As the negotiations heat up, so does the pressure to deliver a fossil fuel phaseout. In the final hours of COP28, groups push to exclude fossil fuel industry dangerous distractions from global climate change agreement. Join us for the events below. We will follow up with a reaction to the latest GST draft once it becomes available.
Press Conferences:
Press Conference: The Dangers of ‘Abatement’: The Dirty Truth About Carbon Capture
Press Conference Room 2 (B6, Building 77)
16:00-16:30 local time (GMT+4)
Webcast: https://unfccc.int/event/oil-change-international-the-dangers-of-abatement-the-dirty-truth-about-carbon-capture
Fossil fuel phaseout is at the top of the agenda at COP28. Poorly defined “abatement” technologies, promoted by the fossil fuel industry and government enablers, undermine a full, fast, fair, and funded phaseout of all fossil fuels. Countries must hold a hard line to ensure these are not included in the final COP28 agreement.
At this press panel, experts, researchers, and campaigners will discuss the dangers of ‘abatement’, expose the inadequacies of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and highlight how much public money is being funneled into CCS. Speakers will primarily focus on North America and Norway – as the largest funders of these failing technologies.
Speakers:
- Moderator: Al Johnson-Kurts, Oil Change International
- Nikki Reisch, Center for International Environmental Law, Climate & Energy Program Director
- Elise Åsnes, Spire, President
- Angele Alook, York University Assistant Professor, Bigstone Cree Nation Member
Romain Ioualalen, Oil Change International Global Policy Manager, said:
“We have never been closer to an agreement on a full fossil fuel phaseout. CCS is a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry, not people and planet, and has no place in the final COP28 text. It is madness that despite complete lack of delivery, governments are preparing to shovel hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money into more CCS, when such money could be spent on renewable energy, like wind and solar, that is proven to work at competitive prices. In the final hours of the climate negotiations, global leaders must put people over profit and not squander what could be their last opportunity to take the urgent and necessary measures to limit warming to 1.5°C. The world is watching, the clock is ticking, and leaders must rise to the occasion.”
For experts on the failures of CCS, new data on global CCS subsidies, and what role CCS plays in the latest negotiations, contact Al Johnson-Kurts, Oil Change International al@priceofoil.org
Reality check on Fossil Fuels phase out & Just Transition: impacts on land, forests and communities
Contact: Ismail Wolff +33 78885 2859, ismail.wolff@globalforestcoalition.org
12:00-12:30 (Dubai, GMT+4)
Press Room 2, Zone B6, Building 77
While Africa, under colonialism, bore the brunt of extractivism and transfer of natural resources, the continent is again confronting the brutality of climate colonialism. Under the shadow of this climate colonialism and continued extractivism, how does the reality of fossil fuels phase out and just transition is shaping and will shape the destiny of women, Indigenous Peoples, youth and local communities and what are the impacts.
Speakers:
- Nnimmo Bassey, Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Chair of Oilwatch Africa
- Thuli Makama, Director of Oil Change International/Africa, member of Oilwatch Africa steering committee member
- Erica Njuguna, Member of Alliance of non-governmental radical youth (ANGRY)
- Souparna Lahiri, Global Forest Coalition, moderator
Actions:
Demand a fossil fuel phaseout and just transition
All Day: People will hold space in a human chain Outside ZONE B8
13: 00 local time (GMT +4): Peoples Plenary @Al Ghafat Plenary Hall B1
15:00 local time (GMT+4): Mass Rally: Outside ZONE B8
The clock is ticking on the final hours of COP28 as negotiations heat up and President Al Jaber pushes countries to finalize a deal. All eyes are on the question of whether COP28 will include a breakthrough commitment to a full phaseout of oil, gas and coal – the core drivers of the climate emergency. For the remaining hours of COP28 , until an agreement is reached, people will form a human chain, amass for a “Peoples Plenary,” and rally near where negotiations are taking place to demand global leaders hold the line and deliver a fast, fair, forever, full, feminist, funded, phaseout of fossil fuels.
Abatement is a pipe dream. The time to face reality is now.