Global discord threatens COP28 climate talks, EU commissioner says
Yet another round of the usual excesses of costs and consumption looms, ending with the usual fudges and indecision presented as somehow worth mentioning, to the usual bemusement of onlookers. All paving the way for future COPs ad infinitum of course, or so it seems.
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The need for agreement to tackle global warming is “higher than ever”, but it has never been harder as the geopolitical backdrop complicates international cooperation, the European Union’s climate chief said on Monday (30 October) ahead of next month’s COP28 summit. Euractiv reporting.
Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra also said the EU would not accept an outcome at COP28 that only reached deals on less contentious topics – such as increased use of renewable energy – if it failed to solve tougher issues such as phasing out fossil fuels.
“This is not an à la carte menu. It is actually all that is on the menu that needs to be delivered on,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a preliminary COP28 gathering in Abu Dhabi ahead of the UN summit starting at the end of November.
The challenge of getting countries to agree is all the greater as Israel has escalated its bombardment of Gaza, Russia’s war on Ukraine continues and tensions run high between the US and China.
At the same time as “geopolitically very challenging times” make agreement on the climate harder than ever, the need is “higher than ever,” Hoekstra said.
Scientists have blamed global warming, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, for extreme weather this year, which is on track to be the hottest on record. [Talkshop comment – the record since satellite data and temperature ‘adjustments’ started, that is].
Israel has so far rejected international calls for a temporary pause in its bombardment of Gaza and politicians have warned of the risk of a wider conflict.
Tensions have also risen between Europe and China as Brussels investigates whether to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports that it says are state-subsidised.
Full report here.
