As more than 80,000 delegates from all over the planet meet at the oil-rich country of United Arab Emirates to assess the progress of countries in meeting emissions reduction goals, eight years after the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid catastrophic climate change, and to scale up finance for developing countries, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern over the slow progress of the negotiations and urged countries to resolve the remaining sticking points.
“The world is on the brink of climate disaster and this conference must mark a tipping point. I renew my urgent appeal to leaders to recommit the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit, end the fossil fuel age, and to deliver climate justice,” Guterres said.
The last few days of the United Nations 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) is turning out to be an epic battle between fossil fuel lobbyists and climate justice activists aligned with scientists, indigenous peoples, religious leaders, and local governments, among other various stakeholders.
“The outcome is on the balance, on whether 1.5C global warming limit will be breached because Dubai fossil fuel interests prevailed over good science, common sense, and solidarity among nations,” explained Tony La Viña, a former Philippine climate negotiator and currently associate director for climate policy and international relations at the Manila Observatory.
The draft text of the Global stocktake document, which would be the principal output of COP28, has underlined the need to do away with all fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal.
At the climate summit, more than 130 countries, including the Philippines, have pledged to triple renewable power capacity by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements every year to 2030. However, the International Energy Agency said the pledges would not be enough to reach the 1.5C goal as these represent only around 30 percent of the emissions gap.
As among the countries on the planet most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change, the Philippine delegation should be among the loudest voices fighting for the phase out of fossil fuels as soon as possible. Our representatives there should be able to say that they fought for our country’s fate, even when facing a formidable and well funded lobby that is bent on extending the reign of fossil fuels for their own selfish reasons.*
