On January 24, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion on the environmental agenda and the results of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
In December 2023, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) took place in the UAE. The participants analysed progress in achieving the goals that were set under the 2015 Paris Agreement. During the preparation of the final document, controversy arose regarding the initiative to abandon fossil fuels. The OPEC states were against it, while Germany, the United States, Canada, Britain, Japan, Australia, Brazil and the countries of Oceania were in favour. For the sake of consensus, the text was softened, and an agreement to gradually replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources was adopted.
In the context of such a transition, the problem of inequality between developed and developing countries is becoming increasingly important. A strategic move away from all fossil fuels could lead to increased poverty in many countries in the global South. It is important for them to provide both compensating mechanisms and a much more flexible transition schedule. At the same time, the issue of financial support for the implementation of these tasks from developed countries has not yet been resolved.
What will the outcome of COP28 mean in practice? How realistic is the adopted course in the medium term? How will oil-producing countries react? What will Russia’s position be? How will the current geopolitical situation affect the environmental agenda? Participants in the discussion tried to answer these and other questions.
Speakers:
Yakov Kuzyakov, Head of the Departments of Soil Science and Agricultural Soil Science, the University of Göttingen (Germany)
Igor Makarov, Head of the Department of World Economy, Head of the Laboratory for the Economics of Climate Change, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Elena Maslova, Associate Professor of the Department of Integration Studies and Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Francine Mestrum, President of the Global Social Justice NGO, Member of the Board of Directors of CETRI (Centre Tricontinental, Belgium)
Moderator:
Working languages: Russian, English.