Countries at this year's U.N. climate summit must face up to how far behind they are lagging on climate change targets and agree a plan to get on track, the United Arab Emirates' incoming president of the event said on July 13.
In a speech laying out the country's plan for the COP28 summit, to be held in Dubai in November, Sultan al-Jaber said the event should also yield international goals to triple renewable energy, double energy savings and hydrogen production by 2030.
"We must be brutally honest about the gaps that need to be filled, the root causes and how we got to this place here today," Jaber told a meeting in Brussels of climate ministers and officials from countries including Brazil, China, the United States and European Union members.
"Then we must apply a far-reaching, forward-looking, action-oriented and comprehensive response to address these gaps practically," he said.
The COP28 summit will be the first formal assessment of countries' progress towards the Paris Agreement's target to limit climate change to 1.5 Celsius (34.7 Fahrenheit) of warming. Countries' current policies and pledges would fail to meet that goal.
"We can't afford a meaningless stocktake. This is about accountability of our previous, present and future updates," Canadian Climate Minister Steven Guilbeault told July 13th's meeting.
The assessment at COP28—known as the Global Stocktake—will increase pressure on major emitters to update their actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Jaber said all governments should update their emissions-cutting targets by September, which the UAE did last month.
FUND FOR POORER COUNTRIES
The UAE, a major OPEC oil exporter, has been under pressure to lay out its vision for the COP28 summit and guide preparations among the nearly 200 countries expected to attend.
A round of preparatory United Nations climate negotiations in June yielded little progress. Countries spent days wrangling over issues including whether to even discuss urgent CO2-cutting action—known in U.N. jargon as the "mitigation work programme".
Jaber, who is also the head of UAE state-owned oil company ADNOC, said the COP28 summit also aims to establish a promised fund to compensate poorer countries where climate change is inflicting irreparable damage.
Countries finally agreed at last year's U.N. climate talks to form the "loss and damage" fund - but left the toughest decisions for later, including which countries should pay into it.
Finance has dominated recent climate negotiations, as poorer nations demand greater support to both invest in low-carbon energy and cope with spiralling costs from droughts, floods and rising sea levels.
Jaber called for a "comprehensive transformation" of international financial institutions to unlock more capital to tackle climate change—echoing ideas put forward by climate-vulnerable nations including the Barbados-led "Bridgetown Initiative" to reform multilateral finance institutions.
Recommended Reading
Oxy Secures Class VI Permits for Stratos DAC Project
2025-04-07 - Occidental Petroleum has secured permits from the Environmental Protection Agency to store CO2 at its Stratos DAC facility. Located in Texas, Stratos is designed to capture and store up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2 annually, Oxy says.
Chevron Ordered to Pay $744MM for Damages on Louisiana’s Wetlands
2025-04-07 - A jury found oil company Texaco, which is owned by Chevron, violated Louisiana’s coastal resources regulations by dredging canals, drilling wells and dumping wastewater into the marsh.
Oil Prices Extend Losses on Global Trade War, Recession Fears
2025-04-04 - Investment bank JPMorgan said it now sees a 60% chance of a global economic recession by year-end, up from 40% previously.
DOE Identifies 16 Sites for Rapid AI Data Center Growth
2025-04-04 - The Department of Energy is requesting details on potential development approaches to establish AI infrastructure at select sites.
Belcher: Tariff Growing Pains Will Help US Achieve Energy Dominance
2025-04-03 - Tariffs may bring short-term pain, but Trump is aggressively pursuing goals that benefit the U.S., says Cornerstone Government Affairs’ Jack Belcher.
Comments
Add new comment
This conversation is moderated according to Hart Energy community rules. Please read the rules before joining the discussion. If you’re experiencing any technical problems, please contact our customer care team.