The climate emergency is a direct consequence of carbon-heavy land-use and agriculture, transport, buildings and industrial processes and polluting energy sources. Without profound changes to these sectors and a drastic cut to carbon footprints, there is little hope of protecting the planet from the devastating effects of a warmer world.
Below are climate-related news and events from the United Nations and partners.
Fossil fuel production and consumption will be reduced by 2050 in accordance with scientific advice as part of the COP28 global stocktake text, according to reports from Dubai.
While the text does not include the terms "phase out" or "phase down" it does focus on fossil fuels directly, rather than the emissions from fossil fuels. Yet early criticisms have focused on the fact the text contains no references to oil or gas, but simply "recognises the need" to phase down unabated coal and scale up renewable energy.
Climate scientists, activists, and the governments of more than 100 countries will be hoping that ambition will be raised in the next 24 hours if COP28 is not to be seen as a failure.
Governments will now go through the text, so expect lots of wrangling in Dubai this evening as negotiations reach crunch point.
As we wait for more updates, take a look at this timeline of past COPs, which track the long and winding road to where we are today.
Thirty-seven countries yesterday joined the Freshwater Challenge – the world’s largest initiative to restore degraded rivers, lakes and wetlands and to protect vital freshwater ecosystems. Forty-three countries have now joined the initiative – ranging from Finland and France to Tajikistan and Tanzania.
The Freshwater Challenge aims to ensure 300,000km of degraded rivers and 350 million hectares of degraded wetlands, are committed to restoration by 2030.
More than 35 per cent of wetlands of have been lost around the world since 1970, a disappearance rate three times faster than forests, with land use change to agriculture, the biggest driver of this.
The Freshwater Challenge aims to build on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which included the protection of 30 per cent of the world’s ‘inland waters’ and the restoration of 30 per cent of degraded ‘inland waters’.
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said that countries needed to compromise in order to find solutions at COP28, without compromising on the science or the need for the highest ambition.
Speaking after flying back to Dubai for the final days of COP28, he added: " In our fractured and divided world, Cop28 can show that multilateralism remains our best hope to tackle global challenges."
“It is essential that the Global Stocktake recognises the need to phase out all fossil fuels on a timeframe consistent with the 1.5 degree limit – and to accelerate a just, equitable and orderly energy transition for all,” he said.
“A transition that takes into account the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and reflective capabilities, in light of national circumstances – not to reduce ambition but to combine ambition and equity.”
Negotiations at COP28 are heading into their final days with delegates, the media and the world waiting on the latest version of draft text, which will reveal where progress has been made in the past 24 hours and where stumbling blocks remain.
The importance of peatlands to tackling climate change was highlighted at an event held at COP28 on Friday, with participants stressing the urgency of protecting and restoring the ecosystems, which store twice as much carbon as the world’s forests’ biomass, and contribute about 4 per cent of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions when drained and degraded.
Achieving the world’s climate goals requires keeping carbon locked away in healthy peatlands and restoring and rewetting these special areas, which have been drained and degraded. Panelists emphasized the need for global action, noting the impact and results of the Global Peatlands Initiative since its launch in 2016, with 55 members working together globally and directly supporting four major tropical peatland countries.
The 500 million hectares of peatland globally (3-4 per cent of the planet’s land surface) store about 600 megatons of carbon, but also that about 12 per cent of global peatlands have been degraded and are losing peat.
Solutions were also highlighted at the event, including: conserving all natural peatlands and rewetting all degraded peatlands; developing improved data systems; forming fair and transparent governance systems; and scaling up support for action on the ground by blending public and private financing to protect and restore global peatlands at scale and with speed.
Read more about peatlands role in tackling climate change here.
UN Climate Change's Executive Secretary said this morning that there are two big issues left in the negotiations: "One – How high is our ambition on mitigation. And two - Are we willing to back this transition with the proper means of support to deliver it."
Stiell was talking as negotiators continued to attempt to whittle down the text to a draft agreement that tackles the effects of the climate crisis and keeps the 1.5C goal in sight.
He added that unnecessary tactical blockades needed to be cleared out of the way and highlighted the role of the Global Stocktake: " The Global Stocktake needs to help all countries get out of this mess. Any strategic landmines that blow it up for one, blow it up for all.The world is watching, as are 4000 members of the global media, and thousands of observers here in Dubai. There is nowhere to hide."
It is expected the latest draft text – which will shed light on whether countries have agreed on a phase out or phase down of fossil fuels – will be released very soon.
Catalysts Day will highlight themes that can boost climate action.
UNEP Event: Dealing with Loss and Damage
Climate-related losses and damages are a real threat and need urgent actions to avert, minimize and address wherever possible. This event focuses on how we deal with Loss and Damage, organized by the World Adaptation Science Programme (WASP). This event will begin with technical presentations from leading experts, including the findings of the recent Adaptation Gap Report 2023, followed by a Q&A with the audience and panel. The discussion will draw on the Loss and Damage Chapter in the Adaptation Gap Report 2023, and the work of the WASP Working Group on Loss and Damage. This event is being held in honor of the late Professor Saleemul Huq.
Time: 10.00-11am
Find out more here.
UNEP Pavilion: Moving nature up the climate agenda: How the UN system is working to link the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework with climate action in policy and implementation
Climate change and biodiversity loss are two sides of the same coin. Both have significant interconnected effects on ecosystems and the environment. This event will feature speakers from a range of UN agencies working on this intersection discuss what is being done and where efforts are especially needed throughout the current decade and beyond.
Time: 10.30-11.15am
Watch here.
UNEP Pavilion: Integrating Actions for Climate and Biodiversity: Opportunities and Potential
The dual challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss demand urgent attention. Climate change accelerates biodiversity loss, while ecosystem degradation accelerates climate change.This event aims to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue, sharing experiences, addressing challenges, and promoting integrated governance for simultaneous biodiversity preservation and climate action.
Time: 13.00-13.45pm
Watch here.
Nearly US$7 trillion of public and private finance each year supports activities that directly harm nature – some 30 times the amount spent on nature-based solutions annually, it was revealed yesterday through UNEP's latest State of Finance for Nature report.
The report also highlighted the fact that these investments dwarfed the annual amount being invested in nature-based solutions, which totalled around $200 billion last year.
US$5 billion of these nature-negative finance flows come from the private sector, which is 140 times larger than private investments in nature-based solutions.
Almost half of that figure comes from only five industries: construction, electric utilities, real estate, oil and gas, and food and tobacco.
The head of UNEP’s Nature for Climate Branch, Mirey Atallah, said the report demonstrates that the climate crisis is still outpacing efforts to contain it. She said finance is “the great enabler, and without money flowing in the right direction, we cannot achieve the targets we have set” at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio to address the interconnected challenges of climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss.
Negotiations over a range of issues continue at COP28 in Dubai today with diplomats and ministers attempting to agree on a huge range of complex issues, not least whether to include "fossil fuel phase out" or "phase down" in the final text.
Earlier today the International Energy Agency said that the impact of the two major voluntary pledges announced at COP28 – the pledge by 50 oil and gas companies to cut methane emissions by 2030 and the pledge by 130 countries to triple renewable and double energy efficiency – will only close 30 per cent of the gap needed to reach the Paris Agreement goals.
The IEA said that only an end to the use of fossil fuels and their ultimate phase out will keep the 1.5°C goal in sight.
Meanwhile, Carbon Brief have published a very handy tracker that keeps tabs on the status of each of negotiations. Negotiating tracks that have not yet published draft text are shown in red, while those with draft texts are orange. Items that have already been agreed are shown in green.
UNEP will continue to support environmental human rights defenders, UNEP's Executive Director, said at COP28 earlier today. "These brave individuals and communities face intimidation, criminalization and death when they stand up to those who would devastate nature for profit. We stand with them."
She also underscored UNEP's determination to advance the world’s newest right: the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
"Because the environment makes our lives and wellbeing possible. Underpins sustainable development. And enables the fulfilment of many other rights," she added.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released a report today at COP28 intended as a road map to how the world can reduce hunger and stay within 1.5C.
This is the first of three reports with the next two reports due to be released at COP29 and COP30.
This report contains targets including: reducing methane emissions from livestock by 25 per ent by 2030; safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030; halving food waste by 2030 ensuring all the world’s fisheries are sustainably managed by 2030; and eliminating the use of traditional biomass for cooking by 2030.
Food and how it is produced is both a cause of and a victim of the climate crisis. Agriculture and livestock farming contribute to emissions, while farmers around the world are at risk from the climate impacts such as drought.
