COP28 UAE kicks off, as global climate action takes centre stage

The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 opens today, with a strong call to speed up collective climate action.

The conference takes place in the hottest year ever recorded in human history.

COP28 will run from November 30 to December 12 at Expo City Dubai, offers a global platform to agree on climate commitments and curb the worst impacts of climate change, according to a statement released by United Nations Climate Change.

Read: Getting to COP28: RTA unveils detailed transit plan

This year’s COP marks the conclusion of the global stocktake, the first assessment of global progress in implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The global stocktake lists actions on how to speed up emissions cuts, build resilience to climate impacts, and provide the support and finance needed for the transformation. It will be a catalyst in meeting the Paris Agreement’s goals, as nations prepare to submit revised national climate action plans by 2025.

The world is not on track to limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by the end of this century. while countries are developing plans for a net-zero future, and the shift to clean energy is gathering speed, the transition is nowhere near fast enough yet to limit warming within the current ambitions, the UN Climate Change said.

A report recently published by UN Climate Change shows that national climate action plans (known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs) would collectively lower greenhouse gas emissions to 2 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030, while the science is clear that a 43 per cent reduction is needed.

In a message shared on the eve of the event, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said: “It’s great that over 160 world leaders are coming, but COP28 cannot be just a photo-op.  Leaders must deliver in Dubai – the message is clear.

“They must agree to triple renewable energy this decade, and double energy efficiency. Developing nations – who did least to cause the crisis – have been starved of climate justice and resilience for too long. Last year’s COP in Egypt delivered an historic Loss & Damage Fund.  This year’s cop in the UAE must put meat on the bone of this fund. That means putting real money on the table.  Table scraps won’t cut it. More broadly – COP28 in Dubai must show that finance is the great climate enabler. It needs to flow to developing in countries in torrents, not trickles, to boost climate resilience right now.”

Climate finance is the key to transformation

Climate finance stands at the heart of this transformation. Replenishing the Green Climate Fund, doubling financial resources for adaptation and operationalising the loss and damage fund are key to keeping 1.5°C within reach while leaving no one behind.

“The reality is that without much more finance flowing to developing countries, a renewables revolution will remain a mirage in the desert. COP28 must turn it into a reality,” Stiell added.

Progress on climate finance at COP28 will be crucial to build trust in other negotiation areas and to lay the groundwork for an even more ambitious ‘New Collective Quantified Goal’ for climate finance, which must be in place next year. It will also set the stage for a just and inclusive transition to renewable energy and the phasing out of fossil fuels, United Nations Climate Change said in a statement.

In the face of rising conflicts and tensions worldwide, Stiell emphasised the need for collaborative efforts to combat climate change, an area in which nations can work together effectively to ensure a sustainable future both for people and the planet.

“We don’t have any time to waste. We need to take urgent action now to reduce emissions. At COP28, every country and every company will be held to account, guided by the north star of keeping 1.5°C within reach,” said COP28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber.

“All parties should be prepared to deliver a high ambition decision in response to the global stocktake that reduces emissions while protecting people, lives and livelihoods,” Al Jaber added.

“Every meeting I have conducted with every government or any other stakeholder has always been centered around one thing, and one thing only, and that is my COP28 agenda, and how we have collectively for the first time ever, adopted a mindset that is centered around… pic.twitter.com/5XadJYRY2u

— COP28 UAE (@COP28_UAE) November 29, 2023

Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and COP27 President Sameh Shoukry said: “We need to start delivering on climate justice and provide the needed tools that we already agreed upon in Sharm el-Sheikh for funding loss and damage, including the establishment of a fund. One of the major outcomes that have to come out of COP28 is for the fund to be fully operationalised and funded.”

High-level COP28 events

The World Climate Action Summit (WCAS), hosted by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, will convene Heads of State or Government on December 1-2 , when the first part of the COP28 high-level segment will also take place.

A resumed high-level segment will take place on December 9-10.

The COP28 Presidency will hold open consultations on thematic areas, inviting inputs from the broad mix of stakeholders attending the conference. Consult the COP28 UAE Thematic Program.

Read: COP28 – How you can visit world’s key sustainability conference

Also read: Sheikh Zayed Road closure from Friday; what you need to know

Session live streams can be accessed on the UN Climate Change website‘s schedule of events.