Environment

Good intentions will not reduce emissions: UN

Dubai, Dec 6 (EFE).- The United Nations Climate chief said at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Wednesday that just good intentions would not help check emissions and that more was required from all actors.

“Good intentions won’t halve emissions this decade or save lives right now,” UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said. “We can only overcome the climate crisis by ditching business-as-usual.”

Stiell further stressed on the need for better transparency and called for financial progress to deliver frontline results.

“We have said we will double adaptation finance – now we have to deliver… and set ourselves up to go much further,” he said.

Highlighting the need to focus on the global goal for adaptation, which aims to reduce vulnerability to climate change, Stiell underlined that only 50 countries have National Adaptation Plans.

According to the World Health Organisation, 3.6 billion people live in areas highly susceptible to climate change.

Regarding COP’s key climate goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, the UN official said, “we need COP to deliver a bullet train to speed up climate action.”

But “we currently have an old caboose chugging over rickety tracks,” he said.

COP28 published a preliminary version of the Global Stocktaking Report on Tuesday, in which it offers countries different options to reinforce climate action, such as ending the use of fossil fuels – the biggest contributor to global warming – and tripling renewable capacity by 2030.

COP28, which runs through Dec. 12, brings together global leaders, activists, scientists, and industry representatives in a huddle for solutions at this pivotal moment for the planet’s climate and energy future. EFE ijm-mmt/up/sc

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