Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, says umbrella group of countries is united in saying draft agreement is too weak

 

A group of countries including Australia, the US, the UK, Canada and Japan have said they will “not be a co-signatory” to “death certificates” for small island states, and have demanded a stronger agreement at the Cop28 summit to deal with fossil fuels and address the climate crisis.

A statement delivered by the Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, on behalf of what’s known as the umbrella group of countries, came as tensions flared at the United Arab Emirates over the text of a draft deal proposed by the summit presidency.

 

Released early on Monday evening local time, the draft avoided highly contentious calls for a “phase-out” or “phase-down” of fossil fuels in an attempt to find consensus from nearly 200 countries that have been meeting in Dubai for nearly a fortnight.

Some observers welcomed elements of the draft, including the first mention in a Cop text of reducing fossil fuel production, but others were scathing, describing it as “grossly insufficient” and “incoherent”.

Cedric Schuster of Samoa, the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said: “We will not sign our death certificate. We cannot sign on to text that does not have strong commitments on phasing out fossil fuels.”

Bowen referred to Schuster’s statement in his intervention in a later meeting between government representatives and the UAE summit president, Sultan Al Jaber. He was speaking on behalf of the umbrella group of countries, which also includes New Zealand, Norway, Israel, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

“My friend Cedric Schuster, the Samoan minister, said tonight of this draft that we will not sign our death certificates,” Bowen said. “That’s what’s at stake for many countries who are represented here tonight and many people who do not have a voice. We will not be a co-signatory to those death certificates.”

 

FULL STORY

 

Given there is no viable alternative to fossil fuel at this point in time, they are barking at the moon thinking any resolution is going to save them from fossil fuel.

 

So, once again the lovies have spent vast quantities of taxpayer money for nothing.

Bah humbug.

One would be interested to know just how much fossil fuel was used to convene this talking fest, when they could have done it all with VDO conferencing?

What's the worry about small islands, aren't most of them getting bigger?

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Given there is no viable alternative to fossil fuel at this point in time, they are barking at the moon thinking any resolution is going to save them from fossil fuel.

 

So, once again the lovies have spent vast quantities of taxpayer money for nothing.

Bah humbug.

On the other hand, there is a viable way not to remain uninformed. It's called reading.

Record Growth in Renewables Achieved Despite Energy Crisis

Expansion of renewable power generation in 2022 confirms upward trend of renewables against declining new fossil fuel capacity

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 21 March 2023 – By the end of 2022, global renewable generation capacity amounted to 3372 Gigawatt (GW), growing the stock of renewable power by a record 295 GW or by 9.6 per cent. An impressive 83 per cent of all power capacity added last year was produced by renewables.

https://www.irena.org/News/pressreleases/2023/Mar/Record-9-point-6-Percentage-Growth-in-Renewables-Achieved-Despite-Energy-Crisis