UN secretary general, COP28 president clash over future of fossil fuels

UN Secretary General António Guterres urged world leaders at the COP28 climate summit to plan for a future without fossil fuels, saying there was no other way to curb global warming.
 

Speaking a day after COP28 president Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber proposed embracing the continued use of fossil fuels,  saying, “The world must proactively engage fossil fuel companies in phasing out emissions,” Guterres said: “We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuels.” “The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate,” he said, referring to nascent technologies to capture and store carbon emissions.
 

The competing visions summed up the most divisive issue facing world leaders at this year’s UN climate summit in the oil-producing United Arab Emirates.
 

In the sidelines of this clash, a former Marshall Islands president, whose country faces inundation from climate-driven sea level rise, resigned from the main COP28 advisory board on Friday in objection to the UAE’s support of continued use of fossil fuels.

Hilda Heine said in her resignation letter that she was “deeply disappointed” that the UAE had reportedly used its COP28 role to broker oil and gas deals. The UAE has strongly denied the accusations.
 

King Charles III of Britain pleaded with world leaders to make progress in the global climate agenda. “Scientists have been warning for so long, we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached,” he said. “Unless we rapidly repair and restore nature's economy, based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be imperilled,” said the king, who has spent most of his adult life campaigning on the environment.
 

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new deal between Masdar and RWE to jointly invest up to £11 billion in the UK’s Dogger Bank giant offshore wind farm. “This is a huge boost for UK renewables, creating more jobs, helping to power 3 million homes and increasing our energy security,” Sunak said. He urged the world’s largest emitters to drive progress, singling out China, but cautioned that “climate politics is close to breaking point” and that countries must bring the public with them by driving climate action in a “pragmatic and proportionate way.
 

Japan to stop building unabated coal power plants Japan will stop building new coal power plants that do not have emission reduction measures in place, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Friday.

“In line with its pathway to net-zero, Japan will end new construction of domestic unabated coal power plants, while securing a stable energy supply,” Kishida said. 
 

Bill Gates, UAE pledge $200 million to help farmers
 

Bill Gates urged global leaders to focus more climate finance on agriculture as he pledged $100 million to speed up the development of innovations that will help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia adapt to 

climate change.
 

The donation by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match the same amount committed by UAE, a statement said.