Climate Horizons 12 (COP28: Concerns, Controversy and Opportunity)
News, Views and Solutions in an All-of-the-Above World
Greetings!
We’ve vetted and selected a range of worthwhile climate-related news and information and resources for you.
This week we are focusing heavily on COP28, which began today in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and will continue until December 12.
“COP” is a catchy acronym, and in this case, is almost always used instead of what it stands for, which is “Conference of the Parties.” The “28” denotes that this is the 28th annual COP. The Conference of the Parties, or COP, is the main decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
As is the case every year, this year’s UN climate summit is certainly the world's most important climate meeting, even amid many concerns about what may or may not be meaningful addressed or accomplished, and a few swirling controversies, such as:
• The influence of major fossil fuel interests (who now send hundreds of representatives) • The choice of a major oil producing nation as the location this year • The appointment of Sultan al Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as COP28 president, and • Recent revelations that Sultan al Jaber has used — and may still be using — his position as president of the talks to promote his company’s fossil fuel interests in meetings with the leaders or representatives of various nations.
BUT, given the magnitude of the threat to human society and all life on earth, any gathering of tens of thousands of national leaders, climate scientists, activists, business executives and others to learn and talk and perhaps make key decisions about our climate crisis is vitally important.
COP is the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change. Virtually every country in the world sends representatives. What happens at COP matters! Among other things, the discussions will include the effects of climate change, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the question of who will bear the greatest impact of a hotter planet and who will help pay — and how much — for the costs of a more effective global response.
Last year approximately 45,000 people attended. This year as many as 70,000 are expected to attend the official COP events and many side events and meetings.
So…COP is where the world comes together in a critically important effort to agree on ways to address our climate crisis, how to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, how to help vulnerable communities prepare for and adapt to the effects of climate change, and reaching the current goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
We’ve selected a mix of links for you, from a variety of sources and perspectives.
Let’s start here, with the official COP28 UAE website.
As you would expect, there is a lot of information and resources here, broken into these sections:
• About • Visitor Info • Blue Zone • Green Zone • Partners • Media Hub • Connect
AND from the UNFCCC secretariat, the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. UNFCCC stands for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change:
There is a lot of information and resources here, too, broken into these sections:
• Why is COP 28 important? • What will be discussed at COP 28? • Which meetings are taking place during COP 28? • What is the difference between the blue zone and the green zone at COP 28? • Who can attend COP 28? • Who is hosting COP 28?
••••••••••
We highlighted the outstanding work of Covering Climate Now in an earlier issue. And though their focus is on journalists and journalism, we think their COP28 pages are excellent.
Here’s a link to the Covering Climate Now COP28 landing page, where CCN is “curating standout COP28 reporting from [their] partners throughout the summit:”
COP28: The United Nations 2023 Climate Change Conference
If you scroll down the page, you will find a large and growing number of links to COP28 stories from CCN partners “to help you better understand the key issues before and during COP28.” including, for example Grist, Reuters, The Guardian, CNBC, Bloomberg Green, Carbon Brief, Inside Climate News, TIME, National Catholic Reporter, AFP, DeSmog Blog, The New Humanitarian, Yale Environment 360, The Equation, Times of India and more…
And here’s a link to another page that you might find informative, even if you aren’t a journalist: Reporting Guide: How to Cover COP28
CCN has also posted two press briefings to help get journalists and anyone else up to speed. The first one breaks down the basics of carbon dioxide removal, and how it’s different from carbon capture and storage. The second one discussed safeguarding against misinformation in COP28 coverage.
••••••••••
Below are links to a good number of selected articles and columns about COP28. These articles and columns include everything from basic background reporting to detailed hopes, concerns and criticisms.
NPR (Updated November 27, 2023)
FAQ: Annual climate negotiations are about to start. Do they matter?
Newsweek (November 27, 2023)
The Five Things and People to Watch at the UN COP28 Climate Talks
BBC (November 29, 2023)
What is COP28 in Dubai and why is it important?
The Guardian (November 29, 2023)
What is Cop28 and why does it matter?
BBC (November 29, 2023)
COP28: Can a climate summit in an oil state change anything?
NY Times (November 20, 2023)
What Is COP28? And Other Questions About the Big U.N. Climate Summit
Reuters (November 29, 2023)
COP28 summit: Future of fossil fuels center stage at climate talks
••••••••••
Irish Times (November 25, 2023)
Cop28 beckons: A hellish future is predicted, yet the world continues to take baby steps on climate crisis
There are welcome trends, but the latest science from multiple sources is killing the positive outlook: human-made greenhouse gases are still rising despite big pledges
Heated (November 29, 2023)
COP28 sucks. Pay attention anyway.
The fossil fuel interests attempting to corrupt the high-stakes summit would love nothing more than for us to look away.
ClimateAdam on YouTube (November 16, 2023)
VIDEO (ten minutes): Climate Negotiation Crisis: Will COP28 be a giant mess?
It's no secret that COP climate negotiations often disappoint. From fears about the location, to frustration of the appointment of oil man Sultan al Jaber as president, this is ClimateAdam's COP28 explained!
NY Times (Sept. 21, 2023)
Al Gore Says Fossil Fuel Industry Seek to ‘Capture’ Climate Talks
••••••••••
truthout (November 27, 2023)
Leak Shows UAE Planned to Use COP28 Climate Talks to Strike Fossil Fuel Deals
“[I]t looks ever more like a fox is guarding the hen house,” one climate advocate said.
BBC (November 27, 2023)
UAE planned to use COP28 climate talks to make oil deals
The Crucial Years / by Bill McKibben (November 28, 2023)
A Corrupted COP
New revelations show just how bad the oil countries really are
CNN (November 28, 2023)
Climate summit host UAE planned to use the event to make oil deals, leaked notes suggest
NY Times (November 28, 2023))
Files Suggest Climate Summit’s Leader Is Using Event to Promote Fossil Fuels
A leaked document has talking points for the president of the United Nations climate conference, who is an oil executive in the United Arab Emirates, to advance oil and gas deals.
••••••••••
CNN (November 29, 2023))
Harris to attend COP28 after pushback over Biden skipping summit
The Guardian (November 29, 2023))
Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s grand plan to ‘hook’ poor countries on oil
AXIOS (November 29, 2023)
COP28 has high stakes for planet as climate warms, extreme weather surges
Want to know more? A web search on “COP28” will results in thousands of links.
• SELECTED NEWS and INFORMATION:
A few recent news items, usually in the form of a headline and link, along with a short description or excerpt. So much news out there, but we’re only including one item in this section this week, due to the amount of COP28 content above and below.
••••••••••
The Guardian (November 19, 2023)
The great carbon divide
We are not equally to blame for rising temperatures, and recognizing that is an important step in identifying possible solutions
The climate chasm between the world’s carbon-guzzling rich and the heat-vulnerable poor forms a symbolic shape when plotted on a graph. Climate-heating greenhouse gas emissions are so heavily concentrated among a rich minority that the image resembles one of those old-fashioned broad-bowled, saucer-shaped glasses beloved of the gilded age: a champagne coupe.
• GOOD NEWS and SOLUTIONS:
One or two or a few items that highlight either real and notable progress being made somewhere or information about a few of the many solutions that are out there and available today.
This week, we are sharing four different pieces that focus on reasons to be optimistic and hopeful in the face of our climate change crisis and challenges.
••••••••••
Positive.News / by Prof Michael Mann (November 13, 2023)
‘We’re not doomed yet’: five reasons for climate hope, by a climatologist
Professor Michael Mann is the climatologist whose famous hockey stick chart finally put climate denialism in the bin. He’s written a new book, Our Fragile Moment, about surviving the climate crisis. Here he explains why he remains hopeful about our future.
••••••••••
The Climate Optimist Newsletter / by Anne Therese Gennari (November 21, 2023)
Survey Confirms the Need for Climate Optimism
With COP28 approaching later this month I thought it fitting to hone in on some of the climate optimism I’ve come across lately. And by »climate optimism« you know I mean finding all the reasons we have to take action on climate change.
Sitting back and thinking it’ll all be okay is not climate optimism. That’s toxic positivity. And it’s important to know the difference.
But even in our actions, we need some sort of reassurance from time to time that showing up is still worth the effort. That is why I love articles like this one in Positive News.
••••••••••
The Guardian (November 22, 2023)
‘Hope has to be a strategy’: the scientist who refused to let the climate warmongers win
I’m optimistic about the future. I’ve come to the conclusion that hope has to be a strategy,” she says. “You have to use hope as a motivator to keep going, because if you give up, if I give up, if all of the other scientists give up, if all of the other advocates and people that care give up, then we are lost. “We can’t afford to give up. Therefore, we have to keep hopeful.”
••••••••••
The Hill (November 23, 2023)
A glimpse of optimism on climate change
As leading experts on climate change, we often get asked if there’s hope for the planet — but it may surprise people that we find more cause for optimism than despair.
AND:
Our climate future is up to us to decide: We live in the narrow window where the severity of the problem is known, but there is yet time to act. The reason for optimism is that we have the tools to collaboratively work toward reducing emissions, strengthening resilience, motivating adaptation and advancing equity.
• THINGS YOU CAN DO:
For this section, this week we are sticking with the overall theme of COP28. From Global Citizen:
14 Things You Can Do Right Now to Turn up the Heat on World Leaders at COP28
Let’s make some demands for climate action!
If you want to do something to help, here are some of the actions you can take right now during COP28.
What's at stake? The climate crisis continues to intensify, with the poorest people in the world — who contribute the least to damaging carbon emissions — paying the highest price. All the while, climate conferences are failing to deliver any real results and world leaders are failing to make good on their promises to fund climate adaptation and mitigation solutions.
What can we do? Loads, actually. You can get started by joining the movement of Global Citizens and take every action in this article to join us in calling on world leaders, the private sector, and more to urgently tackle the climate crisis.
• INTERNET RESOURCES & SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS:
There are a lot of great resources on the web and social media — people, groups and pages. In each newsletter, we suggest one or two you might want to check out (on the web or Facebook or Threads or Instagram or any number of other sites).
For the first time in this section, we’re highlighting a mainstream news outlet — a newspaper, to be precise: The Guardian
You may have noticed that we have shared links to and excerpts from a number of pieces from The Guardian in our first eleven newsletters. That’s because The Guardian has been out ahead of the curve when it comes to mainstream media coverage of both the environment generally and the our climate crisis specifically.
Check it out, and their various social media connections.
Sticking with the primary theme of this issue, here is The Guardian’s editorial take on COP28:
EDITORIAL: The Guardian view on betting the planet: a big oil producer presiding over Cop28 is a risk
The success of this week’s UN climate summit will depend on one man who must know that a favourable result would be bad news for the industry he represents
ON THE WEB: The Guardian
ON THE WEB: The Guardian: Environment
ON FACEBOOK: The Guardian Environment
ON THREADS: The Guardian
If you haven’t subscribed to Climate Horizons, we hope you will. We offer this weekly newsletter for free! Climate Horizons will evolve as we learn from the experience, and from you. We welcome any thoughts, questions, or suggestions you may have, and encourage you to share this with others you think might be interested. Thank you!