10 December 2023, UAE – Just days away from the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) ending, we had a chat with Xavier Matsutaro of Palau, following the Global Stocktake (GST) theme of the negotiations.
For the Pacific, as with all Small Islands Developing States, their chant is 1.5 to stay alive. The 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold ensuring survival of the Pacific Islands, is at the heart of the Paris Agreement.
The current GST synthesis has highlighted the planet needs extra work to recalibrate and ensure we are on the path that helps us achieve the Paris Agreement, a legally binding treaty for which over 190 Parties are signed on to.
Q. How are we going in the negotiations of mitigation to curb greenhouse gas emissions in both the Mitigation Work Programme and the GST?
“We are really divided on the issue and the level of ambition that’s required to achieve the Paris Agreement, we’re very prescriptive on what we want and that’s for countries to phase our fossil fuel, because its based on the science however countries that have major oil industries and house major coal industries are quite sensitive about the issue. We’ve been holding a lot of bilateral meetings to build broader coalitions to apply a little bit more pressure to achieve the 1.5 ambition. At the same time we’re also meeting with countries that are not necessarily aligned in terms of where we see the issue for us to discuss some of the sticky points and reach a compromise.”
Q. So we are holding fast to the “phase out” of fossil fuel to achieve a 1.5 degrees Celsius world?
“Absolutely because once you put in text such as “unabated” to replace “phase out”, it’s not going to make the 1.5 that we urgently need, and so we’re going to strip that term out of it. That’s the big fight because there are countries that are okay to use the word “unabated” and are pushing for that language to be the landing zone when it comes to mitigation at COP28.
Q. Negotiations are about compromise, so am gathering this is key for us? Ensuring we see language around phasing out of fossil fuel?
“That’s fundamentally what we are here for, right? There are all the rest of the negotiation issues that are very important, such as adaptation, but commitments to achieving 1.5 degrees Celsius is key. It’s because of these greenhouse gasses that are at the heart of our problems and the emissions are increasing at a rate that we must get a handle on. These are the problem, and to address it we need to phase out fossil fuels to land us at 1.5 degrees Celsius. I don’t really see the point of adopting something any less at this juncture and this is where the GST is so critical. This is where the actionable roadmap must be adopted and robust enough otherwise we’re just wasting our time – we’re fighting for our survival here.”
The 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ends on 12 December.
The 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP28) in Dubai, UAE is taking place from Thursday 30 November 2023 – Tuesday 12 December 2023. It is being attended by Pacific leaders and their delegations, who are advocating for the survival of Pacific communities that continue to be at the forefront of climate change impacts.