FOSSIL FUEL EMISSIONS ON ENERGY DAY AT COP28 IN DUBAI – COP28 President urged countries to seek “common ground”
The United Arab Emirates President of COP28 on Oct.30 urged countries to seek “common ground” to resolve disagreements over the future of fossil fuels ahead of a U.N. climate summit he will host from the end of the month. The summit, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, will seek agreement on phasing out fossil fuels.
But countries are divided between those demanding a deal to phase out the burning of coal, oil and natural gas that produce the greenhouse gases that are the main cause of climate change and nations insisting on preserving a role for fossil fuels.
There are claims that methane emissions have emerged as a top threat to the global climate, with scientists and policymakers calling for aggressive action to curb the output.
At the 2020 U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, more than 100 countries pledged a 30% cut from 2020 methane emissions levels by 2030. But few have since carved out clear plans to reach that goal. Instead, scientists using satellite monitoring are discovering new emissions sources, including leaks from oil wells and natural gas pipelines.
Global industry could save around $437 billion a year from 2030 via energy efficiency savings and could also achieve big reductions in carbon emissions, a study showed.
The report by the Energy Efficiency Movement, an industry collective, that has Switzerland’s ABB, Germany’s DHL Group, Sweden’s Alfa Laval and Microsoft among its members, said four gigatons of carbon emissions could be saved by 2030 each year – if companies doubled down on efficiency measures.
That would be the equivalent of taking 60% of the world’s internal combustion vehicles off the roads, the report, said on October 24.
