By Martin Banks 

COP28, starting on Thursday (30 November) in Dubai, is an “important moment” for international climate negotiations.

That is the message from the business community in Europe which has also laid out its wish list for the big international climate event this week.

From Thursday heads of state and government, ministers, the EU – represented by Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra – and representatives of non-governmental organisations and lobby groups will be negotiating the global climate crisis at the 28th United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai.

Ahead of the event, BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer said: “European business stands firmly behind the Paris Agreement.”

He added, “However, with the EU counting for 7% of current global CO2 emissions and only 4-5% by 2030, it is critical that all G20 countries agree to similarly ambitious 2030 targets”.

“They must also commit to implementing concrete, transparent and reliable transformation measures“.

“Businesses are indispensable partners and solution providers for making this deep transformation happen successfully. No industry or sector that is adapting to a net-zero ambition should be excluded from active engagement.”

Business Europe has just published 6 priority actions for COP28:

Increasing global ambition and action towards climate neutrality

Scaling up international climate finance

Strengthening climate adaptation efforts

Operationalising global carbon market mechanisms

Securing engagement with all industries and sectors

Closing carbon cycles

Meanwhile, the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament will be present in Dubai.

MEPs Bas Eickhout and Jutta Paulus are both members of the European Parliament’s COP28 delegation, as well as Michael Bloss and Hannah Neumann.

Eickhout said, “If we want to halt climate change and further accelerate the energy transition, that means clarity on the end goal: a world that says goodbye to fossil energy”.

“Besides climate ambition, the Dubai summit is about what exactly the climate damage fund agreed earlier should look like, and which countries pay and possibly receive money. This fund should compensate for climate damage already suffered in vulnerable countries.”