Serge Wilmes at COP28 in Dubai (09.12-12.12.2023)
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, Serge Wilmes, will be taking part in the negotiations for the 28e Conference of the Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai during the «high-level segment» of the negotiations, to be held from 9 to 12 December 2023.
The delegation accompanying the Minister includes negotiators and climate policy experts from the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Administration of Technical Services for Agriculture and civil society.
Following COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2022, COP28 will focus on the first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement's ambition mechanism, the implementation of the new Loss and Damage Fund and preparations for setting the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance.
The Global Stocktake is a technical and political process that consists of establishing a global inventory of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation efforts and the redirection of financial flows towards the climate transition. This is the first time that this global assessment has been carried out, the preparations have been completed and the process will be completed at COP28.
The issue of «loss and damage» was the subject of an important decision in 2022, with the launch of a process to establish a special fund. This fund will be used to finance activities that avoid, minimise or treat damage and loss in the countries most vulnerable to climate change. The decision to make this new fund operational was adopted on the very first day of COP28, sending out a positive signal for the rest of the fortnight.
Another important political process, which will enter a decisive phase in the course of next year, is the setting of the «new collective quantified target on climate finance». This involves determining the new target for increasing financial support to developing countries beyond the threshold of USD 100 billion per year from 2025. This emblematic target of USD 100 billion a year, applicable from 2020, was initially set in Copenhagen in 2009. Today, the quantified global commitment stands at around USD 90 billion per year (2021 figures). The international community is therefore obliged to reach this figure as soon as possible. In terms of international climate finance, Luxembourg is already largely in compliance with its obligations, with a commitment of 220 million euros for the period from 2021 to 2025.
Luxembourg, as a Member State of the European Union, fully supports the Glasgow Pact, which was concluded at COP26, and strongly encourages all other major emitters to step up their efforts in the short and long term. The European Union, through its «Fit for 55» implementation plan, is concretely demonstrating its strategy to achieve its reduction target of at least 55 % by 2030 compared to 1990. However, for several other countries, this approach remains less obvious.
Luxembourg also stresses that energy security must not compromise efforts to protect the climate, and that these climate objectives are enshrined in legislation both in Luxembourg and in the European Union.
A crucial message that Luxembourg wishes to convey to Dubai concerns solidarity with developing countries, and in particular with those most affected by the impacts of climate change.