UAE BACKS COP24 DEAL BUT ‘MORE TO BE DONE’

▶ ‘The world has no choice but to cut emissions,’ says environment minister

The UAE welcomed the rule book drawn up as part of a Cop24 deal struck yesterday, and urged other countries to further commit to the fight against global warming.

Delegates from nearly 200 states finalised procedures to deliver the Paris goals of limiting global temperature rises well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

The UAE has led the region in climate change policy since its signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, and maintained its commitment in subsequent years to produce 27 per cent of its energy from clean sources by 2021 and increase that to 50 per cent by 2050.

But the UN and international climate change organisations are calling for more to be done.

The sentiment was echoed by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, who pointed out that the effects of climate change were growing in intensity and frequency and adversely affecting the lives of millions of people.

“Such climatic catastrophes reaffirm to the international community that we were not blowing the matter out of proportion when we warned against the considerable risks that climate change poses to humans and property,” he said.

He also said countries had “no choice but to intensify their efforts to cut down carbon emissions and expedite climate adaptation measures, both at home and abroad”.

Signatories to the Paris climate agreement yesterday made progress on the climate accord, but still fell short of committing to reduce emissions to “prevent catastrophic global warming”.

“Putting together the Paris agreement work programme is a big responsibility,” said Cop24 president Michal Kurtyka after talks in Poland. “It has been a long road. We did our best to leave no one behind.”

But states already dealing with floods, droughts and extreme weather made worse by climate change said the package agreed in the mining city of Katowice lacked the bold ambition to cut emissions the world needed.

They bristled against the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait over wording. The four countries questioned the science in a recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

The findings from the panel highlighted the need to slash carbon emissions by nearly half in the next 12 years to reduce global warming to 1.5°C by 2030.

By some estimates, the world is headed for a 3°C increase by 2050 – spelling devastating results for the world but in particular the region.

Failure to achieve those reductions, the report warned, would destroy ecosystems, trigger widespread climate-related refugee crises and contribute to disease. The results, it said, would be “long-lasting and irreversible”.

“Emissions-reduction pledges to go beyond what’s already been committed is absolutely crucial, otherwise we have a very limited window in which to even meet the overall objective of the Paris Agreement,” said Tanzeed Alam, managing director of Earth Matters Consultancy.

Many countries wanted the most recent IPCC report to be a part of the agreement at Cop24, which serves as the set-up conference before countries are expected to raise their national carbon emissions reductions.

The four countries were unwilling to take into account the IPCC report, bogging down the final days of negotiations and ultimately contributing to a watered-down version of the Cop24 communique.

Reports have shown extreme weather under scenarios that include a 2°C to 3°C increase would be even more pronounced. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia often have summer temperatures exceeding 50°C and would be part of climate-related storms trapping GCC residents indoors for days on end.

The disagreement took place over burden-sharing, which has been left unaddressed since the original Cop21 agreement in Paris. It stipulates that rich countries should fund poorer countries’ carbon-reducing projects, such as phasing out coal-based energy plants in favour of sustainable sources of energy.