The head of the UN's climate body has called on countries to clear "tactical blockades" to reach a meaningful deal on tackling climate change at the UN Cop 28 conference in Dubai.
A new draft text for a possible agreement will be published shortly, UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell said in Dubai. "The areas where options need to be negotiated have narrowed significantly," he added.
Observers had expected further draft texts to be published by 13:00 Dubai time, although nothing had been released at the time of writing.
The two points under discussion are around the scale of the ambition on mitigation — cutting emissions — and whether the "proper means of support" is there to deliver an energy transition, Stiell said. "Finance must be the bedrock to scale up climate action on all fronts," he added. "The highest levels of ambition are possible for both. But if we reduce on one, we reduce our ability to get either."
The global stocktake — a five-yearly undertaking to measure progress against the Paris Agreement goals, currently under discussion — "needs to help all countries get out of this mess", Stiell said. He also urged negotiators to reject incrementalism, saying that "each step back from the highest ambition" will prove too costly. "One thing is for certain: ‘I win - you lose' is a recipe for collective failure," he said.
Stiell called for "inclusion, representation, and transparency" as part of the negotiating process. And he stressed that science is "the backbone" of the Paris Agreement. "That centre must hold", he told reporters.
Meanwhile, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres urged countries to show "maximum" ambition and flexibility in their discussions. "Ministers and negotiators must move beyond arbitrary red lines, entrenched positions, and blocking tactics. It's time to go into overdrive, to negotiate in good faith," he said.
A consensus on the need to phase out fossil fuels in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is "a central aspect" of the success of Cop 28, Guterres said. But "that doesn't mean that all countries must phase out fossil fuels at the same time. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities apply," he added.
