COP28 decided to cut fossil fuels.

SGGP 11/06/2023 06:08

On June 10, Sultan Al-Jaber, the designated President of the 28th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), affirmed his commitment to reducing fossil fuels at a climate conference in Bonn, Germany.

Climate change is causing Spain to experience its hottest spring on record.

Ensuring energy security

COP28 was held from November 30 to December 12 at Expo City Dubai (UAE).

According to Al-Jaber, the speed of fossil fuel reduction will depend on the pace of deploying "non-carbon alternatives," while also ensuring energy security, accessibility, and financial capacity.

He emphasized that the COP28 roadmap includes achieving the global goal of tripling the contribution of renewable energy by 2030, doubling energy efficiency, and increasing the market share of clean hydrogen.

Earlier, in Brussels, Belgium, the COP28 President signed a press release with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, calling for a transition to fossil fuel-free energy systems. In May, in another speech in Petersberg, Germany, Al-Jaber also declared that "there must be a mandatory roadmap for eliminating fossil fuel emissions."

According to Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's Foreign Minister and Chairman of the High Committee responsible for overseeing preparations for COP28, when deciding to host COP28, the UAE was determined to lead global efforts in addressing climate change issues and move initiatives to tackle these problems from the commitment stage to the implementation stage with concrete actions.

Climate risks remain high.

According to a recently published assessment by the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London (UK), almost all of the 35 countries that account for four-fifths of global greenhouse gas emissions scored poorly on their carbon neutrality plans.

Most countries aim for net carbon zero emissions by the middle of this century, while China and India aim to achieve this goal by 2060 and 2070, respectively. However, currently only one-third of the 35 countries mentioned above have laws mandated to meet these emissions reduction targets. The ability to curb global warming largely depends on whether countries uphold and implement their emissions reduction commitments; however, it is difficult to assess the reliability of these plans. If all countries implement their short-term and long-term plans, global warming could stabilize within the target range of 1.5°C-2°C. But if only existing policies are considered, and the somewhat unclear commitments are ignored, global temperatures are likely to rise by 2.5°C-3°C.

Researchers applied confidence ratings to model different scenarios of future emissions and the temperature increase resulting from those emissions. Accordingly, if only highly confident net-zero emissions plans are added to existing policies, global warming is projected at 2.4°C by 2100, still far exceeding the targets set in the Paris Agreement on climate change.

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