The Climate Conference of the Nations gave rise to significant progress in terms of commitments to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, while allowing us to take stock of the gap that still separates us from sufficiently ambitious to avoid the worst.
Financing for losses and damages
COP28 opened with a gain expected by several countries which are already suffering the consequences of global warming, but without being responsible for them. Several developed states have in fact promised funding for the fund dedicated to “loss and damage”, the creation of which dates back to the 2023 climate conference in Egypt.
Concretely, total funding of $792 million was announced, which includes amounts from Canada ($16 million), the United States and the European Union. But these sums are considered clearly insufficient by developing countries and by the environmental movement. The needs of countries facing increasing climate impacts, particularly due to extreme weather events, and exponential debts are estimated at nearly $7,500 billion.
For the spokesperson for Greenpeace Canada’s climate-energy campaign, Patrick Bonin, there is no doubt that Canada can do more. “The Canadian government must waste no time in finding new funds so that Canada pays its fair share,” he said, “in particular by making the profitable fossil fuel industry pay for the devastation it causes. knowingly causing it for decades. »
Making way for renewable energies
In addition to negotiating the inclusion of fossil fuels in the final declaration, the signatory countries of the Paris Agreement agreed, in the wording of the text, to “triple the capacity of renewable energies globally and double the average annual rate global improvement in energy efficiency by 2030.
At the start of the negotiations, more than 130 countries had signed a voluntary commitment to this effect, but observers believe that inclusion in the final decision of COP28 was essential. Momentum for this goal has been growing, not least because of the dramatic increase in renewable energy capacity in recent years.
Around twenty countries, including Canada, have also called for tripling nuclear energy production capacity in the world by 2050 compared to 2020, mainly to reduce dependence on coal and gas. “The declaration recognizes the key role of nuclear energy in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and in keeping the objective of limiting warming to 1.5°C within reach,” indicates the published text during the conference.
Gap between words and gestures
The final text adopted on Wednesday calls countries to order: the current commitments of States, if fully respected, would lead to a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions of 5.3% by 2030, per compared to the 2019 level. However, to have a chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C, the decline would have to reach at least 43% by the end of the decade.
For the moment, the global climate trajectory could lead us to a warming of nearly 3°C by 2100. By the end of the century, the world as we know it would become downright “unrecognizable”, with a ” decline in life expectancy” and “a decline in the quality of life” in several regions of the planet, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In this context, the alliance of small island states, particularly threatened by climate change, expressed its reservations and concerns after the adoption of the text, which it considers insufficient.
Protect nature
COP28 highlighted the importance of nature protection in achieving climate goals, specifically referring to “stopping and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030”. A point welcomed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but also by the Canadian Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault. “Following the success of COP15 in Montreal, this is the first UN climate text to integrate actions in favor of climate and biodiversity, which are mutually reinforcing, something for which Canada has supported beaten. Nature is our best ally,” he said on Wednesday.