Fossilised thinking
COUNTRY people have every reason to be encouraged by COP28 in Dubai this month. For the first time, the world has recognised that the countryside must play a crucial role in fighting climate change. In Dubai, representatives from almost every country in the world were meeting to try to reinforce action against global heating. The prospect didn’t look very rosy, not least because this was an oil state and Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member. Indeed, many green groups had objected to the Emirates being named as president for 2023, but everything has to proceed by consensus in the UN. That means that everybody has to join in and petrol states must have their turn.
The previous key meeting was in Glasgow in 2021 and Britain was responsible. There, we were able to advance the climate programme significantly, not least because of the skill and diplomacy of Alok
Sharma, the minister concerned. He played a key part in helping Egypt (2022) complete that process. Then came this conference in Dubai, held after the world’s hottest year on record.
Naturally, the central issue was fossil fuels. In Glasgow, Mr Sharma had failed to get agreement to reduce our dependence on oil and gas. OPEC and Russia with their allies wanted no specific reference to the fossil fuels, the use of which is the fundamental cause of global heating. They made every effort to avoid a reality that is not in their immediate economic interest. Sadly, Britain is now in no position to continue our leadership role. The decision to allow a new coal mine in Cumbria and to continue exploration and exploitation of oil in the North Sea has counted us out. No one listens to those who ask others to do what they won’t do themselves.
However, fossil fuels were not first on the agenda this time and Britain was able to help get agreement on two other vital issues. First, it was funding for the loss and damage caused by climate change in developing countries. The wealthy nations have profited from the pollution that we now know causes global heating. Poor countries that have not had the same advantage from the Industrial Revolution are suffering the consequences. We are now committed to helping them. Not enough money has yet been pledged, but it is a start.
The other important breakthrough was the decision to put agriculture and biodiversity at the heart of the battle against climate change. It was remarkable, not least because the UN is siloed and food and farming were never properly part of the climate agenda— that was left to another UN body, the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Recognising its crucial importance and bringing it into the international climate programme was, therefore, game-changing.
The decision even spurred Britain to speed up its own national environmental programme and commit the Government actually to begin to implement the policies it had promised. At last, the world began to recognise that the way we produce our food, look after our soils and protect and enhance the natural world is central to combating climate change. That recognition has put the countryside centre stage.
As to fossil fuels, all looked pretty hopeless —OPEC had instructed its member states to stop any reference whatsoever to oil and gas, Dubai was said to have used the COP to land new fossil-fuel contracts and leading oil companies, such as Exxon-mobil, were hard at work lobbying against substantive change. Then it happened: Dubai delivered. The world agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. Of course, it’s not perfect—the commitment must become much tougher—but it is the beginning. We no longer need to ask if the age of fossil fuels is over. The question now is when?
Recognising the importance of agriculture and biodiversity was game-changing