Bonn climate talks to prepare for COP28 summit end with little to show

Bonn climate talks to prepare for COP28 summit end with little to show

BERLIN - Global climate negotiators had little specific progress to report at talks intended to prepare for this year's COP28 U.N. climate conference in Dubai, which it is hoped will get governments to embrace more ambitious steps to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that countries must start phasing out oil, coal and gas - not just emissions - and demanded that fossil fuel companies "cease and desist" measures that aim to hobble progress on the issue. Some Western governments and climate-afflicted island nations agree, but the oil-producing United Arab Emirates, host of COP28, says the talks should focus on phasing out emissions. Nevertheless, the UAE's incoming COP28 president said last week the phasedown of the fuels themselves was inevitable. The United Nations climate change body said the Bonn talks closed on Thursday with progress on the issues of financing measures to mitigate climate change; the question of liability for the loss and damage it has caused; and funding for measures to adapt to its effects. But it did not specify what had been decided. The meeting is seen as a mid-way check-in to prepare decisions for adoption at COP28,