DUBAI, UAE – Negotiators of various countries and representations are prodded to take bolder actions so the ‘big switch’ on to achieving the 1.5 degrees C warming limit can successfully progress as an upshot of the COP28 Climate Change Summit.

In a media stakeout, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell indicated that “COP28 must deliver a big switch: not just ‘what’ governments must do, but also ‘how’ to get the job done.”

As stated by the UN Secretary General in the opening of this year’s climate talks, the world is already teetering into the ‘crash-and-burn’ state, with temperature rise reaching perilous levels of close to 3.0 degrees C -- which is strikingly far off from the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Owing to that precarious scenario, Stiell noted “we all know the scale of the climate crisis.  COP28 must be about solutions to get all countries out of this climate mess.”

He emphasized “the technologies and tools all exist,” hence, the missing piece of the puzzle is for this week’s negotiators to “agree on putting them to work. In short, it’s go-time for governments at COP28 this week.”

Stiell qualified that in scouring for solutions, “there are low, middle, and high ambition options on many issues,” with him specifying that “if we want to save lives now, and keep 1.5 within reach, the highest ambition COP outcomes must stay front and center in these negotiations.”

Toward that end, the UN Climate Change official thus urged “negotiators to start with the highest ambition outcome and for them to ask: how do we get there?”

Stiell opined that while “compromises will be essential,” this same principle shall not be applied when it comes to ambition being cast in solving the climate crisis – especially at this time when the whole world is already hanging in the balance and dangerously cocooned into a burning planet.

“This week I don’t want to see diversions and political tactics that hold climate ambition hostage. I urge all ministers and negotiators to think outside the box.  Climate action needs that paradigm shift,” he stressed.

Stiell similarly conveyed that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) “will be an honest broker and convenor within this process. We will make sure all countries have a seat at the table and can use their full voices.”

The UN official further reminded negotiators that if things are not done correctly and efficiently at COP28, “eight billion people are now on the frontlines… every country is hungry for the next source of stable economic growth. Billions of households are struggling to put bread on the table.”

To thwart such state of adversity the world is in now, he highlighted that undaunted and commanding climate goals must be propelled into tangible and viable results post-COP28.

“Bold climate action can be the meal-ticket of the 21st century,” he said, adding that any portended outcome of negotiations at COP28 must be decidedly reached as a “bold climate action for momentous opportunity – an opportunity for more jobs, healthier economic growth, less pollution and better human health.”