In Dubai, the U.N. climate summit made a positive start by creating a new fund to aid less wealthy nations in coping with expensive climate disasters, COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber announced on Thursday, expressing optimism for the progress made so far. The establishment of the fund on the first day of the two-week conference allowed for governments to announce their contributions, with several countries including the host, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan, pledging money to kick start the fund.
The early success in creating the damage fund, which had been a demand of poorer nations for years, could pave the way for further compromises during the two-week summit, although some groups remained cautious and pointed to unresolved issues surrounding the future financing of the fund. Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International, stressed the importance of affluent nations meeting their financial obligations to ensure the fund’s long-term sustainability.
The aim of the summit is to secure several hundred million U.S. dollars for the climate disaster fund, according to Adnan Amin, CEO of the COP28 summit. Pope Francis expressed his hopes for the participants of COP28 on social media platform X, urging them to focus on the common good and the future of their children, rather than vested interests.
Sultan al-Jaber also addressed the role of fossil fuels at the summit, emphasizing the need for countries and fossil fuel companies to collaborate in order to achieve global climate goals. The negotiations are set to address the possibility of phasing out the use of CO2-emitting coal, oil, and gas for the first time, which are the main sources of warming emissions.
He recognized the strong opinions on the inclusion of language surrounding fossil fuels and renewables in the negotiated text, and emphasized the importance of addressing all issues. Jaber highlighted the proactive engagement of his country with fossil fuel companies and encouraged them to do more, acknowledging the necessity for their increased involvement in the journey towards sustainable energy.
Steering the focus towards the summit’s other major task, which is for countries to evaluate their progress in meeting global climate goals, particularly the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, Jaber noted that the global stocktake should yield a high-level plan informing countries on the necessary actions they need to take.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Valerie Volcovici and Maha El Dahan; Additional reporting by William James and Alvise Armellini; Writing by Katy Daigle; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Miral Fahmy and Christina Fincher)
