Al Suwaidi said the summit would be a success if it met people’s “expectations” and called for changes in the negotiation process.

MADRID, October 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The director general of COP28, Majid Al Suwaidi, has stated that the UN Climate Change Summit “does not need more negotiators, but the parties must fulfill their commitments” and that this delivered results that allowed the reconstruction of “trust”, the restoration of “hope, optimism and joy that emerged after the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015” to make climate action something the world’s population “can be proud of.”

This was stated by the Director General of the XVIII Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), in an interview given to Europa Press in Madrid on the occasion of his participation in the Climate and Energy Summit held this week. by the International Energy Agency and the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenges.

“It is very important to attend COP28 and achieve great results,” stressed Al Suwaidi, who argued that the climate process needs “technical” people to progress. To be precise, today the number two person at the summit which will be held in two months in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), participated as a negotiator for his country in COP21 in Paris in 2015 in which the Climate Agreement became the basis for action against climate change. the current climate emergency.

“In some ways, we are having the same conversations as before. This surprised me because when I left Paris, I thought we had achieved political results. Now, to move forward, the Climate Change Summit doesn’t need people like me. The process does not require negotiators but technicians who carry out implementation and we do not have that at the moment,” warned Majid Al Suwaidi, who stressed the importance of the next international event to produce results.

In this context, he criticized that there are entire communities, especially young people, who are genuinely interested in finding solutions, while countries are “stuck” in the political cycle, despite the well-known fact that the planet is “not on its way to achieving the Paris goals “.

In fact, he emphasized that limiting warming to 1.5ºC is “possible” because the recipe is already known and includes, for example, the proposal defended this week by the International Energy Agency in Madrid. “We know what we have to do to achieve our Paris goals; we have the technology. “That is why it is so important for the parties at COP28 to have honest talks,” he urged.

According to him, it is no longer the time for the climate change summit to progress little by little, gradually every year, but we need to make progress on all fronts, increasingly quickly. The diplomat emphasized that this is the line proposed by the Dubai event, where he wants progress in the energy transition, financing, human adaptation and inclusion.

In terms of the energy transition, it is stated that 22 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced. Therefore, he emphasized the importance of building an energy system for the future now and implementing solutions now because “decarbonizing energy cannot be done overnight.” Furthermore, he believes that the path to Paris lies in improving energy efficiency through various formulas such as CO2 capture and storage.

He also added that the second pillar includes achieving flexibility in financing for developing countries because currently “this is a very big problem” and developed countries not only have not fulfilled the $100 billion pledge annually and are “very far from that amount” , but investment needs to be increased from “hundreds of billions to trillions”.

“We are at the same point as in 2015. The promises made in terms of financing are not being fulfilled and that is part of the process we are undertaking to submit an application to the government,” explained Majid Al Suwaidi, who also claimed that, system transformation and international financial institutions. “Developing countries face many obstacles today,” he said.

The third pillar of COP2 is “people”, who must achieve a safe and adapted life, including paying attention to health, cities, adaptation, and loss and damage mechanisms that are “essential” to face the already visible impacts of climate change. Today.

“We need to focus on society’s problems, think about how to adapt and in a way that is fair to everyone,” said the United Arab Emirates diplomat, stressing the importance of achieving better food and health systems, more disease-resistant crops, and reducing epidemic of a disease. population vulnerability to climate change”.

NO ONE DOESN’T HEAR

On the other hand, the fourth aspect of the negotiations in Dubai is “inclusion”, with Al Suwaidi guaranteeing that COP28 “will not exclude any group from the talks.”

“We need activists, NGOs, people who really push that ambition, but we also need company directors, CEOs, people who can make decisions and have the economic and technical capacity, to engineers and professionals who can base decisions -the decision. adopted,” he defended.

Ultimately, he wants a change of strategy in his message, a strategy that avoids disaster because, in his opinion, if “hope, positive attitudes and enthusiasm are not created, people will not see themselves as the solution.”

Regarding the criticism leveled from various sectors over the fact that COP28 was held in an ‘oil’ country, Al Suwaidi ironically recalled that eight of the ten countries where the last COP was held owned or used fossil fuels, such as Poland, England or Germany. Therefore, they defended the United Arab Emirates’ commitment to climate action.

Outdated prejudice

In fact, even though he admits that his country rose thanks to oil, its economy is now “diversified” and does not depend on fossil fuels by 70 percent, while at the same time it is committed to “creating opportunities” in the public-private sector in the economic sector. green economy.

Regarding the social sector, he believes that 60 percent of the team participating in the next Climate Change Summit will be women, with an average age of 37 years; that in the Emirates, equal pay between men and women is guaranteed by law and that they occupy approximately 30 percent of ministerial portfolios.

Therefore, he attributed these “wrong” ideas to certain “stereotypes”, but promised that this would be “the best COP of all COPs” and believed that it would be a “great show” for everyone to better understand such what country they are. .

Finally, he assured that his country is working hard to achieve parallel progress in all areas of the negotiations because, in his opinion, for COP28 to be a “true success” requires achieving “real and genuine” results. Therefore, it is necessary to transform the negotiation process so that it “progresses with great strides in all areas at the global level.”

Therefore, he emphasized the importance of meeting the “increasing expectations” of young people, NGOs, and civil society who want to “move forward.” “To achieve these extraordinary results, we need to start rebuilding people’s trust, restoring the hope and optimism we had in Paris,” he concluded.