COP28: Greens issue wish list of demands ahead of talks

The Greens have issued their wish list of demands ahead of the big COP28 talks starting on November 30th.

 COP28, starting on Thursday in Dubai, is an “important moment” for international climate negotiations.

From Thursday heads of state and government, ministers, the EU – represented by Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra – and representatives of non-governmental organisations and lobby groups will be negotiating the global climate crisis at COP28, the 28th United Nations Climate Conference.

The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament say they will be present in Dubai.

MEPs Bas Eickhout (pictured) and Jutta Paulus are both members of the European Parliament’s COP28 delegation, as well as Michael Bloss and Hannah Neumann.

Eickhout, Greens/EFA Vice President, commented, “If we want to halt climate change and further accelerate the energy transition, that means clarity on the end goal: a world that says goodbye to fossil energy.”

 The MEP said, “Besides climate ambition, the Dubai summit is about what exactly the climate damage fund agreed earlier should look like, and which countries pay and possibly receive money.

 “This fund should compensate for climate damage already suffered in vulnerable countries. This discussion also affects the climate ambition that can be agreed upon at the summit. While there is now an agreement that the fund should exist, the question of who pays and under what conditions remains unanswered.

 “This is unacceptable to the global south; they will only agree to more ambition if their concerns about climate damage are taken seriously. In any case, we are clear: the scale of climate damage is growing enormously and therefore the biggest polluters must make additional structural contributions to address it.”

Greens/EFA demands ahead of COP28 include:

• Global phase-out of all fossil fuels
• End subsidies for fossil fuels
• Treaty on the non-proliferation of fossil fuels
• Significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
• Tripling the share of renewable energies
• Doubling energy efficiency
• Establishment of the fund to support climate-related loss and damage and provide it with fresh money
• Exclusion of representatives of fossil fuel industries from the climate conference along the lines of the World Health Organisation’s exclusion of the tobacco industry
• Release of human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor and all political prisoners in the United Arab Emirates

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Image: Photographer: Eric VIDAL Copyright: © European Union 2023 – Source : EP