The world needs to come to an agreement at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on a number of crucial climate concerns, Environment Minister Md Shahab Uddin has said. 

“The source of funding for addressing loss and damage must be finalized at COP28 (28th session of the Conference of Parties),” the minister said in a meeting at his ministry on Thursday.

“The financing for adaptation needs should not be sacrificed in order to make room for the loss and damage budget. The loss and damage fund needs to be operationalized as soon as feasible; thus we also need to make significant work on its organizational and operational procedures.”

The environment minister said the parties need to reach a consensus on the Mitigation Work Program to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 in order to keep the 1.5℃ target within reach, adding that there must be significant progress at COP28 on a new collective quantified goal on climate finance in order to adopt a decision at COP29.

“We need to finalize the definition of climate finance. We are also looking forward to achieving the delivery of $100 billion by developed countries before the new collective quantified goal is adopted. Setting a new aim will not sound credible to the parties if the $100 billion goal is not met.” 

The minister also expressed gratitude to the Danish government for hosting the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial Meeting. 

Ambassador of Denmark to Bangladesh Winnie Estrup Petersen said Bangladesh was one of the top countries in the world for both being in danger from climate change and successfully managing the risk.

Abdulla Ali Abdulla Khaseif AlHmoudi, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Bangladesh, expressed optimism that COP28, which will be hosted in the UAE in November, would make considerable progress on the agenda items, including loss and damage.