UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged delegates from more than 190 countries at COP28 to close ranks to “end the era of fossil fuels.” “This conference has to be the turning point,” Guterres stressed upon his return to Dubai in the final stretch of the Climate Summit. COP28 officially ends on December 12, but negotiations usually extend into marathon sessions during the early morning and normally last for at least a day.
“I have returned to renew my urgent call to leaders to stay within the 1.5 degree limit and guarantee climate justice,” said Guterres a few hours after the warning issued by the president of COP28 himself, Sultan Ahmed Al Yaber: “Failure is not an option (…) I ask the parties for maximum ambition. “The time has come to shift gears and reach a deal on greenhouse gas emissions.”
For his part, the head of climate change at the UN, Simon Stiell issued a harsh warning against “unnecessary tactical blockades” and “land mines” in the countdown to the COP28 negotiations. His words are interpreted as a wake-up call to obstructionist countries that threaten to stop an ambitious final agreement. “The recipe of “I win, you lose is a guarantee for collective failure,” Stiell assured. “Ultimately, it is the safety of 8 billion people that is at stake.”
The main point of contention in the final text, which should be approved by consensus, is the explicit mention of elimination(phase out in English) in front of the reduction (phase down) of fossil fuels as an objective shared by the international community.
Saudi Arabia and a group of allies continue to express their opposition to the use of the word “elimination”. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to which the host also belongs The United Arab Emirates has pressured its members to address this option.