Following the release of last night’s woefully insufficient Global Stocktake draft, a document that is diluted, unambitious and laden with contradiction, COP28 has exceeded its 11 am deadline. As was to be expected, no deal has been made yet.
The world now anxiously waits for the publishing of the new text.
However, it is unlikely that negotiations will wrap up any time soon.
In the meantime, the summit’s Director General, HE Majid Al Suwaidi, said in a statement to the press: “We are facing the most demanding COP agenda of all time.”
“All COPs are challenging, but in this COP, we are trying to do something that has never been done before…something historic,” he added.
Responding to the widespread criticism surrounding the publishing of yesterday’s draft, Al Suwaidi said that the text was a starting point for discussions. “This is entirely normal for a consensus-based process. When we released it, we knew opinions were polarized…but what we did not know was where each country’s red lines were.”
He suggested that this is just part of the process, and that last night, feedback was taken: “That has put us in a position to draft a new text,” he said.
That said, he also diverted responsibility away from the COP Presidency and the UAE to some degree, and said that it is now up to the parties to take things forward.
“This is a process of the Parties. It is a question of how ambitious the Parties truly are and where they want the balance to be.
Earlier today, Greenpeace held a press conference on the draft text and shared its outlook on the negotiations.
Speaking to ESG Mena, Ghiwa Nakat, Executive Director of Greenpeace MENA, said she was “hopeful” until yesterday.
“So, the first draft had multiple reasonable options on the phase-out of fossil fuels, and it was the first of any COP where you would have such drafts and suggested text.” However, the new text published yesterday, she said, is not built on science.
“It’s a menu,” she added.
She also pointed to the hypocrisy of certain parties, including the United States: “It’s very strange, we’ve seen a bit of hypocrisy because the US is currently planning the biggest expansion of fossil fuel from here to 2050. They will literally have a third of the CO2 emissions by 2050, if they go on,” she said, adding: “You want a phase-out, but you still want to have the expansion of fossil fuels.”
At the press conference, powerful words were shared by the Head of Pacific at Greenpeace AP, Shiva Gounden, who called the latest text “nothing short of a betrayal” to millions of climate-vulnerable people all over the world.
“It seems that some parties here have forgotten what COP28 and the whole process is about. This isn’t just about policy. This is about people. It’s about the communities losing their homes, their ancestral burial grounds, and their very connection to the lands due to sea level rise. It’s about the families displaced by extreme weather. And the children’s futures are being stolen by inaction.”
“It’s immoral that the fate of billions are weighed up against the profit margins of coal, oil and gas companies as if they are of equal value. This COP doesn’t represent a system of international cooperation. It’s a betrayal of trust and a gross injustice.”
The next draft of the text is due to be published at 6 pm.