COP 28 Is Humanity's Last Clear Chance To Avoid A Climate Catastrophe - UN Chief - CleanTechnica

Republished By Plato

Followers: 0

Simon Stiell of Grenada is the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Stiell will oversee the upcoming COP 28 climate conference that begins on Thursday, November 30, 2023 in Dubai. In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, he said world leaders must “stop dawdling and start doing” on carbon emission cuts, as rapidly rising temperatures this year have put everyone on the front line of disaster,

No country could think itself immune from catastrophe, said Stiell. “We’re used to talking about protecting people on the far-flung front lines. We’re now at the point where we’re all on the front line,” he told Fiona Harvey of The Guardian. “Yet most governments are still strolling when they need to be sprinting.”

Global temperatures have broken new records in recent months, making this year the hottest on record, and perilously close to the threshold of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels that countries agreed in Paris in 2015 should be the target in order to keep most of the Earth habitable for humans. However, temperatures are now heading for a “hellish” 3ºC increase unless urgent and drastic action is taken, but greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise. Climate scientist predict that a 3ºC increase will lead to a 40 foot rise in sea level, which would inundate most of the world’s cities and render tens of millions of homes uninhabitable.

Stiell said it was still possible to cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to stay within the 1.5ºC limit, but that further delay would be dangerous. “Every year of the baby steps we’ve been taking up to this point means that we need to be taking … bigger leaps with each following year if we are to stay in this race,” he said. “The science is absolutely clear.”

COP 28 In Dubai

The two week long COP 28 talks are being hosted by the United Arab Emirates, a major oil and methane producing country. Scores of world leaders, senior ministers, and officials from 198 countries will be in attendance, along with an estimated 70,000 delegates, making it the biggest annual conference of the parties (COP) yet held under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change.

Sultan Al Jaber, the head of ADNOC, the UAE national oil company, will preside over the talks. Al Jaber has come under fierce criticism from green campaigners for his dual role, but Stiell said this was a distraction. “This is not the first COP to be hosted by a fossil fuel producing nation and it certainly won’t be the last. Every country, even those that are major oil producers, have their role to play,” he said. “What’s important are the messages and the signals that the incoming president is giving, and they speak to the need for urgent action and a focus on the how — how do we speed up the transition to a new decarbonized world.”

Stiell added, “It’s important that we recognize the fossil fuel industry has to be part of the solution. We know where the problems lie. But in order to progress the conversation from what needs to be done to how it needs to be done, the fossil fuel industry has to be part of the conversation.”

But Stiell insisted these companies had to show they were serious about shifting the world to a zero carbon economy. “Their engagement in the process has to be legitimate, has to be speaking to the necessary actions that are taking the transition away from our current dependence on fossil fuels to a new decarbonized business model,” he said.

To which we say, “Good luck with that, Simon.” Virtually all of the world’s major oil and methane companies — including ADNOC — have recently announced massive investments in new production. ExxonMobil doesn’t even pretend to be pursuing zero carbon fuels from algae any more. a slick public relations dodge it had been promoting for years to polish its public image.

The presidents of the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters — Joe Biden of the US and Xi Jinping of China — are not expected to attend but their envoys, John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua, have signaled their close cooperation after the two held one on one talks recently.

COP 28 And Climate Justice

One of the key issues at COP 28 will be the provision of finance for the rescue and rehabilitation of the poorest and most vulnerable communities when they are stricken with climate disaster. The absence of this loss and damage funding has been a longstanding grievance for developing countries, but earlier this month countries agreed to a blueprint for the fund.

Rich countries have yet to pledge contributions to the fund, however. Stiell called on world leaders to come with pledges. “A fund that is established without the resources capitalized won’t get us to where we need to be. That opportunity, for donors to send strong signals as to how the fund will be capitalized, and the scale of that capitalization, is on offer at this COP,” he said.

In other words, it’s put up or shut up time for the world’s leading countries. They have been talking the talk for decades but none has actually put their money where their mouth is yet.

Governments will be presented with a global assessment of how little progress has been made on emissions cuts since the 2015 Paris agreement, and how far off track the world is to meet the Paris goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C, beyond which scientists warn the impacts of the climate crisis will rapidly become catastrophic and irreversible.

Stiell said governments must list and deploy the “solutions, solutions, solutions” that they know will be effective, such as renewable energy, electrifying transport and decarbonizing the global economy. “People everywhere expect governments to put these tools at work at COP 28. Public attention will be on us, and the expectations that this COP will speak to those solutions and the urgency of action. We keep talking about hope, but hope can only be established if there are signs of delivery — of action. I believe that is the signal that ordinary people struggling to deal with the consequences of climate change are expecting of world leaders here at COP 28.”

The Last Clear Chance Doctrine

In American personal injury law, courts have created the last clear chance doctrine to allow injured parties to recover damages even if they contributed to their injuries. To put it in exaggerated terms, if a driver turns into the path of a cement mixer, the truck driver has to take all reasonable measures to avoid a collision even if they have done nothing wrong.

Someday, the fossil fuel industry will face legal penalties for knowingly turning the Earth into a baked potato. Under the last clear chance doctrine, they cannot escape liability by saying, “You used our products so it’s your own damn fault if a forest fire destroyed your home before it got swept out to sea by a rising tide.”

COP 28 is that last clear chance moment for the nations of the world. If they kick the can down the road the way they have done in every other COP, they will in effect be locking in the world to a future that is 3ºC hotter — or more. What are the odds that significant progress will be made in Dubai in the next few weeks? If you said about the same as the proverbial snowball in Hell, you are probably right.

CleanTechnica will be monitoring the dog and pony show in Dubai for as long as it lasts, so check back often for the latest updates.