Dear COP28 President,
When you graciously invited the world to come to Dubai to attend COP28, you repeatedly assured us that your North Star would be science and the absolute necessity of limiting warming to 1.5°C. You told us you were committed to deliver the “most ambitious response” to the climate crisis.
ECO is sorry to let you know that the new GST text published yesterday makes a mockery of these claims. ECO was expecting to see the mitigation section of the new draft reflect the clear call from science and more than 100 countries calling for a full and fair phase out of fossil fuels. Instead, we had an incoherent, weak and vague menu of energy options that parties “could” implement and that are so far removed from what is needed to limit warming to 1.5°C that AOSIS has already called it its “death certificate”.
ECO would like to repeat a clear message: your COP will be a complete failure unless it secures an agreement for a full, fast, fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels. The operationalization of the Loss and Damage fund was a major achievement of COP28, with some more work remaining to strengthen it. But the only way to deliver a truly historic COP is through a clear, strong, 1.5°C aligned deal on fossil fuel phase out that is rooted in justice and equity.
Dear COP28 President, you face a clear, yet simple choice: will you do what’s right for the people of the world and secure a deal to keep 1.5°C within reach or will you cater to the demands of a small group of blocking countries? ECO urges you to show true leadership, time is running out.