BERLIN (AP) — Environmental activists are urging climate envoys from dozens of countries, meeting Tuesday in Berlin, to negotiate a global deadline for ditching fossil fuels and ways to increase aid to poor countries affected by global warming.
Some 40 countries, including the United States, China, India and Brazil, were attending the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in the German capital. The two-day meeting is a key step in negotiations for this year’s international climate conference in Dubai, known as COP28.
Activist groups fear that countries including the United States, the European Union and COP28 host the United Arab Emirates will support the idea of capturing carbon dioxide to allow oil and gas extraction to continue or even increase. Scientists say technologies to remove planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere have not been demonstrated at scale, and could require huge investments at the expense of cheaper alternatives such as solar and wind power.
“They are doing everything they can to prolong the use of fossil fuels, especially by focusing… on carbon dioxide capture and storage, which is very worrying for us,” said Harjeet Singh, global political strategy leader. in Climate Action Network International.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has called for a complete abandonment of the use of fossil fuels, to which most of the global warming produced since the beginning of the industrial age is attributed, and warns that otherwise it is possible that the goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) is not met.
But for now only coal is on the way out, with a commitment from nations struck two years ago to gradually reduce its use.
Danish Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen recently said that the idea of a global commitment to also abandon oil and gas “will be part of the conversation” before and during the Dubai summit.
Singh said solutions must also be found for millions of workers in the coal, oil and gas sector to be able to successfully exit them, as well as alternative sources of energy for many who continue to rely on cheap fossil fuels.
“What we have to see this year is not just the phase-out of fossil fuels, but the equitable phase-out of fossil fuels,” he said.
The diplomats will also address how to accelerate various forms of financial aid for developing countries most affected by climate change. The promise to provide $100 billion a year has yet to be fulfilled, and another fund agreed at last year’s climate summit in Egypt is still being shaped.
US climate envoy John Kerry has said the total amount needed to help all countries make the economic transition to a green economy will run into the trillions of dollars. Experts say that in addition to aid, the private sector will have to contribute large sums. Other sources of financing have been considered, such as taxes on emissions from air and sea travel.
“These big questions about where the funding is going to come from for countries to take any of their possible climate measures or energy transition measures have to get some answers before (COP28),” said Alex Scott, head of climate diplomacy at the center for environmental studies E3G.