ISLAMABAD:
Despite one week of negotiations at the COP-28 global climate moot, fossil fuels’ phase-out was a bone of contention among the petroleum products’ producer and consumer states.
The access to climate finance promised by the developed world also emerged elusive to the developing countries as no formal modalities for its dole out to the most impacted and vulnerable countries due to climate change have been finalised.
These views were expressed by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri in his online interaction with journalists from the platform of the ongoing 28th Conference of the Parties meeting (COP-28) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Dr Suleri said the first of COP-28 had come to an end with its major focus on the broader text of the negotiations, whereas in the next week, countries would be presenting their further opinions on the pressing issues related to climate resilience and green transformation.
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He added that the fossil fuel phase-out was debated two years back in COP-26, Glasgow and it is still the apple of discord among the countries at the COP forum.
“The discussions are taking place around either it can be phased out completely in an orderly manner or countries should voluntarily make efforts to achieve the goal or it should not be discussed anymore,” he said.
The SDPI executive director informed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has categorically announced to veto any language related to the fossil fuel phaseout. Moreover, it has been revealed that the carbon capturing and sequestration financing and commercial viability in itself was a great challenge to meet for offsetting carbon emissions, he added.
Providing the crux of the global stocktake (GST) report, Carbon Gap and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reports in the past year and those launched at COP-28, he said it all indicates that global average temperature was persistently rising and the year 2023 after 2016 will be the hottest year of the century.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2023.
