COP28 - Experts criticize health declaration at climate conference
Health experts have 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.
The declaration issued by the host of the climate conference - the United Arab Emirates - to which more than 120 countries have signed up, aims to strengthen research and measures to prevent the health-threatening consequences of climate change - but 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 considered one of the most contentious issues at the climate conference.
In Dubai, the World Health Organization and more than 40 medical experts from around 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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Source: www.stern.de
