Yearly conference held for climate change treaty negotiations
The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP28, was the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference, held from 30 November to 13 December at Expo City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The COP conference has been held annually (except for the year 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) since the first UN climate agreement in 1992. The event is intended for governments to agree on policies to limit global temperature rises and adapt to impacts associated with climate change.
The conference was originally scheduled to end on 12 December, but had to be extended following Saudi objections on the final agreement. On 13 December, the conference president, Sultan Al Jaber announced that a final compromise agreement between the countries involved had been reached. The deal commits all signatory countries to move away from carbon energy sources "in a just, orderly and equitable manner" to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, and reach net zero by the year 2050. The global pact, referred to as the UAE Consensus, was the first in the history of COP summits to explicitly mention the need to shift away from every type of fossil fuels, but it still received widespread criticism due to the lack of a clear commitment to either fossil fuel phase-out or phase-down. China and India did not sign the pledge to triple their output of renewable energy and committed to coal power instead.
The conference was widely criticised for its controversial president Sultan Al Jaber, as well as its host country, the UAE, which is known for its opaque environmental record and role as a major producer of fossil fuels. Al Jaber is the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), leading to concerns over conflict of interest. Claims of greenwashing of Al Jaber on Wikipedia, Twitter and Medium; the legal inability to criticise Emirati corporations in the UAE; alleged covert access to conference emails by ADNOC; and the invitation of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have all raised concerns regarding the integrity of the conference. Al Jaber stated before the beginning of the conference that there was "no science" behind fossil fuel phase-out in achieving 1.5 °C; and leaked documents appeared to show the UAE planned to use the conference to strike new fossil fuel deals with other nations. Al Jaber claimed that his comments on the phase-out of fossil fuels were "misinterpreted" and denied the latter allegation, asserting that the UAE does not need the COP presidency to establish business deals.
Background.
Host city.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference is an annual meeting of all countries that have signed the 1994 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is held annually, with the host countries rotating among its members. In early 2021, the United Arab Emirates offered to host the 2023 event. Dubai was chosen as the host city in November of the same year. It was the third time it was hosted by a member of OPEC after Qatar in 2012 and Indonesia in 2007.
The United Arab Emirates is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, due to its very hot and humid climate. Its average air temperature has risen by between 1990 and 2022. The Red Sea and Persian Gulf have exceeded safe wet-bulb temperature thresholds several times. Other impacts felt in the region are more frequent dust storms, sea level rise and drought. The UAE has committed to reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050; the first Middle Eastern government to make such a pledge. It was also the first country in the region to sign the Paris Agreement on 21 September 2016. The country has invested $50 billion into clean energy internationally and promised an additional $50 billion by 2030.
Reception.
The choice of the UAE as host country was criticized by climate scientists and human rights advocates, as the country is both a leading oil producer and an authoritarian state without freedom of speech. The Emirati organisers warned speakers not to criticise Islam or the Emirati government, corporations or individuals. Human Rights Watch urged governments to use the opportunity to push the UAE to ease the "grip on civic space and uphold rights" and end the persecution of human rights activists like Ahmed Mansoor. On 1 August 2023, the UAE allowed environmental activists to "assemble peacefully" at the summit and vowed to provide them a space to "make their voices heard", despite laws that prohibit unauthorised protests.
The UAE's appointment of Sultan Al Jaber president of COP28 caused further controversy, as he is also the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). In February 2023, one month after Al Jaber's selection, the company announced plans to expand drilling for fossil fuels. More than 100 members of the European Parliament, U.S. senators and U.S. representatives signed a joint open letter calling on the UAE to withdraw Al Jaber's appointment. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry acknowledged Al Jaber's selection as COP president was "risky," but nonetheless supported it, arguing it was important to have fossil fuel producers at the table.
In June 2023, a report by "The Guardian" revealed that ADNOC shared an email server with COP28 and was able to read emails to and from the climate summit office. The COP28 office switch to a different server following "The Guardian"'s inquiry.
Preparations.
In the months leading up to the summit, joint preparations were held by the United States, China and the European Union. The climate envoys of the U.S. (John Kerry), China (Xie Zhenhua) and the EU (Frans Timmermans) met regularly to discuss priorities and planning. On 15 November, the U.S. and China announced an agreement to triple global renewable energy use by 2030. The agreement included a commitment to addressing greenhouse gases, but was criticised for not including a commitment from China to phase out coal-fired power plants. Insiders cautiously expressed hope for a climate agreement between China and the United States ahead of the conference, similar to the agreement of 2014 that paved the way for the Paris Agreement. China published a plan to reduce methane emissions ahead of the conference, but there was expected contention on coal use in China. China characterises coal as essential for its energy security, although others say energy security could be improved through upgrades to the energy grid and domestic energy market. Talks between Janet Yellen and He Lifeng yielded a decision to enhance cooperation between the countries on climate related issues and much was expected from the meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping later in the month at the 2023 APEC summit.
At the end of November 2023, a pre-COP meeting of ministers was held. One hundred delegations and 70 ministers attended, more than any prior pre-COP meeting. The general director of the COP, Majid al-Suwaidi, insisted the conference would fulfill the commitment to create a loss and damage fund, as was agreed at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The UAE had initially invited the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, to COP28, resulting in widespread condemnation. Assad ultimately did not come, sending his prime minister Hussein Arnous instead.
Ahead of the summit, the Muslim Council of Elders, in partnership with the COP28 Presidency, the UN Environment Programme and the Catholic Church, and under the patronage of the UAE's president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, organised a Global Faith Leaders Summit convening 28 faith leaders to address climate change.
Global stocktake.
In September 2023, in advance of the opening of COP28, the United Nations published the first two-year assessment of global progress in slowing down climate change, called the "global stocktake". This type of overview was established during the 2021 COP26 in Glasgow and is scheduled to be repeated every five years. The report concluded that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed, something that the United Nations had previously avoided saying. Among the 17 key findings of the report are:
Expectations.
Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, expressed hope for significant achievements at the summit but noted: "[the] geopolitical situation, with many nations at loggerheads over the war in Ukraine, and still frosty relations between the U.S. and China, would make for a difficult summit [...] The most important challenge [to limiting temperature rises to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels] is the lack of international cooperation." The climate envoy from Bangladesh described the lack of global solidarity as the main obstacle to stopping climate change, emphasising the need to create a loss and damage fund. Governments expressed concern that similar to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2023 Israel–Hamas war may adversely impact negotiations at COP28.
Before the conference, Pope Francis issued an apostolic exhortation called "Laudate Deum", calling for brisk action against the climate crisis and condemning climate change denial. The Pope planned to attend the conference, which would have marked the first papal visit to a United UN Climate Change conference, but had to pull out due to ill health. United States president Joe Biden did not attend, with the Israel–Hamas war and internal U.S. government spending difficulties being cited as possible causes.
According to Professor Alon Tal, a renowned scholar of climate change issues, "There was no compelling reason to believe that the 2023 UN climate gathering would be any different than its predecessor and that significant progress would be made. As November approached, the prospects for the annual UN climate conference were hardly promising. In thirty years of global climate diplomacy, never had the lead-up to a UN environmental gathering been mired in such political controversy: COP28 was convened in Dubai, a symbol of the world's oil economy."
Summit proceedings.
COP28 was the largest-ever climate summit, with over 80,000 people accredited participants, up from 49,000 the previous year. Twenty-three thousand five hundred of the participants were from government teams. A further 27,000 were policy experts, academics and representatives of fossil fuel producers, although this group was not given access to official negotiations. An additional 400,000 people were granted access to the surrounding "green zone," a conference space for activists and businesses. The number of attendees and the use of private jets by many of them was the subject of some criticism. The meeting was estimated to have the largest carbon footprint of any climate summit to date.
Charles III, king of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, gave the opening speech at the summit. He expressed alarm at rising levels of pollution, saying that the world was "dreadfully far off track" its climate targets and warning that "we are carrying out a vast, frightening experiment of changing every ecological condition, all at once, at a pace that far outstrips nature's ability to cope".
On the first day of the summit on 30 November 2023, a "loss and damage" fund to compensate poor states for the effects of climate change was agreed upon. The fund aims to distribute funds to poor states harmed by climate change and is to be administered by the World Bank. The host country, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany each pledged $100 million to the fund. Smaller pledges by the United Kingdom ($75 million), United States ($24.5 million) and Japan ($10 million) brought the total to $430 million on the first day.
On 1 December 2023, activists protested outside the venue, calling for ecocide—mass environmental destruction—to be made a crime at the International Criminal Court.
On 3 December 2023, COP28 participants launched a declaration to triple nuclear energy capacity from 2020 to 2050. The declaration was unveiled by U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, and signed by 25 countries. The signing countries pledged to implement policies to extend their nuclear capacities, stating that nuclear power played a key role in cutting carbon emissions to net zero.
On 2 December 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a phase-out of fossil fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, and reiterated Germany's commitment to be climate neutral by 2045, saying: "The technologies are there: wind power, photovoltaics, electric motors, green hydrogen."
On 3 December 2023, "The Guardian" revealed that COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber had dismissed demands for a fossil fuel phase-out two weeks previously, denying its basis in science and claiming it would prevent economic development. The following day, Al-Jaber held a press conference in which he walked back his comments, stating that he stated he "respects science" and thinks a phaseout of fossil fuel use