- The COP28 UN climate talks in Dubai finally ended today (13th December) after going into extra time, but still failed to deliver the turning point needed.
- The COP acknowledges the need to address fossil fuels for the first time in the history of the talks, but with a wholly inadequate call for countries to merely transition away from oil, gas and coal
- Nor does the text contain any detail on how this will be financed or delivered equitably.
- Loopholes in the text risk inviting continued expansion of these polluting industries and risky and unproven carbon removal technologies.
- Lack of firm commitment to urgently and fairly phase out all fossil fuels does not alter the world’s course towards extremely dangerous levels of heating and will mean even more funds will be needed to support low-income countries to adapt and to pay for irreversible loss and damage.
- The Scottish Government has continued to show welcome leadership on the international stage through its strong rhetoric, but all eyes will be on the new Climate Change Plan, due to be published in 2024, which will need to turn this into concrete action to slash emissions and deliver a just transition financed by making polluters pay.
Mike Robinson, chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland said:
“It is hard to feel any excitement about this outcome, and given these talks were hosted by the head of an oil company, many people will be completely unsurprised that the final outcome fails to give any sense of urgency and ignores what the science has been telling us for decades – ‘cop-ping out’ of delivering a long overdue agreement to urgently phase out from the coal, oil and gas that is fuelling the crisis.
“This failure means the world remains on track for catastrophic levels of heating and the debt owed to countries who did least to cause the crisis to help them to cope and recover from extreme climate impacts will only increase.
“The onus is now on individual countries to do what is so urgently needed, and channel their efforts into delivering progress, rather than impeding the necessary change. The UK Government must cancel the new oil and gas licensing round. At the same time, the Scottish Government must clearly and strongly oppose new oil development, and say no to new gas at Peterhead, while swiftly delivering a robust new climate plan that gets us on track to meeting and exceeding our climate targets through a just transition that is fairly funded by making the biggest polluters pay for their damage.”
“This failure means the world remains on track for catastrophic levels of heating and the debt owed to countries who did least to cause the crisis to help them to cope and recover from extreme climate impacts will only increase.
“The onus is now on individual countries to do what is so urgently needed, and channel their efforts into delivering progress, rather than impeding the necessary change. The UK Government must cancel the new oil and gas licensing round. At the same time, the Scottish Government must clearly and strongly oppose new oil development, and say no to new gas at Peterhead, while swiftly delivering a robust new climate plan that gets us on track to meeting and exceeding our climate targets through a just transition that is fairly funded by making the biggest polluters pay for their damage.”
Fr Leonard Chiti, Jesuit Provincial for Southern Africa and part of the SCIAF delegation at COP28 said:
“COP28 has sent a clear signal that the fossil fuel era is coming to an end and that every nation must now redouble their efforts to reduce emissions in line with the 1.5C temperature goal. However, it simply has not gone far enough; not urgent enough, not ambitious enough. At the start of COP28, Pope Francis and many others called for the elimination of fossil fuels. This final text does not secure that, and we must now re-double our efforts towards a fossil fuel free future.”
