Countries meet to break climate talk deadlocks at CO28

Nearly 200 countries have convened in majlis – a traditional meeting akin to an elders’ conference in the United Arab Emirates – in an attempt to reach consensus on various deadlocks amongst countries at COP, including on whether fossil fuels should be phased out or phased down. Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has told these countries that the use of fossil fuels in energy production must end, a statement that has drawn sharp criticism from climate campaigners given that Australia still expands new fossil fuels. 

This comes as Vanuatu’s climate change minister Ralph Regenvanu says that the COP28 meeting in Dubai is at a "critical stage" with a small minority of countries and the OPEC oil cartel seeking to block an an emerging declaration that would seek to wind down extraction of the oil, coal and gas that are fuelling the climate emergency.

A report from the Federal department of climate change and energy has also revealed that transport pollution has risen to make up 21 per cent of Australia's total emissions this year and, without additional measures, will rise even further by 2030. This report says that electric vehicle uptake needs to be at least double the current projections, therefore changes are urgently needed to help Australia and its motorists catch up to the rest of the world.

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