We need to take our foot off the fossil energy accelerator, says Marina Silva at COP28 – 12/09/2023 – Environment

Minister Marina Silva (Environment) proposed at the UN Climate COP28, this Saturday (9), the creation of a discussion and negotiation body to deal with the elimination of fossil fuels within the UN Climate Framework Convention.

“It is clear that all countries put their foot on the accelerator of renewable energies, but we also need to make the unpostponable simultaneous effort between consuming and producing countries to take their foot off the accelerator of fossil energies”, stated Marina, during the high-level dialogue of ministers on pre-2030 climate ambition.

In a brief speech, Marina reinforced aspects of the speech made by President Lula at the opening of COP28 on Climate. “It is imperative to eliminate, as quickly as possible, the dependence of our economies on fossil fuels,” said Marina, highlighting that developed countries must lead the process.

The topic has become a central dispute within a broad document that must be finalized by the end of COP28, on the 12th: the global assessment, which brings together an assessment of the global efforts made so far and recommendations for countries.

Although they are the main cause of the climate crisis, the proposal to abandon fossil fuels only began to appear in the climate negotiations at COP26, two years ago, in Glasgow, and gained strength this year, in the face of the conflictive presidency of the conference, led by the president of the UAE state oil company.

For now, the various proposals to abandon or reduce fossil fuels within the global balance may disappear from the final document, if the condition is imposed by a country to reach a consensus.

If it becomes a separate item on the agenda, as Marina proposes, the discussion will continue in subsequent editions of the conference and become a mandatory agenda. However, the UN Climate Framework Convention has funneled the items in the queue for negotiation, as countries have made slow progress on current agendas.

For Marina, it is necessary to find answers to the elimination of fossils that consider national differences and alternatives for social and economic development, especially in more vulnerable countries.

Marina also stated that concessions in negotiations cannot threaten the objective of containing global warming to 1.5ºC, a commitment that Brazil has voiced as a premise for the review of climate goals, scheduled to take place under the Brazilian presidency of COP30.

“The success of this meeting [da COP30] It will depend on whether we can here at COP28 approve a general balance aligned with 1.5ºC in all its dimensions: pre-2030 actions, recommendations for future NDCs [sigla em inglês para contribuições nacionalmente determinadas, ou metas nacionais]new commitments for financing and a global adaptation objective consistent with the real risks”, listed the minister.