COP28, the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, is underway in Dubai. This 2023 installment has been controversial ever since the announcement that Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who is also head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, was named President of the conference. This week’s BBC report that a leaked briefing revealed plans for the UAE to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations during the conference cast further doubt on the conference’s legitimacy.
Controversy aside, COP28 has important work ahead, and with the world fast approaching 1.5⁰ C of warming, which scientists have established as the threshold for avoiding the worst consequences of climate change, there is a lot at stake.
There have been many insightful articles and summaries of the agenda, highlights, and goals of the conference. GreenTV.com is publishing a series of posts to help you navigate the conference, and we will add more as breaking news emerges from the meetings.
Plus, you can check out our own COP28 resource page here.
Official COP28 Website & Agenda
The website for official agendas, statements, livestreams, reports, and decisions from COP28 is found at https://unfccc.int/cop28. The official agenda is here: https://unfccc.int/COP28/schedule.
3 Top Issues
Jeffrey Kluger of Time wrote an insightful article on The Top 3 Issues Countries Will Tackle at COP28, pointing to:
The great global stock-taking, which should be a sobering analysis of the world’s failures to take action necessary to keep temperature rise to 1.5⁰ C.
Elimination of fossil fuels, which given the controversy described above, seems…well….
Loss and damage fund progress. The biggest success coming our of COP27 was the commitment to establish – and fund – a loss and damage fund to help developing nations suffering from the devastating impacts of climate change. At COP28, the goal is to secure adequate funding and operationalize the fund.
Short Video Playlist
Bloomberg Philanthropies has created a playlist of short 1-minute videos with titles like:
Learn About COP28 in Under a Minute
What Will be the Most Important Topics at COP28
What a Successful COP28 Means for Climate Action in the UAE and Beyond
Live Updates
A few news organizations have established live update feeds and features dedicated to news from COP28, but most continue to treat the climate crisis and climate conferences, like COP28, as a sideshow. (Which, of course, is why we created GreenTV.com.) Here are links to a couple of the more robust feeds.
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cop28
The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/12/01/climate/cop28-climate-change-summit
Climate Organizations Covering COP28
Where the mainstream media is failing, climate organizations around the world are stepping up to provide different perspectives on COP28. Here are a few:
The Nature Conservancy has a COP28 guide emphasizing four areas of focus, including:
Transition to clean energy
Centering nature, people, lives & livelihoods
Delivering on finance
Mobilizing inclusivity
The WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) has a COP28 resource page with an impressive list of links to WWF policy resources as well as a list of expectations and information on their #PANDAHUB Pavilion.
The Environmental Defense Fund also has a COP28 resource page with information about their presence at COP28 and a list of their own priorities, which include:
Energy transition
Sustainable food
Natural climate solutions
We Don’t Have Time is covering COP28 live (we’re streaming their live feed above). Plus, they have many additional videos and articles on their website.
This short list of COP28 resources merely scratches the surface. We’ll add more updates as the conference progresses, so return to GreenTV.com often in the coming days and weeks!