COP28 - Climate summit president considers fossil fuel phase-out unnecessary
The president of the World Climate Conference in Dubai, Sultan Al-Jaber, has doubted the scientific consensus that a phase-out of fossil fuels is necessary to achieve the international 1.5-degree target, according to a report.
TheGuardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting, citing their own information, reported that Al-Jaber said in a video call with UN representatives and others in November that there is "no science" to prove that phasing out fossil fuels is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.
Al-Jaber is a controversial host of the climate conference because he is also the head of the state oil company. According to the report, he claimed in the video conference that development without the use of fossil fuels is not possible "if you don't want to catapult the world into the Stone Age".
When asked by the Guardian, the COP28 presidency did not deny the statements, but went on to say that Al-Jaber had referred to the fact that the IPCC also assumes in its scenarios that fossil fuels will continue to play a role in the energy system of the future - albeit a smaller one.
Criticism of health declaration
Health experts also previously criticized a declaration adopted by a number of countries at the World Climate Conference as being too weak. "Fossil fuels are not even mentioned, although they bear the main blame for climate change and therefore also for the effects on health," said expert Jess Beagley from the Climate and Global Health Alliance, an association of health organizations from around the world, in Dubai. Other experts also criticized the announcement.
"Whether it really is a health COP in the end depends on whether states adopt and implement ambitious resolutions to phase out fossil fuels," said Sophie Gepp, a medical doctor from the Centre for Planetary Health Policy, to the German Press Agency.
Although the declaration issued by the host of the climate conference - the United Arab Emirates - and signed by more than 120 countries, aims to strengthen research and measures to prevent the health-threatening consequences of climate change, the words "fossil fuels" or "phasing out fossil fuels" are nowhere to be found in the text. Whether the climate conference in the oil state can agree on a global phase-out of coal, oil and gas is one of the most contentious issues at the climate conference.
"Climate crisis and health crisis one and the same"
In Dubai, the World Health Organization and more than 40 medical experts from all over the world called for the phase-out of fossil fuels to be accelerated. National governments should also put into practice the announcements they have made on climate protection.
The health experts warned against "dangerous distractions" such as CO2 storage or geoengineering, on which some countries are pinning their hopes in the fight against the climate crisis. In reality, however, these technologies are considered scientifically controversial, very expensive and hardly scalable on a large scale.
"The fact is that the climate crisis and the health crisis are one and the same," said US special envoy John Kerry in Dubai. "They are completely interconnected."
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- Despite the ongoing climate crisis, the United Arab Emirates, as the host of the upcoming COP28 climate conference in Dubai, has yet to firmly commit to phasing out fossil fuels.
- The Guardian Media Group has reported that the conference's president, Sultan Al-Jaber, refuted the necessity of phasing out fossil fuels, citing a lack of scientific evidence.
- Al-Jaber, who also serves as the head of the state oil company, has faced criticism for his stance on fossil fuels at the United Nations Climate Conference.
- International health experts have criticized the weak health declaration adopted at the World Climate Conference in Dubai, as it fails to address the role of fossil fuels in climate change and its impact on health.
- The declaration signed by over 120 countries at the conference, however, aims to strengthen research and measures to prevent the health-threatening consequences of climate change, ambiguously sidestepping the issue of fossil fuels.
- The absence of a clear commitment to phasing out fossil fuels from the COP28 conference presidential decisions and declarations has raised concerns about its impact on the global fight against climate change and its health implications.
Source: www.stern.de
