The third day of COP28 witnessed a number of high-profile announcements with a particular focus on energy.
One hundred and seventeen governments, for example, have endorsed the call to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements.
Supporting the call were the US, UAE and the EU, alongside Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados.
Further, some fifty oil and gas companies, including big players like Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil and gas giant Aramco, also signed an agreement, the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), to reduce carbon emissions from their operations to net zero by 2050, cut methane to near zero by the end of the decade, and stop the routine flaring of natural gas.
Considering that the fifty companies, including 29 national oil companies, represent almost half of the world’s global oil production, the devil is in the detail, and a closer inspection reveals the pledge is far from radical, or binding.
In fact, it only covers operational emissions, which count for just a fraction of its environmental impact.
Aside from the not-so-green pledges from the oil industry, the day also saw a push towards nuclear.
Twenty-two countries committed to tripling nuclear capacity by 2050, including Britain, France and the United States, who called the agreement “critical” to meeting nations’ climate commitments.
However, critics have highlighted that nuclear power is both too expensive, and too slow to have the required impact in the energy transition, urging that the alternatives (solar, wind, hydro) will get us to net zero more quickly.
As for the ramping up of climate finance, USA Vice President Kamala Harris announced new funding for climate action today with a pledge of $3 billion (in addition to the previous $2 billion) to the Green Climate Fund.
This announcement comes after the US was heavily criticised for its mere $17.5 million contribution to the loss and damage fund.
Further, while energy announcements took centre stage, ahead of the first-ever COP Health Day, the COP28 presidency, the World Health Organization and the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention announced the ‘COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health’ (the Declaration), which was signed by 123 countries.
Forty million health professionals worldwide also joined the call to action to prioritise health in climate negotiations at COP28.
Indeed, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said that health professionals “stand united” in every effort to improve health outcomes and address the climate crisis.
He added that climate inaction is impacting health and costing lives “every single day.”
“Health workers demand immediate and bold action to phase out fossil fuels, transition to clean energy, build resilience and support people and communities most vulnerable to the impacts of the changing climate.”
Finally, while not able to attend in person due to illness, in a letter read by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis called the destruction of the environment an “offence against God” and said that COP28 “must be a turning point.”
The Pope highlighted the need for a ramping up of renewable energy, enhanced energy efficiency, the “elimination of fossil fuels” and lifestyle changes, adding that the gap between the “opulent few” and the “masses of the poor” has never been “so abysmal.”