The countdown starts for 5 days until the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly called COP28. Here’s what you need to know, from the Basics to the Issues to the Who, Where, and What to Expect.
THE BASICS
Called such because it is the 28th rendition of this annual Conference of (UN) Parties, COP28 will occur in the Expo City, Dubai, for two weeks, from November 30th to December 12th. The event will see the attendance of hundreds of countries and world leaders attempting to tackle a collective global plan for addressing global warming prevention and consequences.
THE ISSUES ON THE TABLE
This year’s conference will be led by UN’s top climate official Simon Stiell, who has urged world leaders to “stop dawdling and start doing” in the face of rapidly rising temperatures that have put “everyone on the frontline of disaster.”
The disaster in question? With Earth already warning 1.1 degrees Celsius, dangerously close to the 1.5 degrees agreed upon under the nearly global 2015 Paris Agreement, and the impact of catastrophic heat waves, fires, flooding, monsoons, drought, and more felt around the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns in May of this year that Earth will cross a critical climate threshold in the next decade in which nations must take drastic action away from fossil fuels or suffer irreversible consequences. Yet, the New York Times reports this November that governments continue to respond far slower than the drastic pace needed to avoid this point of no return.
As a result, Cop28 will focus on informing countries as to the abysmal progress made since 2015 and employing a wide variety of known and new solutions to reduce fossil fuel dependency, as well as decarbonize and electrify global infrastructure.
These negotiations will occur in the midst of new fossil fuel projects from two of our largest global polluters—the US and China—with China licensing 168 coal-fired power plants last year and the authorization of Willow, a massive oil drilling project in Alaskan federal land approved by the Biden administration this March and upheld this November by a federal judge.
Besides addressing fossil fuel dependency, Cop28 will focus on the provision of funds for vulnerable communities to be affected by climate disasters. As of last month, a fund has been created for nations with vulnerable infrastructure and geopolitical situations facing disproportionate climate change impacts. It remains without any pledges from wealthy nations, so the aforementioned Stiell notes that Cop28 will be a critical opportunity to bring the fund to donors’ attention.
WHO WILL ATTEND
According to the United Nations climate body, almost 200 countries are expected to attend with around 36,000 delegates—including diplomats, heads of state, the media, and observers—from around the world (the Emirates presidency expects 70,000). President Biden of the US and President Xi Jinping of China are currently not expected to attend.
THE CONTROVERSY OF WHERE
The host of the COP rotates through six regions each year: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe. This year, the COP will be held by the United Arab Emirates, whose bid to host was supported by the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
This appointment has sparked controversy and accusations of green-washing as the U.A.E. is a major oil and gas-producing country, and furthermore because Sultan Al Jaber—the head of the country’s state-owned oil corporation—was named president of the climate summit.
WHAT TO EXPECT
While the event is planned for a two-week period, the New York Times notes that climate negotiations are “famously contentious and usually run into overtime.”
The conference itself with be organized into two zones—Blue and Green. Negotiations between country officials and speeches from world leaders will occur in the Blue Zone, while the Green Zone will be open to the public for exhibitions and events, including those of youth and civil society organizations (a member of Citizen Climate Lobby’s National Youth Action Team will be in attendance this year!).
Especially important to the Green Zone is The Voices for Action hub, which the COP presidency has designated as a location for climate activist demonstrations, with the U.A.E. agreeing to allow activists to peacefully protest and “make their voices heard” throughout the conference.
Another important aspect will be the presence of fossil fuel executives, who have been attending COPs more frequently in the past few years according to the Guardian. However, climate official Stiell remarks on push-back to these executives, “We know where the problems lie. But in order to progress the conversation from what needs to be done to how it needs to be done, the fossil fuel industry has to be [a legitimate] part of the conversation.”
With this medley of world leaders, youth groups, industrial powerhouses and more assembled, public attention and expectations fall this week on Dubai with hope and anticipation for the decisions to come.