COP28 president Al Jaber urges nations to get out of ‘comfort zones’
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber urged countries to work together to reach agreement before the two-week summit ends.
PHOTO: REUTERS
DUBAI - COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber urged countries on Dec 8 to get out of their comfort zones and work together to reach an agreement before the two-week United Nations climate summit ends.
“Let’s please get this job done,” he said, opening a plenary session as the summit entered its toughest phase of negotiations. “I need you to step up, and I need you to come out of your comfort zones.”
Country ministers joined the deliberations on Dec 8, with five days left before the Dubai conference’s scheduled end on Dec 12.
Still unresolved is how the nearly 200 countries at COP28 will handle the thorny issue of fossil fuels, the main source of climate-warming emissions, with at least 80 countries demanding a COP28 agreement that calls for an eventual end to their use.
Such a position would be unprecedented, after three decades of UN climate summits that have never addressed the future role of fossil fuels head-on.
Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault was optimistic that a compromise could be reached. “I’m confident we have to leave Dubai and COP28 with some language on fossil fuels,” he said.
“Even if it’s not as ambitious as some would want, it will still be an historic moment.”
UN climate agency chief Simon Stiell made an impassioned plea to countries, reminding that the science behind the world’s goal of holding warming to within 1.5 deg C of pre-industrial levels is clear.
“From the planet’s perspective, 1.5 is a tangible limit. It is not simply a choice,” said Mr Stiell, a Grenadian national who is executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Going past 1.5 degrees would likely lead to the irreversible loss of ice sheets, a 10m sea-level rise, the demise of coral reefs that sustain the world’s fisheries, and temperatures so extreme that two billion people will live in areas beyond the human limit, he said.
Meanwhile, Eastern European countries are working to resolve an impasse over where to hold next year’s COP29 summit after Russia said it would block any EU member as COP president.
As at Dec 8, the candidates included Azerbaijan which offered to host the event. Both Moldova and Serbia have also offered to take on the rotating presidency. REUTERS