Recap of COP28
In today's ever-evolving environmental landscape, addressing the pressing issue of climate change has become paramount. This year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (or “COP28”) was held in Dubai, UAE, from November 30 to December 13, with representatives from almost 200 countries gathering to discuss the policy-making necessary to tackle the challenge of rising global temperatures and the consequences thereof.
Amid high controversy due to the host country's selection and the event's president, who is a top-level oil executive, the 198 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change reached a consensus expressed in the first “Global Stocktake”. The agreement aimed to retain the feasibility of the goal of constraining rising temperatures within 1.5oC of the averages in the Industrial Revolution period. In a historical first, the text called the signing countries to transition away from all fossil fuels. Parallel to this were the calls to triple the use of renewable energy sources and double the efficiency of energy usage by 2030.
Only meticulous national planning could achieve these goals; the final text encouraged governments to submit Nationally Determined Contributions. Without any other transnational efforts, these plans alone are projected to help them close the gap in reducing greenhouse gases (or GHGs) needed to keep up with the 1.5oC northern star by 20%. Of course, the discrepancies in the levels of available funds, resources, and know-how between the participating countries, as well as the differences in the damage that has been inflicted on them so far due to climate change, made it imperative that the Presidency of the meeting recognized the need to increase adaptation finance. Otherwise, there cannot be equal and equitable progress, leaving nobody behind.
As happens in every proposal for collective and concessional funding, some government officials were challenged by the idea. Furthermore, less developed states like Colombia have been rightful in their protests against stepping back from their fossil fuel industries; in this case, Colombia saw credit rating agencies downgrading the country, making the servicing of green adaptation loans more expensive. It is true, though, that no matter the significance of the goal, contributing to grants directed towards states where control of money flows is questionable is a decision bearing high risk. That is why the participating parties and the Presidency made a special reference to the need for global financial architecture reforms to fight this hesitancy by enhancing the efficacy of concessional and grant finance.
There were, however, some less bright facts about the Conference. First of all, as is always true for UNCCC resolutions, the deal's text is not binding. Furthermore, as the Economist points out, the “transitioning away from all fossil fuels” is not as decisive as it might have sounded to people through headlines; businesses can continue burning dirty fuel under the condition that the resulting carbon emissions are captured at their source. In any case, calls for the complete abandonment of fossil fuels in the short future would be naive due to the high dependency of our economy and lifestyle on them; much more decisive than people were expecting due to the characteristics of the hosting country’s economy and the Conference president’s position, were the agreements made between businesses in this direction. President al-Jaber’s company and dozens of others agreed to reduce their methane emissions; this is great news since methane significantly contributes to the greenhouse phenomenon. Once again, businesses feeling the pulse of the economy and society, dependent on end consumers demanding a healthy planet for future generations, are more sensible and swift in their responses to the issue than government agencies.
Additionally, the “Loss and Damage” fund agreed in the COP27 in Egypt last year, which provides for funding directed to the countries most vulnerable against climate change and who have already incurred the most damage, received contributions at a scale much lower than the estimated damage being caused to such countries each year. But again, initiating the fund is still a significant development that should not be overlooked, even though it points out to everyone the insufficiency that has always characterized climate adaptation financing so far.
An initiative that was launched in COP28 and which makes us very optimistic came after the calls of the Presidency toward more inclusivity and solidarity in climate action. A very important step in this direction was signing the COP28 Gender-Responsive Just Transitions & Climate Action Partnership, which aims to ensure equal opportunities for women in obtaining funds. This is one of the multiple steps towards this direction this year; in another significant international event, the UNESCO-recognized World Day of the Olive Tree, the role of women in agricultural production (which heavily contributes to GHG emissions but is also central in the struggle against climate change) was celebrated.
Also, in 2023, we saw how regional differences in meteorological conditions and geopolitical influences contributed to disruptions in agricultural supply chains; bans from the Turkish government on olive oil exports heightened the shortage of southern European olive oil in world markets, which was mainly attributable to the big shortage in Spain and southern Italy due to prolonged periods of drought. Imbalances and disruptions in the flow of commodities may come up between countries and different regions in the same country. In a similar manner, when one or a small group of states implement decisive solutions towards curbing GHG emissions, but others that contribute to the problem do not, or they do not take their special conditions under consideration to properly address the matter under the lens of their challenges and needs, no significant collective progress can be made. To address this issue, the Coalition of High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships Pledge was announced by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the COP28 presidency, calling for subnational governments (like regional or local governments and councils) to draw up the NDCs.
This year’s declaration of the UNCCC might not have contained the groundbreaking measures that many climate activists and scientists have been calling for to prevent further environmental degradation. However, it certainly contains some breakthroughs that are in the right direction.