COP28 of the United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place from November 30 to December 12 at Dubai Expo City.
At upcoming negotiations, governments will discuss a global stocktake and its effectiveness in pushing countries to cut greenhouse-gas emissions faster. They also anticipate discussing a finance gap fund to address loss and damage.
What is COP?
The United Nations Conference of the Parties, or COP, is an annual climate change negotiation process held under United Nations auspices and attended by world leaders, ministers and negotiators from countries that have signed onto either Kyoto Protocol or Paris Agreement to seek solutions to our most pressing environmental problem – climate change due to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Since 1995, the Conference of Parties process (COP) has become a cornerstone of international efforts to limit atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and avoid human interference with Earth’s natural climate system. Over three decades since then, COP has evolved into an unparalleled platform that allows states and stakeholders to determine ambitions and responsibilities, identify climate actions for evaluation purposes, and facilitate climate support delivery.
COP28 will mark the completion of the inaugural Global Stocktake, an assessment of progress towards fulfilling commitments made under the Paris Agreement. Initial findings have indicated that global temperatures are on track to increase by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and how COP28 reacts will be key.
UAE Presidency of COP28 has engaged all conference stakeholders through open consultations to craft its two-week agenda that will be finalized at meeting in November. It reflects stakeholders’ priorities such as: acting now to accelerate clean energy adoption and reduce emissions before 2030; reforming climate finance while fulfilling existing commitments; incorporating loss and damage considerations into mitigation/adaptation agenda; prioritizing nature, people, lives and livelihoods into climate action efforts.
The UAE COP28 Advisory Committee was designed to embody diversity and inclusion, with over half its membership representing Global South countries as well as indigenous peoples, LDCs and SIDS. This body will play a pivotal role in making sure that COP28 UAE agenda remains robust and meaningful.
Why is the UAE hosting COP28?
Each year, a different country hosts the Conference of Parties — or COP — meetings where countries come together to discuss ways they can combat climate change. Each host nation usually selects someone as president-designate of COP28; their appointment has drawn criticism from climate activists. This year’s president-designate is Sultan Al Jaber from UAE who has received much criticism due to his controversial appointment.
Since 1995, UAE has been hosting Conference of Parties meetings and is well acquainted with their intricate workings. Their contributions to discussions have included increasing participation from women and young people as well as developing rules designed to increase chances of success at COP meetings.
However, in the past the UAE has been accused of abusing summits to advance its own interests and undermine climate action. Global Witness found that during COP27 in Egypt, UAE delegation included 70 individuals associated directly or indirectly with oil and gas corporations; others represented their industry through delegations attending on its behalf.
At these summits, fossil fuel executives have spoken at events to praise UAE efforts while simultaneously criticizing calls to end fossil fuel production. Vicki Hollub of Occidental Petroleum stated that climate disasters were not solely the responsibility of oil and gas industries and anyone calling for an end to them had no idea of its consequences for the world.
Though these fears exist, the UAE remains firm that they are well suited to host COP28 and are dedicated to taking its meetings in the right direction. They have been pressing UN body responsible for summits to establish a clear conflict-of-interest policy for these discussions, block access for entities involved with fossil fuel industries and improve transparency and accountability during these summits.
What are the main issues that will be discussed at COP28?
Researchers are alarmed by record heat, drought, floods and storms ravaging parts of the world and how little ambition has been shown at this year’s climate summit being held in UAE – an Arab nation which is widely known for supporting state-sponsored climate propaganda and running an extensive network of “influence operations” targeted against journalists, academics and civil society groups.
The primary topic on COP28’s agenda will be its Global Stocktake, which will assess how effectively governments are fulfilling the Paris Agreement goals. It will allow participants to refine their national climate commitments (NDCs) as well as identify trends which should inform broader global climate action initiatives that must be updated every five years.
Other issues at stake at the conference will include developing a framework to achieve the Paris Agreement’s global adaptation goal, which aims to help countries focus their efforts on strengthening resilience and decreasing vulnerability, but its definition remains vague and no progress made on establishing how it could be measured. Furthermore, participants will discuss ways in which to implement a loss and damage fund agreed at COP27.
Key issues at this conference will include finding ways to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels. This has proven difficult at previous COPs, with nations insisting on maintaining some role for coal, oil and gas. At an press conference earlier this week, UAE President Abdullah Al Jaber stated that phase out was “inevitable and essential”.
Welcomely, COP28 will also work to strengthen the roles of cities and other subnational actors by expanding the Local Climate Action Summit, hosting a second Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change and hosting a Transport-Energy Ministerial. It is imperative that governments better integrate cities into their NDCs and national adaptation plans while making climate finance easily available to them.
At last, the conference will consider ways to reduce the ‘ambition gap’ – the difference between current government actions and those needed to keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius. This subject will likely feature in UAE presidency’s draft outcome document released before starting of conference.
What are the objectives of COP28?
Every year, COP meetings try to make tangible strides towards climate action. They cover issues like phasing out fossil fuels, financing climate resilience in vulnerable nations and changing food and energy production methods. In order to reach the ambitious targets set out by the Paris Agreement, leaders and negotiators must come prepared to make bold commitments and decisions at COP28 – WRI’s experts will keep tabs on key developments leading up to, during, and post COP28 here at this hub; check back often for updates!
COP28’s agenda is ambitious and comprehensive, featuring several thematic days that cover topics like gender equality at conferences, technology transfer and transparency in climate finance. This year’s meeting is also crucial for the Green Climate Fund; an innovative financing mechanism created under the Paris Agreement with an aim of mobilizing $100 billion annually by 2020 in order to help poor countries manage climate change costs.
At this year’s Conference of Parties (COP), the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water and sanitation will be introduced, with an aim of providing universal access by 2030. Achieve this goal will require countries to ensure access to safe drinking water for all, improve waste management practices, and invest in sustainable sanitation systems.
UAE Presidency: A New Hope
Two months ago, UAE COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber issued an appeal to governments worldwide to increase their climate action targets as currently identified Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are inadequate to limit global warming to 1.5degC as required by Paris Agreement. Unfortunately, his call has gone unanswered.
Instead, he will likely attempt to steer discussions back toward renewables and climate finance. He may push for African countries to gain access to special drawing rights at the International Monetary Fund so they can leverage investments five-fold; multilateral finance institutions to increase concessional lending; as well as support creating a carbon tax to raise climate funds for developing nations. Though governments typically control climate policy making processes, business must play its part by reassessing ESG risks or including adaptation and mitigation into business models for sustainable business operations – this way COP28 promises are met!
