Money pledges were in the spotlight at COP28 in Dubai on Monday as delegates turned their focus to the yawning gap in how much climate finance is needed and what's on tap, particularly for developing countries that need funds each year just to adapt to the warming world.
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Saudi Arabia says 'absolutely not' to oil phaseout at COP28
Saudi Arabia's energy minister has slammed the door shut on agreeing to phase out fossil fuels at the UN's COP28 climate talks, setting the stage for difficult negotiations in Dubai.
A tentative "phasedown/out" was included in a first draft of an agreement on climate action that delegates are haggling over during talks that are scheduled to finish on December 12.
But Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, a half-brother of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, would not agree. "Absolutely not," he said in an interview in Riyadh.
"And I assure you not a single person – I'm talking about governments – believes in that."
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COP28's under-fire UAE chair says 'we respect' climate science
The Emirati head of the UN climate conference insisted on Monday that he respects climate science after he came under fire over a leaked video in which he questioned the science on fossil fuels.
"We're here because we very much believe and respect the science," Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the United Arab Emirates' national oil company ADNOC, told a press conference in Dubai, where COP28 is underway. Jaber added that he believes "the phase-down and the phase-out of fossil fuel is inevitable".
The Guardian newspaper published a video on Sunday showing Jaber speaking at an online forum during which he questioned whether ending use of fossil fuels was necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
The video sparked an outcry among NGOs, which were already outraged by the appointment of an oil company boss to head the crucial climate negotiations.
Showing how touchy the issue has become, Jim Skea, the head of the UN body tasked with assessing climate science, appeared alongside Jaber to face reporters. He said Jaber "has been attentive to the science as we have discussed it and I think has fully understood it".
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COP28 host UAE choking from its own 'toxic' air pollution, says HRW
The United Arab Emirates is choking under "alarmingly high" air pollution levels fed by its fossil fuel industry, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Monday as the oil-rich country hosts the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai.
The 24-page report, “‘You Can Smell Petrol in the Air’: UAE Fossil Fuels Feed Toxic Pollution” documents alarmingly high air pollution levels in the UAE. The report said that they create major health risks for its citizens and residents and contribute to the global climate crisis.
The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil producers and home to seven so-called “carbon bombs", the world’s largest fossil fuel production projects. Air pollution and climate change are directly linked, as the burning of fossil fuels contributes to air pollution and drives climate change, the report added.
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Rockefeller Foundation backs early coal retirement using carbon credit
A consortium led by the Rockefeller Foundation has launched a pilot initiative to use carbon credits to retire a coal power plant in the Philippines before the end of its natural life, it said on Monday during the COP28 climate talks in Dubai.
In the latest plan to be announced on the sidelines of the summit, the Coal to Clean Credit Initiative (CCCI), supported by Philippine energy company ACEN and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said it aimed to use carbon credits to decommission the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation (SLTEC) plant by as early as 2030, a decade ahead of its current retirement date.
"To retire coal plants, avoid those emissions, and create jobs, we need to create the right incentives for asset owners and communities and mobilise additional finance," Foundation President Rajiv Shah said.
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France, Japan to support African development bank push to leverage SDRs
France and Japan have announced that they will lead in supporting the African Development Bank's facility to leverage IMF Special Drawing Rights for climate and development, the COP28 presidency said in a post on X on Monday.
SDRs are rainy day foreign exchange reserves held at the IMF that are rarely used, although some were during the Covid pandemic. Allowing the SDRs to be on-lent to development banks could help them bolster climate finance in developing markets.
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UAE banks pledge $200 billion in green finance
Banks in the United Arab Emirates on Monday pledged to mobilise 1 trillion dirhams, or around $200 billion, in green finance, the chair of the country's banking federation told the COP28 climate talks.
Announced on the day dedicated to finance at the event in Dubai, it joins a growing list of pledges on everything from building renewable energy to helping farmers improve soil quality.
"At this pivotal moment it is my great honour to announce a landmark commitment that, fulfilling the UAE ambition, our UBF banking, national banks, have collectively pledged to mobilise over 1 trillion dirham," Abdul Aziz Al Ghurai said.
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Barbados PM urges countries to consider taxes as a way to boost climate funding
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has become a prominent voice in global discussions about mobilising climate finance, urged countries to go beyond voluntary pledges and pleas to charities and private investors and instead to consider taxes as a way to boost climate funding.
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At a news conference at COP 28, she warned that, "unless we have an urgent set of decision-making, we are going to suffer what every parent suffers from – exciting expectations and being unable to deliver".
A global 0.1% tax on financial services, for example, could raise $420 billion, she said, while a 5% tax on global oil and gas profits in 2022 would have yielded around $200 billion.
"The planet needs global governance not in a big stick way, but in a simple way of us cooperating with each other to be able to work with the institutions that we have," she added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
