World leaders will have to work “extra hard” to seek consensus on climate action at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, says Sir Alok Sharma, president of COP26, which was held in Glasgow.
This comes as the Group of 20 (G20) countries failed to agree on a joint communique on tackling climate issues at talks in Bali and New Delhi, he adds.
“What is it we want coming out of COP28? Well, the world has had a look… and it won’t surprise you to know that the world has concluded that we are not going fast enough. We have not done enough of what we promised to do,” says Sharma, who at COP26 brokered a pledge among nations to cut emissions and an explicit plan to reduce coal use — a first for the annual conference.
Countries must “very clearly” set out their improved emission reduction targets by sector, adds Sharma. “It’s no good saying you’re gonna be net zero by 2050. What are you going to do in the transport sector [and the] agriculture sector? What are you going to do in the energy sector? That is something that needs to come forward.”
Sharma, a Conservative Party politician, has been a Member of Parliament since 2010. Prior to leading COP26, Sharma served as the UK’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2020 to 2021 and Secretary of State for International Development from 2019 to 2020.
On Sept 26, Sharma announced he will not stand at the UK’s next general election, scheduled to be held no later than Jan 28, 2025.
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In his keynote address at UBS’s APAC Sustainable Finance Conference on Oct 10, Sharma says he has been “pretty vocal” about his disagreement with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s recent U-turn on green policies.
“We have, in recent weeks, been seeing some reining back on a couple of policies when it comes to climate action in the UK. I've been pretty vocal. I don’t think that has been the right thing for us to do. But nevertheless, the political consensus on net zero by 2050 continues to be there; net zero by 2050 is enshrined in UK law as indeed are our near-term carbon budgets.”
Following Sunak’s announcement on Sept 20, Sharma wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “The [UK] has been a leader on climate action but we cannot rest on our laurels. For any party to resile from this agenda will not help economically or electorally.”
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Sharma directed his comments on private finance to guests of UBS and Credit Suisse at the Capella Singapore.
“The estimates are that there is US$125 trillion required for the net-zero transition. That is a wall of money; you represent some of that wall of money… Unless we get private sector money into decarbonisation, I'm afraid we are going to lose the fight on keeping 1.5 degrees alive,” says Sharma of the goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
COP28, scheduled to be held from Nov 30 to Dec 12, will be a test of the multilateral system, says Sharma. “Despite all the other geopolitical differences that are ongoing, can you deliver for climate? Frankly, we owe it to future generations to leave this world in a better place than we found it. I hope that world leaders will rise to the occasion and the rhetoric of their speeches — because there will be rhetoric in their speeches at COP28 — will actually match their action and delivery.”
He adds: “Friends, success or failure in keeping 1.5 degrees alive — that limit on the global temperature rise — will ultimately be our responsibilities and we all have to rise to that challenge.”
Photo: UBS
