COP28 Presidency First Text is Unacceptable – Ryan
Minister Eamon Ryan has said that the first text of the COP28 Presidency text is unacceptable and will have to be reworked if it is to get across the line in Dubai.
He said that if the text was not improved dramatically it could be grounds for walking away from it completely. However, he said that would not be a good or desirable outcome from this COP when the future of civilisation is in the balance.
He singled out paragraph 39 which talks about the “need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gases”, but with a call to parties to take action that “could” include a range of measures including “phasing down unabated coal” and “accelerating technologies” like removal technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
“We can’t accept this text. It’s not anywhere near ambitious enough. It’s not broad enough. It’s not what parties have been calling for.”
“If we start with paragraph 39 which goes to the heart of whether we phase out fossil fuel, that one word “could” just kills everything. We can’t have a get out of jail card for the fossil fuel industry and the current text would give them that.”
He said that there were some small openings with regard to the language on climate finance (paragraphs 119-124) but again it was not nearly strong nor specific enough to give the clear signal that this COP needs to give to financial markets and investors.
“We have to hugely strengthen the finance sections. We need to phase up the opportunities to invest in renewables, particularly in the developing world. However, above all, we need clear mechanisms for implementation so that we can begin to work on changing the global financial systems to incentivise investment in renewable energy systems and in adaptation (like water supplies and climate smart agriculture). These are critical for developing countries. We have to stitch climate justice into every part of this text and we are not anywhere near that yet.”
Minister Ryan was appointed as a lead EU negotiator on climate finance with his French counterpart.
