Pádraig Hoare: World burns as leaders continue with greenwashing fiasco
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The world cannot be given any more clear and incontrovertible signals that it is on a path of self-induced mayhem due to global warming, yet leaders somehow and inexplicably cling to the fossil fuel usage that has brought us all to the brink of disaster.
Not only is the resistance to giving up current fossil fuel deals glaring, but the determination to generate even more sources of oil and gas is breathtaking in its folly.
As the UN's climate change summit got under way in Dubai this week, it emerged that the host nation has a plan to use the event to strike more oil and gas opportunities.
On day one of the event, Cop28 president Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, dug in regarding the production and use of fossil fuels, insisting that they still have a viable place, much to the chagrin of environmental scientists and activists.
Mr al-Jaber is head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the 12th largest oil-producing firm in the world, and was already ridiculed ahead of Cop28 for hosting the event because of his ties to the most environmentally destructive greenhouse gas emissions.
A BBC report days before the event kicked off revealed he has been planning secret deals to vastly expand oil and gas production at Cop28.
The report said the UAE was planning to speak with 27 foreign governments over possible oil and gas deals. The UAE did not deny the report when published.
An investigation by the Centre for Climate Reporting and Channel 4 News revealed that Saudi Arabia is planning to flood Africa with fossil fuel-powered cars, buses, and planes as it attempts to keep its flagship national industry going while richer regions switch to renewable energy.
Framing it as a benevolent way to assist Africa in ramping up technology, accessibility, and modernisation, it is just the latest greenwashing attempt by Saudi Arabia to max out its natural resources, however costly to the planet.
Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa think-tank, called the plans "repulsive".
“The Saudi government is like a drug dealer trying to get Africa hooked on its harmful product. The rest of the world is weaning itself off dirty and polluting fossil fuels and Saudi Arabia is getting desperate for more customers and is turning its sights on Africa," he said.
Yet the biggest tussle at Cop28 seems to be leaders, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, reluctant to call for "phasing out" fossil fuels in favour of renewables, instead going for watery "fossil fuel reduction" and "phasing down".
This as the World Meteorological Organization warns that we are living through the hottest decade in recorded history, brought on by man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
Lest we get holier than thou here in the Western World, it is timely to remind ourselves of our colonial sins that left Africa and the Middle East in much of a mess for generations, all the while exploiting their natural resources for ourselves.
It is entirely understandable that those in regions outside of the Western bubble would flip us off and ignore our ivory tower demands that they lay down the very tools on which we built our own opulent, unequal, and consumption-rich societies.
Unless we pay our share in good faith towards the loss and damage fund, we have little legitimacy to make demands.
Ireland will commit €25m to the new 'loss and damage' fund, agreed on day one of Cop28, according to Mr Varadkar.
“Loss and damage” refers to funding for the consequences of climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to, while “climate finance” refers to major nations paying a fairer share towards climate change bolstering in smaller nations.
Agreement was reached in the earliest hours of Cop28 to start paying into the fund after years of geopolitical tussling at last year's Cop27 in Egypt.
On day one of Cop28, the UAE kicked in $100m, as did Germany as part of an overall EU package of $245m, while Britain gave $51m, and the US $17.5m.
That's a start, but considering the hundreds of billions in damages caused by global warming already due to extreme weather disasters around the world, such sums as $17.5m by the US and $51m by Britain are derisory.
Ireland committed at least €225m per year in international climate finance by 2025 at Cop26 in Glasgow in November 2021. According to Christian Aid and Trócaire, Ireland should be paying more than six times that amount by the end of the decade as a fair share.
The report by the charities found wealthy countries initially pledged to provide $100bn a year in financial support to developing countries for climate action in both 2009 in Copenhagen and 2015 in Paris.
However, OECD data states just $83bn was provided in 2020, more than a decade later.
It seems the more climate summits are held, the harder we are making it for ourselves to save a planet exhausted from our over-exploitation, and vulnerable nations are at the forefront of nature's wrath with every passing year.