Landmark Agreements at COP28 What Happened and What’s Next For Climate Change?

An article published on the Medium platform, has tried to respond to the question “will COP28 truly make a difference in the fight against climate change?”. Caliber.Az reprints the article.   

World leaders have reached a historic new agreement to tackle climate change at a big UN meeting in Dubai. But what does it actually mean for the future of the planet?

COP28 was the United Nations’ 28th annual climate meeting, where governments debated how to limit and prepare for the global challenge of tackling future climate change.

The summit took place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 30 November to 12 December 2023. It followed a year of extreme weather events in which many climate records were broken.

During the summit, Sultan al-Jaber, the UAE’s chief executive of its state-owned oil company, was appointed president. The decision to host the summit in the UAE had caused some controversy, due to the nation being one of the world’s top 10 biggest oil producers.

Despite this, Mr Jaber had argued that he was uniquely well-placed to push for action from the oil and gas industry.

An end in sight for fossil fuels

For the first time in the summit’s history, countries agreed on the need to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems”.

Attendees called for this to be done “in a just, orderly and equitable manner” since wealthier countries are expected to move away from coal, oil and gas more quickly.

However, the deal doesn’t specify the action countries must take for this transition, and no timescale has been specified, leading to some sceptics questioning the announcement’s significance.

In summary- what was agreed during the talks

After two days of intense negotiations, world leaders adopted a draft decision that sets out international climate priorities in response to the findings of the first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement.

The decision covered several thematic areas, including the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, human adaptation and resilience in the face of climate change, financial support for climate projects, and loss and damage funding for climate-vulnerable nations. The text of the draft decision can be found on the UNFCCC’s website here.

The most highly scrutinised and heavily debated aspect of the agreement was the path forward on the use of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions from which, leaders agreed, have “unequivocally caused global warming of about 1.1 °C.”

Recognising the urgent need for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5 °C pathways, the decision called on Parties to contribute to the following actions related to the energy transition and fossil fuel use:

• Triple global renewable energy capacity and double the average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030
• Intensify efforts to phase down unabated coal power globally
• Hasten global initiatives toward achieving net-zero emission energy systems, incorporating zero- and low-carbon fuels well before or around mid-century
• Shift away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a fair, systematic, and equitable manner, expediting actions in this crucial decade to attain net-zero status by 2050 in accordance with scientific recommendations
• Speed up the development and adoption of zero- and low-emission technologies, including renewables, nuclear power, abatement and removal technologies like carbon capture and utilisation, and storage, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors, alongside low-carbon hydrogen production
• Expedite and significantly reduce global non-carbon-dioxide emissions, with a particular focus on methane emissions by 2030
• Accelerate the decrease of emissions from road transport through various pathways, including infrastructure development and rapid deployment of zero and low-emission vehicles
• Phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or facilitate just transitions as soon as possible

Why the agreements are needed now

Before the final deal was agreed at COP28, there were warnings that the world is actually on track for around 2.7C of warming by 2100.

Recent progress had not been in line with what was required, the UN said, leaving a “rapidly narrowing” window for action to keep the 1.5C limit outlined by the Paris Agreement in reach.

Will COP28 really make a difference? What the critics say:

“The final outcome of COP28 is not a “historic win”, it is yet another example of extremely vague and watered down texts full of loopholes that in no way is even close to being sufficient for staying within the 1,5° limit and ensure climate justice.” –Greta Thunberg, Climate Activist

“The lukewarm agreement reached at Cop28 will cost every country, no matter how rich, no matter how poor. Everyone loses. It’s hailed as a compromise, but we need to be very clear what has been compromised. The short-term financial interests of a few have again won over the health, lives and livelihoods of most people living on this planet. — Dr Friederike Otto, Climate Scientist at Imperial College London

“This is a landmark agreement in many ways — not least the acknowledgement that all countries on our planet need to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels — but we need to move harder and faster than ever before to make this a reality. We need to unlock the necessary finance and to do a better job at using it in a more equitable way, independent on short-term government decision-making. While it is an agreement that is disappointing to many, it remains an opportunity we should grab firmly with both hands.” — Prof Paul Palmer, University of Edinburgh

“The Cop28 agreement finally puts into words what scientists have been saying for decades — that continued fossil fuel use must be eliminated to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. [The record hot year of] 2023 has given us a taste of what is to come and demonstrates how urgently we must act. While this eleventh-hour intervention is welcome, it will not be strong enough to avoid the worst impacts, including ice loss from the polar regions and devastating extreme events.” — Dr Ella Gilbert, at British Antarctic Survey