DUBAI (dpa-AFX) – A new draft for the final text of the World Climate Conference in Dubai no longer provides for an exit from coal, oil and gas. The 21-page paper, published on Monday, only talks about reducing the consumption and production of fossil fuels. In a previous version, exit was mentioned as one of several options. Environmental organizations reacted with disappointment – as did states that are particularly threatened by the climate crisis.
We didn’t come to Dubai “to sign our death warrant,” said the chief negotiator for the Marshall Islands, which are threatened by rising sea levels, John Silk. “We will not go quietly to our watery graves.”
The executive director of Greenpeace Germany, Martin Kaiser, said he was “truly stunned” that the presidency of the United Arab Emirates was putting forward a text “that serves the wishes and interests of the oil and gas industry, but not of the people who are now already suffer the most from the floods and droughts.” The draft is very non-binding, especially when it comes to phasing out fossil fuels, which over 100 countries have called for. “If it is passed like this, it can cause this conference to fail,” warned Kaiser. Now it is up to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her EU colleagues, together with the island states and the most wounded states, to ensure “that this non-binding nature is removed from the document and that we get a binding exit from the burning of coal, oil and gas .”
Jan Kowalzig, an expert at the Oxfam organization, spoke of a “very weak formulation” to move away from fossil fuels. And even the other desired goals – a tripling of renewable energies and a doubling of energy efficiency – would not be found as a goal, but only as a possible measure. “COP28 must not end like this,” he warned.
The 1.5 degree target agreed in Paris in 2015 is likely to be thrown out the window with this draft “despite assurances to the contrary elsewhere in the text”. Kowalzig demanded that the European Union should under no circumstances agree to the declaration and that it and its allies among developing countries should loudly reject this text and demand significant improvements.
Greens MEP Michael Bloss said the worst expectations would be confirmed. “The fossil interests are nipping any hope of maintaining 1.5 degrees in the bud.” The prospect of ending the fossil era is currently being put in the sand in Dubai. Europe and its governments would have to cancel this conference without a clear commitment to the end of coal, oil and gas./toz/DP/ngu