UN climate chief urges negotiators at COP28 ‘to act rather than score points’

UN climate chief urges negotiators at COP28 ‘to act rather than score points’

Dubai: UN climate chief Simon Stiell has urged negotiators at the COP28 conference to reach an ambitious deal by next week to ensure the world meets its targets on global warming.

“On the Global Stocktake, we have a starting text on the table … But it’s a grab bag of wish lists and heavy on posturing.

“The key now is to sort the wheat from the chaff. If we want to save lives now and keep [the] 1.5 goals within reach, the highest ambition COP outcomes must stay front and centre,” said the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change during a press briefing on Wednesday.

Stiell called a press conference as countries were sharply divided over the fate of fossil fuels in a new draft agreement, with a week left for negotiators to reach a deal.

The second draft, published by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Tuesday, could be the final agreement from the climate summit. It shows negotiators are considering calling for an ‘orderly and just’ phase-out of fossil fuels.

The negotiations are part of the ‘global stocktake process, in which nearly 200 nations are trying to agree on plans to curb rising global