COP31 leaders call for faster climate action
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Business Day (South Africa) and Club of Mozambique
Leaders gathered at COP31 in Turkey are calling on governments to speed up their efforts against global warming, as global temperatures and climate-related disasters rise. The two-week meeting opens with the UN warning that the 1.5°C threshold will soon be exceeded, according to Business Day.
The executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Stiell, on Monday called on governments to speed up their climate action at the opening of COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, judging that progress made was "nowhere near fast enough", according to Business Day.
The Turkish presidency of COP31 wants to raise the share of the world economy that is electrified to more than a third by 2035, against about a fifth at present. The president of COP31, Murat Kurum, considers that this shift can reduce the use of equipment running on fossil fuels, but climate advocates dispute the absence of a requirement that the additional electricity come from low-carbon sources.
The conflict in Iran is disrupting oil deliveries in the Middle East via the Strait of Hormuz and driving up fuel prices, while several Asian countries are increasing their use of coal. Simon Stiell nonetheless presented renewable energy as a response to energy insecurity, saying that their deployment had already saved the world economy hundreds of billions of dollars.
The rise of artificial intelligence is also increasing global demand for electricity and greenhouse gas emissions. Turkey wants COP31 to adopt a commitment setting out principles for the sustainable development and deployment of AI, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is calling for climate promises to be turned into concrete results.
