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Overemphasis on innovation and carbon removal risks distracting from main goal of stopping use of fossil fuels, say scientists

Machines to magic carbon out of the air, artificial intelligence, indoor vertical farms to grow food for our escape to Mars, and even solar-powered “responsible” yachts: the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai has been festooned with the promise of technological fixes for worsening global heating and ecological breakdown.

The UN climate talks have drawn a record number of delegates to a sprawling, freshly built metropolis, which has as its centrepiece an enormous dome that emits sounds and lights up in different colours at night. The two-week programme is laden with talks, events and demonstrations of the need for humanity to innovate its way out of the climate crisis.

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Turks and Caicos Islanders are helping protect the reef from the deadliest ever coral sickness.

Will the transition to a new clean energy system happen quickly, or will we fry the planet first?

Here's Carbon Pulse's summary of stories from the last Saturday at COP28 in Dubai. Our tireless team of journalists have now published more than 150 articles from this year's UN climate summit, providing our readers with unrivalled coverage. We reckon few, if any, other media outlets can boast more comprehensive reporting. Subscribe to CP Daily here or email admin@carbon-pulse to inquire about a subscription.

Trees are a public asset. When they are illegally destroyed in pursuit of better views or property prices, the losses are many and profound

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Woodford Bay on Sydney’s lower north shore, its exclusive white mansions and quaint boat sheds nestled into gnarly, urban bush abutting the harbour, has the type of serenity only lots of money can buy in Australia’s most ostentatiously wealthy city. Birdsong – of currawongs, magpies, kookaburras and gulls – is the bay’s bucolic daytime symphony, interrupted occasionally by the jarring cough of an outboard motor or car ignition.

By night you’d hear the metaphoric pin drop. And yet, confoundingly, nobody seems to have heard whoever, under night’s cover, recently illegally cut down almost 300 trees and hundreds of other plants on public bushland. Among the destroyed mature trees are eucalypts (including angophora), banksia and casuarina.

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But country’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, would not say whether it would support phase-out wording in climate deal

• Cop28 live – latest updates

China would like to see nations agree to substitute renewable energy for fossil fuels, the country’s chief climate official has said, as nations wrangled over the weekend on the wording of a deal on the climate crisis.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s climate envoy, would not be explicit on whether China supported or opposed a phase-out of fossil fuels, which more than 100 governments are pushing for at crucial climate talks, the Cop28 UN summit.

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With the direction of travel on the first ever stocktake of the Paris Agreement moving towards including "fossil phaseout" language in the text, sources inside negotiation rooms, country delegates, and climate stakeholders, underlined the substantial impact of such an outcome at COP28, though called for crucial clarification on "abatement" language.

The Marshall Islands shares the same concerns over climate change and rising sea levels as its Pacific Island neighbours but also makes significant revenue from its flag registry for ships and yachts, seemingly complicating the country's messaging on emissions at COP28.

Two fossil fuel dependent nations on Saturday backed a climate High Ambition Coalition (HAC) declaration at COP28 in Dubai authored by the Marshall Islands, with both of their respective environment ministers calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels.

Rules governing carbon crediting under the Paris Agreement appear to be heading towards adoption despite some "melodrama" in negotiating rooms, as countries on Saturday  discussed the first draft decision text on Article 6.4 at COP28, with an "ambitious" timeline now set for a final clean text of midday on Sunday.

Sweden and Switzerland have signed a declaration of intent to test the rules for international carbon markets in the field of removal technologies under Article 6, which they hope will pave the way towards establishing a market under the Paris Agreement framework.

Brazil has climbed up 15 spots due to progressive climate policies, while the UK slipped back by nine ranks due to policy rollback, in a report published this week alongside COP28, which found no country was on track to limit global warming in line with the Paris Agreement.

Most of the sectoral pledges announced during COP28 will not lead to a sufficient reduction in emissions to limit global warming by 1.5C, as many are already counted in national plans or lack sufficient ambition, a report published on Saturday found.

Climate activists likely to be concerned by another fossil fuel-reliant country taking over summit presidency

Azerbaijan has been announced as the host of next year’s climate summit after fraught negotiations.

Under UN rules it was eastern Europe’s turn to take over the rotating presidency but the groups need to unanimously decide on the host. Russia had blocked EU countries and Azerbaijan and Armenia were blocking each other’s bids.

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The Australian government should fund demonstration projects that will generate biodiversity certificates in its Nature Repair Market scheme in order to generate interest and understanding among potential participants, experts said on the side lines of the COP28 conference.

Finland plans to achieve negative emissions by around 2040 by “aggressively” pursuing carbon capture, the country’s environment minister told an audience at the United Nations climate conference COP28 on Saturday.

Azerbaijan's capital Baku will be confirmed as the next host of the annual UN climate summit, the country's ecology minister announced at COP28 in Dubai on Saturday, after Armenia formally gave its blessing earlier in the week and Russia lifted its veto threat.

Continent’s chief negotiator says an agreement for fair and equitable funding is a matter of life and death

• Cop28 live – latest updates

Fair and equitable finance for climate adaptation is a matter of life and death for the African continent, but talks at Cop28 so far have failed to deliver, the chief negotiator for the African group has warned.

Adaptation is being discussed as part of the global stocktake (GST), the assessment of where the world is on delivering the commitments made in the 2015 Paris agreement. The long-awaited global goal on adaptation (GGA) – a collective commitment proposed by the African group in 2013 and established under the Paris agreement – to drive political action and finance for adaptation on the same scale as mitigation, is also due to be completed in Dubai.

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UK’s former climate chief Alok Sharma says phase-out crucial to limit global warming to 1.5C

Failure to agree a phase-out of fossil fuels at the UN Cop28 climate summit would push the world beyond the crucial 1.5C temperature limit and into climate breakdown, the UK’s former climate chief has warned.

Alok Sharma, who was president of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, said it was vital that governments made a clear commitment in the next few days to eliminate coal, oil and gas.

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