Yesterday, on the thematic agenda at COP28, was multi-level action, urbanisation, built environment and transport. On the ground, a number of big announcements were made, including a pledge from the world’s ten largest concrete and cement companies to decarbonise, as well as the ‘Joint Outcome Statement on Urbanization and Climate Change.’
The latter outlines a ten-point plan for integrating climate action across different levels of government, with the aim of accelerating local climate finance and ensuring adequate adaptation finance reaches cities.
It was supported by over forty Ministers of Environment, Urban Development and Housing.
However, while some movement toward progress was made, the day also witnessed more stalling and a clear warning with the release of new climate data.
The Global Tipping Points Report, for example, was launched yesterday at COP28, with contributions from more than 200 scientists.
The report outlined that even at 1.2°C of global warming, five major tipping systems are already at risk of crossing tipping points: the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, warm-water coral reefs, North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre circulation, and permafrost regions.
This should be a serious wake-up call for decision-makers, and indeed, yesterday, Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said that all governments must give their negotiators “clear marching orders.”
“We need highest ambition, not point scoring or lowest common denominator politics,” he said, adding that while the starting text is on the table, it’s a “grab bag of wishlists” and “heavy on posturing.”
“The key now is to sort the wheat from the chaff,” he added.
On the fossil fuel phase-out, he said there are currently “many options” on the table which speak to the phasing out of fossil fuels. “It is for parties to unpick that, but come up with a very clear statement that signals the terminal decline of the fossil fuel era as we know it.”
Earlier that day, John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, said to hit the target of net zero by 2050, “you have to do some phasing out.”
“You’ve got to have largely a phase-out of fossil fuels in our energy system,” he said, while also putting forward the case for carbon capture technologies in hard-to-abate sectors.
Carbon capture technologies, which Kerry endorsed, are currently expensive, huge energy consumers, and unproven at scale.
But Kerry is not the only one advocating for its role in the energy mix. A number of parties are heavily promoting carbon capture; it’s been shared that Saudi Arabia, specifically, is pushing for a deal that focuses on the technology.
Also in the headlines, much to many attendees’ dismay, was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to the Middle East, touching down in the UAE yesterday with further plans for a visit to Saudi Arabia.
At the close of the day, the Fossil of the Day award, presented by the Climate Action Network (CAN), was given to the province of Alberta, Canada. The award is given to countries that are “doing the most to achieve the least” or “doing their best to be the worst” on climate talks.
At the award ceremony in the Blue Zone, CAN highlighted that Alberta battled raging wildfires this summer and said: “The truth is catching up. It’s time to end support for the oil and gas industry and stop blocking federal regulations that could finally allow Canada to meet its climate target, including a much-needed cap on the massive emissions from the fossil fuel sector.
In second place was Norway, for its deep sea mining branded as a ‘green shift.’
“This country has been using the pretext of renewable energy to start a project of deep sea mining for the first time, which is setting a dangerous precedent for the extraction of minerals from underneath international waters,” they said.
“Scraping the sea and destroying ecosystems vital to our planet is anything but green, no matter what you are using the minerals for. This rationale has been debunked by leading scientists, and is both misleading and blatant greenwashing.”
Meanwhile, in third place was South Korea for the Korean- and Japanese-financed Barossa gas project. Located off the coast of the Tiwi Islands, the project, it said, intends to set off multi-billion dollar carbon bombs.
“Korea is also playing a key role in tripling the global LNG carrier capacity by providing a $44 billion subsidy to shipowners and shipbuilders. It’s time to end this toxic relationship,” they said.
While COP28 pauses for a break tomorrow, ESG Mena will continue to deliver insights, analysis and updates on the climate summit.