A draft text of the GST outcome was released and is currently being negotiated
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President Lula da Silva of Brazil highlighted that climate change cannot be fought without fighting inequality. Photo: @LulaOficial / X The 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), began November 30, 2023. Here’s a look at what happened on the second day of COP28.
Leaders arrived for the World Climate Action Summit and their statements reflected a wide variety of issues. President Lula da Silva of Brazil highlighted that climate change cannot be fought without fighting inequality.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley spoke about the need for global taxes on shipping and aviation to provide more money for global public goods. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned India’s new green credits programme, and put out a call to host COP33 in India.
The COP28 Presidency unveiled a declaration on finance “to guide new models of delivering climate finance that make it available, accessible, and affordable”.
The International Energy Agency and the COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber released a joint statement which said “fossil fuel demand and supply must phase-down this decade to keep 1.5°C within reach” and called on the fossil fuel industry to “decarbonise existing operations while increasing investment in renewable and low-carbon alternatives”.
The COP28 Presidency of the UAE also made a declaration on global food systems transformation to tackle emissions from the sector and also adapt the systems to the changing climate. UAE stated the global community was able to mobilise $2.5 billion “to support the food climate agenda”.
No other details of the break up of this amount were given. This included a $200 million partnership for Food Systems, Agriculture Innovation and Climate Action between UAE and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. More than 130 countries which represent over 5.7 billion people, 500 million farmers and 76 per cent of emissions from the global food system, signed the Emirates Declaration.
A draft text of the GST outcome was released and is currently being negotiated by countries on what should or should not be included in the final version. The differing perspectives between developed and developing countries continue, mainly on issues of equity and the GST, leading to a call for new targets.
The meeting ran overtime and has subsequently been scheduled for December 2 in order to attempt arriving at a conclusive text before December 4.
A High Level Side Event on Climate Finance needs of Developing Countries focused on needs based climate finance, a work programme carried out by the secretariat to assist developing country Parties in assessing their climate finance needs and priorities. Participants highlighted that assessing needs to fulfill Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans is expensive while others highlighted challenges in developing technical capacity and human resources.
Sheralizoda Bahodur Ahmadjon, chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan said providing technical guidance to quantify needs is just the initial step rather than the end of the journey.
During an informal consultation led by co-facilitators Maria Al Jishi and Peer Stiansen, parties provided feedback on the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) Chair’s informal note. While some expressed general comments and the need for subsequent discussions on specific issues, the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group raised concerns about the special circumstances of LDCs. Additional points of discussion included the definition of ‘cooperative approaches’, concerns about the sequence of report submissions.
Parties met to discuss next steps in the process of identifying a new collective goal on climate finance. There was convergence on most issues raised, with delegates calling for a shift in NCQG discussions from technical mode to negotiation mode for the coming year.
Emphasis was placed on the need to engage ministers and political leaders early on in 2024, as well as at the High Level Ministerial Dialogue to be held this week.
The Indian representative highlighted that progress on work towards the goal is highly contingent on Parties agreeing on and operationalising a definition of ‘climate finance’ to begin with. The Chinese delegation noted their agreement with this point.
The G7 Climate Club was launched at COP28 and is co-led by Germany and Chile. The club is a cooperation between member countries on climate policies and industrial decarbonisation. Member countries include Kenya, Switzerland, Japan, the European Union and more.
The Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) commenced negotiations with the acknowledgment of the report produced by the Co-Chairs from the year’s two Global Dialogues. Some countries expressed the need to move forward with concrete steps to align with 1.5°C, while others reiterated that any steps proposed by the MWP should be non-punitive and should not impose new targets.
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