COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber urged countries on Friday to get out of their comfort zones and work together to reach agreement before the two-week summit ends.
United Arab Emirates Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber speaks during a press conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai Reuters/Thaier Al-Sudani/
COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber urged countries on Friday to get out of their comfort zones and work together to reach agreement before the two-week summit ends.
"Let's please get this job done," he said, opening a plenary session as the summit entered its toughest phase of negotiations.
"I need you to step up and I need you to come out of your comfort zones," he said.
With five days left before the conference's scheduled end on Dec. 12, country ministers are joining the deliberations on Friday.
Still unresolved is how the nearly 200 countries at COP28 will handle the thorny issue of fossil fuels, the main source of climate-warming emissions, with at least 80 countries demanding a COP28 agreement that calls for an eventual end to their use.
Such a position would be unprecedented, after three decades of U.N. climate summits that have never addressed the future role of fossil fuels head on.
Meanwhile, eastern European countries are working to resolve an impasse over where to hold next year's COP29 summit after Russia said it would block any EU member as COP president.
As of Friday, the candidates included Azerbaijan, which offered to host the event. Both Moldova and Serbia have also offered to take on the rotating presidency.
Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, David Stanway, William James; Editing by Katy Daigle and Gerry Doyle
The Gulf region is dependent on a strong United States and the whole region wants security so local economies can flourish, the U.S. president's son, Eric Trump, said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.
A U.N. panel of experts charged with monitoring sanctions in Sudan is investigating how mortar rounds exported from Bulgaria to the United Arab Emirates ended up in a supply convoy for Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia fighters, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Over the past three decades, Georgia has steadily transformed itself into a strategic bridge linking Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.