Al Suwaidi says the summit will be a success if it meets society’s “expectations” and calls for changes in the negotiating process
MADRID, 8 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The general director of COP28, Majid Al Suwaidi, has stated that the UN Climate Summits “do not need more negotiators, but rather that the parties fulfill their commitments” and that these give the results that allow the reconstruction of “trust”, the recovery the “hope, optimism and excitement that followed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015” for climate action to be something that the world’s population “can be proud of.”
This was stated by the general director of the XVIII Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), in an interview given to Europa Press in Madrid on the occasion of his participation in the Climate and Energy Summit convened this week by the International Energy Agency and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.
“It is really important to go to COP28 and achieve powerful results,” insisted Al Suwaidi, for whom the climate process needs “technical” people to advance. Precisely, today number two of the summit that will be held in two months in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), participated as a negotiator for his country in the COP21 in Paris in 2015 in which the Climate Agreement was reached, the basis of the action against the current climate emergency.
“In some ways we are having the same conversations as then. It surprises me because when I left Paris I thought we had already achieved the political result. Now, to continue advancing the Climate Summits do not need people like me. The process does not need negotiators but technicians who undertake the implementation and we don’t have that today,” warned Majid Al Suwaidi, who insists on the importance of this next international meeting producing results.
In this context, he criticizes that there is an entire community of people, especially young people, really interested in finding solutions, while countries are “stuck” in the political cycle, despite the fact that it is already known that the planet “is not in the path to achieving the Paris objectives”.
In fact, he insists that limiting warming to 1.5ºC is “possible” since the recipe is known and includes, for example, the proposal defended this week by the International Energy Agency in Madrid. “We know what we have to do to reach the Paris goal; we have the technology. That is why it is really important that the parties at COP28 have honest conversations,” he urges.
In his opinion, it is no longer time for climate summits to progress little by little, incrementally each year, but rather it is necessary to advance on all fronts, faster and faster. The diplomat asserts that this is the line proposed by the Dubai meeting, in which he wants progress in energy transition, financing, the adaptation of people and inclusion.
In terms of energy transition, it points out that 22 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced. For this reason, he insists on the importance of building the energy system for the future today and implementing solutions now because “decarbonizing energy is not done overnight.” Furthermore, he believes that the path to Paris lies in improving energy efficiency through different formulas such as CO2 capture and storage.
Likewise, he adds that the second pillar involves achieving flexibility in financing for developing countries because now “it is an enormous problem” and developed countries not only have not met the promised $100 billion annually and “are very far away from of that amount”, but it is necessary to go from “hundreds of billions to trillions” in terms of investment.
“We are at the same point as in 2015. The promises that were made in terms of financing are not being fulfilled and that is the part of the process in which we are appealing to governments,” explains Majid Al Suwaidi, who claims, also, a transformation of the international financial system and institutions. “Developing countries face many barriers today,” he says.
The third pillar of COP2 will be “people”, who must achieve safe, adapted lives and that includes looking at health, cities, adaptation and the “important” mechanism of loss and damage to confront the effects of change climate that are already being observed today.
“We need to focus on people’s problems, think about how to adapt and in a way that is fair for everyone,” observes the Emirati diplomat, who points out the importance of achieving a better food and health system, more resistant crops and reducing the vulnerability of inhabitants to climate change”.
On the other hand, the fourth aspect of the negotiation in Dubai will be “inclusion” for which Al Suwaidi assures that COP28 “will not exclude any group from the conversation.”
“We need activists, NGOs, people who are really driving the ambition, but we also need company directors, CEOs, people who can make decisions and who have the economic and technical capacity, to the engineers and professionals who can ground the decisions that are adopted,” he defends.
Ultimately, he wants a change of strategy in the message, one that avoids catastrophism because, in his opinion, if “hope, positivity and enthusiasm are not created, people will not see themselves as the solution.”
Regarding the criticism launched from different sectors for the fact that COP28 is held in an ‘oil’ country, Al Suwaidi ironically and remembers that eight of the ten countries where the last COPs have been held have or use fossil fuels, such as example Poland, the United Kingdom or Germany. He therefore defends the United Arab Emirates’ commitment to climate action.
In fact, although he admits that his country emerged thanks to oil, its economy is currently “diversified” and does not depend on fossil fuels for 70 percent, while at the same time it is committed to “creating opportunities” public-private in the green economy.
Regarding the social sphere, she has argued that 60 percent of the team participating in the organization of the next Climate Summit are women, with an average age of 37 years; that in the Emirates equal pay between men and women is guaranteed by law and that they occupy around 30 percent of ministerial portfolios.
Therefore, he attributes these “wrong” ideas to certain “stereotypes” but promises that this will be “the best COP of all the COPs” and trusts that it will be a “great showcase” for everyone to better understand what their country is like.
Finally, he has guaranteed that his country is working intensely to achieve progress in parallel in all areas of the negotiation because, in his opinion, for COP28 to be a “true success” requires achieving “real, truly” results. “. Hence the need to transform the negotiation process to “move forward with great steps in all areas at a global level.”
That is why he insists on the importance of meeting the “growing expectations” of young people, NGOs and civil society who want to “move forward.” “To deliver those powerful results we need to start rebuilding people’s trust, bringing back the hope and optimism we had in Paris,” she concludes.
