India has a critical role in Dubai climate conference: UAE official

Subject : Environment

Section: International conventions

Context:

The 28th edition of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC is going to be held in Dubai, UAE.

Details:

This year, the President of CoP 28 is Sultan Al-Jaber, who is also the head of one of the world’s largest oil companies, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. This brings in the criticism that he would as COP President be less inclined to push the world away from fossil fuels.
President Sultan Al-Jaber said that their economy is today 70% non-oil and gas. And they have also established a renewable energy company named Masdar.

Post of CoP president: Their role and responsibilities:

The government of the host country holds the presidency for one year.
It usually names one of its ministers as the president.
The role of the CoP president is to facilitate and guide the negotiations.
The President does not have any special powers but does play a key role in prioritising the agenda of discussions and helping forge a consensus on important issues.
They are usually extremely active behind the scenes, brokering deals and compromises, mediating conflicts, and acting as crisis managers.
However, the final decisions are always taken by consensus.
Extended role of COP presidents:
- For the past few years, COP presidents have engaged in pre-conference diplomacy, travelling all over the world to hold discussions with governments in order to understand their priorities and to get a sense of the kind of agreement that could be realistically achieved at the conference.
There have been several instances when a single country– and not one from among the most powerful- has stood up and disagreed with the rest of the world, and the conference had to accommodate its concerns.

Source of this article: The Hindu