Climate Change Conference Summary: The Hottest Year Ever in the United Arab Emirates – A Report on the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change

It is almost certain that this will be the hottest year in recorded history. The warming of the planet by greenhouse gas emissions has been higher than preindustrial levels. Floods, fires, droughts and storms made worse by climate change are unleashing destruction around the world.

One of the most controversial aspects of this year’s talks is the person leading them. The head of the United Arab Emirates’ main state oil company was named as the climate meeting’s president. That has led to concerns among many climate experts and activists, who point out that humanity must stop burning fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic climate change.

This year’s negotiations come at the close of the hottest year ever recorded on Earth. Extreme weather events are becoming more deadly and disruptive.

“So many terrifying records were broken [in 2023],” said Simon Stiell, the head of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, at the negotiations’ opening ceremony. “We are paying with people’s lives and livelihoods.”

According to scientists, if greenhouse gas pollution is not immediately reduced, catastrophic climate change effects such as mass extinctions and runaway sea level rise will occur by this century.

The COP28 summit: climate change and the role of the United States, EU and Israel in tackling the crisis in the post-Newtonian era

The Chinese president will be skipping this year’s talks but is sending a delegation of high-level officials. Earlier this month, Biden and Xi agreed to resume work on tackling climate change, after suspending official collaboration on the topic last year due to broader tensions between the two nations.

Another major topic on the table is whether the countries most responsible for causing climate change will follow through on promises to help the most vulnerable countries foot the bill for adapting to a hotter world. The United States has released the most planet-warming pollution into the atmosphere, going back to the mid-1800s.

Every country in attendance has to approve the final agreement. Each word of the final document will be scrutinized if there is unanimous consent. In previous years, representatives from oil producing nations have vetoed language calling for a rapid phaseout of fossil fuels.

More heads of state and government will speak on Saturday, and the event will continue for 10 days as negotiators from nearly every nation try find common cause in the fight against climate change.

King Charles III, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President William Ruto of Kenya are among those expected to speak on Friday, the second day of the meeting known as COP28. The Palestinian Authority president and President of Israel will be speaking seven weeks into the war in Gaza.

He called on the delegates to continue efforts to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target many scientists believe is out of reach.

Mr. Al Jabber defended the presence of fossil fuel in his opening remarks. “Let history reflect the fact that this is the presidency that made a bold choice to proactively engage with oil and gas companies,” he said.

The U.S. Steps Up Under President Biden’s Leadership: The Climate Crisis in the World is Getting Closer to the Paris Agreement

“I’m happy to report that the United States has stepped up under President Biden’s leadership,” Kerry told the crowd at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum earlier this month.

Kerry often points to landmark climate legislation passed last year, the Inflation Reduction Act. Hundreds of billions of dollars were directed to boost clean energy and speed up the transition away from fossil fuels in the largest climate legislation ever passed.

The World Resources Institute’s Africa office has aclimate director Nisha Krishnan who says there is a trust deficit with the U.S.

It’s sometimes a roadblock in negotiations. Former President Trump even removed the U.S. from the key Paris climate agreement, though President Biden later rejoined.

Guterres said that humanity has opened the gates of hell. Many of the poorer nations have the right to be angry. They did nothing to create a climate crisis that they are angry about.

Money is the main cause of that anger. The rich countries have promised hundreds of billions of dollars to help the poorer countries switch to cleaner energy and adapt to climate change. But Congress has resisted allocating enough money for those payments, in part because many lawmakers, including most Republicans, still oppose the Paris agreement.

John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, assured his audience that the U.S. is taking climate change seriously.

So far, U.S. efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are not enough to meet the nation’s own commitments under the Paris Agreement. The world is not close to the target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“It’s just high time that the United States has to come to terms with its role in global warming,” says Denise Fontanilla, International Program Director at Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities in the Philippines.

Nobody expects something on the scale of the Paris Agreement in Dubai. The negotiators could make more progress on climate issues if they pledged to triple renewable energy capacity. It’s probably a success considering the other challenging factors in the world, such as the wars in Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas.

“The U.S. China Sunnylands statement will help improve or stabilize the politics at COP28. I think it is a good policy for the U.N. climate summit. The negotiations will be a success, at least with an insurance policy.

It went quiet during the Trump administration and has been difficult to work with under Biden. Climate issues were at the heart of it this summer. Climate envoys for the two countries met in California this month to commit to doubling deployment of renewable energy by the year 2030.

“The Paris Agreement, for example, it really did take Obama to do all the backchannel diplomacy with China to be able to bring China to that table,” says Naveeda Khan, chair of the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. A book on climate negotiations between the US and developing countries was published by her.

But even as countries are frustrated with the U.S. for failing to live up to its commitments, there’s an understanding that it remains essential to major breakthroughs.

The host nation of the fund was the United Arab republics of Arabia and Germany. The United States pledged to work with Congress to commit $17.5 million.