COP 28 Dubai : So Much For So Little

NewsAnalytics Bureau

a 4 mins read.

The Climate Challenge

The recently concluded COP 28 meetings at Dubai was expected to give a push for achieving laid down goals to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. A March 2023 report by The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that this rise may be breached before 2040. It was for the first time during the 2015 Paris Agreement, that global community charted out an action plan for fighting threat from global warming.

The debate on environmental deterioration and its long-term implications including extinction of life from the planet has always been played up in two parts. In the first part, while everyone ‘agrees’ and almost shares the common thought about the gravity of current situation and the need to act now. The second construct, when actual responsibility and setting targets to be achieved is discussed, is where it all seems to be falling apart.

Every climate conference from the Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol or now the COP 28 has been subjected to these unquantifiable, intense debates and unbinding declarations. However, amidst all this chaos what appears a silver lining is differences have narrowed down, unity of approach is generally witnessed, and a common end state has been accepted across the divide.

 

Dubai Meet

The COP 28 Dubai meetings held from 30 November to 12 December 2023 carried on from pledges and undertakings offered by various nations from the COP 27 Sharm el-Sheikh meet. This year it had 196 countries, 5,000 media representatives, large number of environment activists, many international organisations notable among them were IAEA & World Bank and even 2,400 delegates representing fossil fuel industries totaling to 84,000 registered attendees. India was represented by its PM who arrived in Dubai on 01 Dec 2023 and was among major speakers on the day.

The Dubai meet came under heavy scrutiny and some bad press even before it started. The point of contentions were choices of venue UAE, which is world’s seventh largest producers of oil, a major contributor to ongoing environmental collapse and its decision to give         Mr. Sultan Al Jabr the responsibility of President for COP 28, who also heads Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. In a media interaction former US Vice President Mr. Al Gore, nobel laureate and a prominent climate activist, flagged this inconsistent approach as a classic case of conflict of interest.

Great pain was taken by the hosts to justify these seaming conflicts as a mere appointed responsibility and who argued that deep understanding of oil economy will only help them formulate a better environmental management mechanism. But either way what merits to focus upon are the activities that unfolded and tangible commitments obtained during this two-week conference. It appears consistent with long term aims but very challenging due to fast closing window for action.

 

Key Takeaways

COP 28 saw participation by all key stakeholders and esteemed guest speakers who elaborated upon critical facets of the challenges. However, at the culmination of this meet some prominent takeaways have also materialised such as: –

• Adoption of “UAE Declaration on a New Global Climate Finance Framework”.

• Securing $83 billion in pledges for climate management.

• Pledge by the World Bank for an annual increase of USD 9 billion for 2024 & 2025.

• Pledges by Multilateral Development Banks to provide USD 22.6 billion.

• Pledges by more than 20 countries to triple the global nuclear installed capacity by 2050.

• Announcement by IAEA, for a first of its kind Nuclear Energy Summit next year.

• First periodic report by Global Stocktake of efforts to limit temperature rise.

• Agreement by 117 countries to triple renewable energy and to phase out fossil fuels.

• Agreement by global financial institutions to pause debt payments during natural disasters.

• Announcement by Brazil to stop deforestation by 2030.

• Formalisation of 36 members “Climate Club”, to tackle industrial emissions.

• Commitment by UAE for a $30 billion fund aimed at expanding renewables.

• Pledge by Japan to end new construction of coal fired power plants at home.

• Global acknowledgement that exceeding 1.5°C limit is extremely risky.

Each of these aspects positively contributes towards the global aim of phasing out fossil-based fuels and transiting towards entirely green energy systems for a ‘Net-Zero emission’.

 

Expectations

Having laid down a future path there remains a challenge of actually materialising the expectations. As has been the trend in the past, the mechanism of implementation remains most difficult to accomplish. There have also been instances of complete disagreements over the way forward. For instances India and China two major world economy stayed away from meeting and declaration on Climate and Health. India also skipped on commitment for tripling the global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and the nuclear energy commitment.

But unlike others, India’s case has been slightly different. India has laid down its own targets which are in some cases much more ambitious than global standards like its pursuit of “Net-Zero emission” goal by 2070. But at the same time, it doesn’t want to tie itself with binding commitments. India’s own records of impressive achievements towards migrating to a clean energy eco system has been commendable and entirely in sync with the global agenda. As per REN21 Renewables 2022 Global Status Report India stands 4th globally in Renewable Energy Installed Capacity.

This is an important aspect which helps India wade through collective pressure from the West. The World must keep reminding itself that a climatic catastrophe will spare no one, whichever side of the divide individually countries may choose to stand. It also needs to be understood that continued deterioration of Earth’s climate is leading to heavy costs even for national security. Recently US Naval Station at Norfolk suffered from recurrent flooding, while Air Force bases in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina reported damage after hurricane Idalia, hurricane Michael again ripped apart Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. In India, flash flood in North Sikkim in October 2023 has Army base washed out resulting in unfortunate loss of 22 lives.

The seriousness of the effort from world community must therefore continue, it must be ensured that proportionate distribution of resources be shared, especially with nations struggling to manage migration towards environment friendly solutions. It will also be worth noting the sense of developing economies like India and China, who have to cater for almost half of the humanity between them while maintaining their respective growth trajectory which is essential to get their people out of poverty. West has its share of industrialisation at a huge environmental cost, comparatively a developing economy like India is doing way better keeping the growth momentum and achievable green transition side by side. As India continues with its ambitious push towards green energy, its endeavour needs a compassionate acknowledgement and due appreciation!