NON BINDING REFERENDUM

Venezuela will vote on Guyana border row despite UN court ruling

Caracas (AFP) – Venezuela said Friday it would press ahead with a weekend referendum over the fate of an oil-rich region claimed by itself and Guyana even as the UN's top court urged restraint in the worsening row.

Issued on: 01/12/2023 - 

Venezuela will hold a referendum on the fate of the disputed Essequibo region administered by neighbor Guyana 

© Federico PARRA / AFP/File

Meanwhile regional giant Brazil, with which both neighbors share a border, said it had "intensified" its military presence amid "concern" in Brasilia over the standoff.

In The Hague, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Venezuela to "refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails" in the Essequibo region, which Guyana has administered for over 100 years.

The judges decided in an urgent bid by Georgetown to stop Sunday's vote, but did not mention the plebiscite in their ruling.

Venezuela claimed victory, with President Nicolas Maduro saying in Caracas that Guyana and ExxonMobil, which recently found oil in Essequibo, had been dealt "a historic beating."

"On Sunday we will have a referendum," he added, waving the court ruling in front of thousands of people at the close of the campaign urging Venezuelans to vote "yes" to all five questions posed in the referendum.

There was no counter-campaign.

Guyana's President Irfaan Ali also welcomed the ruling, which he interpreted as meaning that "Venezuela is prohibited from annexing or trespassing upon Guyanese territory."

He said in a statement Guyana was committed to pursuing a peaceful, legal resolution to the dispute, adding he was confident that in its final judgment in the matter, the ICJ "will conclude that the Essequibo is legally and rightfully Guyanese territory."
'Guyana Esequiba State'

Venezuela has for decades laid claim to Essequibo, which makes up more than two-thirds of the territory of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens.

Litigation is pending before the ICJ over where the borders should lie.

Guyana, a former British and Dutch colony, insists the borders were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.

But Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region's east forms a natural frontier and had historically been recognized as such.

The dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered oil in Essequibo in 2015.

Caracas called the referendum after Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in Essequibo in August.

Sunday's referendum will ask citizens whether or not Venezuela should reject the 1899 arbitration decision as well as the ICJ's jurisdiction in the matter.

They will also be asked whether or not Venezuelan citizenship should be granted to the people -- currently Guyanese -- of a new "Guyana Esequiba State."

Guyana has argued the referendum poses an "existential" threat to the country as it could pave the way for Venezuela to "unilaterally and illegally" seize the region.

The ICJ said in its ruling there was a "serious risk of Venezuela acquiring and exercising control and administration of the territory in dispute in the present case."

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) said in a statement Friday the ICJ order prohibited Venezuela from taking any measure "that would change the status quo in the territory, regardless of the outcome of the Venezuelan referendum on Sunday."

It added: "Venezuela cannot by a referendum, or otherwise, violate international law and disregard the Order of the world’s highest Court."
'Concern'

Tiny Guyana has the world's biggest reserves of crude per capita, while economically ailing Venezuela, facing crippling international sanctions, sits on the largest proven reserves overall.

Just last month, Guyana announced a "significant" new oil discovery in Essequibo, adding to estimated reserves of at least 10 billion barrels -- more than Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates.

Paul Reichler, a lawyer representing Guyana, told the court during hearings in November that Venezuelan "military preparations were already underway" to enforce the referendum result.

In her submission to the court, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez insisted a recent military mobilization was to prepare for the referendum.

The ICJ rules on disputes between states but while its decisions are legally binding, it has no power to enforce them.

Brazilian defense ministry said in a statement Friday that "defense operations have been intensified in the country's northern border region, leading to a larger military presence."

Brazil's top diplomat for Latin American affairs, Gisela Maria Figueiredo, said Thursday President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration was following the situation with "concern."

In the United States, which has close relations with Guyana, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby appealed for a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

"The 1899 arbitral award that determined the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela should be respected unless the parties reach a new agreement or the International Court of Justice decides otherwise," he said.

burs-mlr/acb/caw

© 2023 AFP

Venezuela prepared for controversial land referendum

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has pushed for a referendum Sunday asking voters to covert 62,000 square miles of land that makes up the Essequibo, which also is claimed by Guyana, to a new state.

 File Photo Rayner Pena/EPA-EFE

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Tensions are running high in Venezuela and Guyana ahead of a referendum this weekend as Venezuelans are voting to make a disputed, oil-rich territory a state.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has pushed for a referendum Sunday asking voters to covert 62,000 square miles of land that makes up the Essequibo, which also is claimed by Guyana, to a new state.

The referendum has been condemned in Guyana, while some suggested that it would lead to war between the two countries.

"People in the border region are very concerned," Guyana's Foreign Minister Hugh Todd said. "Maduro is a despotic leader, and despotic leaders are very hard to predict."

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U.S. eases sanctions on Venezuela after election deal reached with oppositio

Maduro has managed to hold onto to power after a disputed election in 2018 that led to the West backing away from him, along with heavy sanctions when he rejected new elections and ignored calls to leave office. He is up for re-election next year.

The International Court of Justice had been reviewing a request by Guyana dating to 2018 in which the country asked the court to validate an 1899 decision that gave it control over Essequibo.

Guyana has asked the court to step in and stop the referendum, calling it an "existential threat to the country. The Organization of American States has called for a pause in the referendum vote.

Guyana Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo blamed Maduro focusing the referendum to ignore local politics, while Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez called Jagdeo a "plant" for the oil giant ExxonMobil, and that its claim over Essequibo was legal.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for GUYANA 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for EXXON GUYANA 

COLD WAR SPACE RACE 2.0

South Korea confirms first spy satellite in orbit

Seoul (AFP) – South Korea confirmed Saturday its first military spy satellite had reached orbit after a successful SpaceX rocket launch and that communication was established with ground control.

Issued on: 01/12/2023 

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket minutes before the launch of the Korea 425 Mission 

© - / SPACEX/AFP

Seoul's reconnaissance satellite, carried by one of Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, intensifies a space race on the Korean peninsula after the North launched its own first military eye in the sky last week.

South Korea's defence ministry said Saturday its satellite reached orbit soon after the "KOREA"-emblazoned SpaceX rocket lifted off from the Vandenberg US Space Force Base in California at 10:19 am local time (1819 GMT) Friday.

"The satellite was launched 0319 Seoul time and was successfully separated from projectile 11 minutes later and put into targeted orbital trajectory," the ministry said in a statement.

"We have confirmed its communications with the ground command."

Reaching orbit means that South Korea now has its first domestically built spy satellite to monitor nuclear-armed North Korea.

Seoul plans to launch four additional spy satellites by the end of 2025 to bolster its reconnaissance capacity over the North.

Set to orbit between 400 and 600 kilometres (250 to 370 miles) above Earth, the South's satellite is capable of detecting an object as small as 30 centimetres (11.8 inches), according to the Yonhap news agency.

"Considering resolution and its capacity for Earth observation... our satellite technology ranks in the top five globally," a defence ministry official said, as quoted by Yonhap.

The launch comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang successfully put its own spy satellite into orbit.

"Until now, South Korea has relied heavily on US-run spy satellites" when it comes to monitoring the North, Choi Gi-il, professor of military studies at Sangji University, told AFP.

While the South has "succeeded in the launch of a military communications satellite, it has taken much longer for a reconnaissance satellite due to higher technological hurdles", he said.

Following the North's successful launch of its spy satellite, Choi said, "the South Korean government needs to demonstrate it can also pull this off".
'Destroy' US spy satellites

The nuclear-armed North's launch drew international condemnation which the North Korean leader's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called "absurd", declaring that her country would never relinquish its space programme.

North Korea is barred by successive rounds of UN resolutions from tests using ballistic technology, and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and the development of ballistic missiles.

On Saturday, Pyongyang threatened to "destroy" US spy satellites if Washington "tries to violate the legitimate territory" of North Korea, referring to its satellite programme.

If the United States attempts to breach its space rights "by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly", said a spokesperson of the North's defence ministry in a statement carried by state-run KCNA, "the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defence to undermine or destroy the viability of the US spy satellites".

Experts have said putting a working reconnaissance satellite into orbit would improve North Korea's intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict.

Since last week's launch, the North has claimed its new satellite has already provided images of major US and South Korean military sites.

It has not yet disclosed any of the satellite imagery it claims to possess.

The North's launch of "Malligyong-1" was Pyongyang's third attempt at putting such a satellite in orbit, after two failures in May and August.

Seoul has said the North received technical help from Moscow, in return for supplying weapons for use in Russia's war with Ukraine.

kjk-burs/sco

© 2023 AFP

 Biden administration announces new methane rules at COP28 climate summit

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday. Harris announced several new U.S. initiatives, including a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund. Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA-EFE

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The Biden administration rolled out a new final rule on methane emissions to coincide with the COP28 conference in Dubai Saturday as a new international decarbonization charter was also announced.

The Environmental Protection Agency's final rule is expected to prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane emissions between 2024 to 2038 -- the equivalent of 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, the EPA said in a statement.

The rule is designed to achieve a nearly 80% reduction of methane emissions over what would expected without the rule "thanks to changes that strengthen provisions to limit wasteful, polluting flaring of natural gas and analytical updates that better capture the impacts of this rulemaking," administration officials said.

"On day one, President [Joe] Biden restored America's critical role as the global leader in confronting climate change, and today we've backed up that commitment with strong action, significantly slashing methane emissions and other air pollutants that endanger communities," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.

Related

• COP28 offers one more chance to reform decision-making
• Kerry, Li talk climate change as record heat hits Beijing
• Kamala Harris attends COP28 summit in Dubai

The White House said the United States is seeking to enhance international cooperation to combat climate change at COP28, announcing it will also participate in a parallel conference addressing methane pollution alongside representatives from China and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a series of U.S. climate initiatives, including a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund.

"We must do more," she told leaders at the conference, but warned that "continued progress will not be possible without a fight.

"Around the world, there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress. Leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action and spread misinformation. Corporations that greenwash their climate inaction and lobby for billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies," Harris said.

The U.S. actions came as dozens of global energy companies agreed to the new Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter at COP28, which calls on the energy industry to reach net zero by 2050 and to "zero-out methane emissions."

Under the initiative announced by the UAE hosts and Saudi Arabia, 50 oil and gas companies have joined pledged "high-scale impact" and to "speed up climate action within the industry."

COP28 President Sultan Al Jabar said the launch of the charter "is a great first step -- and whilst many national oil companies have adopted net zero 2050 targets for the first time, I know that they and others, can and need to do more."

According to the organizers, the 50 companies who have agreed to the charter account for 40% of the world's oil production

US targets oil and natural gas industry’s role in global warming with new rule on methane emissions

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, speaks at the U.S. Center at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

 A flare to burn methane from oil production is seen on a well pad, Aug. 26, 2021, near Watford City, N.D. On Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, the Biden administration issued a final rule aimed at reducing methane emissions, targeting the U.S. oil and natural gas industry for its role in global warming as President Joe Biden seeks to advance his climate legacy. 

(AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

BY MATTHEW DALY
 December 2, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Saturday issued a final rule aimed at reducing methane emissions, targeting the U.S. oil and natural gas industry for its role in global warming as President Joe Biden seeks to advance his climate legacy.

The Environmental Protection Agency said the rule will sharply reduce methane and other harmful air pollutants generated by the oil and gas industry, promote use of cutting-edge methane detection technologies and deliver significant public health benefits in the form of reduced hospital visits, lost school days and even deaths. Air pollution from oil and gas operations can cause cancer, harm the nervous and respiratory systems and contribute to birth defects.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan and White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi announced the final rule at the U.N. climate conference in the United Arab Emirates. Separately, the president of the climate summit announced Saturday that 50 oil companies representing nearly half of global production have pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the top American representative at the summit, said the U.S. and other nations must act boldly to confront the fallout from climate change.

“The urgency of this moment is clear,” Harris said. “The clock is no longer just ticking. It is banging. And we must make up for lost time.”

The U.S. rule on methane emissions is part of a broader effort by the Biden administration that includes financial incentives to buy electric vehicles and upgrade infrastructure — spending that Harris said will total roughly $1 trillion over 10 years.

Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane, the main component in natural gas and far more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. It is responsible for about one-third of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Sharp cuts in methane emissions are a global priority to slow the rate of climate change and are a major topic at the conference, known as COP28.

Presidents, prime ministers and royals from nations rich and poor have vowed to reduce how much their countries spew heat-trapping gases and asked their colleagues to do better.

“On Day One, President Biden restored America’s critical role as the global leader in confronting climate change,’' Regan said, referring to Biden’s actions returning the U.S. to the Paris climate agreement and ordering an immediate review of environmental regulations rolled back by the previous administration.

The methane rule finalizes a proposal Biden made at a UN climate conference in Scotland in 2021 and expanded a year later at a climate conference in Egypt. It targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focusing only on new wells, as previous EPA regulations have done. It also regulates smaller wells that will be required to find and plug methane leaks. Such wells currently are subject to an initial inspection but are rarely checked again for leaks.

Studies have found that smaller wells produce just 6% of the nation’s oil and gas but account for up to half the methane emissions from well sites.

The plan also will phase in a requirement for energy companies to eliminate routine flaring, or burning of natural gas that is produced by new oil wells.

The new methane rule will help ensure that the United States meets a goal set by more than 100 nations to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels, Regan said.

The EPA rule is just one of more than 100 actions the Biden administration has taken to reduce methane emissions, Zaidi added.

“From mobilizing billions in investment to plug orphaned wells, patch leaky pipes and reclaim abandoned mines, to setting strong standards that will cut pollution from the oil and gas sector, the Biden-Harris Administration is putting the full throw-weight of the federal government into slashing harmful methane pollution,’' he said.

The new rule will be coordinated with a methane fee approved in the 2022 climate law. The fee, set to take effect next year, will charge energy producers that exceed a certain level of methane emissions as much as $1,500 per metric ton of methane. The plan marks the first time the U.S. government has directly imposed a fee, or tax, on greenhouse gas emissions.

The law allows exemptions for companies that comply with the EPA’s standards or fall below a certain emissions threshold. It also includes $1.5 billon in grants and other spending to help companies and local communities improve monitoring and data collection, and find and repair natural gas leaks.

Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, called the new rule a victory for public health.

“EPA heeded the urgent guidance of health experts across the country and finalized a strong methane rule that, when fully implemented, will significantly reduce hazardous air pollutants and climate-warming methane pollution from the oil and gas industry,’' he said in a statement.

Methane has been shown to leak into the atmosphere during every stage of oil and gas production, Wimmer said, and people who live near oil and gas wells are especially vulnerable to these exposure risks.

David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called methane a “super-polluter.” He said in an interview that the Biden plan “takes a very solid whack at climate pollution. I wish this had happened 10 years ago (under the Obama administration), but I’m really happy it’s happening now.’'

Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said the new rule ensures that “the U.S. now has the most protective methane pollution limits on the books. With other countries also zeroing in on methane as a key climate risk, it’s a signal to operators worldwide that clean-up time is here,’' he said.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s top lobbying group, said it was reviewing the rule to see whether it meets a dual goal of reducing emissions while meeting rising energy demand.

“Smart federal regulation can help build on industry’s progress to date,’' said Dustin Meyer, an API vice president.

The oil industry has generally welcomed direct federal regulation on methane, preferring a national standard to a hodgepodge of state rules. Even so, energy companies have asked EPA to exempt hundreds of thousands of the nation’s smallest wells from the pending rule.
__

Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, speaks at the U.S. Center at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)


Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, speaks at the U.S. Center at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

 White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi attends a speech by President Joe Biden about supply chain issues in the Indian Treaty Room on the White House complex in Washington, Nov. 27, 2023. The Biden administration has issued a final rule aimed at reducing methane emissions, targeting the US oil and natural gas industry for its role in global warming. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

US joins in other nations in swearing off coal power to clean the climate


AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Petersburg, Ind., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, attends an event on nuclear energy at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, center right, attends an event in support of tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050 at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)


BY SETH BORENSTEIN
 December 2, 2023

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States committed Saturday to the idea of phasing out coal power plants, joining 56 other nations in kicking the coal habit that’s a huge factor in global warming.

U.S. Special Envoy John Kerry announced that America was joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which means the Biden Administration commits to building no new coal plants and phasing out existing plants. No date was given for when the existing plants would have to go, but other Biden regulatory actions and international commitments already in the works had meant no coal by 2035.

“We will be working to accelerate unabated coal phase-out across the world, building stronger economies and more resilient communities,” Kerry said in a statement. “The first step is to stop making the problem worse: stop building new unabated coal power plants.”

Coal power plants have already been shutting down across the nation due to economics, and no new coal facilities were in the works, so “we were heading to retiring coal by the end of the decade anyway,” said climate analyst Alden Meyer of the European think-tank E3G. That’s because natural gas and renewable energy are cheaper, so it was market forces, he said.


At COP28 meeting, oil companies pledge to combat methane. Environmentalists call it a “smokescreen”

As of October, just under 20% of the U.S. electricity is powered by coal, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The amount of coal burned in the United States last year is less than half what it was in 2008.

Coal produces about 211 pounds (96 kilograms) of heat-trapping carbon dioxide per million BTUs of energy produced, compared to natural gas which produces about 117 pounds (53 kilograms) and gasoline which is about 156 pounds (71 kilograms), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The U.S. had been pushing other nations, especially China and India which are building new coal plants pell-mell, to get rid of the fuel, which causes more heat-trapping carbon emissions than other power systems.

Saturday’s action “sends a pretty powerful international signal that the U.S. is putting its money where its mouth is,” Meyer said.

The Powering Past Coal Alliance started six years ago and had 50 country members until Saturday when the United States and six others joined, said alliance spokeswoman Anna Drazkiewicz. Others joining Saturday include the Czech Republic and the Dominican Republic.

“Energy transition is not an easy task and as such requires strong cooperation and support,” said Kosovo environment minister Artane Rizvanolli. “Joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance reiterates Kosovo’s clear commitment and ongoing efforts towards a socially just and clean energy sector.”
___

Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment.

 

Hypocrisy Sours COP28

by Robert Hunziker / December 1st, 2023

Hypocrisy runs rampant at COP28 even before the doors swung open to 70,000 delegates on Thursday, November 30th. This is the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties (“COP”) held at Expo City, Dubai. It’s the big annual event for scientists to meet to decide on the fate of anthropogenic climate change, assuming that’s even possible.

This year’s big climate summit is headed by Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (“ADNOC”) of the United Arab Emirates. Leaked documents show Emirati officials using their leadership position at the climate summit to “lobby for oil and gas deals around the world.” That’s disgusting and an international scandal of the highest order. Although, November 29th Ahmed Al-Jaber vociferously denied the allegations, according to Bloomberg News.

Nevertheless, the Centre for Climate Reporting as of November 27th reported COP28 President Secretly Used Climate Summit Role to Push Oil Trade with Foreign Government Official: “Leaked documents reveal COP28 president and UAE national oil company boss Sultan Al Jaber’s plans to discuss boosting fossil fuel business in bilateral meetings about the climate summit.”

Also, according to a BBC report, November 28th: “Al Jaber… has held scores of meetings with senior government officials, royalty, and business leaders from around the world in recent months. The COP28 team has quietly planned to use this access as an opportunity to increase exports of ADNOC’s oil and gas.”

Leaked briefings show Al-Jaber planned to use his new-found international leadership role as president of COP28 to raise commercial interests with almost 30 countries. A whistleblower came forward on condition of anonymity, confirming follow up discussions with at least one commercial party.

Professor Michael Jacobs of Sheffield University, commenting to the BBC: “As a COP president you should not represent any national or commercial interest, it is your job to lead the world… The UAE at the moment is the custodian of a United Nations process aimed at reducing global emissions. And yet, in the very same meetings where it’s apparently trying to pursue that goal, it’s actually trying to do side deals that will increase global emissions.”

Internal emails and meeting records obtained by the Centre for Climate Reporting raise serious questions about the COP28 leadership team’s independence from the national oil company ADNOC. Moreover, whistleblowers claim COP28 staff were in regular contact with the national oil company over talking points for ADNOC targeting specific country oil deals.

The New York Times further reported Using Climate Talks to Sell Fossil Fuels, November 28th: UAE officials used their position of influence at the climate conference behind the scenes to influence Brazil’s environment minister to help with a local petrochemical deal by ADNOC. And Emirati officials, using their position at COP28, influenced Chinese counterparts about working on a joint international LNG opportunity. The article goes on to say that diplomats and climate experts from around the world have expressed shock at the leaked documents.

According to Christiana Figueres, former UN diplomat: “The U.A.E. has been caught red-handed.”

Early supporters of Al-Jaber for president of COP28 claim he was well positioned to convince oil producers of the world to tackle climate change. According to the IEA, the world’s oil and gas industry accounts for only one percent of all global investment in clean energy. Supporters claimed Al-Jaber would substantially increase that number.

However, COP28 has now turned into a scandalous deception undermining hope for mutual trust amongst members, as well as deflating hopes for significant progress, even before the summit began.

All of which begs the provocative question of how in the world did the UAE become host to a climate change conference in the first instance? And even more perplexing yet, how did Al-Jaber become president of COP28? Is COP a Cabal of Producers or a Conference of the Parties for climate change purposes?

“They went too far in naming the C.E.O. of one of the largest — and by many measures one of the dirtiest — oil companies on the planet as the president of the U.N. Conference on Climate this year,’ former vice president Al Gore.” (Source: Fossil Fuels and Frustration at COP28, The New York Times, November 30, 2023)

The hypocrisy runs even deeper than Al-Jaber and the UAE. Although, it’s nearly impossible to match the alleged duplicity, chicanery of Al-Jaber/UAE using the UN Climate Conference as an easily manipulated stooge to promote their own oil and gas deals.

A recent UN Environment Programme in collaboration with academic institutions studied plans for the 20 largest fossil fuel producing countries that account for 84% of global carbon emissions: “The findings paint a grim picture: Governments’ plans show they intend to produce, in total, 110% more fossil fuels in 2030 than are compatible with the 1.5°C limit set out in the Paris Agreement, and 69% more than is consistent with 2°C of warming.” (Source: The Production Gap)

Expected Oil & Gas Commitments at COP28

According to the World Resources Institute: “It’s essential that this UN climate summit not become a platform for pledges by the oil and gas industry that fail to tackle the core issue at stake. At COP28, the UAE is expected to announce a commitment from at least 20 major oil and gas companies to reduce methane leakage and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 – but only for their own operations, not for the fuel they sell. By not addressing the so-called “Scope 3” emissions of the fuel produced from their oil and gas extraction and then sold, the oil and gas industry is sidestepping the emissions that account for up to 95% of its contribution to the climate crisis.”

 Meantime, alarming data about forthcoming global warming and ecosystem degradation across the globe is far beyond the mindset and scope of intellect of host country UAE to handle a major UN Climate Change Conference. It simply does not fit. It’s embarrassing!

The focus of COP28 should be on relevant science: Earth’s energy imbalance or “sunlight in” versus “sunlight out” is currently running at a frightful rate @ 1.36 W/m²  as of the 2020s decade. This is beyond troubling. It’s double the 2005-2015 rate @ 0.71 W/m² (James Hansen,”Global Warming is Accelerating. Why? Will We Fly Blind?” September 14, 2023). W/m² is watts per square meter. Accordingly, there’s more energy coming in (absorbed sunlight) than energy going out (heat radiated to space) doubling within only one decade, which is beyond belief, assuring very challenging bad news down the line. This is an enormously dangerous climate event that’s already in process with potentially devastating earmarks.

It’s not surprising that Dr. James Hansen, Earth Institute, Columbia University expects an early arrival of the dreaded 2.0°C above pre-industrial by the late 2030s, far ahead of IPCC expectations, which will crush many life support ecosystems; meanwhile, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) fossil fuel producers plan on cranking up production to record levels. Thus, both global warming and oil production can join hands simultaneously setting new records.

All the above adds up to disturbing levels of an indescribable insanity; furthermore, more insanity is expected as climate analysts expect an avalanche of greenwashing at COP28, already identified by the World Resources Institute in the preceding fourth paragraph.

Speaking of which, Al-Jaber informed Bloomberg News, November 29th, “all of his meetings have been focused on how the world can collectively keep global temperature rise below 1.5C from pre-industrial levels.” Al-Jaber also previously said that emissions must be cut by 43% by 2030 because that’s what the science says must be done. Yet, ADNOC, his oil company, has plans to increase oil production by 600,000 barrels per day by 2030, spending $150B for more oil production.

Go figure!

Robert Hunziker (MA, economic history, DePaul University) is a freelance writer and environmental journalist whose articles have been translated into foreign languages and appeared in over 50 journals, magazines, and sites worldwide. He can be contacted at: rlhunziker@gmail.com. Read other articles by Robert.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

COP28: More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030

More than 110 countries committed Saturday to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements. The deal came as world leaders gathered for a third day of the COP28 summit in Dubai.


Issued on: 02/12/2023

An image from the COP 28 UN climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on December 2, 2023. 

© Peter Dejong, AP

By: FRANCE 24

More than 100 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity

More than a hundred countries have committed to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements.

G20 nations, which account for nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, paved the way for a deal when they endorsed the renewable energy goal in September.

While supporters are expected to push for the pledge to be included in the final outcome of the talks, there are fears that the COP28 hosts were willing to shunt the more ambitious targets into voluntary deals.

Colombia joins call to end new fossil fuel development

Colombia on Saturday became one of the largest fossil fuel producers to join a group of climate vulnerable island nations calling to end new development of planet-heating coal, oil and gas.

According to a statement from the initiative, Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said it was “frightening” that governments around the world continued to plan to expand their fossil fuel exploitation.

Scientists, as well as the International Energy Agency and the UN’s Environment Programme, have warned that significant new development of coal, oil and gas is incompatible with the international community’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

Calls for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty have been championed by a group of island nations, mainly in the Pacific, Caribbean and Asia.

Colombia’s announcement brings the group’s membership to 10 countries, while it also lists cities, the European Parliament and World Health Organization among its supporters.

US pledges $3 billion to green climate fund

US Vice President Kamala Harris told the UN’s COP28 conference that the United States will contribute $3 billion to a global climate fund – its first pledge since 2014.

“Today, we are demonstrating through action how the world can and must meet this (climate) crisis,” Harris told world leaders at the summit.
‘Find a breakthrough’, Pope Francis tells UN climate summit​​​​

Pope Francis, unable to attend the COP28 climate summit in person, called on world leaders on Saturday to find a breakthrough to tackle global rising temperatures, calling the destruction of the environment “an offence against God”.

In a speech read out by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin due to the pope’s ill health, he said: “I am with you because the destruction of the environment is an offence against God”.

“Brothers and sisters, it is essential that there be a breakthrough that is not a partial change of course, but rather a new way of making progress together.”
More than 110 countries join pledge to triple renewable energy

More than 110 countries have joined a pledge to triple the world's renewable energy by 2030, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Von der Leyen called on "all of us to include these targets in the final COP decision”.

Whether governments and companies will rally the huge investments needed to hit the goal is an open question. While deployment of renewables like solar and wind has been surging globally for years, rising costs, labour constraints and supply chain issues have forced project delays and cancellations in recent months, costing developers like Orsted and BP billions of dollars in write-downs.

Getting the deal into the final UN climate summit decision would also require consensus among the nearly 200 countries present. While China and India have signalled support for tripling global renewable energy by 2030, neither has confirmed it will back the overall pledge – which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.

South Africa, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados are among the countries already on board, officials said.

More than 20 nations call for tripling of nuclear energy

More than 20 countries have called for the tripling of world nuclear energy capacity as part of efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

A declaration endorsed by nations including the United States, Ghana, Japan and several European countries said nuclear energy plays a “key role” in reaching the goal of carbon neutrality

The use of nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is controversial as environmental groups are concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste.

“We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source,” US climate envoy John Kerry said. “But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can’t get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear,” he said.

The aim is to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels.

The other countries that signed up to the declaration include the UK, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, South Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)

Over 110 countries support tripling renewables by 2030: EU chief

Dubai (AFP) – More than 110 countries want the COP28 climate negotiations to adopt a goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.

Issued on: 01/12/2023

All credible pathways for achieving global carbon neutrality by mid-century depend on massively scaling up wind, solar, hydroelectric and other renewable energies, such as biomass 

© Daniel ROLAND / AFP/File

The European Union first appealed for the new target earlier this year, and the cause has since been taken up by COP28 hosts the United Arab Emirates, then the G7 and G20 groups of nations.

G20 nations alone account for nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Von der Leyen told leaders at the UN climate talks in Dubai that it was "fantastic" that more than 110 nations had already embraced the goal.

"I call now on all of us to include these targets in the final COP decision, because this sends a strong message to investors and consumers alike," she said from the podium.

The discussions about the renewables goal are both separate but closely linked to far more difficult negotiations about whether a final COP28 deal will commit nations to phasing down -- or phasing out -- all fossil fuels.

In September, when G20 nations committed to "encourage efforts" towards tripling renewables capacity, their final statement remained silent about the future role played by fossil fuels, which account for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions.

All credible pathways for achieving global carbon neutrality by mid-century depend on massively scaling up wind, solar, hydroelectric and other renewable energies such as biomass to displace the demand for planet-heating oil, gas and coal.

This is "the single most important lever" for reducing carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels, and capping warming under the Paris Agreement's ambitious threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with the pre-industrial period, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said.

There has already been progress. Between 2015 and 2022, renewable capacity increased on average by 11 percent each year.

Against a backdrop of soaring oil prices and energy insecurity linked to the war in Ukraine, the IEA forecasts unprecedented growth of about 30 percent in 2023.

Not all countries will have to make the same efforts to slash emissions. Of the 57 nations analysed by the think tank Ember, more than half were on track to meet or exceed their 2030 targets.

But other large emitters such as Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates still have plenty of room for improvement.

© 2023 AFP

At COP28 meeting, oil companies pledge to combat methane. Environmentalists call it a “smokescreen”

Capuava oil refinery owned by Petrobras sits in Maui, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber speaks during a session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

BY JON GAMBRELL, PETER PRENGAMAN AND SETH BORENSTEIN
December 2, 2023Share

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fifty oil companies representing nearly half of global production have pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030, the president of this year’s United Nations climate talks said Saturday, a move that environmental groups called a “smokescreen.”

Methane emissions are a significant contributor to global warming, so sharply reducing them could help slow temperature rise. If the companies carry out their pledges, it could trim one-tenth of a degree Celsius (0.18 degrees Fahrenheit) from future warming, a prominent climate scientist calculated and told The Associated Press. That is about how much the Earth is currently warming every five years.

The announcement by Sultan al-Jaber, president of the climate summit known as COP28 and head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., comes as he and others have insisted his background would allow him to bring oil companies to the negotiating table. Al-Jaber has maintained that having the industry’s buy-in is crucial to drastically slashing the world’s greenhouse emissions by nearly half in seven years to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times.

Signing on to the pledge were major national oil companies such as Saudi Aramco, Brazil’s Petrobras and Sonangol, from Angola, and multi-nationals like Shell, TotalEnergies and BP.

“The world does not work without energy,” said al-Jaber, speaking in a session on the oil industry. “Yet the world will break down if we do not fix energies we use today, mitigate their emissions at a gigaton scale, and rapidly transition to zero carbon alternatives.”

As if anticipating critiques, al-Jaber added: “Is it enough? Hear me out, please. No, it’s not enough. I say with full passion and conviction, I know that much more can be done.”

For months leading up to COP28, there was speculation of action on methane. Not only do methane leaks, along with flaring, which is burning of excess methane, and venting of the gas, all contribute to climate change, but these problems can largely be solved with current technologies and changes to operations. Indeed, oil and gas companies could have taken such measures years ago but largely have not, instead focusing more on expanding production than focusing on the byproduct of it.

In that way, the methane deal represented a potentially significant contribution to combatting climate change that also largely maintained the status quo for the oil and gas industry. Many environmental groups were quick to criticize it.

The pledge is a “smokescreen to hide the reality that we need to phase out oil, gas and coal,” said a letter signed by more than 300 civil society groups.

Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said “the commitments to cut methane are significant, but they address the symptom, not the source.”

But Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said Saturday’s deal “could be the single most impactful day of announcements from any COP in my 30 years at the Environmental Defense Fund.”

Methane has caused about half of the world’s warming since pre-industrial times, al-Jaber said, promoting the deal as significant. However, methane escaping from oil and gas drilling is only about 23% of the world’s methane emissions, with agriculture and waste being bigger culprits, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare, the climate scientist who calculated the proposal would trim a tenth of a degree from future warming.

“It would be a significant, but not a fundamental contribution” to making sure average temperatures don’t rise beyond 1.5 degrees, Hare said. To keep within that limit, the world needs to cut carbon dioxide about 40% and methane by about 60% by 2030, he said.

Methane can be released at several points along the operation of an oil and gas company, from fracking to when natural gas is produced, transported or stored. Over a shorter period, it’s 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. However, methane stays in the air only a couple decades — unlike thousands of years for carbon dioxide — so reducing methane faster is “low-hanging fruit” because it’s easier and changes future warming more, al-Jaber said.

Marcelo Mena, CEO of Global Methane Hub, an alliance of philanthropies and organizations focused on reducing methane emissions, said that having near-zero methane emission commitments should not be seen as delaying a phase out of fossil fuels, as some environmental groups claimed.

“We wouldn’t let oil companies leak into the ocean until phase out, so why would we let them leak out methane to super charge climate change?” said Mena, a former environment minister in Chile.

Still, Mena said that self-reporting didn’t go far enough to push oil and gas companies to make changes. Instead, he said putting a price on pollution, or companies finding themselves shut out of markets that require high standards with leaks, would force change.

Stricter regulations are beginning to take hold. On Saturday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule aimed at reducing methane emissions and other harmful air pollutants generated by the oil and gas industry. It targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide. Previous EPA regulations only focused on new wells. It also regulates smaller wells that will be required to find and plug methane leaks.

The United States will now have “the strongest methane regulations in the world,” White House climate adviser John Podesta told the AP.

Earlier this year, European Union negotiators reached a deal to reduce methane emissions from the energy industry across the 27-member bloc. The agreement bans routine venting and flaring, and mandates strict reporting. By 2027, it will expand those norms to oil and gas exporters outside the bloc.

Saturday’s announcement did not address the oil and natural gas being burned off by the end users, so-called Scope 3 emissions, which can be motorists in their cars or plants powering cities. In his speech, al-Jaber said oil and gas companies needed to do more to research solutions to Scope 3 emissions.

The Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter is backed by both the United Arab Emirates and neighboring Saudi Arabia, two OPEC heavyweights. Saudi Arabia’s vast oil resources, located close to the surface of its desert expanse, makes it one of the world’s least expensive places to produce crude. Both Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC and Aramco, the world’s third-most-valuable company, have signed onto the pledge.

Separately, organizers said more than 100 countries have signed onto a pledge to triple the world’s installed renewable energy capacity by 2030, something pledged in September by leaders of the so-called Group of 20. Their countries emit 80% of all planet-warming gases.
____

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

JON GAMBRELL
Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006.


PETER PRENGAMAN
Prengaman leads AP’s global climate and environment team. He is based in New York.


SETH BORENSTEIN
Seth is a science writer, covering climate & other topics.

50 oil and gas companies pledge to cut operational emissions

Dubai (AFP) – Fifty oil and gas companies representing 40 percent of global production pledged to decarbonise their operations by 2050 at the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai on Saturday.

Issued on: 02/12/2023 

A gas flare from a refinery in Ecuador © Pedro PARDO / AFP


Saudi giant Aramco and ADNOC of the United Arab Emirates were among 29 national companies to sign a non-binding agreement that also envisaged zero methane emissions and eliminating routine flaring this decade.

Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, and ADNOC, whose CEO Sultan Al Jaber is president of CO28, had already announced similar CO2-reduction targets -- which do not include emissions when their fuels are used by customers.

"Whilst many national oil companies have adopted net-zero 2050 targets for the first time, I know that they and others, can and need to do more," Jaber said.

Unlike the Western oil majors, which are intensely scrutinised by the public, few large national oil companies had announced such targets.

PetroChina and Brazil's Petrobras also signed up to the new accord, named the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter.

The National Oil Company of Libya, Malaysia's Petronas and Sonangol of Angola were also among the signatories, along with France's TotalEnergies, US firm ExxonMobil, and Britain's BP and Shell.

The charter is part of a set of initiatives designed to accelerate the decarbonisation of the global energy industry, prepared in the year leading up to COP28.

They are voluntary commitments unlike the decisions of COP28, which are taken by consensus between nearly 200 countries under the aegis of the United Nations.

Melanie Robinson, of the World Resources Institute, a non-profit research body, said the agreement showed that non-binding pledges from the industry were not sufficient to address climate change.

"This charter is proof that voluntary commitments from the oil and gas industry will never foster the level of ambition necessary to tackle the climate crisis," she said.

"We can't meet our climate goals unless governments set policies that rapidly and equitably transition our economy away from fossil fuels."

© 2023 AFP

Five CEOs Call for Regulatory Partnership and End to Fossil Fuel Ships

Five the leading shipping industry CEO issued a joint statement on the path to decarbonization (CMA CGM)

PUBLISHED DEC 1, 2023 6:49 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

The CEOs of five of the world’s largest shipping companies took the unusual step of joining together to outline a shared vision to accelerate the decarbonization of the global maritime industry. Timed to the conclusion of the UN’s COP 28 conference in Dubai, the executives of CMA CGM, Maersk, MSC, Hapag, and Wallenius Wilhelmsen called for cooperation including an alliance with the International Maritime Organization and the definitive regulatory measures needed to create the investment conditions critical to accelerating the industry’s green transition.

As four of the largest container shipping companies, along with the leader in vehicle logistics, each of the companies highlights that they have taken steps to drive the transition. They are investing in efforts within their fleets and reiterating their belief that the importance of shipping achieving the IMO’s greenhouse gas targets is very clear. 

“A crucial next step is to introduce regulatory conditions which ensure that we create the most greenhouse gas emission reductions per invested dollar,” said Vincent Clerc, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk. “The momentum for green fuel is building and we are pleased to see strong partnerships across the industry as we continue our joint efforts of making decarbonization in shipping successful.” 

As frontrunners, the CEOs are convinced that even closer collaboration with IMO regulators will produce the effective and concrete policy measures needed to underpin the investment within maritime shipping and its ancillary industries that will enable decarbonization to occur at the pace required. Their joint declaration calls for the establishment of regulatory cornerstones to ensure the next steps for the industry and support the transition. 

Soren Toft, Chief Executive Officer of MSC Mediterranean Shipping highlights the belief that the shipping industry is at the forefront of technological innovation when it comes to decarbonization. He added, “The support of governments across the world will be an essential element to reach our common goal.”

The headline grabber from the executives is a call to set an end date for the new building of fossil fuel-only vessels and a clear GHG Intensity Standard timeline to inspire investment confidence for new construction and the required fuel infrastructure. They however are also calling for vessel pooling in regulatory compliance so that the performance of a group of vessels could count instead of only individual new builds.

“We believe that a regulatory framework and clear targets are crucial to accelerating the introduction of alternative fuels and reducing our carbon footprint,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag Lloyd.

Asserting that regulation can play a key role in mitigating the cost of the green transition, the CEOs are also endorsing a global maritime GHG pricing mechanism with “predictable pricing,” which they said could be used to build incentives for energy efficiency. To reduce the price gap between fossil fuel and sustainable marine fuels they are also calling for a pricing mechanism to level the field. They called for distributing the premium for green fuels across all the fossil fuels and suggested the “green balance fee” should go to an RD&D fund and investments in developing countries. 

Rodolphe Saade, Chairman and CEO of CMA CGM Group agreed that the program sets ambitious milestones saying that the industry should reach the upper targets of the IMO trajectory. Speaking for the coalition he also called for others to follow them and join in the efforts to accelerate decarbonization.

To greenwash or do the right thing? Corporate dilemmas at COP28

Dubai (AFP) – They call the giant climate business expo running outside the COP28 United Nations talks in Dubai the "green zone".

Issued on: 02/12/2023 - 

Spectacular: the UN COP28 summit in Dubai is being held on the old Expo 2020 site 

© KARIM SAHIB / AFP
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With the enormous former Expo 2020 site given over to green -- and not so green -- companies to trumpet their climate credentials, the private sector has never been embraced so warmly at a climate summit as it has been in the oil-rich city state.

An astonishing 400,000 visitors have registered for day passes to the futuristic jamboree, with stands touting the latest carbon capture tech to a vegetable garden trying to hold up under the desert heat.

And that is not counting the 80,000 people accredited to the talks themselves.

Corporate pledges have been coming thick and fast, with Dubai-based Emirate Airlines -- which has its own pavilion -- heralding its first flight with "100 percent sustainable aviation fuel" and BNP Paribas bank saying they were phasing out financing projects related to extracting coking coal.

Others have been more hazy. The public relations teams of big companies feel they have to "come up with something during COP", sustainable finance expert Laurent Lascols told AFP. But most of the time they recycle "something they already have on the go".

But Sanda Ojiambo, assistant secretary-general of UN Global Compact, which tries to spur corporations towards sustainable development, praised the "very active and dynamic business movement that happens at COP.

A woman walks through the COP28 site in Dubai © KARIM SAHIB / AFP

"As long as it's credible and tangible and transparent, I think it really continues to demonstrate forward-looking discussion," she added.

But only 18 percent of big firms worldwide are cutting emissions "fast enough to reach net zero by 2050", according to a report last month by consultants Accenture.

Another by the Boston Consulting Group found that just 14 percent had reduced their carbon emissions in line with their own ambitions in the past five years -- and only one in 10 measured them precisely.

While COP28's Emirati president Sultan Al Jaber could not be more business friendly, experts say lingering suspicions of conflicts of interest -- Jaber is also CEO of the UAE's national oil and gas company -- put corporations in a complicated position.
Big business commitments

It is not as easy to make big announcements in Dubai "where you might be in the firing line" compared with the COP26 in Glasgow, said Lascols, because the UK was "more a model pupil in terms of energy transition".

More than 1,100 CEOs and heads of philanthropic organisations were due to take part in COP28 

© Jewel SAMAD / AFP

"We did ask ourselves the question" whether we should go to Dubai, admitted the representative of a large French group, before deciding to press ahead "because it is important to take every chance to help move the lines". Other companies questioned by AFP took a similar stance.

But corporations are also at COP28 to influence as well as sell, with a huge number of lobbyists present.

And not all of them are trying to help wriggle out of responsibility for the climate.

More than 200 major corporations including the likes of Ikea, Coca-Cola, Sony, DHL, Heineken and Nestle have recently called on national leaders to set a timeline for phasing out unabated fossil fuels –- without the use of controversial carbon capture and storage technologies.

Many of them are also urging their energy suppliers to do the same and decarbonise their businesses.

Maria Mendiluce, head of We Mean Business, which coordinated the appeal, said we need to back companies trying to do the right thing. "We tend to focus on criticising those who are doing something... (but) we need to highlight those that are not doing anything."