Climate summit not yet ‘focusing on the cause’ say Pacific nations, warning ‘failure is not an option’
The mass climate summit under way in Dubai has not got to grip with fossil fuels, which most climate scientists say is the primary cause of climate change, Pacific nations have told Sky News.
Various world leaders signed up to a raft of headline-friendly pledges on clean power in the first few days of the climate negotiations, though these were voluntary schemes on the sidelines.
But vulnerable nations are stepping up the pressure to get the almost 200 countries present to commit to targets on ditching fossil fuels, as most of the leaders leave and the hard grind of the negotiations get under way.
The pledges so far are “all very good,” Ralph Regenvanu, climate minister of Vanuatu, told Sky News. “But if we don’t address fossil fuels, stop expansion of production now, and start to phase out, we’re not going to solve the climate crisis.”
“If we can’t do that, everything else is just nice words,” he added, after launching a new financing initiative to support jobs and climate aims in the Pacific.
“COP is not yet addressing fossil fuels,” but his nations are “pushing very strongly” for something in that negotiated outcome, he said.
Disputes brewing
The biggest fight at this summit is likely to be over a resolution to phase out fossil fuels.
Backers say a phase-out is essential for rapidly limiting global warming that is fuelling extreme weather and rising seas, swallowing Pacific islands like Vanuatu. But sceptics say it is just the emissions from burning oil and gas that are the problem.
According to United Nations climate scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world must almost halve emissions by 2030 – to achieve “a substantial reduction” in overall fossil fuel use – in order to contain global warming.
An early draft of a final treaty from COP28, which will be the most significant since the landmark Paris Agreement from COP21 in 2015, is expected on Monday, and envoys will race to see whether “fossil fuels” have been named in the text.
However, with more than a week of negotiations still to go, the language will likely change before the gavel falls on the final treaty.
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Ambassador Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr Pa’olelei Luteru, who represents AOSIS, a group of 39 vulnerable island and coastal nations, said: COP28 is not yet “focussing on the cause of the problem”.
He took aim at the group of 20 (G20) major economies, responsible for three-quarters of all emissions of planet-warming gases, urging them to lead the way with plans to phase out fossil fuels themselves.
G20 countries meeting in July ended in disagreement after countries failed to agree on concrete targets to cut dangerous emissions.
The UK, a G20 member, supports a plan to phase out “unabated” fossil fuels, through issuing new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
Unabated refers to the burning of coal, oil and gas without technology to capture it – which is important but has so far proved hard to get off the ground.
Demand for oil, coal and gas is still rising, though due to start falling out from about 2030. Petro states or developing economies that are highly dependent on fossil fuels – which could be somewhere like Nigeria – are wary about a phase-out.
Those who back a fossil fuel phase-out say it will help shift economics to make it cheaper to give up fossil fuels.
Ambassador Luteru warned of previous unfulfilled commitments.
“I don’t want to be a pessimist, but we’ve gone down this road before in terms of negotiations,” he said.
The Vanuatu minister had been speaking at an event to launch Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity, which is generating cash for projects that tackle both jobs and climate.
He told Sky News fish caught in local waters is caught by foreign vessels, exported, and then reimported to the region as tinned fish.
The permanent secretary for foreign affairs in Fiji, Lesi Korovavala, also spoke at the event launch.
“Time has run out for unfulfilled commitments and pledges,” he said. “Failure is not an option for our communities.”