The much-discussed COP28, the UN's annual climate change summit, is set to draw to a close on Tuesday, and as always this period is marked by intense discussion between all the as part of negotiations to reach a unanimous agreement that reflects the urgency of the global fight against climate change, while also acting as an effective platform for a future program of action.
The Bangladesh delegation said that today's agenda revolves around two key issues. The first is the adoption of global carbon emission reduction targets for climate mitigation, and the second is the willingness of wealthy nations to overcome the climate crisis by aligning their contributions to international climate finance with their contribution to anthropollogical climate change since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
Countries like Bangladesh are anxiously awaiting the final agreement to be presented at the summit on the last day. Although previous editions have also bbeen known to overrun the scheduled end by even 2-3 days in the past. As of now, discussions are scheduled to continue well into the night in Dubai.
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An impasse in the Dubai climate talks revolves around the question of ending or reducing fossil fuel burning. The conference is chaired by Sultan A. Jaber, the Minister of Environment of the United Arab Emirates, who is determined to make the Dubai climate conference memorable in the history of climate conferences by reaching an agreement with countries at any cost.
To this end, the president of the COP is attempting to reach an agreement by holding 'Majlish' with ministers from various countries. In preparation for the last day's work, COP President Sultan Al Jaber initiated 'groundwork' two days in advance.
Starting on Sunday, he conducted group meetings with ministers from different countries, known as 'Majlish' in Arabic. He cautioned representatives of various countries and urged the delegates to attend the final summit with a spirit of compromise.
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Meanwhile, climate activists strongly reacted to the decision to host the next climate conference in Azerbaijan.
Their anger stems from choosing another oil-producing country after the United Arab Emirates. The population of this country on the border of Eastern Europe is only one crore, yet it is one of the world's leading oil and gas producing countries. Eastern European and West Asian countries depend on their oil and gas, with half of the country's GDP and 92 percent of export income coming from these resources.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), that underlies the organisation of the COP events each year, announced Azerbaijan as the host country for next year's climate conference.
Russia had previously objected to any EU country hosting the climate conference, leading to the decision to host it outside the EU. The neighboring countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia, initially both applied to be the host countries, but conflicts between them led to objections. After the United Nations intervened, Armenia withdrew its objection, paving the way for Azerbaijan to host COP 29.
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What's in the Dubai Climate Package?
Based on the reported developments at the conference this year, we can say the Dubai Climate Package would include the announcement of the Loss and Damage Fund, an emphasis on the development of technologies to combat climate change, the adoption of the Global Goal on Adaptation to accelerate adaptation activities, the formulation of a roadmap to reduce global hunger by decreasing methane gas emissions, the adoption of a work program on mitigation to reduce carbon emissions, and the adoption of a five-year plan through a global assessment, targeting $100 billion in funding and new funding from 2025.
Among these, the five-year plan for global assessment is the most crucial in this conference. The Paris Agreement calls for five consecutive global assessments, determining plans for the next five years and specifying how much carbon emissions should be reduced to limit global warming to one and a half degrees.
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This assessment also outlines the financial requirements for loss and damage, as well as adaptation or mitigation. Oil-producing countries stand to be the most affected if this assessment and mitigation program are approved.
Over four hundred lobbyists from oil-producing countries are active in Dubai, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has urged member countries to prevent the stoppage of fossil fuel usage.