(Dubai) Six days before the end of COP28, its Emirati president, Sultan Al Jaber, on Wednesday called on countries to leave their “comfort zone and find common ground”, including on fossils, in order to obtain a “very ambitious” final agreement by Tuesday.
“We thank the parties for their constructive engagement and call on you to bring the same spirit of compromise and openness” for the next six days, he declared at the end of a long plenary session concluding the work of the first week of the conference, at the start of the night.
“All options and opinions remain on the table,” he said.
While some negotiators have found him in the background until now, Sultan Al Jaber has clearly indicated that he now intends to be actively involved in the last phase of the negotiations, meeting Friday morning to present his battle plan.
Thursday is a day off at the COP.
“It is important that we move up a gear and that all ministers and heads of delegations get involved,” said Sultan Al Jaber.
While the COPs usually end late, the methodical boss of the oil company Adnoc even indicated that he was counting on an “orderly closing of the conference on Tuesday, December 12 at 11 a.m. at the latest” (2 a.m. local time). East). COP27 was only concluded after two nights of extension.
“I will continue to ask parties to come up with proposals that build bridges on fossil fuels, renewables and energy efficiency, aligned with science. We must obtain results that guide our action from this decade,” he insisted, taking up an objective of the Europeans who want the text to mention short-term deadlines, in particular on the most conflictual subject, energy. fossils.
“I intend to end this conference in the same spirit that marked its beginning,” continued the Emirati, recalling that the first day of the conference saw the historic adoption of the creation of a fund for “losses and damages”, financed by rich countries for poor countries hit by climate change.