Developing countries call agreement to transition away from fossil fuels ‘unfair’ and ‘inequitable’
As the leaders of the developed world hailed the Cop28 agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels as historic, Indigenous people, frontline communities and climate justice groups rebuked the deal as unfair, inequitable and business as usual.
Countries around the world, including Canada, are officially under pressure to further ratchet up their commitments under the Paris Agreement, the UN’s climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell told delegates at the annual climate negotiations in Dubai.
The latest grim findings from climate scientists estimate that based on current trajectories, the planet has roughly six years before blowing past the Paris Agreement’s goal to hold global warming to 1.5 C, Stiell said during the COP28 opening ceremony.
Global oil and gas demand will start to fall before 2030, marking the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era, the International Energy Agency (IEA) declared last week, in an op ed penned by Executive Director Fatih Birol.
Wind turbines are being dismantled to make way for a massive coal mine expansion in Germany, and Canada’s largest bank RBC is helping pay for it using “sustainable” finance.