By: Mustafa Ahmad
Edited By: Elizabeth Cherchia
On November 30, the 28th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, kicked off in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Representatives from member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathered in Expo City, Dubai, to discuss ongoing threats from climate change to the planet.
Reminders of the ongoing war in Gaza have hung over the conference as some heads of state used COP28 to express indignation at events in Gaza. Activists also protested outside the summit in Dubai, calling once again for a ceasefire. Host country UAE has slashed its financial support for Palestine since normalizing relations with Israel in 2020 and has faced criticisms for its intention to keep its relations with Israel intact.
The convention opened with nations formally adopting a $700 million loss and damage fund. The fund supports countries especially vulnerable to climate change with long-term or irreversible damage from floods, drought, extreme heat, and rising sea levels. Alongside the fund’s adoption came criticism of the United States’ (US) proposed contribution, amounting to less than a fifth of the UAE’s and 14 times less than the European Union’s (EU). Estimates indicate the fund covers less than 0.2% of what affected nations need to address “irreversible economic and non-economic losses” from climate change.
“Developed countries need to claim responsibility for their actions,” commented John Augé, a second-year MAIR student attending the conference. “We need to develop clear, measurable, and time-bound action plans that outline specific steps, timelines, and responsibilities for implementing conference outcomes.”
Also crucial in the discussions were the perspectives of indigenous groups, including key Native American leaders, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Indigenous delegates noted that their communities are already experiencing some devastating effects of climate change. Furthermore, SIDS representatives showed how thin the margin of error was for them. Drawing on his experiences in Tuvalu, Augé urged haste: “Regarding the aforementioned loss and damage fund, it needs to be operationalized as soon as possible, and there needs to be a minimum allocation for Pacific SIDS. The longer the fund isn’t operating, the more the Pacific countries lose.”
Over the following days, leaders of sovereign nations took the stage and tried to assure the world they were headed in a desirable direction. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that his country would achieve its targets in a more “pragmatic way” to avoid raising consumer costs after he reversed course on several key climate pledges in late September. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the Loss and Damage fund and pitched India as a potential host for COP in 2028, even though India continues to rapidly construct coal plants and provide far more subsidies to fossil fuels than renewable energy.
Nations continued to make commitments to update their energy portfolio. Nuclear power, in particular, took a prominent role at this COP, with over 110 countries committing to tripling their nuclear capacity by 2030. The UAE has also taken full advantage of its status as the COP28 host to sign some key clean energy deals. A Bill Gates-cofounded nuclear company signed a deal with the UAE to explore building advanced reactors. The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, or Masdar, inked deals with Angola for a 150MW ground-mounted solar project and Malaysia for 10GW of renewable energy projects.
Non-profits and civil society are also important in recommending language for the draft agreement. “As part of civil society, one of my roles is to do party outreach and meet with negotiators to push for specific recommendations in the final texts,” reflected Yseult Gibert, a second-year MAIR student who attended the conference. “This year, parties have been much more open and receptive to the health community’s recommendations…however, there is still a lot of progress to do specifically regarding fast, full, fair, and funded fossil fuel phase-out.” Augé also cited “Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner discussing RMI’s [the Republic of the Marshall Island] push for cultural heritage projects such as heritage curriculum in education” as one of the most personally impactful moments of the conference.
However, alongside civil society, there is a higher presence of fossil fuel lobbyists at this COP compared to previous years. Furthermore, the UAE’s continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels has raised questions about its leadership of COP28. In response to former UN climate envoy Mary Robinson’s questions, COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who also serves as chief executive for Adnoc, the UAE’s state oil company, vehemently declared that “no science” indicates the need for fossil fuel phase-outs. At the time of this writing, the present COP28 draft agreement stops short of saying there should be a fossil fuel phase-out, and talks have extended as representatives present argue over this point.
COP28 saw some other innovative discussions in the days following the start of the conference, including “ministers from across the world emphasize the importance of public health in regards to climate change,” as Augé noted. In the first COP “Health Day,” over 40 million health professionals gathered to demand action from their sector on climate change. Moreover, over 142 countries pledged to back a breakthrough Climate and Health Declaration. “The health community has been advocating for years to say that the climate crisis is a health crisis,” reflected Gibert, “So, this year was truly the culmination of so much work and dedication from the community.”
As the world awaits the final draft agreement of COP28, Augé and Gibert offered their perspectives on the importance of such conferences. “Regional and international collaboration is critical for fostering partnerships…to mobilize resources, share knowledge, and implement collaborative solutions,” notes Augé. “The exchange of best practices and lessons learned to accelerate must take place to achieve the best results.” At the same time, people like Gibert urge readers to remember the importance of local action. “International conferences such as COP28 are extremely important,” reflects Gibert, “but what we do locally is most important as it is where we have the most impact.”