The agreement reached at COP28 and our future

A historic agreement and equally disappointing.COP28, the United Nations Climate Conference in Dubai, agrees with the climate movements:the climate crisis is the fossil fuel crisis.But the countries that signed the agreement do not follow through with this admission.A historic agreement, because for the first time fossil fuels are indicated as the main cause of the climate crisis;disappointing and devastating for the commitments made, or rather not made.With winners and losers.

COP28:the transition begins, but with many concessions to the fossil fuel industry

He wins the oil and gas industry who rejoices because there is no clear obligation to "abandon fossil fuels" and there are many loopholes in order to continue to exist;they win the United States and China, the world's two largest emitters that can continue to produce oil and build coal plants;wins Sultan Al Jaber, the president of COP28 and of the state oil company of the United Arab Emirates, which obtained an agreement considered by many to be the best that could be obtained, and will be able to continue extracting oil;they win clean energy company after 118 states committed to tripling the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030.

And then there are those who lose:forgiveness i small island statesi, the most vulnerable to sea level rise:for them the agreement is "a litany of gaps" and little is done in prevention;loses the climate justice:rich and more industrialized countries are not paying enough for the effects of the climate crisis;loses the Paris Agreement of 2015 which included actions to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, formally kept alive, but cut short by the lack of urgency in the final text;I forgive the biodiversity and the future generations, the biggest victims of the climate crisis remain underrepresented in decision-making processes;I forgive him climate scientists:“The half-hearted agreement reached at COP28 will cost all countries, both rich and poor.Everyone loses,” said Friederike Otto, of Imperial College London and co-founder of the group World Weather Attribution.“Every empty promise in the final text will mean millions more people more exposed to climate change.”

The next COP will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024.The dates are still being defined, but the choice has raised some doubts because once again the host country will be a state strongly linked to fossil fuels (in this case gas), as was the case for the United Arab Emirates.

In any case, writes Francesco Suman in an article published on Blue suitcase And The Bo Live, "the veil of hypocrisy has been lifted, the elephant in the room has been seen and pointed out by everyone.It is still a political compromise compared to the much more drastic indications coming from the scientific community, but it was difficult to imagine that fossil fuels would be identified as a problem to be freed from for the first time at the COP hosted by a petro-state.However, it probably happened precisely thanks to this constant and growing attention from public opinion and the pressure from climate activists."Those same activists, subject to a growing criminalisation all over the world, which have been demonstrating non-violently for some time yet they are arrested, brought to trial, in the media they are spoken of as eco-vandals.

Climate crisis, arresting peaceful activists fighting for their and our future is sacrilege

We spoke about the Dubai agreement, the legacy of COP28, the future that awaits us and the repression of non-violent climate movements in "Che clima che fa", the podcast by Blue suitcase dedicated to the climate crisis, edited by Roman Angel, with Arianna Ciccone, and with contributions from Ferdinando Cotugno, freelance journalist, deals with climate, environment, ecology, forests, for Tomorrow edits the newsletter on the environment "Area” (here to register), and of Marisandra Lizzi, journalist and entrepreneur, mother of one of the activists stopped in Venice a few days ago.

Music:Billie Eilish - All the good girls go to hell (opening song);The 1975 - The 1975 (closing song)

Direction:Vaudio

Preview image via electricalmagazine.it