Climate: at COP26, the “empty promises” denounced in a world of fossil fuels – Orange News

AFP, published on Friday, November 12, 2021 at 12:18 a.m.

In the home stretch of the crucial Glasgow climate conference, the UN Secretary General on Thursday denounced the promises “which ring hollow” in a world still dependent on fossil fuels, despite some encouraging signs.

“The promises ring hollow when the fossil fuel industry continues to receive trillions in subsidies (…) or when countries continue to build coal-fired power plants,” said Antonio Guterres, acknowledging the “announcements despite everything. encouraging “since the start of COP26 on October 31.

About twenty countries have notably committed to putting an end by the end of 2022 to the financing of fossil energy projects abroad, about forty nations published a declaration of transition from coal to clean energy, and Thursday , a few countries have launched a coalition to get out of oil and gas. Progress hailed by many NGOs who have however underlined the absence of major producer countries.

This question of fossil fuels is one of the contentious points of the first version of the final decision prepared by the British presidency of the COP26, which encourages “to accelerate the exit from coal and the financing of fossil fuels”.

A mention of fossil fuels to which some parties, in particular the EU, are keen, but which may not be acceptable for producing countries.

The rest of this draft text is not unanimous, far from it, and the negotiators of some 200 countries still have work to do until Friday 6 p.m., or even beyond.

“We still have a huge challenge ahead of us,” admitted COP26 President Alok Sharma. “I am worried about the number of problems that persist on finance issues on the eve of the planned end,” he added, calling for both “ambition” and “compromises”.

“As I said yesterday, the world is watching us and would like to see us work together and come to a consensus. And we cannot let it go.”

The Paris agreement aims to limit the rise in temperature “well below” by + 2 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era, if possible + 1.5 ° C. But despite the new commitments for the 2030 deadline announced just before and since the start of the COP, the world is still heading towards a “catastrophic” warming of + 2.7 ° C, according to the UN.

And provided that all these commitments become reality. “Humanity will not be saved by promises,” said young Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, doubting the sincerity of these promises. “We don’t believe you,” she told delegations.

– “To do their homework” –

To hope not to exceed + 1.5 ° C, emissions should be reduced by 45% by 2030. But the latest report by the UN climate experts (IPCC) in August warned against the risk of reaching this ceiling already around 2030, ten years earlier than previously estimated. A grim outlook as each tenth of a degree more brings its share of additional disasters.

The British Presidency’s draft text clearly insists on the need to strengthen ambition to respect the Paris Agreement and asks countries that have not done so to submit new strengthened commitments in 2022.

But the poor countries denounced a text according to them unbalanced, believing that their concerns are not taken into account, in particular as regards financial assistance.

At the heart of this explosive question, the broken promise of the rich countries to increase to 100 billion dollars per year from 2020 their aid to the countries of the South in the fight against global warming.

Certain countries of the South also denounce the demands of the developed world, responsible for global warming, on the developing world, on the front line in the face of its impacts.

“We do not have the same responsibility (…). They should take the initiative and do their homework”, pleaded Thursday the Bolivian Diego Pacheco on behalf of the LMDC group which represents developing and emerging countries, including China.

In the midst of all these obstacles on the road to a success of a crucial COP in an attempt to keep “alive” the objective of + 1.5 ° C, the surprise announcement Wednesday by the United States and China d an agreement to step up their climate action has brought a glimmer of hope.

“It helps create a better atmosphere,” European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans told AFP. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”

Whatever the results of this COP, the responsibility for taking up the torch was formally attributed on Thursday to Egypt for COP27 in 2022 and to the United Arab Emirates for COP28 in 2023.