Demands to move away from fossil fuels shape summit segment of UN climate conference
"We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose made of fossil fuels," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, urging a rapid end to their use. The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees can only be achieved if "we stop burning all fossil fuels", he made clear. Instead, the switch to renewable energies must be accelerated. At stake, he said, was nothing other than "the fate of humanity".
The British King Charles III, who was attending a climate conference for the first time as head of state, called on the participants to make a "decisive turnaround in the fight against global warming". "The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth," he emphasized. So far, the world is "not on the right track" in reducing emissions.
Other of the more than 140 heads of state and government who traveled to Dubai also called for decisive action against global warming. The G7 group of major industrialized nations in particular should "set an example and commit to phasing out coal by 2030", demanded French President Emmanuel Macron. The summit (World Climate Action Summit) is officially taking place in parallel to the actual conference deliberations and is intended to give them additional momentum.
Climate Conference President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, himself head of the state oil company of the United Arab Emirates, conceded that the role of fossil fuels must be reconsidered. An initial negotiating text, which became known in Dubai, proposes a "reduction" or a "move away from fossil fuels".
In his speech in Dubai, Brazil's President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva proposed a new fund to protect the large tropical rainforests and pledged a significant reduction in Brazilian emissions. Brazil is hosting the UN Climate Change Conference 2025.
At the founding event of the Climate Club,Scholz called for "strategies and standards to be developed for a carbon-free industry". This is precisely one of the club's central tasks. "We are united by the conviction that climate change is the greatest challenge of the 21st century," Scholz continued.
"We want decarbonized industrial production to become the business model of the future," he said, describing the common goal of the club members. Scholz cited the steel and cement industries as examples, where the transition away from fossil fuels is considered to be particularly difficult and costly. Most of the major industrialized countries belong to the club, as well as several developing countries - but not important emerging economies such as China or India. On Saturday morning, Scholz will also address the plenary session of the climate conference.
The climate conference was overshadowed by the Middle East conflict. The Iranian delegation left in protest at the fact that Israel was also taking part in the discussions. Israel's President Isaac Herzog left Dubai early without having delivered his planned plenary speech. However, there were also various bilateral talks on the fringes of the conference, including with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The war in the Gaza Strip also played a role in several plenary speeches, particularly by Arab heads of state.
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Source: www.stern.de
