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Kerry @ COP28 Halfway Point: "It's crunch time!" [1]

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Date: 2023-12-06  

US Climate Envoy John Kerry says he is aware of a sense of urgency in Dubai as delegates from nearly 200 nations convene for COP28.

“People will measure who steps up and who doesn’t,” he said. “We will get to a global low-carbon, no carbon economy, we will get there. The only question is will we get there in time to avoid the worst consequences of this crisis as we were warned by the 2018 IPCC report.”

The report highlights how climate change impacts can be averted by limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and details how extreme weather along with rising sea levels are already evidenced at 1 degree Celsius.

Kerry also pointed out the US accomplishments to date at the climate talks, including a focus on curbing the pollution from methane,the tripling of renewables, and ceasing construction of coal plants. Differences with China remain regarding its continuing consumption of coal, Kerry said.

He did not mention the fact that in 2023, the United States set records in its production of gas and oil, but opined that the country’s transition to green energy was robust enough to sustain even if Donald Trump were elected president in 2024.

At the halfway point of COP28, UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell urged governments of the need for high ambitions in the negotiations, advancing the need for a document that “signals the terminal decline of the fossil fuel era as we know it.”

“Now all governments must give their negotiators clear marching orders: we need highest ambition, not point-scoring or lowest common denominator politics,” he said.

In a roundup of Wednesday’s business, the Guardian noted:

Leading climate scientists insisted “the link between climate science and fossil fuel phase-out is unequivocal”, in response to Sultan Al Jaber’s claim there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of coal, oil and gas is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C.

The UK delegation was accused of avoiding press scrutiny after holding no press conferences in a highly unusual move.

Europe’s climate monitor, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), announced that November had become the sixth record-breaking month in a row for average temperatures.

The phasing out of fossil fuels remains the number one topic in Dubai as negotiators determine how to address the largest contributor to climate change. No small accomplishment, given that fossil fuels currently produce 80% of the world’s energy.

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