(Dubaï) La nouvelle ébauche d’accord à la COP28 propose de « réduire » plutôt qu’abandonner les énergies fossiles, tout en visant une « consommation nette nulle d’ici 2050 ou autour de cette date », un texte « loin d’être à la hauteur des besoins », a jugé une coalition de groupes écologistes.
La proposition d’accord, publiée lundi après-midi à Dubaï, stipule également que cette réduction devra se faire « de manière juste, ordonnée et équitable [et] in accordance with scientific data.
The text also calls more specifically to “rapidly reduce the use of coal without a device for capturing and storing emissions (unabated)”, as well as “limiting” authorizations for new coal-fired power plants without capture and storage.
It will also be necessary to “triple the capacity of renewable energies globally” and double the average annual rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030, indicates the draft agreement.
“ [Le texte] is now in the hands of the parties, whom we trust to do what is best for humanity and the planet,” said the office of the COP28 presidency, in a statement sent to the media.
President dissatisfied
The draft text includes progress, but there remain “several gaps to be filled”, warned in a serious tone the President of COP28, Sultan al-Jaber, opening the plenary session bringing together the representatives of the States Parties, around 6:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. Quebec time).
PHOTO THOMAS MUKOYA, REUTERS
Sultan al-Jaber
The time for discussions “is coming to an end [et] the time has come to decide,” he said, wearing his gray gandoura for special occasions, rather than the white gandoura he had been wearing until then.
President al-Jaber reiterated his call to conclude an agreement “that respects science”, which keeps within reach the objective of limiting the rise in the Earth’s average temperature and which proposes strong formulation on the thorny issue of fossil fuels.
“We still have a lot to do,” he told the delegates gathered in the room.
“Let us not rest until this is done.” »
“Far from being up to par”
The draft agreement published Monday “is far from meeting the needs,” regretted the Climate Action Network Canada (RAC), a coalition of 150 environmental organizations, which urges the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault to intervene to “advocate for high ambition” on the issue of abandoning fossil fuels.
“Minister Guilbeault said he had been tasked with helping to find language that all countries can agree on, but that cannot mean settling for the lowest common denominator,” said the RAC Director General , Caroline Brouillette.
“Qualifying the exit from fossil fuels with disingenuous formulas such as “without mitigation measures” (unabated) would legitimize dangerous distractions like carbon capture and storage and leave the door open to further oil, gas and coal expansion,” the coalition believes.
The text must also lead to a decline “during this decade” and call on developed countries to act first and more quickly, the coalition adds.