Page 38 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine December 2023

38 I Special focus I COP28 bne December 2023
Global warming is accelerating and all the vital signs are flashing red. The world's leaders meet at COP28 but the scientists warn that it is almost too late to stop the process. / bne IntelliNews
All the climate crisis warning lights
flashing red Ben Aris in Berlin
On the Climate Crisis dashboard 20 out of the 35 vital indicators of the environment’s health are flashing red. The great and good have assembled in UAE’s capital of Dubai for the COP28 conference to hash out a plan to avert the looming environmental disaster, but it's probably too late.
The Climate Crisis is here and the chances of averting a disaster are dwindling rapidly – although they
have not disappeared entirely. Report after report issued by multinational development banks, governments
and NGOs conclude that unless an enormous effort is made in the next few years and literally trillions of dollars are invested then the world will sail past the 1.5C maximum temperature increases mandated by the Paris Accords in 2015 that will have “serious” consequences.
The UN’s recent global stocktake report,
www.bne.eu
the most comprehensive study of climate change that will also be used as the
basis of the upcoming COP28 meeting, was specific that there are two years
left to act. Trillions of dollars need to be invested in order to stave off disaster.
changes the equivalent of what was done in the Industrial Revolution, “but in the next ten years.” A UN report argued that the world’s funda- mental economic model of endless growth and consumption has to see a
“The earth’s energy imbalance (EEI), the excess amounts of energy the earth absorbs from
the sun, has doubled between 2005 and 2015”
Likewise, another report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that earth’s energy imbalance (EEI), the excess amounts of energy the earth absorbs from the sun, has doubled between 2005 and 2015. The planet is literally starting to cook.
Another report concluded that the global community needs to make
root and branch remake to create a new “sustainable economic model”.
As bne IntelliNews reported, our govern- ments are failing us, as far too little is being done.
The decision to allow the UAE to host the event which is being run by Sultan al-Jaber who is also head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company