"In an open letter, the lawmakers urged the EU, US and UN to 'engage in diplomatic efforts to secure the withdrawal of the president-designate of COP28.'"
More than 100 US and EU lawmakers appealed to the leaders of their countries and the United Nations to oust oil executive Sultan Al Jaber as head of this year’s COP28 climate summit.
The politicians also asked that further steps be taken to limit the influence of fossil-fuel companies at the talks to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates at the end of the year.
“For billions of people, the outcome of COP28 and following international climate negotiations will make the difference between life and death, chaos and solidarity,” said Manon Aubry, a member of the European Parliament and one of the signatories. “Corporate greed and lobbyists’ lies have led us into this climate crisis. We must prevent private interests from interfering in politics and regain ownership of our future.”
Following the dismal results of COP27 in Egypt, Klein proposed, in series of tweets:
"Now is the time to decide not to do this all over again next year, when the summit will be in the UAE. Of all places. Civil society should announce a boycott, and instead hold a true people's summit. One gathering per continent to limit flying. Links to the official summit by video.
"There can be lobbying sessions built into the COP28 program with governments who will obviously go to the UAE. But why should civil society expend the carbon, money, and time to join them just to declare it a failure all over again? Let's try something new."
Since then, I haven't heard anything about whether this idea of hers — a good one that I agree with! — has gained traction and is moving forward, or if it's not.
Für 1,5 Grad müssen wir die Emissionen bis 2030 halbieren und die #Erneuerbaren verdreifachen, rechnet der #IPCC-Bericht vor. Wir brauchen ein globales Ausbauziel für Wind und Sonne bei der #COP28 - @ABaerbock bei Pressekonferenz mit #DrSultanAlJaber beim #Petersberg 1/3
In the U.S., efforts to develop renewable energy and to shift away from coal, oil, and gas are hampered by the colossal amounts of 💵 money 💵 still waiting to be made by those willing to sacrifice the climate, the ecosphere, and the future in favor of profits.
Here's Bill McKibben, in the Rolling Stone...
If we are to meet the climate targets set by scientists, we have to leave 90% of the fossil fuels that have been discovered underground. And at current prices, that means stranding about $100 trillion worth of assets in the soil. If you want to understand why the battle over climate progress is so fierce — why the fossil-fuel industry fights so hard, with all the political influence it can buy — remember that $100 trillion. It’s a lot of incentive.
Last year, we were hit with a staggering number — $2.8 billion — that's how much profit the fossil fuel industry has earned daily for the past 50 years. Which is a problem, because the people making that money have the motive and the means to try to keep it alive.
“It’s a huge amount of money,” Aviel Verbruggen, the academic who calculated that figure, points out. “You can buy every politician, every system with all this money. It protects [producers] from political interference that may limit their activities.”
You can see this happening at the highest levels — at last year’s global climate conference in Egypt, there were 636 fossil-fuel-connected people registered in attendance, dwarfing the delegations from almost every country. This year’s climate conference, COP28, is scheduled for Abu Dhabi, and its chair is also the CEO of its national oil company.
Fossil fuel was pretty cheap from the start, but it hasn’t gotten significantly cheaper. That’s because it’s less a technology than a commodity — and you have to work harder to find that commodity now that the easy stuff has been burned. The coal is farther back in the mine; the oil is down at the bottom of the ocean now, or under a polar ice cap.
The endless payoff can’t last forever — eventually the economics of renewable energy will prevail. Any delay in shifting away from fossil fuels is profitable to Big Oil and damaging to the rest of us. So we must build movements to speed up that transition.
Fossil fuel tycoon Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber has been appointed President of COP28 climate summit. As CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company he has overseen the expansion of oil production in the UAE. (1/3) #COP28#UAE#fossilfuel#UnitedNations
As we look forward to #COP28 later on this year in the UAE, anticipating another joyous fossil fuel bacchanalia, I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty from our masters about "Net Zero 2050." They'll remind us once again about all those delicious carbon offsets that are going to save the world for capitalism and consumerism, allowing endless growth forever and ever. No need to worry, they'll say, we've got everything under control! 😃