The UN Climate Change COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
After his trip to Abu Dhabi in February 2019, which was the occasion of the signing of the historic Declaration on Human Brotherhood, Pope Francis, from tomorrow to 3 December, will be in the United Arab Emirates for the second time and will attend COP28. He will bring his concerns for the care of our Common Home: “With the passage of time, I realise that we are not reacting enough, as the world that welcomes us is crumbling and perhaps approaching a breaking point. Beyond this possibility, there is no doubt that the impact of climate change will increasingly damage the lives of many people and families. We will feel the effects in terms of health, employment, access to resources, housing, forced migration and in other areas.”
(Source: Esortazione apostolica Laudate Deum)
Image: www.changethefuture.it
COP28 is a very important event for the world and the future of our Planet. It will be attended by 200 countries, but, certainly, the premises do not look encouraging, especially if we consider that this year was the hottest ever with sudden and devastating weather events all over the world:
- The location: oil is the main economic source of the United Arab Emirates. Oil was discovered in Abu Dhabi in 1958 and in Dubai in 1966. The revenues have made the country prosperous to the point that the most important city, Dubai, is considered the ‘New York of the Persian Gulf’.
- The chairman of COP28 is Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirati Minister of Industry (as well as chairman of the Emirati oil company Adnoc).
- The absentees: neither Joe Biden, the US president, nor Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, who heads two of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, will attend the conference.
Photo: www.france24.com
“On the short list of what could be considered a success of COP28 is certainly that of:
- operationalising support to developing countries, including the loss and damage fund decided in Sharm El-Sheikh.
- Developed countries also have a responsibility to fulfil their climate finance obligations under Article 9 of the Paris Agreement and the $100 billion target.
Unfortunately, the track record is not encouraging: as of 2020, the total climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries for developing countries was $16.7 billion short of the target” (Source: https://www.ripartelitalia.it/ecco-le-sfide-sul-clima-per-la-cop28-di-dubai).
(Source: www.ripartelitalia.it)
