A British scientist is bidding to lead the UN’s expert panel on climate change, with a vow to listen to developing countries who have had to leave crunch talks to catch flights home from Europe.
Professor Jim Skea told The National that the current trajectory of more than 3°C of global warming would take humanity into a “new kind of world” marked by floods, intense storms and problems with food production.
Poorer countries will face the greatest hazards, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which reports to leaders on the state of scientific knowledge about the planet.
Prof Skea, a co-author of the IPCC’s reports and one of four candidates to be its next chairman, said there could be irreversible losses even if the temperature rise is eventually capped at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The most recent IPCC report in March said it was unequivocal that humans had already caused about 1.1°C of global warming and billions of the world’s people were “highly vulnerable” from climate change.
But talks in Switzerland on finalising the report overran for two days and “many developing countries were not in the room because they were on fixed-price tickets that sent them back home again,” Prof Skea said.
“We need to make sure the IPCC draws on the widest range of people,” he told The National during climate change talks in Bonn, Germany, that are preparing the ground for Cop28 in the UAE.
"The inclusivity issues are a big issue, making sure that countries from all kind of backgrounds contribute."
Prof Skea’s candidacy is backed by the UK government, which has called him a world-renowned expert with an “unparalleled depth and breadth of scientific expertise”.
The other three candidates are Jean-Pascal van Ypersele of Belgium, Thelma Krug of Brazil and Debra Roberts of South Africa, with a new chairperson to be chosen in July to replace South Korea’s Hoesung Lee.
An expert on sustainable energy at Imperial College London, Prof Skea said private finance was needed to mobilise the trillions of dollars that a green overhaul of the world economy is expected to cost.
The UAE has spoken of bringing together an “inclusive mix of players” including the private sector at Cop28. The summit begins at Dubai’s Expo City on November 30.
3°C is really taking us into a new kind of world
Professor Jim Skea
“We’re talking in the trillions a year. Quite frankly, public sector pockets are not deep enough to do that,” Prof Skea said. “It absolutely involves leveraging private sector money.”
Prof Skea has been involved in discussions on the “global stocktake”, a first-of-its-kind health check on global climate policies that will conclude at the summit in the UAE.
The IPCC said in its March report that current policies are not being implemented fast enough and would lead to global warming of about 3.2°C by the end of the century.
The global target, agreed in Paris in 2015, is to keep the rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, although this could involve first overshooting the target then bringing temperatures back down by 2100.
Negotiations have highlighted the fact that the cost of producing solar and wind energy has fallen substantially but that many countries still lack the grid infrastructure to bring in renewables.
The energy squeeze resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has at the same time prompted countries such as Germany to build new gas infrastructure that activists say risks locking in more emissions.
Options under discussion in talks leading up to Cop28 have included a global renewable energy target, backed by Germany, and using carbon prices to shift money away from fossil fuels.
Prof Skea says he expects the Dubai summit to be less of a headline-grabbing milestone and more of a “hard grind of negotiating work” that is “absolutely critical if we're going to move things forward”.
Meanwhile, the effects of climate change such as wildfires, storm activity and damage to corals in the ocean are becoming visible even at the 1.1°C of warming already reached, he said.
While it would be possible to overshoot 1.5°C and try to dial temperatures back by removing CO2 from the atmosphere, scientists warn that some changes such as species loss and rising sea levels will be irreversible.
Another concern is that tactics to remove CO2, such as planting trees or growing crops to make energy, might only worsen environmental problems around land use and food availability.
Prof Skea said modelling is limited on the impact of such an overshoot and said it would be better to stop the temperature rise in its tracks before the worst-case scenario is reached.
“By the time you get to 3°C, you're seeing all kinds of other risks emerging at a much higher level. There's the impacts of flooding, sea level rise, increased storm activity, greater storm intensity,” he said.
“At 3°C, you would start to see negative impacts on crop yields and food production. 1.5°C has enough [impacts]. 2°C would be worse, but 3°C is really taking us into a new kind of kind of world.”
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%3Cp%3EThe%20Coffee%20Test%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EA%20machine%20is%20required%20to%20enter%20an%20average%20American%20home%20and%20figure%20out%20how%20to%20make%20coffee%3A%20find%20the%20coffee%20machine%2C%20find%20the%20coffee%2C%20add%20water%2C%20find%20a%20mug%20and%20brew%20the%20coffee%20by%20pushing%20the%20proper%20buttons.%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EProposed%20by%20Steve%20Wozniak%2C%20Apple%20co-founder%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Hamilton’s 2017
Australia - 2nd; China - 1st; Bahrain - 2nd; Russia - 4th; Spain - 1st; Monaco - 7th; Canada - 1st; Azerbaijan - 5th; Austria - 4th; Britain - 1st; Hungary - 4th; Belgium - 1st; Italy - 1st; Singapore - 1st; Malaysia - 2nd; Japan - 1st; United States - 1st; Mexico - 9th
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
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Fuel consumption: 8.0L/100km
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
SUNDAY'S ABU DHABI T10 MATCHES
Northern Warriors v Team Abu Dhabi, 3.30pm
Bangla Tigers v Karnataka Tuskers, 5.45pm
Qalandars v Maratha Arabians, 8pm
PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
UAE's role in anti-extremism recognised
General John Allen, President of the Brookings Institution research group, commended the role the UAE has played in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
He told a Globsec debate of the UAE’s "hugely outsized" role in the fight against Isis.
"It’s trite these days to say that any country punches above its weight, but in every possible way the Emirates did, both militarily, and very importantly, the UAE was extraordinarily helpful on getting to the issue of violent extremism," he said.
He also noted the impact that Hedayah, among others in the UAE, has played in addressing violent extremism.
Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
SPECS
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