COP28 may be the world’s last opportunity to get on track to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement and stay below 1.5C
by Climate Spotlight Staff
According to a study published by Earth Systems Science Data in mid-2023, global greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high. A so-called “carbon budget” established as a benchmark to keep emissions under 1.5C of pre-industrial temperatures is quickly dwindling. Only about 250 bn tonnes of carbon dioxide can be emptied into the atmosphere now to ensure global temperature stays within the 1.5C range.
This is down from 500 bn tonnes just a few years ago. Greenhouse gases are being dumped into the atmosphere at a rate of 54 bn tonnes per year over the past decade.
Doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that the so-called carbon budget won’t last until the end of this decade.
It is a critical time for humanity, this decade is critical for climate change. What we do now will impact how much temperatures will rise and the degree of impact we will face as a result.
Global policy change in light of the evidence about the state of the climate must take precedence since time is not on our side. While COP28 is seen as the last opportunity for the world to “course correct”, many critics have akin to the designations of Sultan Al Jaber as president of the process as a “rat minding the cheese” type of situation.
Sultan Al Jaber is the head of UAE’s national oil company – a global fossil fuel powerhouse planning to increase its oil and gas production capacity. Go figure.
Others believe it is pivotal that these fossil fuel interests, oftentimes given the bad guy rap feel included in the vital climate conversations. Whatever the case may be, we all know cash is king, and the good Sultan, and the UAE swims in a desert of fossil fuel-funded wealth.
Why are we to believe they would lobby to give that up?
Either way, countries will, for the first time, participate in the first “global stocktake.” The mechanism set up under the Paris Agreement to assess whether nations are on track to meet their commitments to cut emissions.
This will likely show, just as the study, that the world is way off track. TICK-tock TICK-tock.
