Consensus reached on need for drastic cut in global emissions: Bhupender Yadav after Berlin meet

New Delhi: The Petersberg Climate Dialogue attended by climate envoys of 40 countries concluded on Wednesday with a consensus on a global, binding target for expansion of renewables, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav, who represented India at the meeting, said.

The dialogue in Berlin concluded with delegates having worked towards laying the groundwork for joint decisions at the UN Climate Conference (COP28) which will be held in UAE this December. “There was a broader consensus over the need for a drastic cut in global emissions and a global, binding target for expansion of renewables,” Yadav tweeted.

“India put forth its side strongly at the discussions. As has been underlined by PM Shri @narendramodi, at the event it was reiterated that recognising the need for support towards Just, Affordable & Inclusive Energy Transition is crucial in the spirit of leaving no one behind,” he added.

Yadav said that even as countries follow a clean energy pathway, they need to focus on diversifying the economy and creating new livelihood opportunities so as protect the livelihood of the local population and local economy which depend on the existing energy system.

“The central goal of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue is to strengthen trust both in multilateral climate negotiations and between countries. The aim is to facilitate the negotiations leading up to COP28. Although many countries share the goal of reducing emissions and expanding renewable energies around the globe, these are not easy negotiations. The countries around the table include severely affected island states such as the Marshall Islands as well as the largest emitters of CO2 such as the United States, China and India,” said the German Federal Foreign Office on May 2 before the meeting began.

There were calls for a new target on renewable energy to be negotiated and agreed on at COP28 by several countries at the meeting in Berlin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that the goal could be a tripling of newly installed solar, wind power by 2030, echoing a target proposed recently by the International Renewable Energy Agency, AP reported.

Sultan Al Jaber, COP28 President said: “We know that fossil fuels will continue to play a role in the foreseeable future, helping meet global requirements so our aim should be a focus on ensuring that we phase out emissions from all sectors whether it’s oil and gas or high emitting industries. In parallel we should assert all effort and all investments in renewable energy and clean technology space.”

But, climate experts and activists have said countries are trying to protect their fossil fuel interests and cleverly framing the overall climate action goal so that they can continue the use of fossil fuels. “COP28 is likely to lead to a global renewable energy target. But, it’s important to focus on what the COP28 President said at the Petersberg Dialogue. He said global fossil fuel emissions should be phased out. He did not say fossil fuels will be phased out. This essentially indicates that emissions from oil and gas and other sectors will be phased out through carbon capture and storage, which is not a reliable technology, while the world continues to use and produce fossil fuels. This is being balanced out with a new renewable energy goal. This is doublespeak. Our dependence on fossil fuels has barely changed over the last two decades,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International.