Will the World Climate Conference in Dubai be able to set an example for the phase-out of coal, oil and gas? Doubts are appropriate. Foreign Minister Baerbock still wants to work for this – and she is not alone.
At the COP28 world climate conference, Germany and other Western countries want to campaign for the exit from coal, oil and gas with poorer countries that are particularly threatened by the climate crisis. In Dubai, for the first time at a climate conference, there is a chance of a result “that is not characterized by old power politics, by old fossil power politics,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Baerbock performed together with colleagues from Spain, Colombia and the Marshall Islands, among others. It was the first appearance of the High Ambition Coalition. This group of states is an alliance of western and poorer countries that see themselves as drivers for greater ambition at climate conferences. Germany recently did not sign individual declarations by the group, which is why the appearance with Baerbock is seen as a renewed commitment by Germany to the group.
Several representatives of the alliance emphasized that countries with high greenhouse gas emissions in particular need to lead the way and reduce their emissions. At the climate conference, states are arguing about whether they can agree on a global phase-out of coal, oil and gas or whether back doors remain open. States like Saudi Arabia and China are resisting ambitious formulations in the final text.
The special climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, which is threatened by rising sea levels, Tina Stege, announced that the High Ambition Coalition would fight to the end. “We don’t give up, we keep fighting.”
UN Environment Program calls for “turnaround for nature”
Meanwhile, a UN report was launched in Dubai that found that nearly $7 trillion of public and private resources are invested every year around the world in policies and activities that have a direct negative impact on nature. Investments in so-called nature-based solutions, on the other hand, only amounted to $200 billion last year, according to the UN Environment Program (UNEP) report presented at the UN climate conference COP28.
In order to achieve the goals of the Rio environmental conference, investments in nature-based solutions would have to be almost tripled. Nature-based solutions include reforestation or the restoration of marshlands or mangrove swamps.
When presenting the report, UNEP boss Inger Andersen referred to the three closely linked crises – climate change, loss of biodiversity and land degradation, i.e. the damage to soils so that they can only fulfill their ecological and economic functions poorly or not at all. “Nature-based solutions are dramatically underfunded,” she said. Andersen called for “a major turnaround for nature.” The report is a call for governments and the private sector to invest in nature.
“The widespread deterioration of nature is not only exacerbating the climate crisis, but is also pushing us to the limits of our planet,” warned Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation, which financially supported the report.
The findings of the UNEP report are based on an analysis of global financial flows, such as construction, electricity, real estate, oil and gas, and food and tobacco. Government subsidies in economic sectors with harmful consequences for nature could also contribute to the destruction of wetlands, forests and other natural landscapes.
NRDC Blog
Source: Stern
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