The Emirati president of COP28, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, was under pressure on Wednesday to advance difficult discussions on fossil fuels, on the last day of the first part of the negotiations where each country seeks to not give up.
“We have an initial text on the table, but it is a pile of wishes full of posturing,” said Simon Stiell, head of the UN Climate Change, in a short press conference on Wednesday.
While the European Copernicus Observatory has confirmed that the year 2023 will be the hottest in history, talks between exhausted negotiators are complicated in Dubai, where some confusion reigns on the eve of the traditional truce in negotiations on Thursday. halfway through the two-week conference.
A new version of the text under discussion with a view to a future agreement, theoretically by December 12, was feverishly awaited during the day on Wednesday. But by midday, it was no longer at all certain that it would be published.
“We expect the President of the COP to behave as an honest mediator and to demonstrate leadership,” said the Spanish Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Union. European.
A way of calling Sultan al-Jaber to his responsibilities and for him to stop saying that it is up to the countries to come to an agreement.
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) for its part called for an “urgent acceleration” of discussions. “If we fail, the consequences will be catastrophic,” said Samoan Minister Cedric Schuster, who chairs this group.
“The wheat from the chaff”
The situation is “very dynamic”, summarized a negotiator on Tuesday evening, while representatives of nearly 200 countries debated until very late the Gordian knot of the draft final agreement: the fate of oil, gas and coal, responsible two-thirds of the warming.
Saudi Arabia again opposed any mention of fossils, with its representative saying it would not go through the “trauma of explaining its position on energy”, according to participants in the meeting.
China, India and the Arab group asked simply to delete the entire paragraph on energy… And Russia asked that natural gas be recognized as “transitional energy”.
Several options are nevertheless on the table, in particular the objective of an “orderly and fair exit from fossil fuels”.
In the great art of climate diplomacy, the appearance of this new formulation foreshadows a possible consensus which would set a universal objective… while giving more margin to certain countries, depending on their degree of development or their dependence on hydrocarbons.
The European Union wants “this COP to mark the beginning of the end for fossil fuels,” repeated the European Commissioner for Climate, Wopke Hoekstra, on Wednesday.
But this option is weighed against a radical possibility: deciding nothing on fossil fuels, a reflection of the opposition at this stage from Saudi Arabia and China, according to several observers who attend the closed meetings.
Simon Stiell called for “separating the wheat from the chaff” in the text, thus putting pressure on countries to move forward on a meaningful text.
“Adults must behave like adults,” thundered John Kerry, the American envoy, who arrived last week and who, like many negotiators, is showing signs of fatigue.
“What to have fun”
It was going to be a long evening on Wednesday, with all the participants waiting for a large plenary meeting at the end of the day to make a formal assessment of the first week of work.
Before a day of rest on Thursday and the arrival this weekend of ministers, supposed to regain control at the political level for the home stretch. “We will have plenty to have fun and enjoy ourselves next week,” said American envoy John Kerry.
Meanwhile, global warming continues unabated. Copernicus has confirmed that the year 2023 will indeed be the “hottest” in history after an “extraordinary” November.
We expect the President of the COP to behave as an honest mediator and to demonstrate leadership Teresa Ribera”
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