Climate deal in Dubai after all: to what end?
It took an extra day but the joint final declaration of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference has now been finalised. It calls for a "transition away" from fossil fuels, but not explicitly for the "phase-out" more than 100 countries had demanded. It also sets the goals of tripling production from renewables and doubling energy efficiency by 2030. Contrasting reactions in the media.
Cooperation possible after all
Trouw is optimistic about the outcome of the climate conference:
“The fact that the otherwise geopolitically fragmented world was able to reach an agreement in Dubai is cause for cautious optimism when it comes to international cooperation on this issue. After all, cooperation and solidarity will be necessary to counter global warming. This applies internationally, where rich and poor countries must work together, but just as much in our own countries, where we need to think carefully about a fair distribution of the costs and benefits in the transition to a sustainable economy. This can only succeed if as many people and countries as possible are on board.”
Consensus through ambiguity
COP President al-Jaber has proven his negotiation skills, Libération notes:
“It is not for nothing that he is described as an outstanding diplomat. His aim was to obtain the approval of the two largest hydrocarbon producers, the US and Saudi Arabia, and of the European countries seeking to phase out fossil fuels. He did this by carefully omitting to specify precise and binding terms for the phase-out of oil and gas. So COP28 ends with a compromise that is both historic and sufficiently ambiguous for everyone to agree on it. ... But everything has yet to be implemented, so this is not yet a real victory for the environment, just a good start.”
A small miracle
Der Tagesspiegel says the agreement marks a turning point in climate policy:
“Even petrostates such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran had to give up their blockade and agree under pressure from the other countries. Isn't that a small miracle? After all, the survival of these repressive regimes also depends on the bubbling revenues from the fossil fuel business model. From an argumentative point of view, the battle seems to be over on the world stage. It's now just a matter of deadlines, quantities and implementation issues. Has there been and is there any other topic on which a global consensus of such significance has been reached? Hardly.”
Meagre pickings
Expressen is unimpressed:
“Sure, the wording in the document on which the countries were finally able to agree has become clearer; steps have been taken in the right direction, and of course compromises have to be made. ... But when you read comments to the effect that the meeting was 'historic' because for the first time not only coal but all fossil fuels were mentioned in the agreement, then it makes it look like the countries simply jumped over a bar that was lying on the floor. And the fact that the oil nation Saudi Arabia is apparently more satisfied than the small island nations that are hardest hit by rising sea levels also makes it harder to applaud.”
Expansion of renewables a bigger deal
Hospodářské noviny warns against too much optimism:
“Despite the urgency of the protests and scientific findings, we are still at the beginning of a profound change. Or we are just approaching that beginning. According to some observers, the biggest 'revolution' in this year's COP is not the paragraph on phasing out fossil fuels, but Article 28, paragraph a, which talks about tripling global renewable energy production capacities and doubling energy efficiency by 2030. This would effectively amount to a revolution in electricity production. If the states and, above all, industry join in.”