Promises, especially those made during the United Nations Conference of Parties, are perennially made to be broken with unconscionable ease.
COP28 opened in Dubai late last month with expectations of rapid fossil fuel phaseout, upscaling of renewable energy, and commitments to compensate for loss and damage to climate-vulnerable countries at levels commensurate with their suffering.
But the conference, dubbed a ‘Global Stock Take’ window, closed last week with routine promises that are better understood in breach, like many others preceding the United Arab Emirates climate jamboree.
COP28’s key takeaway – fossil fuel phaseout by 2050 – may excite optimists, but it is not enough: It’s non-binding; it’s not enforceable; and it’s not specific. There were no action timeframes. There were no benchmarks. There were no penalties for breach.
GreenFaith, a multi-nation religious lobby for climate justice, captures the irony of selective responses to the defining crisis of the millennium: “COP28 produced a purely voluntary commitment by fossil fuel companies to better capture methane, a potent greenhouse gas we absolutely must contain.”
The faith-based lobby that advocates rapid fossil fuel phaseout, however, warns: “Non-binding statements and voluntary pledges are an insufficient response to any moral responsibility, let alone an existential threat.”
Governments act fast when faced with challenges they consider priorities. They committed trillions of dollars within months of Covid-19 to forestall the spread of the viral infection in 2020.
The European Union and the United States – the lead global carbon emitters – responded equally fast when Russia invaded Ukraine. The same countries are outstanding more in breach when it comes to fossil fuel phaseout and funding climate justice.
The doublespeak of the industrial countries in the ‘Global North’ is documented. ‘The 2023 production gap report: Phasing down or phasing up’ finds that top fossil fuel producers plan even more extraction despite their promises to abate global heating.
The major fossil fuel producers include China, the United States, the Russian Federation, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
United States President Joe Biden and top Chinese leadership spurned COP28 in the Arabian desert to avoid accountability and moral responsibility for defiling the ecosphere.
President-forever Yoweri Museveni ducked the Dubai expo. He also spurned the September Africa Climate Summit, next door in Nairobi, to protect Uganda’s national interest. Uganda is relying on fossil fuel production to spur its economy after 40 years of Museveni’s economic marktime.
The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline will displace 100,000 people across Uganda and Tanzania. It will spew toxic waste along the path and compromise drinking water for 3 million people. The oil pipeline will also generate more greenhouse gas emissions than the combined carbon footprint of its two host countries.
Carbon bombs will explode more in East Africa. While pro-green forces globally are advocating the elimination of dirty energy, TotalEnergies, a French multinational, will explode carbon bombs across the border.
The Uganda junta insists its oil projects are environmentally sustainable. But the Tilenga project, set for completion in 2025, is attracting the rage of local and international environmentalists. Police brutality has not silenced picketers.
The 1,400km pipeline traverses seven forest reserves, and game parks along Lake Victoria. The disruption of biodiversity is a no-brainer, but its enablers say the oil discovery holds the key to Uganda’s economic progress.
Uganda is in good company, as the COP28 presidency confirmed. It was not a coincidence that the president of COP28, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, is also the chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. It was not also coincidental that the United Arab Emirates, a major petrostate, hosted COP28.
Cynical delegates were stunned the COP28 presidency used the occasion to negotiate oil and gas deals. It was also noted that 2,456 fossil fuel industry lobbyists were 10 times more than delegates from 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined.
