TRANSCRIPT
The United Arab Emirates and several charities at the United Nations climate summit have pledged almost AU$1.2 billion to eradicating neglected tropical diseases.
It comes as the COP28 summit has been focusing on climate-related health risks, with AU$150 million put forward by the UAE and another AU$150 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Others to announce funds for climate-related health issues include Belgium, Germany and the United States Agency for International Development.
The World Bank has also launched a program to explore possible support measures for public health in developing countries, where climate-related health risks are especially high.
But on the sidelines of the summit, climate advocate and former United States vice president Al Gore has criticised the gathering, accusing its host of abusing public trust.
“This industry is way more effective at capturing politicians than they are capturing emissions. And they have captured the COP process itself now and overreached abusing the public's trust by naming the CEO of one of the largest and least responsible oil companies in the world as head of the COP. It's an abuse of the public's right to have confidence in the processes by which the decisions about humanity's future are made.”
Some delegates attending the summit have expressed skepticism that COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber, head of the UAE's national oil company, can be an honest broker of a climate deal.
Mr al-Jaber has also cast doubt on the science behind the phase-out of fossil fuels, saying there's no science to suggest it will restrict global heating to 1.5 degrees.
Mr Gore presented evidence suggesting the UAE's greenhouse gas emissions rose by 7.5 per cent in 2022 from the previous year, compared to a 1.5 per cent rise in the world.
The UAE did not immediately comment on Mr Gore's statements - but the former vice president wasn't the only one speaking out against the event.
Peaceful protests have been held in Dubai, a rare sight for United Arab Emirates residents, in the first protest in support of Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas war begun.
Activist from the International League of People's Struggle, Azra Sayeed, says there's a clear link between war and rising temperatures.
“You think wars will not bring the temperatures even higher? And there is such a clear connection between the use of fossil fuels, the warplanes, the machines inside our waters, the oceans being disrupted. It's all about climate. I mean, we live in this one single earth and the temperatures are going way over. How can we remain and the occupiers, the imperialists have no concern for climate? They believe they can get on the jets and go off to Mars. They are wrong. “
The U-A-E has strict rules against demonstrations, but COP28 participants were allowed to protest, as long as they followed strict guidelines.
Meanwhile, as public health has been featured for the first time at the annual summit, medical professionals have taken the opportunity to call for a rapid phase out of fossil fuels.
World Medical Association President, doctor Lujain Alqodmani, has drawn attention to the impact of burning coal, oil and gas on worsening health outcomes.
“Our health system, they don't need to be bigger. They need to be stronger. And more resilient. And in order to do that, to be more resilient, we need to be adaptive enough and mitigate enough to the impacts of climate change. In order to do that we can't continue business as usual. It's like you are adding more wood to the fire and say 'oh let it burn because we have enough doctors to treat the victims,' and that is not the case.”
Australia has joined more than 100 nations at the summit in pledging to triple global renewable energy generation capacity by 2030.
But Australia opted out of a seperate pledge, in which 20 countries including France and the United States agreed to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050.
Opposition spokesman for Climate Change Ted O'Brien told the A-B-C he believes that was a mistake.
“Here in Australia, we grapple with how to tackle climate change just like other countries do. And one of the lessons that I have learned as I've looked across the world at peer nations is there is no credible pathway to reach Net Zero. Without zero emissions, nuclear energy. This certainly is not a comment against renewables, we need renewables to in fact, we need an all of the above approach where every technology is considered.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has also called on the Australian government to get rid of its ban on nuclear energy.
But Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has reaffirmed the federal government's stance, telling Channel 7 nuclear energy is too expensive.
“It's slow to build and it's expensive and we've got an 82 per cent renewable energy target because it will bring down power prices and it'll do it in a way that doesn't damage our environment. Nuclear is much slower to build. We're talking about 80 nuclear reactors right around Australia and it's fantastically expensive.”
