Parties still not on same page about responsibilities in GST text; final texts on carbon market expected December 11
Photo: UNclimatechange / flickr 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 eleventh day of COP28.
A new draft text on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) was introduced by the COP28 presidency on the morning of December 10. The text is weaker than the earlier draft not only on the means of implementation (MOI) from developed countries to developing countries but also on thematic targets such as ecosystems.
The MOI, which includes finance for adaptation measures by developing countries to make vulnerable communities resilient to the ongoing impacts of climate change, is crucial for meeting other specific targets under the GGA framework such as the assessments of risks and vulnerabilities that need to be conducted by countries and also implementing adaptation measures.
The financial target of $400 billion dollars and the language around the adaptation finance gap have been removed from the text.
Some developing country groups feel that the GGA framework would fail without an assurance on adaptation finance. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is also still an option.
The COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber convened a Majlis, a gathering of one head of delegation / minister from each country, to sit in a circle and speak openly. Countries made impassioned statements about their priorities for the COP28 outcome.
Australia Climate Minister Christopher Bowen said despite being one of the largest oil and gas exporters, Australia believes that fossil fuels have no ongoing role in our energy systems and abatement is not a reason for delay, just a part of the overall solution.
South Africa mentioned that they have received only 10 per cent of the money promised under the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (a financial mechanism that aims to help a selection of heavily coal-dependent emerging economies make a just energy transition), and for them, the issue is a means of implementation gap, not an ambition gap.
Bolivia spoke about “procrastination, protectionism, unilateral trade measures” inhibiting climate action. They also said even though developed countries claim the $100 billion target is met, no concrete, tangible money has been seen.
French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said, “I am making it crystal clear — we have met $100 billion last year and this year.”
There is broad support for the Global Stocktake (GST) to take its basis in science and equity, leading to higher ambitions and balanced outcomes. However, there are still many areas where Parties are far apart from each other.
There are different views on how to address past, present and future responsibilities in light of the best available science, Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (a principle acknowledges the different capabilities and differing responsibilities of individual countries in addressing climate change) and equity, opposing views on concerns about unilateral measures, and how to include suggestions on ways forward that do not interfere with the nationally determined nature of NDCs.
Consultations continued on Sunday morning in informal-informals, which is closed to observers. The Presidency is expected to present the GST text for the COP28 package by the morning of December 11, following the Majlis on Sunday.
Article 6.2: Conversations took place in an informal-informal format. Discussions were far from achieving consensus. Parties held conflicting views, such as whether to have a single authorisation for everything for trading and transfer of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes or obtain authorisation at every step. A take-it-or-leave-it text is expected to be released on December 11, 2023.
Article 6.4: Late-night informal-informal meetings on priority issues of the work programme for removals and methodologies occurred. Another topic of discussion has been paragraph 9 of the draft, which requests the supervisory body to work on the sustainable development tool, appeals and grievance procedures, and tools and guidance on baseline, additionality, and leakage for fully operationalising the mechanism. A final text is anticipated to be released on Article 6.4 on December 11.
COP28 saw several pledges from companies and industries. On December 10, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said delivery on these pledges would result in the global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 being around four gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent lower than would be expected without them. This, it added, would not be nearly enough to move the world onto a path to limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
Another analysis by the Climate Action Tracker found that many of the announcements lack the ambition, clarity, coverage or accountability needed to make a difference. Further, a lot of them are difficult to measure or overlap with those made at COP26 in Glasgow.
At a side event, cryosphere researchers said the two degrees Celsius upper limit of the Paris Agreement is too high to save the cryosphere. They said a 1.5°C state should not be the preferable option, but the only option.
Everything happening in the Arctic, for example, influences the rest of the world. “The Arctic cannot tolerate above 1.5°C. Beyond that, we start to see irreversible changes,” Heidi Sevestre, glaciologist at The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.
At a press conference, Bangladesh expressed its disappointment over negotiations on climate finance. The country added that commitments of $100 billion have not been met yet and that they have strong reservations on the methodologies of collection of climate financing. They also want to see a phaseout of fossil fuels but call for a differentiation between developed and developing countries.
After the launch of the India-Sweden Industrial Transition Partnership on December 1 by the Prime Ministers of both countries at COP28, the Indian Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, and Sweden’s Minister of Climate and Environment, Roumina Pourmokhtari, came together for an event at the Swedish Pavilion to further this partnership.
The Swedish minister said, “We need partnerships between ambitious economies to address issues like the lack of commercially viable low carbon technology and long-term investment cycle risk locking in carbon emissions are the issue”.
Yadav emphasised on cooperation in areas like tech transfer, finance, intellectual property rights, knowledge exchange and joint research. The event also portrayed the partnership formed between SaltX, a company from Sweden, and Dalmia Cement from India for making fossil fuel-free cement using renewable energy completely.
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