that climate leaders must stop new fossil fuel projects and prioritize sustainable alternatives. These groups emphasize the urgency of taking immediate and decisive action to address climate change.
Support from the International Community
Despite the reservations voiced by some organizations, the UAE’s COP28 agenda has received support from many key players in the international community. Alok Sharma, the chair of the UK-hosted COP26 summit, welcomed the clarity of the plan of action proposed by the UAE. He stated that setting a timeline to phase out fossil fuels would be a tremendous achievement. Other stakeholders, including the EU climate envoy Frans Timmermans, have emphasized the importance of boosting COP28 with renewable energy.
Challenges and the Way Forward
COP28 faces significant challenges due to its extensive agenda, which includes separate meetings for trade and health ministers, programs for food security and health, and discussions on renewable energy and climate finance. With limited time to deliver these outcomes, stakeholders must work together to ensure the success of the summit. The mobilization of finance, creating a loss and damage fund, and standardizing voluntary carbon markets are just a few of the critical areas that need attention.
Conclusion
The upcoming COP28 summit in Dubai holds immense significance in the global fight against climate change. The UAE’s ambitious agenda, which aims to accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy system, has garnered both support and criticism. While some stakeholders applaud the commitment to phasing out fossil fuels, others argue that more must be done to address new oil and gas production. As we move forward, it is crucial for the international community to work together and find common ground to achieve a sustainable and resilient future.
Summary
The UAE president has unveiled an ambitious agenda for COP28, aiming to phase out fossil fuels and achieve an unabated fossil-fuel-free energy system by the middle of this century. While this agenda aligns with the aim of keeping the global temperature increase within the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris Agreement, concerns have been raised about the omission of a phase-out plan for new oil and gas production. The COP28 roadmap includes strategies such as tripling renewable energy capacity and increasing energy efficiency, but critics argue that it still leaves room for continued oil and gas production. Non-governmental organizations and campaign groups emphasize the need to halt new fossil fuel projects. Despite some reservations, the UAE’s agenda has received support from key players in the international community. The success of COP28 hinges on addressing various challenges such as mobilizing finance, creating a loss and damage fund, and standardizing voluntary carbon markets. The summit provides an opportunity for stakeholders to come together and shape the future of global climate governance.
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The UAE president at the UN COP28 climate summit set a goal for an energy system to phase out fossil fuels without all emissions being captured by “mid-century”.
The COP28 agenda outlined by Sultan al-Jaber, also head of the national oil company, does not go so far as to address the phase-out of all new oil and gas production as demanded by a group of countries at the last minute UN climate summit.
Jaber presented his vision for COP28, which takes place in Dubai in December, at a meeting of G20 ministers in Brussels on Thursday, urging them to “be brutally honest about the gaps that need to be filled, the root causes and how we got there in this place here today”.
In a 15-page letter to ministers, Jaber went one step further than previous statements about an “inevitable phase-down” of fossil fuels without a specified timeline.
The COP28 route “Accelerate the inevitable and responsible phase-down of all fossil fuels, accelerate the unabated phase-down of all coal, and lead to a unabated fossil-fuel-free energy system in the middle of this century,” he said.
This would ideally keep the 1.5C global temperature increase, as set out in the Paris Agreement, within reach, he said. The world has already warmed by at least 1.1°C.
The COP28 roadmap includes tripling renewable energy capacity, increasing energy efficiency, developing unproven large-scale technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture, and climate finance for developing countries.
But non-government and campaign groups have noted that it also allows for the continued production of new oil and gas as long as the emissions are captured.
The California-based Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty said the science was clear that the 1.5C limit could only be achieved by ending new fossil fuel projects. “The UAE should do it, and the US should do it, every country has to do it. So-called “climate leaders” need to stop using these forums as stages and stop new fossil fuel projects – this is the test case.”
Even the EU climate envoy Frans Timmermans underlined the need to “boost COP28 with renewable energy”, after Jaber’s speech.
Together with the EU and Canada, China co-hosted the meeting in Brussels, which marks the halfway point of the COP28 summit. China’s Ecology and Environment Minister Huang Runqiu said it was a “very important juncture for global climate governance.”
Those involved in the UN process have largely supported the UAE agenda. Alok Sharma, chair of the UK-hosted COP26 summit, welcomed the “clarity of a plan of action” and said it would be “a tremendous achievement” if COP28 sets “a timeline to consign fossil fuels to history “.
COP28 will be the forum for the “global stocktaking” of progress in reducing emissions. Based on commitments made by nearly 200 countries, the world remains on track for a temperature increase of between 2.4°C and 2.6°C by 2100, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
The energy transition “would require us to redraw the relationship between policy makers and the largest energy producers and the largest industrial consumers,” Jaber said.
The international financial system called for a “global transformation” to address climate change, warning that the existing set-up “didn’t make finance anywhere near available, accessible or affordable enough,” he said.
Kate Hampton, managing director of the philanthropic Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and an unpaid consultant to COP28, said Jaber had “responded with a credible road map” after spending six months “consulting with stakeholders around the world.”
The pledge to limit warming to 1.5°C was ‘particularly important’, he said, in light of questions on the feasibility of the temperature target.
“The challenge now for the presidency is to ensure that a comprehensive agenda is delivered, which can only be achieved with a transformational plan to mobilize finance,” Hampton said.
Avinash Persaud, economic adviser to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has advocated for reform of the international financial architecture to tackle climate change, said Jaber’s “major call to action will focus efforts ahead of the COP” .
However, “more vigorous efforts” were needed to fill the loss and damage fund agreed at last year’s United Nations climate summit, with a minimum of $100 billion a year. “Without that, this will be a defining failure that will overshadow significant gains elsewhere,” she said.
COP28 plans to host separate meetings for trade and health ministers, as well as programs for food security and health, along with renewable energy and climate finance, made for ‘a huge agenda’, said the chief by E3G consultancy Nick Mabey, and there was a “short time to deliver it”.
COP28 ACTION PLAN UAE
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The oil and gas industry will halve direct emissions and emissions from the energy it buys, known as scopes 1 and 2.
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Close to zero methane emissions by 2030.
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Triples renewable energy capacity to 11,000 GW from approximately 3,300 GW.
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Double hydrogen production to 180 tons per year by 2030.
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Double the rate of energy efficiency improvement in all sectors by 2030.
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Provision for claims and damages to be established.
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Push country governments to honor pledges for a $100 billion adaptation fund this year and double funding for adaptation by 2025.
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Report by the G20 High-Level Expert Group to ‘shape the contours of an appropriate landscape for climate finance’.
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World Bank, IMF and others to “standardize voluntary carbon markets and incentivize private capital and finance.”
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Denmark and South Africa to oversee global inventory of progress towards climate targets to ideally limit global warming to 1.5°C.
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Germany and Canada to coordinate the Climate Finance Delivery Plan.
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IEA and IRENA to oversee the decarbonisation roadmap.
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