Zerefos on SKAI: “It is time to go to the Emirates of alternative energy sources and leave the Emirates of fossil fuels”

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Globally, the damage from climate change costs more than 130 trillion. euros, said the professor of Geography and Climatology at EKPA and general secretary of the Academy of Athens

Sleepy and exhausted, its negotiators 27th UN Conference for the climate ratify after marathon consultations the creation of a financing fund for the economically weak countries affected by the climate crisis for the first time in history.

The Senior Coordinator of the UN Climate Change Programme, Christos Zerefos speaks exclusively to SKAI and Korina Georgiou after the conclusion of the conference:

“The details of which countries will have access, the modes of operation but also how this will be organized, this is still pending. They agreed whether to set up a transitional committee to carry out part of the work until the 28th UN Conference. The latest report published indicates that the most vulnerable parts of the planet to climate change are in Africa, as well as small island developing states..

And while humanity’s hourglass for a sustainable planet empties, the distinguished Professor of Geography and Climatology at EKPA and Secretary General of the Academy of Athens, Christos Zerefos, assesses the cost of the climate crisis.

“Climate change damages come at a high cost. Consider that the total damage to our country at the end of the 21st century we have estimated exceeds 700 billion euros. Globally, this damage exceeds 130 trillion. euro”.

Despite a major victory for the poorest countries, progress towards the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and towards faster weaning off of fossil fuels has fallen short of the mark, according to environmental groups.

As he tells SKAI o Kostis Grimanis, Head of Climate & Energy at the Greek office of Greenpeace “Right now the policies being implemented put us on a path to increase the average global temperature – and obviously this means an increase in the intensity of extreme weather events – to 2.7 degrees Celsius. This means that we are entering a self-sustaining climate crisis that will have devastating consequences for both developing countries and developed parts of the world, such as Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.”

With the aftertaste of COP27 rather bittersweet and the global community ostriching, once again putting its head deeper in the sand, the warning of Christos Zerefos is resounding:

“We are already half past 12. The time is now to go to the Emirates of alternative energy sources and leave the Emirates of fossil fuels.”.

All eyes now turn to the United Arab Emirates and the 2023 Conference.

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