United Arab Emirates proposes to also host COP29 – 10/02/2023 – Environment

The United Arab Emirates is offering to host a second annual UN climate summit, while negotiations over who will lead the next round of critical discussions on global warming remain stalled due to geopolitical tensions arising from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The move would give the UAE, which will host the UN COP28 in Dubai later this year, major influence over global climate policy during a crucial two-year period when the world needs to agree on efforts to halt climate change.

COP29, in 2024, is scheduled to be hosted by an eastern European country, as part of a rotation that allows several regions and countries to preside over the event, which in recent years has been attended by tens of thousands of people.

The 23 countries that make up the COP Eastern European Group (EEG) must unanimously agree on the host country.

However, Russia opposed any European Union member country hosting the summit after the Ukrainian War. Armenia and Azerbaijan were the main candidates until this month, but Baku’s seizure of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave has increased tensions between the two countries and with Russia.

Germany, as host of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is the default option if countries cannot agree on another option, while the United Arab Emirates would remain as holder of the presidency. .

But several people familiar with the discussions said the UAE was reluctant to chair the talks unless it could also host the event.

The COP28 presidency office said the host country for the next UN climate summit needs to be agreed with appropriate procedures. “This is not even on our radar. We remain focused on promoting ambitious climate action at COP28,” he added.

At the same time, Germany was “not interested” in hosting the summit at the UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, two people familiar with the discussions said, arguing that the city was not big enough to accommodate the huge crowd that would gather. would meet at its facilities during the fortnight.

The German Foreign Ministry said: “It is important that the EEG group makes a decision on the COP presidency following the UNFCCC procedures.”

More than 45,000 people registered to participate in COP27 last year in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and around 40,000 attended the previous year in Glasgow.

Another solution to the impasse would be for a country outside the Eastern European group to come forward with an offer to host and preside over the event.

While there is no deadline for an agreement on handover to the next COP host country, the magnitude of the event and the complexity of the negotiations mean that countries generally need a full year to prepare.

At COP28 this year, the United Arab Emirates will chair negotiations by almost 200 countries that aim to reach agreements on the so-called global emissions assessment and seal agreements for a climate change-related loss and damage fund.

Some country negotiators hope to include language and a timeline for phasing out fossil fuels, and new targets beyond 2030, in the final agreement.

In presenting the agenda for COP28, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the president-designate, set out a flexible “mid-century” timeline for reducing fossil fuels produced without capturing emissions.

The European Union also stated that it will push for the gradual end of so-called uncaptured fossil fuels, that is, those burned without capturing emissions, “well before 2050”.