Dr. Gyan Pathak
UN Climate Change Conference – United Arab Emirates (COP28) (November 30 – December 12, 2023), that began with first major milestone on the day-one, relapsed midway into politics, that prompted a disheartening comment by UN climate chief Simon Stiell that COP28 delegates are not in Dubai to “score points” and play at “lowest-denominator politics” adding that they must take ambitious action on curbing global warming and ending the climate crisis.
The historic agreement that made the Climate Fund operational intended to assist developing countries, particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, known in the negotiations as ‘loss and damage’, which had generated great hope, has thus made room for great frustration on account of the politics being played by the countries and lobbies, putting the very solution of the climate crisis at risks or at least to be delayed further at the heavy cost of human life and the entire ecology.
It goes without saying that despite the historical agreement of climate financing reached in the beginning of the conference, the fate of the climate adaptation and the containment of the fossil fuels usage is uncertain at the midpoint of the COP28 negotiations. It is in this backdrop, Mr Stiell’s strong message to the government negotiators have come who has urged “all governments must give their negotiators clear marching orders,” adding that “we need highest ambition, not point scoring or lowest common denominator politics.”
Though the largest emitters of pollutant countries have committed to net-zero, majority by 2050, and China and India respectively by 2060 and 2070, and they are talking big about saving the climate, ecology and the humanity, they have been very slow at taking appropriate action in their respective countries. At this rate of action the world is going to miss the target of reducing emissions to half by 2023. Though making the climate fund in the beginning of COP28 operational had generated great hope, and the President for COP Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber had said the occasion “a prime opportunity to rethink, reboot, and refocus the climate agenda” set at COP21 in 2015 to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius to pre-industrial levels by 2050, dirty politics being played during COP28 does not augur well for the world reeling under climate crisis.
Operationalising the Climate Loss and Damage Fund, which was agreed in COP27, was just a beginning, which was expected to be followed up in the right earnest during the COP28 Dubai conference, but the progress is very slow, and nothing much substantial has come out until the midpoint. The reality is that the ‘good intentions’ and the disproportionately smaller climate fund that the world actually requires could not even halve the emissions by 2030.
Though the success on long awaited deal at the beginning of COP28 was expected to provide this climate conference a spring in its further steps, no one was satisfied with the progress so far. It was just a start, said the UN Climate Chief Mr Steill, cautioning, “We would be kidding ourselves if we think it’s a tick in the box for finance and support at this COP. More is required.” He even asked the delegates to take an honest look at the real work ahead, because “good intentions won’t halve emissions this decade or save lives now” adding “we need enhanced transparency, and to deliver our promise to fund climate action across the world.”
Therefore, at the midpoint of the COP28, UN Climate Chief had to lay out his vision for the next round of climate talks while emphasizing that “only serious progress on finance can deliver frontline results,” which would be a the “great enabler” for climate action. “The negotiations must put it front and centre,” he said.
As for the Global Stocktake (GST) established under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement as a means of assessing progress towards the agreement’s long-term goals, the operationalisation of the Climate Fund in the beginning of COP28 was expected to enable the parties to climate action to focus on the strongest possible response to it, but that was not seen in the first half of the conference period, raising serious concerns. GST is the vehicle to get climate action on track, but it was disheartening to hear Mr Stiell who said that “we have a starting text on the table … But it’s a grab bag of wish lists and heavy on posturing.”
“The key now is to sort the wheat from the chaff,” the UN Climate Chief pointed out adding “if we want to save lives now and keep 1.5 goal within reach, the highest ambition COP outcomes must stay front and centre.” By the end of next week, when the conference is set to close, COP28 must deliver a bullet train to speed up climate action, he said adding “we currently have an old caboose chugging over rickety tracks.” There are technologies, solutions, and tools on the table, and “it’s time for governments and negotiators to pick them up and put them to work,” he emphasized.
The progress by COP28 midpoint included the key pledges and declarations apart from an agreement on Climate Fund and its operationalization on the first day of the conference. Countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars so far for the fund, pledged to shore up global healthcare systems to withstand the worsening impacts of climate change, and a pledge to curb cooling-related emissions joined by nearly 60 countries. The most discussed topics were: Phasing out or reducing the use of fossil fuels; Building resilience to climate impacts; and Financial support for vulnerable countries coping with a climate catastrophe.
UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released two reports so far among several other reports released by others. WMO’s fist report warned that the world is heating up at a pace that could signal “planetary collapse” if drastic and immediate action isn’t taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions, while its second report confirmed that 2011-2030 would be the warmest decade ever recorded with greenhouse gas emissions “turbo charging” climate change and imperilling out Polar ice caps and mountainous regions. (IPA
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