With the participation of Iraq, the climate conference kicks off in Dubai with hopes for renewable energy
- Time: 11/30/2023 12:32:42
- Read: 598 times
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
{International: Al Furat News} Starting today, Thursday, the UAE will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), which is supposed to push countries to accelerate the pace of transition to clean energy sources, according to Agence France-Presse.
The conference will last for two weeks at the Expo 2020 International Exhibition site, south of Dubai.
The UAE, as well as the United Nations, hopes to hold a historic conference similar to the Paris conference in 2015, when countries pledged to limit climate warming to less than two degrees Celsius compared to temperature levels in the period before the industrial revolution.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, confirmed in an interview with Agence France-Presse before heading to Dubai, on Wednesday, that “of course I strongly support a text that includes the elimination” of fossil fuels, even gradually.
The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Steele, said on Wednesday, “It is the most important cup since the Paris conference,” adding, “Today we are progressing in small steps, while we expect bigger steps.”
This is the second time that a Gulf country has hosted a climate conference, after Qatar in 2012. United Nations climate conferences are usually held every year on a different continent. Two years ago, countries in the Asia-Pacific region unanimously nominated the UAE to host this conference.
Criticisms
The head of the Emirati COP28, Sultan Al Jaber, who also serves as CEO of the giant state oil company ADNOC, is being criticized, especially after this week the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Center for Climate Reporting (CCR) revealed internal briefings that included points about Emirati projects. In the field of energy, it is on the agenda of the COP28 meetings with a number of governments.
Al-Jaber rejected these accusations on Wednesday.
While several figures, officials and non-governmental organizations raised their voices following the scandal, boycotting COP28 is not on the table, because the risks of climate change are catastrophic, especially with 2023 expected to be the hottest year ever, according to Agence France-Presse.
Guterres himself defended the Emirati official chairing the climate conference to raise the issue of getting rid of fossil fuels. "I think he's in a better position to say that to his colleagues in the fossil fuel sector than he would be to do so by a member of an NGO with a strong record of climate advocacy," he said.
The first decision may be issued at the conference, Thursday, with the adoption during a plenary session of implementing the decision to establish the new fund for losses and damages that was approved at COP27 after arduous negotiations between the countries of the North and the countries of the South, in order to compensate the countries most affected by climate change. This decision, on the first day of the conference, will allow delegates to focus on other topics, starting with fossil fuels.
Attendees
On Thursday morning, thousands of participants began arriving at the conference site in a calm atmosphere, without demonstrations until now.
Credits were granted to more than 97,000 people (delegations, media, non-governmental organizations, pressure groups, organisers, technical workers, delegates...), i.e. double the number recorded last year.
The President of the Iraqi Republic, Abdul Latif Rashid, headed to the Emirates at the head of a high-level government delegation to participate in the climate conference, and Rashid will deliver Iraq’s speech at the conference.
Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most affected by climate change, drought, high temperatures, desertification, and internal climate displacement.
About 180 heads of state and government are expected to attend by December 12, the end date of the conference, according to organizers. But it is often extended for a day or two.
Pope Francis canceled his participation in the conference because he contracted a cold. However, more than 140 world leaders will take the stage in Expo City Dubai on Friday and Saturday, after the opening of the conference on Thursday, to deliver speeches that do not exceed a few minutes and aim to give political momentum to the complex negotiations that the delegations will engage in over a period of two weeks.
On Friday, King Charles III will deliver his speech at the beginning of the “Leaders’ Summit,” while the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the American president, Joe Biden, will be absent, and his deputy, Kamala Harris, will take his place.
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, may be present in the same place, Friday, in Dubai, as only three leaders separate their speeches, according to the arrangement announced by the United Nations.
Hopes for climate commitments
Organizers hope the conference will result in “voluntary climate commitments” by countries, such as tripling renewable energy sources by 2030, and increasing financial aid from rich countries to countries most vulnerable to climate change.
The official texts that are expected to be approved during the conference, according to the United Nations mechanism, may have an effect similar to the Paris Agreement. It cannot be ruled out that the negotiations will fail miserably, as there is fierce opposition from oil-producing countries to the issue of getting rid of fossil fuels in the final decision.
Climate conferences are useless?
It's a legitimate question, because since COP21 and the Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase. While the world at that time expected emissions to decrease by 16% by 2030, the United Nations has now reduced its expectations to 2%, and the world is still on an unbearable climate warming path, according to Agence France-Presse.
Since 2015, about a hundred countries have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality, and solar energy has become the cheapest energy to generate electricity, while peak demand for fossil fuels looms on the horizon of the current decade.
The International Energy Agency expects that more than a third of new cars in the world will become electric in 2030, a scenario that was unimaginable before 2015.
Climate Damage Fund
Countries participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference hope to reach early agreement on creating a new fund to pay for climate-related damage, with the aim of garnering some political goodwill before the talks move to contentious topics including the future of fossil fuels, according to Reuters.
With tens of thousands of delegates expected to participate, governments are preparing to negotiate an agreement to phase out the global use of coal, oil and gas.
With financing also topping the conference agenda, the UAE presidency of the conference published a proposal on the eve of the launch for countries to adopt a new United Nations fund for climate change damages, which raised hopes among some delegates that this would be among the first agreements reached in Dubai.
The draft proposal, which was drafted by representatives from developed and developing countries during negotiations that lasted for months this year, stipulates the establishment of a fund to help vulnerable countries deal with the damage caused by climate change, such as drought, floods and rising sea levels, and some diplomats expressed their hope that it would be adopted. Without objections.
Reuters noted the existence of divisions, and said that there are European countries and others vulnerable to damage from climate change that are demanding an agreement that renewable energy sources replace fossil fuels in the coming decades, and there are oil and gas producers who seek to preserve the role of traditional energy sources.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
{International: Al Furat News} Starting today, Thursday, the UAE will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), which is supposed to push countries to accelerate the pace of transition to clean energy sources, according to Agence France-Presse.
The conference will last for two weeks at the Expo 2020 International Exhibition site, south of Dubai.
The UAE, as well as the United Nations, hopes to hold a historic conference similar to the Paris conference in 2015, when countries pledged to limit climate warming to less than two degrees Celsius compared to temperature levels in the period before the industrial revolution.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, confirmed in an interview with Agence France-Presse before heading to Dubai, on Wednesday, that “of course I strongly support a text that includes the elimination” of fossil fuels, even gradually.
The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Steele, said on Wednesday, “It is the most important cup since the Paris conference,” adding, “Today we are progressing in small steps, while we expect bigger steps.”
This is the second time that a Gulf country has hosted a climate conference, after Qatar in 2012. United Nations climate conferences are usually held every year on a different continent. Two years ago, countries in the Asia-Pacific region unanimously nominated the UAE to host this conference.
Criticisms
The head of the Emirati COP28, Sultan Al Jaber, who also serves as CEO of the giant state oil company ADNOC, is being criticized, especially after this week the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Center for Climate Reporting (CCR) revealed internal briefings that included points about Emirati projects. In the field of energy, it is on the agenda of the COP28 meetings with a number of governments.
Al-Jaber rejected these accusations on Wednesday.
While several figures, officials and non-governmental organizations raised their voices following the scandal, boycotting COP28 is not on the table, because the risks of climate change are catastrophic, especially with 2023 expected to be the hottest year ever, according to Agence France-Presse.
Guterres himself defended the Emirati official chairing the climate conference to raise the issue of getting rid of fossil fuels. "I think he's in a better position to say that to his colleagues in the fossil fuel sector than he would be to do so by a member of an NGO with a strong record of climate advocacy," he said.
The first decision may be issued at the conference, Thursday, with the adoption during a plenary session of implementing the decision to establish the new fund for losses and damages that was approved at COP27 after arduous negotiations between the countries of the North and the countries of the South, in order to compensate the countries most affected by climate change. This decision, on the first day of the conference, will allow delegates to focus on other topics, starting with fossil fuels.
Attendees
On Thursday morning, thousands of participants began arriving at the conference site in a calm atmosphere, without demonstrations until now.
Credits were granted to more than 97,000 people (delegations, media, non-governmental organizations, pressure groups, organisers, technical workers, delegates...), i.e. double the number recorded last year.
The President of the Iraqi Republic, Abdul Latif Rashid, headed to the Emirates at the head of a high-level government delegation to participate in the climate conference, and Rashid will deliver Iraq’s speech at the conference.
Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most affected by climate change, drought, high temperatures, desertification, and internal climate displacement.
About 180 heads of state and government are expected to attend by December 12, the end date of the conference, according to organizers. But it is often extended for a day or two.
Pope Francis canceled his participation in the conference because he contracted a cold. However, more than 140 world leaders will take the stage in Expo City Dubai on Friday and Saturday, after the opening of the conference on Thursday, to deliver speeches that do not exceed a few minutes and aim to give political momentum to the complex negotiations that the delegations will engage in over a period of two weeks.
On Friday, King Charles III will deliver his speech at the beginning of the “Leaders’ Summit,” while the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the American president, Joe Biden, will be absent, and his deputy, Kamala Harris, will take his place.
The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, may be present in the same place, Friday, in Dubai, as only three leaders separate their speeches, according to the arrangement announced by the United Nations.
Hopes for climate commitments
Organizers hope the conference will result in “voluntary climate commitments” by countries, such as tripling renewable energy sources by 2030, and increasing financial aid from rich countries to countries most vulnerable to climate change.
The official texts that are expected to be approved during the conference, according to the United Nations mechanism, may have an effect similar to the Paris Agreement. It cannot be ruled out that the negotiations will fail miserably, as there is fierce opposition from oil-producing countries to the issue of getting rid of fossil fuels in the final decision.
Climate conferences are useless?
It's a legitimate question, because since COP21 and the Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase. While the world at that time expected emissions to decrease by 16% by 2030, the United Nations has now reduced its expectations to 2%, and the world is still on an unbearable climate warming path, according to Agence France-Presse.
Since 2015, about a hundred countries have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality, and solar energy has become the cheapest energy to generate electricity, while peak demand for fossil fuels looms on the horizon of the current decade.
The International Energy Agency expects that more than a third of new cars in the world will become electric in 2030, a scenario that was unimaginable before 2015.
Climate Damage Fund
Countries participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference hope to reach early agreement on creating a new fund to pay for climate-related damage, with the aim of garnering some political goodwill before the talks move to contentious topics including the future of fossil fuels, according to Reuters.
With tens of thousands of delegates expected to participate, governments are preparing to negotiate an agreement to phase out the global use of coal, oil and gas.
With financing also topping the conference agenda, the UAE presidency of the conference published a proposal on the eve of the launch for countries to adopt a new United Nations fund for climate change damages, which raised hopes among some delegates that this would be among the first agreements reached in Dubai.
The draft proposal, which was drafted by representatives from developed and developing countries during negotiations that lasted for months this year, stipulates the establishment of a fund to help vulnerable countries deal with the damage caused by climate change, such as drought, floods and rising sea levels, and some diplomats expressed their hope that it would be adopted. Without objections.
Reuters noted the existence of divisions, and said that there are European countries and others vulnerable to damage from climate change that are demanding an agreement that renewable energy sources replace fossil fuels in the coming decades, and there are oil and gas producers who seek to preserve the role of traditional energy sources.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
» utube 6/23/24 MM&C Iraq Dinar- IQD Update -Iraq Reap Beneifits Artificial Inteligence-Global Econo
» utube 6/22/24 MM&C IQD Update - Iraq Dinar - Investment Law - Implementation Tripartite Budget - Ra
» Central Bank: Explains the mechanism for imposing fines on private banks and money changers
» Wasted billions and continuous interruptions.. Calls for an investigation into the corruption of the
» Can the Iraqi government maintain neutrality after factional statements about readiness to participa
» Intensive US aircraft flights in the areas of the Iraqi-Syrian border strip
» An economist expects the dollar exchange rate to approach the 140,000 threshold
» The President of the Republic calls for amending laws related to investment
» More than $274 million...Central Bank sales today
» The fact that oil and gas production in Iraq was affected by the peak of the heat wave...an expert e
» The President of the Republic: The necessity of overco ming obstacles facing investors, as well as s
» The President of the Republic stresses the need to continue efforts to preserve public money and com
» The Central Bank publishes the mechanism for imposing fines on private banks
» Electricity: We are determined to provide “stable energy” to citizens
» An Emirati company is implementing the third solar energy project in Anbar
» Al-Sudani directs the payment of a reward for every research published in international journals
» Babylon.. The head of the procurement committee was arrested in a government laboratory
» Oil continues its losses as commodity markets are affected by the rise of the dollar
» The Ministry of Oil announces the completion of the reclamation of two oil wells in Salah al-Din
» The President of the Republic stresses the need to overcome obstacles facing investors and support I
» Health calls for maintaining food safety
» Securities warns against trading digital currencies
» Anbar adds two new sites to invest the sun in generating electricity
» Delaying the legislative elections puts the region into a tunnel of constitutional vacuum
» Calls to support the trend towards clean energy
» The 2024 budget is safe with government controls
» To end the European embargo, the Sudanese are directed to keep pace with developments and meet inter
» Parliamentary rights demand the Minister of Oil regarding the priorities of the Basra Pipeline - Had
» A deputy "shocked" by the 15-year-long looting of real estate in an Iraqi governorate
» The Poor People’s Association warns against removing violations: a legal violation, but humanity is
» Al-Sudani confirms the continuation of the five stages of the rehabilitation project for the histori
» A political movement to hold an extraordinary session to elect the new Speaker of Parliament - urgen
» Iraq forms an operations room to speed up the reverse transfer of pilgrims and increase flights
» Al-Sudani abolishes the position of head of the Council of Advisors in Kirkuk and reorganizes it
» Laundering corruption money raises Baghdad’s real estate... Questions about the source of purchasing
» The dollar rises again against the Iraqi dinar after declining for two consecutive days
» A leader in the Al-Halbousi Party: The defection of figures from Taqadum pushes the Sunni component
» China details its largest projects in the region “and extends a helping hand to Iraq”
» Al-Sudani: We have allocated approximately 5 trillion dinars to arm our various types of forces
» Air Defense: The new command operations center will control the entire Iraqi airspace
» State of Law: Two projects competing for the “Presidency of Parliament” led by Al-Sudani and Al-Mali
» The Kurdistan Union expects to resolve the issue of the local government in Kirkuk within ten days
» Establishment of the Commercial Arbitration Center in Iraq
» Encroachments on the Tigris River...a struggle between investment and environmental dangers
» The Ministry of Planning empties its employees for the purposes of the population census
» Details of the Sudanese meeting regarding Sadr City
» New statistics on the number of foreigners holding Iraqi citizenship
» Al-Sudani inaugurates the second phase of the Old Baghdad project
» Directive from Al-Sudani: 4 million dinars for everyone who publishes research in reputable internat
» Al-Sudani directs the formation of an operations room to speed up the reverse transfer of Iraqi pilg
» Warning against trading digital currencies in Iraq
» utube 6/18/24 MM&C Iraq Dinar - IQD Update - Liberation of Economy - 6.5 Billion Dinars ($4.9 Bill
» Ministers' statements evaporate in the electricity sky... bright promises that do not touch reality,
» Ministry of Oil: The government is working to convert 40 percent of crude oil into oil derivatives
» Popular Movement: We have sufficient lines to export oil and we do not need a normalization pipeline
» Al-Sudani discusses the work of Dutch companies in Iraq
» America's continued violation of Iraq's sovereignty...what is its purpose?
» Anbar tribes demand the removal of American forces
» Al-Maliki's coalition: Iraq can submit an international request to remove American forces
» Revealing an Iraqi request to America that includes the withdrawal of its forces
» A leader in the framework: Washington exploited 5 points in the strategic agreement to harm Iraq’s s
» The Human Rights Parliament criticizes the silence of the international community regarding what is
» I asked Iraq to stay for 3 years... The information publishes important details about the American f
» The US Army responds to the joint attack by the Houthis and the "Iraqi Resistance"
» Dozens of Iraqi companies participate in an investment summit in America
» Iraq.. Water storage is less than half of the need and a bleak fate awaits the marshes
» The Central Bank of Iraq sells $273 million at auction today
» Parliamentary Economy explains...Does the fluctuation of oil prices affect the economy of Iraq?
» Parliamentary law resolves the matter: salaries cannot be affected in the 2024 budget
» Integrity arrests employees in the Ministries of Finance and Trade red-handed in bribery in Anbar
» Government advisor: Sovereign guarantees to the private sector will contribute to the industrial ren
» Iraq's oil exports to America decreased in a week
» Applying for care stipends is “available at any time” for 5 categories of women
» Advisor to the Association of Banks: The Central Bank's third strategy is a new methodology for fina
» Parliamentary Electricity calls for obligating state departments to adopt solar energy
» Kurdish approval of the agreement between oil companies and SOMO
» Health warning to shop owners regarding the safety of food products
» After the decline in inflation rates... economic calls to improve financial policy management in Ira
» Transport reveals the latest developments in Al-Faw Port: We have completed 5 berths, and this is th
» The environment threatens violating factories: penalties reach fines and closure
» The World Bank expects economic growth in Iraq to reach more than 5% in 2026
» A parliamentary call to hold an extraordinary session of Parliament to discuss the reality of electr
» The Cabinet Secretariat details to Al-Iqtisad News the decision to reduce working hours: Governors a
» Directives from Sudanese regarding the issue of lifting the ban on Iraqi Airlines
» The Prime Minister stresses the necessity of keeping pace with developments in the field of air tran
» Adviser to the Prime Minister to Nina: The government is seeking new, more effective mechanisms to r
» Al-Sudani receives the Dutch ambassador to Iraq on the occasion of the end of his work
» Iraq's oil exports to America declined last week
» Sudanese inaugurates the new Air Defense Command operations center
» A plan to increase and develop oil pipelines
» {Seismic code} for Iraq
» Al-Emaar: New residential cities will reduce real estate prices
» Kurdistan receives 400,000 tourists on Eid al-Adha
» Experts praise government support for higher education
» Government advisor: The budget imposed discipline in expenditures and diversification of revenues
» Basra crude achieves gains of more than 3% in a week
» Absorptive capacity
» Establishment of the Commercial Arbitration Center in Iraq