The US energy company, Exxon Mobil, has decided to break its silence and warn the world that reaching climate neutrality by 2050 is very unlikely, given that such a scenario would cause a drop in living standards, which may not be acceptable to people.
In parallel, the World Meteorological Organization sounded the alarm in its latest report, after it revealed that the global temperature rise is on its way to exceed the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius during the next five years.
This rise, although temporary, according to the organization, means that a very important point in international efforts has been passed. The Paris climate agreement stipulated keeping the temperature rise in this century below two degrees Celsius and trying to reach this figure to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Overcoming this dangerous threshold requires accelerating global efforts to reduce emissions, which should fall by about 43 percent by 2030 if the world wants to avoid this dangerous scenario.
For this to happen, the world must accelerate efforts, particularly in the field of financing. Estimates indicate that the world needs to increase climate-related financing and investments by about $2.8 trillion during the current decade.
While the world still faces a climate financing gap, that is, an investment shortfall of nearly $1.5 trillion annually, according to estimates by Goldman Sachs.
It is true that the task is not easy at all, but it is not impossible either. Achieving this goal is still possible, but on the condition that the various efforts on the world level are unified, and this is what the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) relies on.
For his part, Dan Jorgensen, Danish Minister of Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, stressed that there is still an opportunity, but on one condition. All countries on this planet must do more, especially the countries with the most emissions.
He added, in an interview during the “Energy World” program on “Sky News Arabia”, that the world needs to reduce emissions by more than 40 percent by 2030, and therefore the issue is really urgent.
Regarding the most realistic scenarios, to reach zero emissions, the minister said, “We need to use a combination of different tools in order to achieve our goals, one of which is energy efficiency, and it is possible to save a lot of energy effectively and in a rational manner in terms of energy use.”
He added, “We need to use a lot of renewable energies. Instead of fossil fuels, we have to use wind, sun, and other types of renewable energies. If we do these things, this will bring us closer to the goal that we want to achieve.”
He also pointed out that progress can be faster by using the technology we have, for example wind and solar energy, whose prices compete with fossil fuels.
He said: “For example, in the case of offshore wind, it will be cheaper than coal-fired power plants. We are in a position now where the rational thing for most countries is to search for investment in renewable energies instead of fossil fuels.”
He stressed the need to stimulate private sector financing to participate in efforts to mitigate the repercussions of climate change.
In addition, the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, Dan Jorgensen, explained that there is an urgent need to help developing countries collect investments for climate adaptation measures and mitigate its repercussions, adding that reforming the World Bank is necessary to expand its business in the future and also help mobilize more financing in the private sector.
The Danish minister also reaffirmed the importance of COP28 to be held in the UAE, where he said that it is the first conference of the parties since the Paris conference, which witnessed the conclusion of the Paris Climate Agreement, in which our progress will be assessed, how close we are to our goal, and what we need to do to fix the situation.
“We need to raise more money to help the poorest and most fragile countries adapt to climate change. So there are a lot of things that we need to discuss and we also hope to get good and ambitious results from the COP,” said Dan Jorgensen, Danish Minister of Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy.
And on the most important priorities that must be moved to implement them as soon as possible, the Danish Minister of Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, Dan Jorgensen, said:
- We need a clear roadmap of how much emissions we want to cut between now and 2030, how much we want to cut and how we do it.
- We need more financing, the rich world needs to raise a hundred billion dollars annually, and it should have done that from 2020 to 2025, and they have not done so until now.. This matter should be fixed.
- We need to focus on climate adaptation and this is an international goal and also in terms of financing.
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