Pressure mounts on COP28 president as fossil fuel debate sizzles:
The Emirati head of UN climate talks faced growing pressure Wednesday to steer nations towards a consensus as negotiators sparred over the thorny issue of fossil fuels.
A report confirming that 2023 will be the hottest year in recorded history was a reminder of the stakes as the UN negotiations hosted by the oil-rich UAE reached their midway point.
A new draft climate agreement had been expected on Wednesday but none was published by the end of the afternoon. The negotiations are due to end, in theory, on December 12.
The fate of oil, gas and coal — the main drivers of human-caused planet heating — has been the biggest sticking point on the agenda, and divisions around their future have dominated the conference.
“We have a starting text on the table, but it’s a grab bag of … wish lists and heavy on posturing,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell told a news conference.
“At the end of next week, we need COP to deliver a bullet train to speed up climate action. We currently have an old caboose chugging over rickety tracks.”
Urging embattled COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber to ease differences, Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said: “We expect from the COP president to be an honest broker and we expect leadership.”
The Alliance of Small Islands States, which includes some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, called for “major emitters to enhance their commitments”.
“If we fail, the consequences will be catastrophic,” the alliance’s chairman Cedric Schuster said.
‘Orderly and just’
Battle lines have previously been drawn on whether to agree to “phase out” or “phase down” fossil fuels.
However the latest text includes a new phrase calling for an “orderly and just” phase-out.
One person familiar with the talks said the word “orderly” came from Jaber, who also heads UAE national oil company ADNOC.
The language could signal a consensus candidate as it would give countries different timelines to cut emissions depending on their level of development and reliance on fossil fuels.
But there is another option: no mention at all of fossil fuels, which reflects opposition from nations including Saudi Arabia, Russia and China, according to several observers who attended the closed meetings.
During closed-door talks on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia again opposed any mention of fossils, saying it would avoid “the trauma of explaining our position … that is well noted and clear,” according to meeting participants.
China, India and a group representing Arab states have called for the deletion of an entire paragraph on an energy package, while Russia proposed adding text on gas as a “transition fuel,” the participants said.
‘Temperature will keep rising’
With flagrant divisions coming to the fore, Europe has called for a harder line.
“I want this COP to mark the beginning of the end for fossil fuels,” European climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said on Wednesday.
Germany’s climate envoy Jennifer Morgan told AFP that “it is necessary that every party move away from their red lines (and) into solutions”.
“We need to roll up our sleeves and get it done.”
For his part, Stiell said the “key now is to sort the wheat from the chaff,” urging a move towards consensus, while US climate envoy John Kerry stressed that “adults need to behave like adults”.
The new draft must be brought to a large plenary meeting taking stock of the first week of talks ahead of a rest day on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Wednesday that 2023 will be the hottest on record after November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row.
Last month smashed the previous November heat record, pushing 2023’s global average temperature to 1.46C warmer than the pre-industrial era, the service said.
Copernicus head Carlo Buontempo said that “as long as greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising we can’t expect different outcomes”.
“The temperature will keep rising and so will the impacts of heatwaves and droughts.”
© Agence France-Presse
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Citing its tolerance for corruption, Mavuso Msimang resigns from ANC:
One of the ANC’s most senior leaders has terminated his membership via a scathing letter to the party that was leaked to social media on Wednesday evening.
Mavuso Msimang – who once endorsed and campaigned for President Cyril Ramaphosa during his first term and was also instrumental in the downfall of former president Jacob Zuma as part of the 101 Elders – criticised the ANC as having enabled corruption and of being led by corrupt individuals.
A party member for 60 years, Msimang was recently elected as the Veterans League deputy president.
His blistering indictment of the ANC’s leadership is set to send the party’s already damaged reputation to the gutters.
Just hours before Msimang’s resignation letter was made public, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said during a press briefing that its veterans were “attacking” the leadership “on a daily basis”. He reiterated the call from his personal X account, saying the veterans should stop “de-campaigning” the organisation.
The governing party has also been severely criticised by one of its most recognisable leaders in the form of Thabo Mbeki, who has been vocal about the Ramaphosa-led national executive committee failing to live up to its resolutions about party renewal.
In his four-page letter, signed 6 December, Msimang said the ANC’s track record of corruption was “a cause of great shame”, given that it once held the “moral high ground” when it took over government in 1994.
He said that the corruption the party once decried was now part of its DNA, which had “dire consequences for the most vulnerable members of our society”.
“As ANC leaders publicly proclaim ownership of obscenely wealthy homesteads and other possessions and send their children to the best schools in the land, there are still many South Africans whose children continue to be exposed to the risk of dropping into pit latrines in poorly equipped public schools and dying horrendous and humiliating deaths. There are children in rural areas who miss classes when streams and rivers are in flood because there are no bridges,” said Msimang.
He also highlighted some of the ANC’s most visible service delivery failures, such as the health system and dilapidated public infrastructure.
He said the environment for business in South Africa was “entirely disabling”, which had led to companies “failing, downsizing or simply deciding not to invest anymore in our country”, as thousands of jobs were being lost and unemployment soaring.
State power utility Eskom had been “brought to its knees by high-level corruption and sabotage”, he said, literally leaving the nation powerless.
“Transnet’s mismanagement has derailed its freight haulage system. In consequence, road transporters who have stepped into the breach sometimes have to wait in 40 km-long queues, while belching noxious gases into the atmosphere, because ports are congested.”
“The resulting demurrage charges are inevitably, ultimately borne by the consumer. And the worst may yet happen: ships simply avoiding our ports and discharging their cargo in better-run ports elsewhere. The litany of economic and social woes – crime, unemployment, destitution – associated with my beloved African National Congress is not only embarrassing, but also defies enumeration.”
Msimang said that he had spoken out for over a decade, with others, about corruption “and its harmful by-products of nepotism and incompetence”.
“The response of the leadership to this constructive censure has, at best, been a shoulder shrug and a promise to do something about it; at worst those who seek change by raising voices endure slurs, or are met with downright hostility.”
He also took on the ANC’s failure to self correct, saying that its own pollsters have warned it is falling significantly short of securing an outright victory in the 2024 elections.
“This dramatic decline in the organisation’s popularity is attributable to widely held perceptions that its members and deployees are corrupt, that the organisation has a high tolerance threshold for venality, and that the deployment of unsuitable people accounts for the government’s deplorable levels of service to the public.”
To address these perceptions, he said, the Veterans League urged ANC leadership “to ensure that members who have been accused of criminality or recommended for referral to criminal justice institutions by commissions set up to investigate corruption, should not be allowed to continue in office”.
“The Veterans League specifically recommended that such individuals be considered ineligible for nomination to represent the ANC in the 2024 national and provincial elections. Unfortunately, the ANC NEC has shown no urgency to deal with this matter,” Msimang said.
Veterans League president Snuki Zikalala on Wednesday evening confirmed Msimang’s resignation, saying it was regrettable.
He said that the league would continue to raise issues of corruption internally.
“Further, we will continue to engage at provincial and national levels in the list processes to take a stand against individuals who are implicated in corrupt activities including those fingered by the Zondo Commission being part of election lists for provincial and national legislatures.
“We reject the allegation that by doing this, we are undermining the ANC. We believe this is the only path to renew the ANC and restore the legitimacy of the ANC in the eyes of the people.
“We continue to believe that the ANC is the only organisation that can best take forward the interests of the poor and is committed to our constitutional democracy including the Bill of Rights and the rule of law,” he said, adding that the league remained committed to bringing back the integrity and dignity of the organisation and winning the coming elections.
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DHL GradStar Awards 2023 – Top100:
The ceremony was a momentous occasion to honour these students and celebrate their accomplishments
Over the last eight years the GradStar Programme, hand in hand with BlackBark Productions, has done their utmost in pushing awards and recognition boundaries by producing South Africa’s best and brightest, most employable students within their one of a kind programme.
The programme was headlined by DHL for the third consecutive year, and supported by top employers Epiroc, Absa, EOH, Gautrain, with long standing partners the FutureFit Academy, Golden Key Honours Society and welcoming a new partnership with Trace Academia and the Gauteng Provincial Government.
The selection process for the top 100 students was rigorous, considering work readiness, extracurricular involvement, community service, and leadership qualities. The chosen students have consistently exhibited an exceptional level of dedication and perseverance, making a positive impact for their future and communities.
Laura Barker, Founder of the GradStar Awards and CEO of BlackBark Productions and Dr Eric Albertini, Director of Learning Solutions, FutureFit Academy, and Master Judge for the GradStar Awards, have been instrumental in developing the judging framework for the GradStar Awards.
The awards ceremony, set to take place on 6th December, will be a momentous occasion to honour these students and celebrate their accomplishments. The event will feature esteemed guests, employers, and industry trailblazers who will come together to commend these students for their remarkable achievements. There will be a morning of workshops where all students have the opportunity to impress the sponsor employers and judges; this is how the “10 of the finest” will be decided.
The judges were unanimous in their praise for this year’s Top100 students. A big thank you to all the judges, the GradStar App, its developers and our amazing team, all of whom helped to make all this possible.
Students, please remember to download the GradStar App, in order to network with other students and be matched with employers looking for your skill set. Free from all app stores.
Click here to see who made the Top100 GradStar list of 2023.
Judges
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