COP-28 aims at bottling the fossil fuel genie for good

COP-28 aims at bottling the fossil fuel genie for good

Subject: Environment

Section: Environment conventions

Context:

• The COP-28 to the UNFCCC climate summit is scheduled to begin in Dubai on November 30.

Six major issues to be discussed are:

1. Global Stocktake:
   • It is a periodic review by countries to contain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and transition their fossil-fuel-dependent energy systems to renewable energy sources.
2. UN Food System Coordination Hub:
   • The vision is to stimulate and support action for SDGs-based food systems transformations towards the acceleration of the 2030 Agenda.
   • The mission is to serve countries through systemic, country-driven, customized support in translating their commitments into effective actions to reach sustainable food systems by 2030, leveraging the wider UN system’s capacities.
3. Loss and Damage Fund (L&D):
   • The L&D fund was one of the key outcomes at the 2022 edition of the COP in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
   • It committed rich developed countries, held historically responsible for the climate crisis, to compensate countries most vulnerable and already bearing the brunt of climate change.
   • There is an agreement to host the L&D fund at the World Bank but no other details on the corpus and contributors are known.
4. Climate Finance:
   • In 2009, at the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen (COP15), developed country Parties committed, in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, to a goal of mobilising jointly US$100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.
   • The climate finance goal was then formally recognized by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties at COP16 in Cancun.
   • At COP21 in Paris, Parties extended the US$100 billion goal through 2025.
5. Phase-out of fossil fuels
   • The European Union (EU) is expected to push for a phase-out that, if accepted, will be a
   • Many countries favour continuing the use of oil, gas, and coal together with technologies to ‘capture’ their emissions, instead of avoiding the use of such fuels altogether.
6. Increasing the renewable energy capacity:
   • To help countries shift from the unabated use of fossil fuels. Countries are supposed to triple the RE capacity from the existing 500 gigawatts (GW) installed globally to 1,500 GW by 2030.

Source: The Hindu