DUBAI: Up to 200 global leaders will join over 80,000 delegates gathered in Dubai for the UN climate conference as governments prepare for negotiations on whether to agree, for the first time, to phase out fossil fuels – the main source of global warming.With finance also high on the meeting agenda, the COP28 presidency has published a proposal on the eve of the summit for countries to formally adopt the outlines of a new UN fund to cover losses and damages in poor countries being hit by climate disasters like extreme flooding or persistent drought.
Countries at the UN COP28 climate summit on Thursday formally approved a deal on a new climate disaster fund.The deal was adopted following the COP28 opening ceremony, drawing a standing ovation from delegates.Representatives from developed and developing countries painstakingly crafted the agreement during negotiations this year. It will launch a fund to help vulnerable nations cope with the cost of climate-driven damage from drought, floods and rising seas.UN weather agency says 2023 is the hottest year on record, warns of further climate extremes ahead.
The UN weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, and warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, wildfires, glacier melt, and heat waves in the future.The World Meteorological Organization also warned that the average temperature for the year is up some 1.4°C from pre-industrial times – a mere one-tenth of a degree under a target limit for the end of the century as laid out by the Paris climate accord in 2015.
The WMO secretary-general said the onset earlier this year of El Niño, the weather phenomenon marked by heating in the Pacific Ocean, could tip the average temperature next year over the 1.5°C target cap set in Paris.
