{"id":49616,"date":"2023-12-01T04:00:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T04:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=49616"},"modified":"2023-11-30T17:18:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T17:18:53","slug":"cop28-bulletin-loss-and-damage-fund-is-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2023\/12\/01\/cop28-bulletin-loss-and-damage-fund-is-born\/","title":{"rendered":"Cop28 bulletin: A loss and damage fund is born"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a remarkable early win for the Cop28 presidency, a loss and damage fund became official on day one. Sultan Al Jaber banged his gavel and the room rose in applause.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were a few complaints from negotiators. But the hard-fought compromise struck in Abu Dhabi<\/a> three weeks ago held, with the World Bank the interim host of the yet-to-be-named fund.<\/p>\n

The UAE set an example by contributing $100 million of a little over $400m in pledges.<\/p>\n

With that potentially contentious matter out of the way \u2013 and the agenda agreed \u2013 public attention will now focus squarely on the issue of fossil fuels and their phase out.<\/p>\n

Al Jaber addressed the issue in his opening speech. Negotiators, he said, \u201cmust look for ways and ensure the inclusion of the role of fossil fuels\u201d.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged\u00a0\u201cstrong views\u201d on having fossil fuels in the text and added that \u201cwe collectively have the power to do something unprecedented \u2013 in fact, we have no choice but to go the very unconventional way\u201d.<\/p>\n

He got some applause for saying he is laser-focused on the \u201cnorth star\u201d of limiting global warming to 1.5C. He did not mention the International Energy Agency\u2019s verdict that that means no new fossil fuel production.<\/p>\n

He added that his presidency \u201cmade a bold choice to engage with oil and gas companies\u201d, having difficult discussions with them and now \u201cmany\u201d are committed to \u201cnear zero\u201d methane emissions by 2030 and have adopted net zero by 2050 targets.<\/p>\n

This is a reference to the Cop28 oil and gas decarbonisation accelerator, which is supposed to launch next week. Most publicly-listed oil majors already have<\/a> net zero targets \u2013 but most of those do not include the emissions from burning their products.<\/p>\n

Both as Cop28 boss and oil company CEO, Al Jaber\u2019s focus is on producing oil and gas in a cleaner way not producing less.<\/p>\n

Latest stories<\/strong><\/p>\n