viel helps a lot, even in saving the world. The organizers of the United Nations World Climate Conference, which begins on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, seem to be convinced of this. 70,000 participants are expected at the 2021 World Expo site and elsewhere in Dubai, more than at any other climate conference. Last year in Egypt there were 45,000.
It’s not just the crowd that stands out this time, but also the celebrities. For the first time since the meetings began in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, a pope has announced that Francis wants to stay for three days. The British King Charles III. has already taken part in the conference several times as heir to the throne, and now he is attending it for the first time as a monarch.
In the past, summits of heads of state and government were exceptions to the so-called Conference of the Parties or Conference of the Parties (COP). But for several years they have been held regularly at the beginning to underline the importance of climate protection and to set the direction for the two-week discussions. When all the rulers, presidents, chancellors and prime ministers assure the world press that the end must be a success, it is difficult for the negotiators to fall behind.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are not there
The summit will take place on December 1st and 2nd, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) will take part on behalf of Germany. However, the presidents of the strongest and most climate-damaging powers are not coming, neither Joe Biden from the United States nor Xi Jinping from China. They are sending their climate veterans John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua forward, for both of them it will be the last COP. Kerry will celebrate his eightieth birthday on December 11th during the event. COP 28 officially ends one day later on December 12th, but the wrestling usually goes into overtime.
The corona pandemic, the economic and energy crises, Russia’s attack on Ukraine and now the war in the Middle East have pushed attention to climate issues into the background. The mega conference in the Gulf is likely to change that.
From the point of view of experts, this is completely right, because those responsible have to act quickly: The report by the UN Environment Program on the gap in greenhouse gas reduction, the UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2023, recently came to the conclusion that the world will abandon its climate targets if they do not changed course quickly. Current protection efforts have only managed to limit the increase in global warming to 3 degrees by the end of the century compared to the pre-industrial era, it is warned. On the other hand, the Paris Agreement of 2015 stipulates a maximum of 2, but ideally no more than 1.5 degrees, so that the planet is not irremediably damaged.
Emissions are still rising
Even if all almost 200 contracting states fully fulfilled the voluntary commitments introduced in Paris, the so-called National Climate Protection Contributions (NDC), the temperature would rise by 2.5 degrees, UNEP fears. In order to achieve an additional 1.5 to a maximum of 2 degrees, emissions would have to fall by 28 to 42 percent by 2030, i.e. in just seven years. But they are still rising, last year by 1.2 percent. A record amount of 57.4 billion tonnes of CO was released in 20222-equivalents are emitted, in addition to carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and others.
What can and does the World Climate Conference want to do about it? The chair is held by the respective host country, this time the Emirates. The COP president is its Industry Minister Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber from Abu Dhabi. He wants to commit states to two goals: to triple renewable energy production capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. It is also about getting methane emissions under control and “accelerating decarbonization targets in all high-emitting sectors by 2030,” as the presidency announced.
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