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Dubai, UAE | THE INDEPENDENT | The host and President of COP28 President, Sultan Al Jaber says the annual climate summit taking place in Dubai has already made history. He told Journalist that more than $83 billion had been mobilized during the first week of the conference.
Unlike at past Climate conferences, countries, businesses, and development institutions among others have made pledges towards climate initiatives like disaster response and technology investments among others.
Sultan Al Jaber told journalists that the conference has so far achieved consensus on loss and damage. Loss and damage refers to the negative consequences that arise from the unavoidable risks of climate change like floods, crop failures and bushfires among others.
At Dubai, leaders agreed to put more in a fund aimed at providing financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.
The fund is to be operationalized by the World Bank for two years. “ I believe that with the momentum we have, with the action-oriented mindset that has been instilled across the board, I believe we can achieve consensus again,” said Al Jaber as he and ministers into the actual negotiations from Saturday.
“Here is where the work really begins and without the cooperation and collaboration, we can not and will not succeed” he noted.
The hard part of the summit normally happens when Ministers from the 190 state parties to the Climate Change Convention meet. Political issues tend to emerge at that stage.
As the ministers prepared to meet, over 1000 people wrote a letter to the COP28 President and all State Parties urging for a rapid response to the global stocktake as required by the Paris Agreement.
They suggested an orderly phase-out of all fossil fuels in a just and equitable way, in line with a 1.5C trajectory – whilst ensuring the tripling of global renewable energy capacity by 2030 from 2022 levels and the doubling of energy efficiency.
They also demanded a halt and reversal of deforestation and land degradation as well as biodiversity and other ecosystem loss by 2030 safeguarding the territories of indigenous peoples; ensuring resilient food systems and delivering a strong global goal on adaptation.
With the letter in mind, Sultan Al Jaber stated that “I will spend every moment focused on enabling, facilitating, and supporting the most ambitious outcome. And I am very optimistic that the new spirit we have generated here is helping to make this COP a transformational COP. A COP that has the potential to change the game.
Simon Stiell, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary told journalists that COP28 must be about solutions to get all countries out of this climate mess.
“That is my central focus: solutions, acceleration, the highest ambition here at COP, and a springboard for the crucial years ahead. COP28 must deliver a big switch: not just ‘what’ governments must do, but also ‘how’ to get the job done” he said
“If we want to save lives now, and keep 1.5 within reach, the highest ambition COP outcomes must stay front and center in these negotiations. So I urge negotiators to start with the highest ambition outcome and for them to ask, “How do we get there?”
He urges all ministers and negotiators to think outside the box. Climate action needs that paradigm shift. “Yes, eight billion people are now on the frontlines. But bold climate action is also a momentous opportunity: An opportunity for more jobs, healthier economic growth, less pollution, and better human health. This is what billions of people in every country want, and bolder climate action is the chance for governments to deliver it here in Dubai”
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