COP28 on climate change | COP28 starts with a bang with an agreement

The 28^e United Nations conference on climate change (COP28) got off to a flying start on Thursday with an agreement on the creation of a fund to compensate for the “loss and damage” suffered by vulnerable countries, which had been asking for it for 30 years, and to which Canada will contribute.

This fund will be temporarily managed by the World Bank for a period of four years, then will have an independent secretariat and a board of directors.

Contributions will be made voluntarily by contributing countries, and all developing countries will be able to benefit from them.

The United Arab Emirates, host of COP28, and Germany both announced contributions of $100 million (US) on Thursday; Canada will announce its contribution on Friday, indicated to The Press the office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault.

Vulnerable countries estimate that they need $400 billion per year to deal with the consequences of climate change that cannot be adapted to, such as land submersion.

Even though the fund has yet to be filled, its announcement was greeted with a standing ovation from delegates from the nearly 200 countries participating in COP28.

Its creation is also a success for the president of the conference, the Emirati Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who is also Minister of Industry and CEO of the national oil company, a combination of functions which has earned him his share of criticism.

“The speed with which we did this is unprecedented, phenomenal and historic,” he said.

A “step” in the right direction

The creation of the fund was welcomed by the countries that will benefit from it and by various environmental organizations, who nevertheless recalled that billions of dollars will have to be paid into it and that other measures to combat global warming will have to accompany it.

“An empty fund cannot help our citizens,” said Madeleine Diouf Sarr, president of the Least Developed Countries Group, which represents 46 of the poorest nations, nonetheless welcoming a decision of “enormous significance for climate justice.” “.

“We are one step closer to delivering the financial assistance needed by communities bearing the brunt of the climate crisis,” said Patrick Bonin, head of Greenpeace Canada’s climate-energy campaign, calling on key responsible for the climate crisis to pay their fair share of the bill.

“After 32 years of pressure and 27 COPs, we finally have a fund for losses and damages,” also rejoiced Lyndsay Walsh, climate policy advisor for the non-governmental organization Oxfam.

The costs of loss and damage in developing countries are already in the hundreds of billions, she added, suggesting that rich countries tap into the “monstrous profits made by fossil fuel giants” to contribute to the funds.

“Small steps” to running

Countries meeting in Dubai must do more to fight climate change, Grenadian Simon Stiell, administrative secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), declared at the opening of COP28, affirming that “small steps” are no longer enough.

“We must learn climate action to run,” he told delegates, recalling that 2023 was the hottest year humanity has ever known.

Faced with the global record of climate action, the world can simply “note the lack of progress” and commit to doing more eventually, or it can act seriously, Mr. Stiell said, calling for “ properly finance » the transition to a new energy system.

“If we do not signal the final decline of the fossil fuel era as we know it, we are congratulating ourselves on our own decline, and we are choosing to pay with people’s lives,” he warned.

The gradual elimination of fossil fuels on a global scale promises to be one of the major challenges of COP28, against the backdrop of a debate on the use of still experimental carbon capture and storage technologies.

Sultan Al Jaber also stressed that “the role of fossil fuels” must appear in any final agreement.

with Agence France-Presse