Germany says cutting emissions is key task for Cop28

Minister says 'progress must be made' tackling this at UAE summit, after deal on loss and damage at Cop27

The coal-fired power Boxberg power station, near Weisswasser, in Saxony, Eastern Germany. Energy transition will be a major focus of Cop28. Reuters

Slowing global warming with emissions cuts is the key task for Cop28 in the UAE after the last summit in Egypt focused heavily on the aftermath of climate calamities, a German minister told The National on Friday.

Jochen Flasbarth, a state secretary in Germany’s Development Ministry, said “progress must be made” at the UN summit on tackling the emissions that cause climate change.

Meanwhile, an author of a key UN report on sustainability goals called for countries to use the two-week Cop28 gathering at Expo City Dubai, which begins on November 30, to commit to phasing out fossil fuels.

The summit’s president-designate Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, has made “fast-tracking the energy transition and slashing emissions before 2030” one of four pillars of his plan for Cop28.

Scientists have advised world leaders that deep emissions cuts are needed before 2030 to cap global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as adopted under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Beyond that limit, experts warn that climate disasters would become more frequent and severe – causing what is known in UN jargon as “loss and damage” due to floods, crop failures and other impacts.

A fund to meet the costs of loss and damage was agreed in principle at Cop27 in Egypt, but “next to this big topic, it is understandable the others moved somewhat into the background”, Mr Flasbarth said.

“Nonetheless, in terms of protecting the climate – so reducing emissions, and that means developed countries and emerging economies – progress has to be made,” he said when asked by The National about expectations for Cop28.

“That is ultimately the big task for the Cop in Dubai.”

A second of Dr Al Jaber’s goals is finance, which Mr Flasbarth said would be closely watched at Cop28. Germany and Canada have been tasked with ensuring the rich world comes up with $100 billion it has long promised.

The negotiations on finance will in turn determine how much action is taken to protect the climate, Mr Flasbarth said.

Dr Al Jaber separately spoke to Germany's special climate envoy Jennifer Morgan to discuss speeding up the mobilisation of the $100 billion, the Cop28 presidency said on Friday.

The third pillar of Dr Al Jaber's plan is a focus on people, livelihoods and nature. A fourth is inclusivity. The Cop28 presidency released a schedule of themed days this month.

Protecting the planet is also part of the UN’s sustainable development goals, but a report to be handed to leaders in New York in the autumn is expected to say that the world is not on track to meet them.

A draft of the report says a “phasing down of fossil fuels by 2030” is one of the key shifts needed to speed up progress.

Imme Scholz, a co-author of the report, diplomats should look to move towards an outright phase-out – a distinction in wording that helped bring an acrimonious end to Cop26 in the UK.

“That would be a very important step forward,” she said.

“Making this decision, making clear that there is no way round it and that it’s something we really have to tackle immediately, would be a very desirable outcome.”

Dr Al Jaber told a G20 meeting on Friday that the group of major economies had a duty to show leadership on climate change.

He called on countries to “get behind a rapid scale up of renewable energy, while we comprehensively decarbonise the current energy system and build towards a system free of all unabated fossil fuels”.

The talks in Dubai will be shaped in part by a first-of-its-kind “global stocktake” of progress towards the 1.5°C goal, which is expected to show the world is well off track.

The loss and damage question will also return as countries try to agree the details of the fund, such as who will stump up the money and which nations will be eligible to draw from it.