Climate leaders gather in Madrid to form coalition to limit warming to 1.5 C

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are hosting an international climate and energy summit in Madrid on Monday in hopes of forming a coalition that can revive humanity’s hopes of limiting global warming to 1.5 C (2.7 F) above pre-industrial levels.

The event brings together energy and climate ministers from around the world, as well as members of civil society and the energy industry to get a head start on discussing emissions targets less than two months ahead of COP28 in the UAE.

A new report by the IEA, which says there is still hope for meeting the 1.5 C target, will also be discussed at the meeting. The report says that the world’s emissions need to peak before 2025 and then fall rapidly until they hit net zero by 2050 or earlier.

“Solar is the name of the game,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IAE. “This year, of all the power plants installed in the world, more than 80% are renewable. And we are seeing an unprecedented electrification of the transportation sector,” he said, explaining how this year, one out of every five new cars sold is electric compared to one out of every 25 cars just two years ago.

“The best news is that in the last two years, global clean energy investments increased by 40%,” he said, laying out some of his optimism for limiting warming.

“This year, we are going to show the world that even without new climate policies, we will see fossil fuels peek before the end of this decade due to market fundamentals,” Birol said, while also warning that without new policies or climate agreements, the Earth’s temperature would increase by 2.4 C.

Spain’s Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera said Monday’s talks will be important to agree on the precise details of how targets will be reached, including everything from skills to supply chains, raw materials to specific language for the agreement.

“We know 1.5 C is achievable with the current technologies but will remain out of reach with current policies … We cannot bear just one more year of this failure,” said Catherine Abreu, director of Destination Zero, giving voice to the civil groups that met in Madrid on Friday.

Abreu insisted on the need to phase out fossil fuels, starting with the $13 million worth of subsidies that the industry gets each minute, as calculated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, highlighted the importance of COP28 as it will hold the first-ever global stocktake of climate progress.

“The spirit of the Paris Agreement is still there, but it is really in danger,” she said. “I think this group can bridge the difference between developed countries and developing countries, and by sharing a rational response to the crisis. It’s just so dangerous that we cannot fight against each other.”

The UAE’s Sultan al-Jaber, president-designate of the upcoming COP talks, announced in a video message that he has already gotten 20 oil and gas companies to eliminate methane emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

At the end of the day, the group will offer a press conference to explain their results.