Good morning to you – COP28 came to a close last week. After our team and delegation traveled and rested, we spent some time analyzing the final results of the conference. We’re diving into the outcomes for our final digest today. Thank you for spending your time with us these past two weeks!

Just one day beyond the scheduled end of COP28, negotiators attended the closing plenaries to agree on the official outcome document: the UAE Consensus. Let’s dive into the top three outcomes, both from the document and the conference itself. Consider these your climate talking points over the winter and holiday season.

1. The document calls for the “transitioning away” from fossil fuels.

Yes, this is a hard-fought, 30-years-in-the-making moment. If you remember last year’s outcome, the final document only called for the phase down of coal and harmful subsidies of fossil fuels. Some are calling this language, this moment, the beginning of the end of fossil fuels. While that may be true on some level, the document is also disappointing, imperfect, and not enough. In a time when phasing out fossil fuels is paramount to mitigation emissions and operating in line with climate science, the “transitioning away” language falls flat. There’s no naming of oil and gas, or hard deadlines for phase out.

This language was included and agreed on in the face of massive opposition from fossil fuel interests — the largest number of lobbyists ever to attend a COP, in fact. And still, countries on the front lines of the climate crisis are rightly naming the document as full of loopholes.

The document, in an ideal world, could be a catalyst for the renewable energy transition. It calls for the tripling of renewable energy by 2030 and doubling energy efficiency. In its essence though, it is fragile. The words rely on serious, urgent, and well-funded action from the exact leaders that agreed on the words. In the coming months ahead of COP29, the world will be watching for actual action. Not just words.

2. The need for justice is the writing on the wall.

The inclusion of “transitioning away” from fossil fuels language would not have been possible without the pressure from Indigenous leaders, island nations, activists, civil society, and countries on the frontlines of climate change impacts; the people and communities who do not have time for posturing, because their lives are at stake. Many have called this COP “business as usual” due to the lack of real ambition in its outcomes.

While the Loss and Damage Fund was realized, COP28 finished with roughly $770 million dollars pledged — roughly 0.2% of what frontline countries actually need annually to adapt to extreme weather, drought, loss of life, loss of infrastructure, and other impacts. Since there is no obligation to pay into the fund, the level of trust is low; not to mention the fact that some of the funds pledged were repeats of existing pledges.

A lack of funding overall getting into the hands of communities on the frontlines is limiting justice-based solutions, leaving poorer countries with small capacity to pay for clean energy, adaptation, and mitigation measures. And these communities should not have had to wait 30 years for the mere mention of fossil fuels to come into play. If the global community had taken incremental action at the scale needed 30 years ago, lives would have been saved.

3. Carbon conversations are on the rise — removal, storage, and capture.

The mechanics for carbon removal, and capture and storage, are central to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, however not much progress was made at COP28 to instill trust, standards, or regulations for this process.

Ranging from nature-based carbon sinks like mangroves to climate tech like direct air capture, carbon removal is part of the conversation. Yes, the IPCC states we need to remove carbon from the atmosphere to align with the 1.5 goal. The main concern? The technologies aren’t viable yet to make any massive impact — and carbon removal is often seen as an excuse to continue emitting, rather than a needed tactic in tandem with phasing out fossil fuels. If there is any way forward with the voluntary carbon markets, it must be developed while phasing out fossil fuels and listening to the communities that are often the ones managing the basis of the carbon credits (i.e. preserving forests on Indigenous lands, etc.)

Science tells us we need both mitigation and carbon removal, but the current iteration of carbon markets, carbon offsets, and strategies is mistrusted, riddled with loopholes, and does not contain clear reporting across the international community. We expect these conversations to become more charged, regarding the injustices they contribute to, during COP29.

For more specific pledges, actions, and commitments made during COP28 crossing issues from agriculture to methane mitigation, see this list from Carbon Brief.

While international agreements are critical for funding action, creating diplomacy, and providing spaces for civil society to hold leaders accountable, the actual agreement text isn’t what makes action happen. It’s the people. The people in leadership positions, in communities, on the ground, pushing for local solutions like fighting pollution, stronger standards, public transportation, youth empowerment, education, justice, health, and so much more.

Join us in thanking our COP28 delegates for their late nights, perspectives, content gathering, emotional processing, and collaboration as they were our eyes and ears on the ground in Dubai.

Thanks to all of you for reading and experiencing this COP with us.

We are looking forward to seeing you in the work ahead!

The post Your Summary of Negotiations –– COP28 Outcomes appeared first on Climate Generation.

Your Summary of Negotiations –– COP28 Outcomes