COP28 Recap - What Was Achieved at the Conference?
- Amanda Omoigui
- Jan 15, 2024
- 4 min read
COP28 was an exciting and revolutionary conference held from Tuesday, November 30th to Wednesday, December 13th in 2023. Taking place in Dubai, the conference showed negotiators from almost 200 different parties, with 153 heads of State and Government and roughly 85,000 total participants. All of these eager members met to discuss climate plans within the decade. COP, and other conferences, and meetings of a greater organization known as the UNFCCC, or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The UNFCCC came into fruition in March of 1994 and has since been meeting yearly through various types of conferences. The organization's events have become among the top newsworthy meetings in recent years as discussed issues are becoming prominent. The ultimate goal of UNFCCC, according to the Convention’s official website, is to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions and to prevent human interference in climate.
The goal of COP (Conference of the Parties), specifically, is to find new solutions for keeping global temperatures within 1.5 degrees celsius, and to go over previous agreements to reach this goal. In order to reach a worldwide temperature of 1.5°C, global greenhouse emissions need to cut to 43% by 2030. Achieving this has proved more difficult than imagined. The Convention acknowledges that greenhouse gas emissions from less developed countries are only set to increase. Many of these less developed countries lack the incentives, as well as the resources, to transition energy use. In relation to this, certain countries are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and to climate disasters than others. Not all countries are financially strong enough to recover from climate-caused crises. The world is in dire need of greater international security, more readily available jobs, economic growth, accessible worldwide health, and an increase in the empowerment and the encouragement of women.
The Paris Agreement is a legally-binding international treaty that was adopted during COP21 on December 12th, 2015 by 196 affirming parties. During COP28, $700 million was promised in commitment to Agreement promises. Countries also individually communicated promised actions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement are referred to as NDCs, or Nationally Determined Contributions. Although the words written on the Paris Agreement appear promising and easy to follow, many countries are not following and keeping track of the promises set in the Agreement. The United States, a major contributor, even considered pulling out of the agreement. According to Simon Stiell, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, in order for the agreement to play out, “...all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.” In an attempt to keep track of agreement promises, the Paris Agreement established a technology framework during COP28. The framework will begin in 2024 to actively track and record actions taken towards the battle against climate change. As developed countries were the major contributors to previous usage of fossil fuels, the Paris Agreement pins these countries to pay retributions for their actions. Agreements like the Paris Agreement and like the Kyoto Protocol help keep country progress in check.
During COP, solutions for tackling climate change were once again reviewed. Climate mitigation, the act of preventing and slowing down the effects of climate change, was originally the more favored approach and is still currently in use, but only to a lesser extent. Zero-carbon solutions are becoming in-vague among high-emission economic sectors. As time passes, climate mitigation will become impractical. Climate adaptation, finding new ways to adjust to current climate changes, is proving to be the more plausible solution. Mia Mottley, the current Prime Minister of Barbados, an island vulnerable to climate disasters, stated at the Conference of the Parties that it is important to actually adopt pre-established policies on climate mitigation, in order to prevent the loss of more lives. Going past the simple acknowledgement of climate issues, it is necessary to rework our steps and plans before it is too late. As Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general summarized at COP28, “We can’t keep kicking the can down the road. We are out of a road — and almost out of time.”
Climate finance is as equally important as finding climate reaction solutions. For climate mitigation, large-scale investments are necessary to make a noticeable impact. For climate adaptation, funds are necessary to combat the effects of climate disasters. In order to find enough money for climate related financial assistance, several funds have been placed in correlation to COP conferences. During COP28, six new countries pledged money towards the Green Climate Fund (GCF), totalling to $12.8 billion raised over 31 countries. The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) together with the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) received $174 million, and the Adaptation Fund found $188 million raised in funds just during the conference. Although the pledges are a step towards progress and foundation, the money raised from these pledges aren’t enough to meet climate goals. The new climate goal developed during COP28 is $100 billion, and to reach this goal, new plans will need to be put in place, and new funding options will need to be discovered. Funding for UNFCCC plans will need to originate from a variety of sources.
Apart from raising money towards funding options, COP28 made progress towards boosting medical care quality and food resilience as well as to reducing agriculturally related emissions and methane. Although this progress is necessary and important, progress made is not increasing at a steady enough rate. Simon Stiell commented about the conference in his closing speech: “Whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end.” The future awaits as an opportunity for improvement. To reach universal climate goals, it’s important to find stronger plans for action as soon as possible. It’s equally important for countries to be strong negotiators and willing to compromise. We must locate and address the barriers restraining us from making progress and break these barriers. The UNFCCC’s Consultation on the Net Zero Recognition and Accountability Framework and Implementation Plan is an independent meeting designated for addressing implementation issues and limits. The next conference, COP29, will be hosted this year in Azerbaijan from November 11th to 15th, and Brazil will be hosting the following COP30.
Citations
“Consultation on Net Zero Recognition and Accountability Framework.” Unfccc.int, 2023, unfccc.int/climate-action/tracking-and-recognition.
UN Climate Change. “Recap of the Last Two Weeks at #COP28 as Negotiations Enter the Decisive Final Phase.” Www.youtube.com, 13 Dec. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQzR6n3eiWY.
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