Five days before the start of the World Climate Conference in Dubai (COP28), this year’s president, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, was “cautiously optimistic” about the progress of talks in that country.
In an interview with the AFP news agency, Al Jaber, who is also Minister of Industry and president of the state oil company ADNOC of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said that he feels a “great dynamic”.
“We are making very good progress in the areas of energy, finance, health, nutrition and nature,” said Al Jaber. The founder of state-owned renewable energy company Masdar said he would like to see an “ambitious outcome” at COP28. Among other things, it hopes that participants will be able to agree on a concrete climate action plan. The COP28 president said he himself would demand accountability from “everyone and every industry” to ensure the 1.5-degree target set out in the Paris Climate Agreement remains within reach.
Seven years have passed since the Paris Agreement and there are still another seven years to go until significant progress is made on the ambitious climate targets by 2030. COP28 is therefore a “turning point”. “This is the COP with the greatest impact since Paris. And it is our responsibility to ensure that we maximize the objectives of COP28.”
The Paris Climate Agreement reached in 2015 aims to limit global warming to well below two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era, but, if possible, to 1.5 degrees. However, according to the UN, with current policy, we are heading towards a further 2.8 degrees by the end of the century. According to the UN, phasing out all fossil fuels whose emissions cannot be captured or offset is necessary to achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Regarding the possible impact of the war between Israel and radical Islamist Hamas on the climate conference, Al Jaber said: “The world is fed up with polarization and division.” He is “confident that COP28 will be the multilateral platform” to bring good news to the world.
As he prepared for the World Climate Conference in his country, he learned that he had to help “build trust and act by being cooperative and inclusive.”
The 28th World Climate Conference COP28 begins on November 30th in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The future use of fossil energies such as oil, gas and coal will play an important role.