Since yesterday, Dubai has hosted a new climate summit sponsored by the UN. Over the next few days, we will once again remember the risk of global warming and the need to fulfill the commitments of previous events of this type in line with increasing the use of renewable energies and gradually eliminating those produced by fossil fuels. There are many contradictions and hypocrisies between what is signed and said in the carpeted halls of these conferences and what ends up happening later. The fact that its president is Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who is at the same time the director of the public fossil fuel company of the Emirates, should serve as a preventive argument.
Never before has there been a clearer conviction among the scientific community and also among public opinion of the need to save the planet from the climate crisis. But more and more governments and companies are also demanding greater compensation to do so and asking that the measures be applied equally in all countries of the world with the aim of avoiding unfair competition. European companies have already lost the fear of saying that they do not accept decarbonization if Chinese companies do not end up doing the same. And the problems of energy shortages due to the war in Ukraine are causing commitments made at these summits to be broken. Global coal extraction continues to increase and gas and oil extraction does not seem to be stopping. It is also not a good omen that the presidents of the United States and China have decided not to go to Dubai.
In any case, we must not lose hope. The first day brought the good news of the commitment of the attendees to create a fund for the most vulnerable countries that suffer losses caused by extreme episodes of climate change. Sometimes it is easier to use the checkbook than to assume the retirement of old fossil fuels. This will be the real battle of this summit, and the agreements reached will not be a dead letter.
