Climate: ahead of COP28, countries meet for difficult pre-debates

Six months before COP28, international talks against climate change and its consequences resume from Monday 5 June until 15 June in Bonn, Germany. Negotiators from around the world are meeting for a two-week interim working session to prepare for the next COP to be held in Dubai in December. Debates could be heated, with associations criticizing the president of the summit.

UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technologies and President-designate for COP28 Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Berlin on May 3, 2023. © John MacDougall / AP

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First subject that annoys: fossil fuels. The science is clear: our use of gas, oil and coal is the cause of climate change. Yet this year's COP president is controversial Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, CEO of Emirati oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

In May, more than 130 lawmakers from the US Congress and the European Parliament urged US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to pressure the UAE to withdraw Ahmed al-Jaber's nomination as president of the summit.

These elected officials said they feared "the influence of polluting industries" during climate meetings, in this letter addressed in particular to US President Joe Biden.

Sultan al-Jaber often calls for more investment in hydrocarbons

Sultan al-Jaber regularly calls for more investment in hydrocarbons to meet global demand, preferring to focus on CO2 capture technologies rather than alternative green energy.

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They prefer to focus on technological solutions for carbon capture rather than putting an end to all fossil fuels, says Gaïa Febvre, international policy manager at the Climate Action Network. And that's very scary, because that's what international oil and gas companies are saying: they're relying on technologies that haven't proven effective.

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According to experts, these technologies are still too nascent and expensive and cannot replace the need to reduce the effects of fossil fuel industries.

First assessment since the Paris Agreement and the "Loss and Damage" Fund

States must also prepare a first assessment of their actions since the Paris Agreement in 2015. And for the moment, efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C are very insufficient: "This will be above all an opportunity to rectify our mitigation and adaptation strategies, to allow us to stay on 1.5°C," says Gaïa Febvre.

Finally, the question of cost, which is still tense: the least developed countries want the "loss and damage" fund to finally become a reality - this fund must help them cope with climate disasters. They are also starting new negotiations with rich countries on the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid needed for their ecological transition.

► Also listen: CEO of Emirati oil company appointed president of COP28: "It's a scandal"

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Read on on the same topics:

  • Environment
  • Climate
  • Climate change
  • COP28
  • Energies
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Germany