Experts hope COP 28 will effectively address climate change concerns

BONN, Germany – Experts are pinning their hopes on the U.N. Climate Change Conference 2023, or COP 28, to be held from Nov. 30 in Dubai.

A climate specialist described 2023 as very important for global climate action.

Speaking to Türkiye’s Anadolu news agency, World Wide Fund for Nature coordinator Shirley Matheson said this year’s meeting will take stock of the commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

She said this will provide a clearer picture of how the fight against climate change has progressed since 2015.

“COP28 really needs to provide us with … credibility and make sure that we can really trust in the process,” said Matheson.

The WWF representative was among those attending the ongoing Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany.

This conference serves as a kind of preparatory summit for COP28, which is only about six months away.

The Bonn conference, which runs from June 5 to 15, is discussing topics including the global stocktake, adaptation targets, transition, the Damage and Loss Fund, and other mitigation efforts.

She said the gradual phase-out of fossil fuels and the overall energy transition is critical.

She said European countries are trying to shift risk rather than address it.

Some European countries are posing as climate change leaders while pursuing new fossil fuel projects.

Asked if a conference in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s largest oil producers, was not much more important, she said consensus and commitment from all countries were much more important.