Planet’s future at stake as world leaders meet for Cop28 climate crisis summit
After a year of record temperatures, this year’s UN climate summit has been called the most vital yet.
Scientists say as we head towards what is set to be the warmest year of record which has seen Europe bake and suffer extreme rainfall, it is a stark reminder of the need “to drastically cut our emissions”. Nearly 100,000 delegates have registered for Cop28 - four times the size of the 2021 COP26 in Glasgow. The Dubai Expo in the United Arab Emirates venue is lavish and vast. So is the challenge awaiting its boss Sultan Al-Jaber. But can a summit hosted by a petrostate shepherd the world towards a low carbon future?
What is COP and why is it important?
COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber (AP)COP stands for “Conference of the Parties” - the countries that signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992.
This year’s summit, which will end on 12 December, is the 28th annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting where governments will discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change.
Why is this COP controversial?
The UAE is one of the world’s top 10 oil-producing nations It has appointed the deeply divisive chief executive of Adnoc, the state-owned oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, as president Adnoc pumped 2.7 million barrels of oil per day in 2021, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and plans to expand production capacity.
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“It is the equivalent of appointing the CEO of a cigarette company to oversee a conference on cancer cures,” campaign group 350.org said.
Greta Thunberg described his appointment as “completely ridiculous” and said it called into question the entire UN climate process.
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg (Getty Images)Controversy so far
COP28 has not started how the UAE will have planned. Leaked documents obtained via a BBC investigation show how it planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals with 15 nations. The UN body responsible for the summit said hosts were expected to act without bias or self-interest.
The UAE team did not deny using COP28 meetings for business talks, and said “private meetings are private”. It declined to comment on what was discussed in the meetings and said its work has been focused on “meaningful climate action”. Then came a hoax press release claiming that Al-Jaber had quit as ADNOC CEO with immediate effect. Al-Jaber then forcefully denied his team had ever cut said deals and labelled the BBC story ‘false, not true, incorrect… not accurate’.
Who is attending?
King Charles is one of the world’s most recognised and respected voices on the environment. He was a key figure at the Paris climate summit of 2015 and Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021. But last year, Downing Street prevented him from attending Cop27 in Egypt. Now he is back, at the request of the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates. He will make the opening speech to delegates on Friday. Pope Francis, who was due to be the first pontiff to attend a Cop, cancelled due to ill health. Given that India has the world’s largest population, accounting for one-sixth of global population) and an economy that is expected to be the world’s second-largest by 2075, the participation of India’s PM Narendra Modi is significant.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (INDIA PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)But the USA’S Biden and China ’s Xi Jinping, presidents of the world’s two biggest emitters, are sending envoys instead. The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives on Friday but his U-turns on green policy will overshadow his presence. He will have a tough job convincing others that the UK is on track to meet net zero targets after vowing to “max out” the North Sea.
It won’t help that Labour leader Keir Starmer and shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband are also in town to shine a light on the Government’s watering down green commitments.
What they hope to achieve
Day 1 saw a standing ovation after the loss and damage deal agreed loss and damage fund was agreed to help poorer countries deal with the impacts of climate breakdown.
The deal has long been a stumbling block at climate talks, and the agreement has been tentatively welcomed by many delegates, although it will not be officially rubber stamped until the close of the conference. Hosts UAE have pledged $100m and $60m from the UK. The US – which is both the world’s wealthiest country and its biggest polluter – was criticised for its relatively paltry contribution of $17.5m.
A third of the world’s food production could be at risk if temperatures continue to rise. Agriculture is also a major contributor to the crisis.Yey food has been largely missing from previous Cops. This year, leaders will be asked to sign a special food declaration. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization will for the first time set out its roadmap for how the world can feed a growing population while sticking within the 1.5C temperature limit.
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Health will also come under the spotlight with a day dedicated to the issue, in particular the impact heatwaves and droughts that cause disease and water scarcity have on populations. This year will mark the first “global stocktake” under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a comprehensive assessment of the progress - or lack of it. We are well off track to keep the world within 1.5C of warming so it will produce no real surprises but it will act as an important lever to force new plans for stringent emissions cuts.
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