The EU's demand to put an end to fossil fuels in a phased manner collided with a wall of silence from China and India in the round of interventions carried out by their leaders in the plenary session, held on the second day of the Dubai climate conference.
The big issue under discussion at the summit is determining whether the final agreement will include the idea of “a reduction” or “a gradual elimination” of fossil energy that does not have CO2 capture and storage systems.
The working document for the final agreement, published on Friday morning, proposes that countries decide on a “reduction” or “exit” from fossil fuels. This is the paragraph that will be most hotly debated in the coming days.
The presidents of the institutions of the European Union were outlining the community position before the Dubai summit: increase in global ambition in the face of climate change, commitment to cornering fossil fuels and putting a ceiling on CO2 emissions as soon as possible, preferably in 2025, to decrease from that moment on.
But the interventions of China or India missed the center of those demands.
Behind the smiles and family photos, under the Dubai sun, disagreements about the future role of fossil energy continue to leave a wide gap. After dozens of speeches by world leaders from the COP28 rostrum on Friday, the path to obtaining a grand agreement to break the climate paralysis is not clear, far from it.
One after another, presidents and monarchs took note of the dangers of extreme weather sweeping the Earth, but one after another simply repeated their existing prior commitments, almost none of which are consistent with the Paris Agreement.
"We must eliminate fossil fuels and we must reduce methane emissions," claimed the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a speech.
Along the same lines, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, advocated adjusting to the objective that the global average temperature does not rise more than 1.5ºC and for "getting rid as soon as possible of dependence on fossil energies, which put our common future in danger".
Off the stage, the Spanish Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, also declared that the Dubai dialogue process must lead to an agreement to “gradually reduce until the total elimination of fossil fuels.”
Last year, in Egypt, that was not possible, "We did not manage to make any progress in this regard, but it is essential to resume the path we began to follow in Glasgow and consolidate and deepen it. Therefore, this is surely one of the workhorses ”, he admitted.
The EU defends that the world is not on the path to meeting the objectives set in the Paris Agreement and is moving away from the path of climate security.
And he demands that the final agreement of the Dubai climate conference (COP28) include a "clear and forceful message" about the end of fossil fuels and how to accelerate the pace of emissions reduction to limit global warming to 1, 5ºC.
At this point, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, asked the G7 countries for a commitment to “end coal” before 2030 to “set an example”, since these investments are “a true absurdity”. And he pointed directly to China, “now the second historical issuing country and which, therefore, has changed its status in some way,” he stressed. “Power plants that are largely concentrated in Asia will alone emit enough CO2 to exceed the 1.5°C target,” the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement, he said.
China, meanwhile, wants to tiptoe around, as if trying not to touch a vase. Its vice prime minister, Ding Xuexiang, referred, without detailing figures, to the “significant reduction” in the intensity of carbon emissions in China and the leading role of the production of vehicles powered by new energies, which “have been in operation for eight years.” consecutively leading sales.”
Xuexiang explained that the Asian country “is actively implementing a national strategy to address climate change.” Its objective is “to achieve neutrality in the carbon footprint (which it has placed in 2060), increase energy efficiency, reduce emissions and establish market mechanisms to adapt to climate change,” he listed.
But there were no concrete or more detailed references to his coal plans.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to stick out his chest. He recalled that India represents "17% of the planet's population" and "4% of global emissions," and asked for recognition of the efforts of his country, of 1.4 billion inhabitants, a "model for the world." in the balance found “between ecology and economy”.
India aims for carbon neutrality by 2070; that is, 20 years after most rich countries.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the center of internal criticism for his turn in climate policies, opted for self-criticism; He said the world is not moving "fast enough" in the fight against climate change despite the progress made and urged countries to "work together" without leaving anyone behind.
"I think we can meet (targets) here in Dubai, but we have to work together," warned the Tory politician, while observing that currently the climate debate "is too divided."
The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, announced that Spain will contribute 20 million euros to the new loss and damage fund approved at the climate summit, with the aim of helping the most vulnerable countries to repair climate damage.
Sánchez considered that this summit should be interpreted as an opportunity to advance a "fair and equitable" climate agenda, because the roadmap of the Paris Agreements is not being met.
For this reason, he urged to take advantage of it and take steps in various areas, including a new architecture that facilitates access to funds, eliminates obstacles and identifies new opportunities.
In his opinion, climate objectives must be included in economic and fiscal policies, develop robust carbon markets, tackle the debt problem, increase fiscal space for the most vulnerable countries and work on a new international taxation that is governed by the "polluter pays" principle.
He highlighted the three already known measures that he believes are necessary: tripling the generation capacity of renewable energy by 2030, doubling the energy efficiency objectives this decade and ending the production and consumption of fossil fuels.
