Pope announces he will go to COP28 in Dubai in early December

“Vor to Dubai. I think I’ll be leaving on December 1st until December 3rd. I will be there for three days,” the leader of the Catholic church told Italian public broadcaster Rai1.

COP28 takes place between November 30th and December 12th in the United Arab Emirates, bringing together nearly 200 countries to debate measures and objectives in the context of climate change.

“It is very important to go to COP28 and obtain powerful results,” said director general Al Suwaidi, in an interview with Europa Press in October, for whom the climate process needs people with technical skills to move forward.

The representative of the world summit, born in the United Arab Emirates, participated as a negotiator for his country at COP21 in Paris, in 2015, in which the Climate Agreement was reached, the current basis for action against the climate emergency.

“In a way, we are having the same conversations we were having at the time. I’m surprised because when I left Paris I thought we had already achieved the political result. Now, to move forward, climate summits don’t need people like me. process does not need negotiators, but rather technicians who are in charge of implementation, and today we don’t have that”, he warned at the same time, insisting on the importance of the next international meeting “producing results”.

Majid Al Suwaidi criticized the fact that there is a community of people, especially young people, who are really interested in finding solutions to the climate problem, while countries are “stuck” in the political cycle, despite already knowing that the planet “is not on the path to achieve the Paris objectives”.

Limiting the increase in global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, he reiterated, is “possible”, because the recipe is 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 the Paris objective, we have the technology. That’s why it is very important that the parties at COP28 have honest conversations”, he argued.

Regarding the energy transition, he highlighted that it is necessary to reduce 22 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is why he warned of the importance of building the energy system of the future today.

“The decarbonization of energy cannot be done overnight. The path outlined in Paris involves improving energy efficiency through different formulas, such as the capture and storage of carbon dioxide”, he highlighted.

Majid Al Suwaidi considered that developed countries are not fulfilling their promised climate investments and that the world is “at the same point as it was in 2015”, also calling for a transformation of the international financial system and institutions.

“We need to focus on people’s problems, think about how we can adapt in a way that is fair for everyone,” noted the Emirati diplomat, saying it is crucial to achieve a better food system, better health, more resilient cultures and a reduction the vulnerability of populations to climate change.

Regarding COP28, he promised that no group will be excluded from climate talks.

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