EIt hasn’t even started yet and COP28 already has a bad press. Hosted in the United Arab Emirates and chaired by Sultan Al-Jaber, Emirati Minister of Industry and CEO of the national oil company [Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc)]this COP is denounced by some as being a focal point for lobbying fossil industries.
Do COPs even serve any purpose anymore? Initially ambitious, many measures taken during these meetings ended up failing. Even recently, we learned of the failure of negotiations on compensation for countries in the South, particularly affected by climate change. However, an agreement was put in place during the previous COP in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt).
Beyond the form, there is also the discourse. Sultan Al-Jaber believes that it is indeed important to discuss a gradual end to CO emissions2…, which, according to him, does not necessarily imply an exit from fossil fuels.
Not very mature technologies
In other words, oil would not be the root of the problem – the United Arab Emirates is the seventh world extractor of black gold –, and the real fight that must be undertaken against CO emissions2 will be delivered using carbon capture and storage technologies. Technologies that would allow us not to have to rethink, among other things, mobility, agriculture, industry, nor our consumption habits… and which would also not force Abu Dhabi to draw a line under its frantic production of barrels!
However, we must at all costs get rid of fossil fuels: they represent 36.8 billion tonnes of CO2 released into the atmosphere (IEA, 2022). Oil is indeed a problem.
We cannot blame the Emirates for supporting the technology-based solutions : the Middle East is an arid zone, where forests do not grow and where water is becoming increasingly scarce. Supporting the development of these technologies is therefore strategic. But let’s not forget that they are currently still immature, difficult to generalize, and that they require enormous financial investments before being effective.
If our technologies must evolve and adapt as quickly as the climate changes, we are entering a losing race. If technology is a valuable aid and, ultimately, part of the solution, it is neither our salvation nor a license to pollute.
Nature-based solutions are the preferred ones: those that aim to protect, sustainably manage and restore our ecosystems. They not only allow us to preserve and recreate carbon sinks, but also – and we tend to forget this – to promote biodiversity, on which humanity is 100% dependent.
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