Unpacking COP 28’s Push Towards A Fossil-Free Future And The Other Outcomes

During the Conference of Parties (COP28), the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, global leaders convened to explore remedies for addressing climate change and the challenges of global warming.

The COP28 agreement received praise as a pivotal step towards phasing out fossil fuels, marking what many considered “the beginning of the end.” However, some critics argued that the deal left ample room for interpretation.

In addition to nations aligning to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, aiding vulnerable communities in adapting to climate change, and striving for net-zero emissions, the Summit introduced the Global Stock take. This inaugural assessment evaluated progress in mitigating global warming, emphasizing countries’ commitment to fostering a sustainable and resilient future through global collaboration.

The meaning and significance of the COP28 has been discussed in the previous article¹, let’s devolve to understand the major outcomes from the 28th Session :

COP28 Highlights: Moving Away from Fossil Fuels At COP28 in Dubai, leaders discussed climate change solutions, building on the Glasgow Climate Pact. The first Global Stocktake (GST) marked a crucial step toward transitioning from the fossil fuel era.²
Conference Overview: Operationalizing Change COP28 began positively with the launch of the loss and damage fund. However, negotiations faced challenges on the GST, Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) framework, mitigation work program, just transition pathways, and Paris Agreement Article 2.1(c) matters.
Key Contentions and Compromises Negotiations encountered difficulties, particularly regarding fossil fuel phaseout language in the GST decision and means of implementation for the GGA. The process aimed to assess global progress on mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation, guiding countries in preparing their 2025 nationally determined contributions (NDCs).³
COP Decision on GST: Focusing on Transition The COP decision urged countries to contribute to global efforts, emphasizing the transition away from fossil fuels, accelerating the phase-down of unabated coal power, and promoting renewables, nuclear, and abatement technologies.
Outcome Concerns and Loopholes Closing statements revealed challenges, including the absence of a clear fossil fuel phaseout reference, weak language on coal and methane, and concerns about “transitional fuels.”
Other Conference Outcomes
- Adoption of the GGA framework, outlining goals such as impact assessment, early warning systems, climate information services, and transparent national adaptation plans.
- Designation of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and UN Office for Project Services as hosts for the Santiago Network on loss and damage.
- Launch of the just transition pathways work programme, featuring hybrid dialogues before annual Subsidiary Bodies sessions.
Conference Logistics The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, UAE, convened from November 30 to December 13, with 97,372 attendees.⁴ COP28 proved to be the largest UN climate change conference, closing 23 hours later than scheduled.

Now, everyone is looking forward to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, next year. At COP28, they talked about a big problem – a gap of nearly £6 trillion ($7.5 trillion) by 2030. This gap is between what developing countries need to deal with the increasing impacts of climate change and debts they have, and the support they get to achieve their climate goals. But, there wasn’t much detail discussed, so now, the focus is on money. In 2024, discussions about finances will be crucial not only at COP29 in Azerbaijan but also in places like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. This means that figuring out how to fund and support climate actions is going to be a major topic in the coming years.