The twenty-eighth annual UN conference on climate change (COP28), hosted by the UAE in Dubai from November 30 – December 12 will grapple with a daunting agenda concerning the most complex existential crisis facing humankind.
The outcomes of the conference on a set of key issues would indicate the world’s likely prospect of averting the consequences of climate change such as water shortages leading to famines, expanding and deepening poverty, mal-nourishment and ill health, loss of biodiversity, and distressed communities walking with their feet towards near and distant lands in quest of new homes and livelihoods.
The key issues for discussion and negotiation at COP28 are thus: first comes global stocktake; representatives of governments have been examining the actions taken by the international community to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2015) to ensure that the increase in land and ocean temperature due to the excessive concentration of greenhouse gases is limited to a maximum of 1.5C compared with pre- industrial times.
A 46-page ‘synthesis report’, released in October 2023 succinctly captures the key findings of the ‘Global Stocktake’ which had been undertaken in pursuance of the provision of the Paris Agreement for comprehensive reviews of the actions taken by member states for mitigation, adaptation, and the means of implementation and support in the light of best available science. The aim was to identify the successes achieved and the failures encountered in meeting the main objective of the agreement and agree to measures for doing better in the future.
According to the respected think tank, World Resource Institute’ (WRI), the Global Stocktake was “a truly damning report card of current global efforts”. But, it added, that the report “also offered a blueprint for how governments and corporations should move forward”.
The picture sketched by the Global Stocktake is grim: the gaps in global climate action relate to all the major pillars of climate action. They include insufficient mitigation, inadequate adaptation, limited application of technology for renewable energy, lack of accountability in respect of stakeholders with greater responsibility, and inadequate global partnerships.
COP28 has to adopt a decision or declaration on measures to rectify the aforementioned shortcomings.
The WRI has suggested that COP28 adopt a decision addressing the following key elements: one, the world should rapidly and equitably move away from fossil fuels. This transition will require increased funding and enhanced policy and institutional support to developing countries.
Two, transformation of the food and land use systems and protection and restoration of forests. The scientifically credible predictions of a projected uptick in climate-induced extreme events and likely drop of 15-25 per cent in the availability of freshwater and its negative fallout for food production and energy generation can no longer be ignored. The restoration of forests also needs to be pursued with greater determination.
Three, advance action on adaptation and the Loss and Damage funding mechanism. Four, implementation of past pledges made during past COPs relating to cooperation and financial support. At most COPs since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, developed countries have forged cooperative alliances with developing countries, including those for promoting solar energy, and measures to enable developing and least developed countries to cope with the effects of climate change. It is necessary to energize those arrangements for enhanced results....
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