COP THAT!
The Headlines
The President of COP28 and CEO of ADNOC, Sultan al-Jaber, has been caught planning to use COP28 as a tool to strike oil and gas deals with 15 countries, leaked documents reveal.
Australia is one of these countries and the documents detail that they are “willing to jointly evaluate LNG [liquified natural gas] opportunities” with us, Mozambique and Canada.
Who saw it coming? The CEO of a fossil fuel company hijacking a conference made to reduce global C02 emissions.
Due to Australia’s history at COP, sadly it’s hardly a stretch to assume that the current government would take Sultan al-Jaber up on the offer.
Failure to agree a phase-out of fossil fuels at the UN Cop28 climate summit would push the world beyond the crucial 1.5C temperature limit and into climate breakdown, the UK’s former climate chief has warned.
Alok Sharma, who was president of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, said it was vital that governments made a clear commitment in the next few days to eliminate coal, oil and gas.
“We are running out of time. The window on 1.5C is closing fast, and unless we are willing to act now, with the urgency that this issue demands, we will lose that 1.5C,” he said. “We are literally in the last chance saloon to save our children’s future.”
The president of the COP28 climate summit on Sunday urged negotiators to work harder to find consensus on a proposed first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world’s use of fossil fuels, as the two-week conference entered its final stage.
The talks in Dubai have highlighted deep international divisions over the future role of oil, gas and coal that are complicating efforts by nearly 200 countries to hash out an agreement before the summit’s scheduled end on Dec. 12.
OPEC had issued a letter to its members and backers on Dec. 6 asking them to oppose any language targeting fossil fuels in a COP28 deal, this has been critisized by many and is further evidence that not all in attendence at COP are there to encourage the phase out of fossl fuels, but rather block it entirely.
The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has told nearly 200 countries at the Cop28 summit that the use of fossil fuels in energy systems must end.
Bowen states: “We also must face this fact head on: if we are to keep 1.5C alive, fossil fuels have no ongoing role to play in our energy systems – and I speak as the climate and energy minister of one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters. And we embrace that fact and acknowledge it because we also live in the Pacific, and we are not going to see our brothers and sisters inundated and their countries swallowed by the seas.”
Whilst this sounds positive, and he may very well believe in this, unfortunately he signalled that wording of the agreement could include attaching the word “unabated” to any decision about phasing out fossil fuels. Unabated is a controversial and undefined term at climate talks that is usually taken to mean fossil fuels can continue if their emissions are being reduced through the use of carbon capture and storage, a technology that has not proven commercially viable.
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Looking to begin your Climate Activism Journey? Want a refresh? Just want to learn more about XR? Head to our Facebook Events page to take our pick at where you want to get involved.
COP28 may be over but there is always the next one… and the one after that. There will always be those who prioritise their power over the interests of the many. It’s up to us to do what is necessary because the government won’t.
We hope to see you soon.
What’s COP28?
In November 2023, representatives from nearly 200 countries came together to coordinate “global climate action” for the next year — an event referred to as COP28.
COP28 stands for the 28th Conference of the Parties. Part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the conference is generally known as COP.
COP meets in a different city every year and 2023’s was held on 30th Nov – 12th Dec in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Ironically, the President of COP28 was Sultan Al Japar, chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). The words “conflict of interest” clearly mean nothing.
Why Protest COP?
Australia, in short, has a track record of overwhelming unambition when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. We can hold them acountable here at Extinction Rebellion WA (XRWA).
From COP1 through to COP20, something called the Kyoto Protocol was being worked on. This would hold wealthier countries accountable for reducing the world’s carbon emissions. Europe promised to reduce its emissions by 8% in the five-year “commitment period”, 2008 – 2012. The United States agreed to cut emissions by 7%, Japan and Canada by 6%. Australia negotiated “The Australia Clause” which meant that the country could produce 8% more emissions from the same base as the rest of the world, 1990.
What’s worse, the nation’s emissions from burning fossil fuels could rise by 25-30% while overall emissions would still come in at under 8%. This is precisely what has happened. From 1990 to 2012 Australia’s emissions from all sources except land-use change and forestry (leaving the fossil fuel industry accountable) grew by 26.5%.
Whilst the rest of the world had to work relatively hard to hit their targets, Australia could hardly miss.
The chief European negotiator, Ritt Bjerregaard, said that Australia had made a misleading case and “got away with it”. The European Union’s environmental policy spokesman Peter Jorgensen said that the Australian increase was “wrong and immoral”.
Next came The Paris Agreement. This replaced the Kyoto Protocol after not enough countries agreed to renew the commitment period. This agreement focuses on keeping the world’s total emissions in check so the global temperature increase stays under 2 degrees, and ideally 1.5 degrees, by 2030.
Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target has been described by some as less ambitious than that of most developed nations. Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis produced by four international research organisations, has rated Australia’s target as ‘insufficient’, while Australia’s own Climate Change Authority recommended in 2015 that Australia should have a target of a 30% reduction from 2000 emissions levels by 2025 and further reductions by 2030 of 40–60% below 2000 levels. However, the Australian Government maintains that ‘our target is a fair contribution for Australia’. This is simply untrue when Australia has yet to meaningfully reduce emissions at all under COP legislation.
COP THAT!
The pattern of climate inaction is clear, and the intention to keep it that way is unmistakable. The government are fully across that they were only at COP28 to pretend to Act Now on the climate crisis. We’re united in standing against the government’s barefaced lies and the almost guaranteed bullsh*t that will be fed to us during and after COP.
So, when we say COP THAT! We expect the government to accept why we’re in protest. We’re demanding that they finally Tell the Truth about what Australia needs to do for the planet, because they know its a hell of a lot more.
Get Involved Today
Let’s formally introduce you to XRWA, train you up, and get you out there standing with others who believe that it’s about time the government steps up for the planet and steps up for your future on it.
Upcoming Events
Events on Facebook
Looking to begin your Climate Activism Journey? Want a refresh? Just want to learn more about XR? Head to our Facebook Events page to take our pick at where you want to get involved.
COP28 may be over but there is always the next one… and the one after that. There will always be those who prioritise their power over the interests of the many. It’s up to us to do what is necessary because the government won’t.
We hope to see you soon.
Upcoming Actions
More actions coming soon…
This is Bullsh*t | Completed Action.
Chalk-spray action performed by XRWA rebels targeting the WA Government greenwashing ad campaign “This is Climate Action”.