After we’ve been here in Dubai for a few days, it occurs to me that I haven’t seen any children, but today the sounds of playing, their squeals and laughter, are spilling in from the street.
I have been reminding myself to notice, to slow down, and to pay attention. It occurs to me that much of this experience, the way we have been graciously welcomed, the way the city has made conspicuous display of its greening efforts, the giant purple and pink windmills spinning in still skies, is all a sort of theater.
The poor air quality has been challenging for me to navigate. The city’s skyline is obscured each morning by a thick gray haze and by what I suspect is air pollution. This morning, the Air Quality Index read 158, an ‘unhealthy’ level. The heat has been particularly stifling because the venue, Expo City, is spread out, and most days, we have been directed to walk long circuitous routes, cordoning us off into mazes of retractable belt barriers as they try to manage the crowds.
I have been paying particular attention to workers who undertake the daunting task of making all this work, the running of a temporary city within a city with over 110,000 temporary citizens. And what a gorgeous, diverse citizenry on display here. It is moving to hear so many languages and dialects and see traditional clothing and finery from around the globe. I have been heartened by the visibility of indigenous communities and the plentiful panels featuring indigenous speakers and perspectives.
It is perplexing to know how to ‘DO’ a COP. There are so many offerings across a vast campus and gorgeous artwork to take in, and on-site actions popping up everywhere in between. The most grounding experience I have had as a COP newbie was getting some insight into the two spheres of activities happening simultaneously – the business of negotiations and the work of advocacy and education happening all around it.
Yesterday, I observed a few hours of finance negotiations, the slow crawl to total consensus between the 196 parties present here. This is an awesome, inconceivably arduous project – to find a way to bridge all the differences, tensions, barriers, histories, complications, and discrepancies to find a way to total agreement. And then there is this teeming swirl of advocacy, innovation, propaganda, commerce, and pageantry all around it. The proximity matters, I think, as each side sharpens the other, each side bringing the other to clarity.
Rather than brave the crush of people and the heat of Expo City, this morning we had planned to visit The Hope House, a COP28 offsite venue in the arts district, but we discovered when we arrived that the morning’s event had been canceled. So, we set out to see the city, to explore the spice souks, to ride a water taxi, and eat at the famous Arabia Tea House. Seeing these parts of the city was refreshing because this experience, the last week in Dubai, has been, in a word, overwhelming. My experience at COP28 in Dubai has been a deluge of emotions, conflicts, questions, and semi-formed opinions.
Erin Sharkey is a writer, arts, and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and film producer based in Minneapolis. She is the editor of A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed Editions ’23). Erin is a founding coop member of the Fields at Rootsprings, a retreat and respite space in central MN, and co-founder, with Junauda Petrus, of an experimental arts collective called Free Black Dirt. She is the producer of film projects, including Sweetness of Wild, an episodic web film, and Small Business Revolution, which explored challenges and opportunities for Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities in the summer of 2021. Sharkey has received fellowships and residencies from the Loft Mentor Series, VONA/Voices, the Givens Foundation, Penumbra Theatre, Coffee House Press, the Bell Museum of Natural History, Black Visions, Headwaters Foundation and the Jerome Foundation. She has an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University and teaches with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.
Erin is a Climate Generation Window Into COP delegate for COP28. To learn more, we encourage you to meet the full delegation and subscribe to the Window Into COP digest.
The post Learning to “DO” COP appeared first on Climate Generation.
Climate Change
Driven by Steel Production, China’s Belt and Road Construction Carries a Heavy Climate Cost
Strong regulations and incentives are needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions from Chinese manufacturing, two new studies conclude.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the world’s largest ongoing infrastructure program, has a substantial climate impact. More than half its emissions stem from steel, the majority of which was produced in China.
Driven by Steel Production, China’s Belt and Road Construction Carries a Heavy Climate Cost
The tool forecasts heat risks for wildlife in some regions months in advance. But questions remain about whether this information can prevent deaths at a large scale.
At the end of May, eight endangered Asiatic lions died at a national park in India. Officials feared the animals had succumbed to a tick-borne parasitic disease that previously killed lions in the area.
Heat Is Killing Wildlife Across the Animal Kingdom. A New Forecasting Tool May Help.
Climate Change
COP31 electrification push a welcome first step by Presidency, but insufficient without ending fossil fuels: Greenpeace
Bonn, Germany, Tuesday 9 June 2026 — Greenpeace has welcomed the COP31 Presidency’s electrification initiative — a 35% by 2035 target as part of the Action Agenda launch — as a positive step forward, but said it must be coupled with a rapid phase out of fossil fuels as part of a just transition to renewable energy to keep the 1.5°C limit within reach.
While electrifying households, industry and other major sectors with renewable energy is a key component of ending fossil fuel use, a focus alone on growing renewables and expanding electrification will not be enough without a managed, proactive wind-down of fossil fuel production as well.
Speaking from Bonn, Dr Simon Bradshaw, COP31 Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “Minister Bowen and his Turkish counterpart Minister Kurum must maintain the global momentum towards a phase out of fossil fuels and ensure that a just transition is at the heart of the COP31 agenda.
“As Minister Bowen said, we are in the middle of a global fossil fuel crisis. Ending the fossil fuel chokehold is the only path towards greater peace and security and the only way to keep 1.5°C within reach. This means no new fossil fuel approvals and a managed phase out of fossil fuel production.
“Renewable electrification is also the path to universal energy access, better health and reducing inequality, but only if the solutions are accessible to all. This new electrification push should have equity at its heart and maximise the opportunities to leave all communities stronger.
“Nowhere are the benefits of renewable electrification clearer than in the Pacific. For some countries, fuel import costs are equivalent to 25% of GDP. The region has been hit particularly hard by the current global fossil fuel crisis, with multiple Pacific countries declaring a state of emergency over concerns for fuel and power supply.
“The Pacific is already facing the brunt of a climate crisis and now faces the compounding injustice of an energy crisis brought on by fossil fuel dependence. It did not create either of these crises, but is among the most exposed to both. The Pacific is leading the global push beyond fossil fuels, with the aim of becoming the world’s first fossil fuel free region.”
“As COP31 President of Negotiations, it’s time for Australia to also lead by example. This means an immediate halt to new fossil fuel projects — including Woodside’s reckless Browse gas project — and developing a national roadmap away from fossil fuel production.”
The past decade has seen strong progress in the roll-out of renewable energy and in 2026 unprecedented momentum is being built towards the phase out of fossil fuels, after 57 committed countries came together in Santa Marta in April and the global energy shock brought on by the war on Iran exposed the inherent risk of fossil fuel reliance.
Coinciding with the Bonn Climate Change Conference, Greenpeace International has released a report outlining the rapid growth in renewables since the Paris Agreement [1] and calling for an accelerated fair, fast and funded just transition through deliberate political choices and strong policy frameworks.[2]
Berkan Ozyer, Director of Greenpeace Türkiye, said: “It is a deep contradiction that Türkiye, as COP31 host, is championing a vision of electrification in the global arena while continuing to keep 37 active coal power plants running and leaving the door open for new projects at home.
“While dependence on fossil fuels condemns us to expensive energy and a reliance on global supply chains, our massive wind and solar potential is the true key to Turkish independence. Real climate leadership means winning the electrification race, not just by talking about clean energy, but by setting a bold and just coal phase-out date as part of a transition away from all fossil fuels.”
ENDS
Notes
[1] Read the Greenpeace Energy [R]evolution+10 report
[2] A Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels: Policy Briefing
Photos in the Greenpeace Media Library
Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 (Whatsapp/Signal) or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
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