To say I was excited about COP28 was an understatement. First, as a COP veteran, COP24 in 2018 was my last one, and I haven’t been since due to the pandemic and other travel hindrances. I wrote my dissertation on the non-state actors at COPs, and I just finished writing a book on the participation of women and indigenous people at COPs. So, it is a place that I feel attached to, grateful for, and I miss it a lot. Therefore going back to it feels amazing. And it is even more amazing to go with the anticipation and search for the next research project. Second, COP28 took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).  UAE is an OPEC country and one of the largest oil producers in the world. There had already been controversy months before COP28 when it was announced that Sultan al-Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, would be the president of COP28. All these made it the more interesting to see what COP28 would churn out.

What is a COP?

COP stands for Conference of the Parties. It is an intergovernmental, multilateral summit convened by the United Nations on an annual basis under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC was established in 1992 with the goal of tackling the global challenge of climate change. Today, 198 countries are members of the Convention. They meet every year for two weeks during November or December, and the meeting is called the Conference of the Parties, or COP for short. Monumental international agreements on climate change, including the Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Accord, and Paris Agreement, were all adopted during COPs.

What came out of COP28?

Each COP releases an official agreement that all member states sign on to. This COP ran over time (ended on Dec 13 local time of Dubai; actually, it is not unusual for COPs to go over time, like, who doesn’t need a bit extension of deadlines?) and produced a text that, for the VERY FIRST TIME, mentioned fossil fuels. Can you believe it? For almost 30 years, nothing has ever been said about fossil fuels (MAJOR sources of greenhouse gas emissions) until now!

The text called for a “transition away from fossil fuel.” The UNFCCC touted it as the “beginning of the end” for fossil fuel.

(image from Carbonbrief.com)

One big controversial point of this COP is whether to call for “phase out” or “phase down” fossil fuels. While over 120 countries agreed to “phase out,” major emitters such as China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, and UAE (the host country!) opposed it. Eventually, the language adopted was “transition away.”

Why bother with the wording? Out or down, it’s just one word, isn’t it? Often in international agreements, wording is where most disputes happen because slight differences can entail large implications. The “phasing down” of fossil fuels means that countries would agree to cut back the use of fossil fuels while increasing other energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear. However, it implies that fossil fuels would still be part of the energy mix. “Phasing out” indicates a total end to burning fossil fuels for energy, which is not supported by oil and gas producers and exporters.

When the final language, “transition away,” was adopted by the nearly 200 nations, many who called for a “phaseout” immediately criticized the agreement as weak and problematic. While the agreement does represent some progress, it is far from what we actually need.

Loss and Damage

Another major agreement was the Loss and Damage fund. The talk around Loss and Damage has been around for a long time now. Last year, an initiative was brought up at COP27 to start a fund. The Loss and Damage fund is designed to compensate countries and communities who have already suffered losses from the impact of climate change. The Agreement to create such a fund was produced on day ONE of COP in Dubai. Easy success, you’d say! But the devil is in the details! How much money should be in the fund? Who should contribute to the fund? Which organization (for example, World Bank) should manage the fund? Who is able to apply for the fund? What about non-economic losses (such as islands already submerged in water, or people who have to be displaced because of climate change) induced by climate change? No easy agreements on answers to these questions! Many developed countries want to keep the language around loss and damage vague. Why? So it’s hard to hold them accountable!

Some other highlights

Each COP is its own giant monster. It has so many parallel tracks, with multiple events on different topics going on at the same time all the time! My schedule was packed and still impossible to cover everything I’m interested in. But here are some highlights!

The Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership:

I attended a panel chaired by John Kerry with 26 countries’ ministers from the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership. (If you are a climate nerd, you probably heard about John Kerry’s role as the US climate envoy.) The session focused on the management of forest resources, especially how to integrate market mechanism-that is, monetize forests (is that really the solution?) for carbon emission credits-with integrity? The market solution around forests (under the UN REDD+ program, countries can pay other countries to protect forests so the payer can get carbon credits that allow them to emit greenhouse gases) has been under a lot of attacks in recent years. The market mechanism (for example, cap’n trade, payment for environmental service, etc.) in general has been called out as “false solutions” by many communities. The accounting system is unclear; and it further exacerbates the energy inequity globally; oftentimes it is local communities such as indigenous peoples groups who suffer and lose their rights to land.

With these debates in mind, the discussion at COP28 definitely marked a shift to include languages such as “integrity” when considering the market mechanism around forests. But this is not likely to be embraced by all, especially the indigenous communities around the world. It remains to be seen how integrity is interpreted in different contexts and implemented

 (Photo credit: Bi Zhao)                                                                                                                                                     

Climate justice protest at COP28:

A coalition of indigenous peoples, African countries, women’s groups, youth organizations, etc. gathered together in front of the main hall for plenary meetings one day. They chanted and shared stories. This has become a normal occurrence at each COP. After participating in several climate justice protests, I strongly believe that spreading the message is important and it is absolutely necessary to address climate justice. However, it remains a puzzle regarding the effectiveness of this strategy and at what point decision-makers might grow insensitive to this type of protest. In my forthcoming book, I argue for the importance of establishing the norms and constructing certain narratives around climate change; for example, climate change should be understood not only as a scientific and economic issue but also as a social and justice issue.

(Photo credits: Bi Zhao)

 There is a lot more going on at COP28. Anyone with any interest in climate change would find so many events to attend. While it is called a conference of parties, non-parties, that is, non-state actors such as environmental organizations, indigenous peoples’ groups, and universities, can also attend COPs. So each COP is a market place of ideas: not only national delegates negotiate the agreements, non-state actors also showcase their actions. Humanity does not have a good track record of working together and combating climate change. Talking about climate change often elicits feelings of despair and anxiety. However, being at COPs adds other perceptions and feelings to the mix. Are we doing too little too late? Of course. But witnessing the effort on the ground and from the grassroots is encouraging. While we should all hold (rich) governments and corporations accountable, don’t forget small actions matter, talking about it matters, not losing hope matters. Want to learn more about COP28? Gonzaga University will hold a panel in February featuring four community members from Spokane who attended COP28!

 (Photo credits: Bi Zhao)