Sultan al-Jaber.Credit:AP
Suwaidi on Monday said the president had been “clear that he believes in the science” and wanted to deliver language around energy in the final COP28 agreement.
“Rather than politicians who make high-faluting announcements around things,he’s talking from a scientific,engineering,qualified,knowledgeable perspective,” he said,adding that some continued to try to undermine the presidency.
At the weekend,the US announced it would contribute $3 billion to help developing countries slash emissions,while the EU said it would invest $2.5 billion towards the energy transition over two years.
While most world leaders left Dubai over the weekend,some remained on Monday to further call for action. Among them was Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados,who joined Suwaidi for a briefing in which she said countries such as hers depended on a global financial system overhaul to secure long-term capital finance to combat the crisis.
Mottley,who is the incoming head of a group of 20 climate-vulnerable nations,said COP28 progress on a loss and damage fund was welcome,but adaptation must be the priority.
“What we want is to avert damage and avert losses before the event,which is where adaptation is critical.”
Mottley said scaling up multilateral development,banks and concessional funding was “absolutely critical” to nations such as Barbados.
“We saw what the UK had to do,to be able to finance its own ability to survive World War I and to build back,also for World War II. They needed long-term capital,it was 100 year capital,” she said.
“Why do you believe that an industrial country in the early 20th century needed long-term capital[to rebuild] but emerging market countries and developing countries today don’t need it? It is a regrettable form of unconscious bias.”
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.Credit:AP
World-leading economist Lord Nicholas Stern on Monday said the recent global stocktake of commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement showed the world had not invested enough in adaptation,loss and damage and the conservation of nature.
“We’ve argued,in capital work by geography and sector,that we have to invest something like $2.4 trillion a year in emerging markets and developing economies outside China,” Stern said.
“That’s 2.4 trillion per annum by 2030. And of course,go on increasing from there...that’s roughly four times the investment in those areas. But that,with a combination of domestic savings and external savings,is perfectly possible.”
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