At November 30. the COP 28 (conference of the Parties) started with 197 nations that participated. The COP nations agreed to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. This is the 28. gathering of the countries, that’s why it is COP 28. This time the global transition away from fossil fuels to stop global warming is the main topic. This has become the most important topic due to the dangerously heating Earth. This years conference is held from November 30, through December 12. Last year the conference was held in Egypt and the nations agreed to establish fund to help poor countries with climate disasters. They have made little progress with that though. This should be different with this years goals.
Recent natural disasters
In the last year the world faced a lot of natural disasters. Those were topic as well in King Charles III opening ceremony of the United Nations climate summit in Dubai. Examples are wildfires in Canada, floods in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, cyclones in the Pacific and a drought in East Africa.
“It worries me greatly that we remain so dreadfully off track,”
King Charles III
Secretary General António Guterres opened the second day of the United nations climate conference by giving the world leaders and fossil fuel executives a huge challenge. He underlines the goal to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
These goals are set by the countries to face global warming
The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, said to redouble the efforts to shift the world’s most densely populated countries to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels. India has rapidly build out their energy from wind and solar in recent years.
“Mother Earth is looking toward us to protect her future. We have to succeed.”
Narendra Modi
For the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will address the United Nations climate summit this year. She will be last minute stand-in for President Biden. The Vice President is expected to announce the last year signed pump of at least $370 billion in spending. This money that will come from tax breaks as well, will be put into clean energy development. Kamala Harris is also expected to announce initiatives to address rising emissions and help countries to get more access to renewable energy. Biden will not attend the conference for the first time since taking office.
After claims on Friday that Britain has apparently cut down the countries net-zero ambitions, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rejected these allegations. Rishi Sunak, who only stayed at the conference for a few hours, committed $2 billion for international climate finance projects. These include projects for renewable energy and forests. The government also promised to spend a total of 11.6 billion pounds over five years.
Middle Eastern heads focus their speeches on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. King Abdullah II of Jordan for example mentioned the more than 13.000 killed Palestinian civilians by Israel’s military campaign. The war just started again after a seven day cease-fire.
The most wealthy countries in the world have decreased the amount of money spend on renewable energy even though the need for cash has grown, according to a recent report from the United Nations. The spending has dropped to $21 billion in 2021. This is a drop of 15% from 2020, most likely the result of pressure on wealthy countries from Covid-19 and other challenges. This is according to a report from the United Nations, published on November 2.
The impact of global warming right now
While some people still deny the fact that there is global warming for people in countries like Brazil the disaster is already reality. The President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brasil wants to face the crisis as soon as possible. He called climate change “the greatest challenge that humanity has faced till now. He criticized other countries that the global community was “going to wars that feed divisions and deepen poverty and inequalities” and not address the happening climate change with enough seriousness.
There is a lot of work to do for the world and especially for the countries with much influence. The climate crisis is one of the most important topics to address right now. The countries will have to make big moves if they want to reach their goal to stop global warming.
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