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UN climate chief criticizes draft: "grab bag of wish lists"

CO2 emissions must be reduced in order to achieve the climate targets. But the UN climate chief warns that instead of the high-speed climate train we need, an old slow train is chugging along shaky tracks.

,   and  ZEITUNG «AUSSIEDLERBOTE»
2 min read
Climate-damaging CO2 emissions should actually be falling. Instead, they are continuing to rise and....aussiedlerbote.de
Climate-damaging CO2 emissions should actually be falling. Instead, they are continuing to rise and are expected to reach a record level of 36.8 billion tons in 2023. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

Climate conference - UN climate chief criticizes draft: "grab bag of wish lists"

At the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, UN climate chief Simon Stiell used clear words to encourage the almost 200 countries to be more ambitious. "Let's be honest: Good intentions alone will not halve emissions in this decade, nor will they save lives here and now," he said.

The current draft of the final document, known in UN jargon as the global stocktake, is a "grab bag of wish lists", he criticized. "The negotiating parties must now sort this out - and then herald the end of the fossil age as we know it with a clear statement."

This means formally deciding to gradually phase out coal, oil and gas. A good 100 countries now support this at the conference, but there is resistance. According to information from environmental associations, the oil state of Saudi Arabia and India, which relies heavily on coal, are among those opposing a commitment to phase out fossil fuels.

Stiell: "The tools are all on the table"

The head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) went on to say that the teams need clear marching orders: It was about the highest ambitions, not the lowest common denominators. "At the end of next week, COP28 must deliver a high-speed train to accelerate climate protection. But we currently have an old slow train chugging along shaky tracks. But: the tools are all on the table, the technologies and solutions are available."

EU Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra also said that there was still a lot to do at the UN meeting, which is due to end on Tuesday. By 2025 at the latest, the world must reach the peak in climate-damaging emissions and reduce emissions by 43 percent by 2030. "The sticking point, which of course we are all talking about, is phasing out fossil fuels," he said. He wanted to make it clear once again what the European Union stands for: "I want this COP to mark the beginning of the end for fossil fuels."

It was only on Tuesday that the report on the global carbon budget showed that CO2 emissions are continuing to rise. They are expected to reach a record level of 36.8 billion tons in 2023. This is 1.1 percent more than in 2022 and 1.4 percent more than in the pre-corona year 2019.

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Source: www.stern.de

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