2023-11-29 07:18:52
The world is hours away from the start of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), held in Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12, as the United Arab Emirates prepares at this conference to achieve the highest climate ambitions.
This edition of the United Nations Climate Conference represents a turning point in the history of confronting climate change, after the Paris Agreement “COP21” held in France in 2015, which is the first global agreement legally binding to work to limit the phenomenon of global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius and to continue efforts. To limit the temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to the level before the industrial revolution.
In fact, the UAE realizes that the COP28 conference, through concerted effective international efforts, will be a starting point towards greater achievements, and a global turning point to contribute to creating a sustainable future for the peoples of the world and preserving the planet Earth, by decisively addressing the problem of climate change and its repercussions. Negativity that has worsened alarmingly during the recent period.
The conference aims to achieve tangible change and move the Conference of the Parties from being a platform for dialogue and negotiation, to taking actual measures to bring about positive change at all levels, as the conference reflects the UAE’s wide-ranging activity to enhance the participation of various segments of society in supporting climate action, which contributes to achieving tangible and effective progress. And lasting.
The UAE will play a leading role in facilitating all concerned parties to reach consensus on a clear roadmap to accelerate the achievement of an orderly, just and responsible transition in the energy sector and implement a “leaving no one behind” approach to ensure everyone is included in climate action.
In previous statements, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and appointed President of COP28, confirmed that the conference will focus on building bridges of communication and cooperation to be an effective platform for achieving the highest climate ambitions and promoting sustainable economic and social development for the benefit of present and future generations.
He continued, saying:
“COP28” will be an exceptional conference and a decisive milestone for us to unite, work, and achieve in order to build our common future. The world reached the Paris Agreement 8 years ago, and it is time to restore hope through solidarity and action, as today begins the countdown to the launch of “COP28”, which represents a decisive and pivotal station for us to unite, work, and achieve in order to formulate our common future, mobilize efforts and strive to achieve consensus in the opinions of leaders. and individuals from around the world to find tangible and effective solutions that achieve climate action goals. Our action plan focuses on developing a roadmap to build a sustainable and resilient future for the world through four pillars that include: accelerating an orderly, responsible and just energy transition, improving climate finance performance, sustaining people and improving lives and livelihoods, and ensuring everyone is fully included.
Challenges and solutions
The unprecedented heat waves that struck various regions around the world during the past months of July and August led to various and major disturbances in many countries of the world as a result of the outbreak of forest fires, scarcity of water and food, and hurricanes that killed thousands of people, which reinforced the pace of increasing global ambitions for effective solutions that will be taken. World leaders on confronting climate change during their participation in the Conference of the Parties “COP28”.
Adaptation solutions
First of all, the definition of a climate change adaptation strategy, according to the United Nations, is “a modification in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate stimuli, which mitigates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.”
Climate change has become a reality. Therefore, we must adapt to the consequences of climate phenomena so that we can protect ourselves and our communities, in addition to doing everything we can to reduce emissions and slow the pace of global warming. The repercussions vary depending on where you live. These repercussions may be fires, floods, drought, hotter or colder than usual, or sea level rise.
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Given the scale of climate change, and the fact that it will affect many areas of life, adaptation must also occur on a larger scale. Our economies and societies as a whole must become more resilient to climate impacts, and this will require large-scale efforts, many of which governments will need to coordinate. We may need to build roads and bridges that are adapted to withstand higher temperatures and more powerful storms. Some coastal cities may have to install flood prevention systems in streets and underground transportation facilities. Mountainous areas may require finding ways to reduce landslides and floods caused by melting glaciers, according to the United Nations.
Some communities may need to move to new locations because it will be very difficult for them to adapt to these phenomena. This is already happening at present in some island countries suffering from sea level rise.
In this regard, during its meeting in Paris in 2015 (COP21), the states parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP) reached an agreement that was described as “historic”, aiming to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by maintaining a rise in average global temperatures during This century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and continuing efforts to limit temperature rise even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The most prominent provisions of the Paris Agreement were to confront the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, find solutions to adapt to them, mitigate their harm to the environment, and call on industrialized countries to facilitate technology transfer and adapt to a carbon-free economy. The agreement stipulated that two reviews would be conducted, each over a period of five years until 2025.
The Paris Agreement entered into force in 2016 after 195 countries joining the United Nations Climate Change Convention signed the agreement in December 2015 and 191 out of 197 countries ratified it.
At COP28, the first global assessment of the progress made in implementing the goals of the Paris Agreement will begin. It is a measuring mechanism that monitors the progress of countries in fulfilling their climate commitments. It is a process that will encourage countries to take ambitious climate measures that keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Developing countries are seeking funds from wealthier countries to adapt to its increasingly destructive and costly consequences.
In 2009, rich countries pledged $100 billion each year to developing countries, but failed to meet the deadline in 2020. There are hopes that the goal will be achieved this year.
Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and chair-designate of COP28, stressed the need to keep old promises, including the $100 billion pledge made more than a decade ago.
“We do not claim to have all the solutions, and no one has all the required solutions, but through teamwork and cooperation we can lay the necessary foundations to build a future that supports climate and sustainable economic development,” according to Dr. Sultan Al Jaber.
Mitigation strategy
The term “mitigation” refers to reducing the effects of climate change by implementing actions to reduce global warming and its related effects.
Examples of mitigation include transitioning to renewable energy such as wind and solar, investing in zero-carbon transportation, promoting sustainable agriculture and land use, planting forests to act as carbon sinks, and changing consumption practices and diet behaviors.
Correct path
The United Nations said last September on its website: “The twenty-eighth United Nations Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) must be the point from which we begin to correct course.”
Estimates from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) indicated that August 2023 was about 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the average temperature in the pre-industrial period between 1850-1900.
Earth’s heat…the difficult promise
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, described the climate crisis as “opening the gates of hell,” adding at the opening of the “Climate Summit,” which was held on the sidelines of the 78th session of the annual meetings of the United Nations General Assembly last September in New York City, USA, “It is what… We can still limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change is still very difficult, especially in poor countries due to their need for financing, and implementing climate promises to reduce carbon emissions and rely on clean energy is difficult for most countries, especially poor countries.”
In September 2021, Tedros Adhanom, Director of the World Health Organization, said: “Exposure to polluted air causes the death of seven million people every year around the world.” And that since 2005, “a large body of evidence has accumulated, further clarifying the extent of the impact of air pollution on everyone.” “Parts of the body, from the brain, to the fetus in the mother’s womb, even at lower concentrations than previously observed.”
Guterres: We are trapped in a deadly cycle due to global warming
The United Nations says on its website: “Energy is at the heart of the climate challenge and is the key to the solution,” noting that fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, as they are the source of more than 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. global greenhouse effect and about 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.
The organization stresses that to avoid the worst effects of climate change, emissions must be reduced by approximately half by 2030 and reached zero by 2050, noting that, to achieve these efforts, the world needs to get rid of dependence on fossil fuels and invest in alternative sources of energy that are Clean, available, affordable, sustainable and reliable.
She continued: “Fossil fuels still represent more than 80 percent of global energy production, but cleaner energy sources are growing stronger. About 29 percent of electricity currently comes from renewable sources.”
At the ADIPEC 2023 conference in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber called on oil, gas, energy, and heavy industry companies to participate in climate action, because they have the ability to manage large projects, and have the knowledge, engineering expertise, technology, and necessary capital. He also encouraged the sector to exploit the opportunity COP28 is a launching pad to prove that it is an essential part of the solution, noting that more than 20 global oil and gas companies have expressed their willingness to set a goal to reach net zero emissions by or before 2050.
COP 28…for a sustainable planet
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