The Cop28 summit in Dubai is the most important UN climate change conference in eight years, as the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement will be evaluated for the first time by world leaders, a senior Spanish officials has told The National.
The agreement set 2023 as the year for a first global stocktake, which will be “the real test to confirm that we can reach 1.5°C in the next decade", said Valvanera Maria Ulargui Aparicio, director general at the Spanish government’s office for climate change.
She was referring to pledges by world leaders to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The global stocktake is not simply a progress assessment, it represents a “real exercise to look beyond and identify concrete actions that we need to put on the table", she said.
The stocktake will influence the next nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, which outline each country’s plans to cut emissions and adapt to climate change.
“If these national commitments are not ambitious enough, the gap will not be closed,” Ms Ulargui Aparicio said.
She spoke to The National at a conference organised by the European Commission in Brussels aimed at highlighting Europe’s efforts to adhere to the goals of the Paris Agreement.
In a technical report published in September, the UN warned the world was “not on track” to slow global warming to 1.5°C.
“Time is not on our side,” EU Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra said.
The bloc aims to achieve net zero by 2050 and expects to reduce carbon emissions by about 57 per cent by 2030, compared with 1990.
“We feel Cop28 is the opportunity to aim higher than any other Cop before,” said Mr Hoekstra, who plans to present a target of 90 per cent net emission reduction by 2040.
Ms Ulargui Aparicio said the main priority was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to commit to them peaking by 2025 at the latest.
'We must be brave'
“We must be very, very brave on energy transition goals,” she said. “If we do not peak fossil fuels this decade, if we do not reduce drastically their consumption and production, it will not be enough.”
Ms Ulargui Aparicio said called for more investment in the green transition in the developing world.
“We need to help Africa and the most vulnerable [countries] with clear, concrete goals, otherwise the rest of the regulatory framework and market improvements will not happen,” she said.
Cop28 is the last chance to make “credible commitments to start bending the curve on fossil fuel-based emissions", Johan Rockstrom, director for the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told The National.
“We need to have credible outcomes in Dubai to start reducing emissions from oil, coal and gas,” he said.
Mr Rockstrom called on “big economies” including he US, India, China and the EU to “step up” to tackle the climate crisis.
Speaking during a panel, he said aiming to limit global warming by 1.5°C was “non-negotiable".
“It’s a physical limit where life would cross a number of tipping points that would undermine livelihoods for many people around the world,” he told the panel.
Policymakers and scientists must also be “humble” in the face of the enormity of the task, Mr Rockstrom said.
“We have been powering the economy with fossil fuels for 250 years and now we are transitioning to green energy," he added.
“It is the biggest transition for humankind on planet Earth. We must be humble to that fact."
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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Red Sparrow
Dir: Francis Lawrence
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Dubai Women's Tour teams
Agolico BMC
Andy Schleck Cycles-Immo Losch
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Cogeas Mettler Look
Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport
Hitec Products – Birk Sport
Kazakhstan National Team
Kuwait Cycling Team
Macogep Tornatech Girondins de Bordeaux
Minsk Cycling Club
Pannonia Regional Team (Fehérvár)
Team Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Team Ciclotel
UAE Women’s Team
Under 23 Kazakhstan Team
Wheel Divas Cycling Team
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
HAJJAN
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Have you been targeted?
Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
4. The adviser charges a 1 per cent charge for managing your assets. They are being paid for doing nothing. They have already claimed massive amounts in hidden upfront commission.
5. Total annual management cost for your pension account is 2 per cent or more, including platform, underlying fund and advice charges.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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