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Climate campaigners implored negotiators to address the root cause of climate change by phasing out fossil fuels as negotiators continued to wrangle over the draft text of Global Stocktake at COP28.
In an emotional press conference on Tuesday, which was intended to be the closing day of the UN climate summit, panellists expressed their frustration at the wording of the document, which did not say it would phase out fossil fuels.
Vanessa Nakate of the Rise Up Movement and Uganda Climate Justice said: “What is happening here is unacceptable, what is happening is unjust, what is happening is unfair, especially for the communities that are on the front lines of the current crisis.”
She said fossil fuels account for 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. “Simply put, if we do not address the root cause of the current crisis, everything else is a distraction.
“Everything else will be impossible, loss and damage will be unimaginable, adaptation will be impossible if we do not address the root causes.”
Drought in Africa
Nakate said she had visited the drought-hit Turkana region in the Horn of Africa last year where millions were on the brink of starvation. A six-year-old boy named Desmond who was suffering from malnutrition, died later on the same day, hours after she met him.
“Children are the victims of a climate crisis they did not create, and yet leaders continue to make decisions that are inconsiderate with the existence of humanity,” she said.
“This text that we saw yesterday is sinking the life out of humanity, it is sinking the life of children of communities, especially in the Global South.”
She added: “For this COP to be truly a success, it must address fossil fuels. If leaders fail to address the root cause of the climate crisis after 28 years, they are not only failing us, but making us lose trust in the entire COP process.”
Joseph Sikulu, of Pacific Climate Warriors, who is also Pacific regional managing director of climate campaign group 350.org fought back tears as he told journalists: “You saw the disappointment that came out of last night,” and cited Marshall Islands minister John Silk saying: “We did not come here to sign our death sentence, and the text in its current form is our death sentence.”
“Our vision is of hope for our future, but there is no hope, if the text continued as it came out yesterday, watered down, and with no mention of what is causing the destruction to this earth.”
He added: “Unless we actually acknowledge that it is fossil fuels, and to phase out fossil fuels will save our planet, what is the point of us being here?”
While the alleged role of Saudi Arabia, the world’s second largest producer of oil after the USA, in negotiations has been reported widely in international outlets, Sikulu also mentioned Australia as a country blocking the required measures.
“They say they will give us renewable energy while continuing to extract coal and gas. There is enough coal and gas in Australia that it will blow us past the 1.5C limit. They come here and pretend to be our friend. For us, the biggest blocker is Australia.”
Romain Ioulalen, global policy campaign manager, Oil Change International said countries after countries said they were not opposed to a fossil fuel phase out, but that there should be a clear sense that developed countries will take the lead, with ‘weirdly vague’ language on this point in the GST.
He said the USA, Canada, Norway, Australia and the UK are expanding fossil fuel production, arguing “we would not be in this situation” if Global North countries were not expanding fossil fuel production.
(Reporting by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Seban Scaria)
