Irish environment minister says EU could walk away from Cop28 talks
Eamon Ryan said the first draft text from the Cop28 Presidency is unacceptable.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Ireland’s environment minister Eamon Ryan, who is a lead European Union negotiator on climate finance, has said the first draft text from the Cop28 Presidency is unacceptable and that the EU could walk away from the talks if it is not improved.
Mr Ryan said the wording of the text will have to reworked for the deal to be agreed in Dubai.
He singled out paragraph 39 which talks about the “need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gases”, but with a call to parties to take action that “could” include a range of measures including “phasing down unabated coal” and “accelerating technologies” like carbon capture and storage.
In a statement, he said: “We can’t accept this text. It’s not anywhere near ambitious enough. It’s not broad enough. It’s not what parties have been calling for.
“If we start with paragraph 39 which goes to the heart of whether we phase out fossil fuel, that one word ‘could’ just kills everything. We can’t have a get out of jail card for the fossil fuel industry and the current text would give them that.”
Mr Ryan added: “We have to hugely strengthen the finance sections. We need to phase up the opportunities to invest in renewables, particularly in the developing world.
“However, above all, we need clear mechanisms for implementation so that we can begin to work on changing the global financial systems to incentivise investment in renewable energy systems and in adaptation like water supplies and climate smart agriculture.
“These are critical for developing countries. We have to stitch climate justice into every part of this text and we are not anywhere near that yet.”