Summary provided by members of our ESG team; Elizabeth Andrews, ESG Analyst and Douwe Muller, Associate.
The World Climate Action Summit (“WCAS”) opened COP28 with a variety of commitments from leaders.
Launched by the EU, the Global Pledge on Renewables and Energy Efficiency was announced – which sees 119 countries endorse the increased uptake of renewables and improved energy efficiency. They are committing to work together to triple the installed capacity of renewable energy and double the global average rate of energy efficiency by 2030. The pledge seeks to maintain economic development in hand with decarbonization/decarbonisation, however still lacks commitment to reducing fossil fuel use.
Against the backdrop of physical climate impacts taking place across the world, leaders at WCAS highlighted the urgent need to focus finance on climate adaptation and ultimately provide near-term solutions to vulnerable nations. The newly coordinated loss and damage fund totals $725 million, following commitments from 18 different countries.
The US also pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, contributing to more than $12 billion in pledges, making the fund the largest of its kind dedicated to supporting climate action and decarbonization/decarbonisation in developing countries.
Sultan Al Jaber, President of the UN Climate Summit COP28, pledged on behalf of 50 oil companies (representing nearly half of global production) to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring by 2030. This came in hand with the US-China-UAE methane and non-CO2 gasessummit, which announced $1.2 billion to support the reduction of methane across sectors in developing countries.
Although a step in the right direction, the pledge currently lacks a meaningful pathway explaining how net-zero methane emissions will be achieved, and again fails to address the core issue at hand of phasing out fossil fuel production. It is important the focus is not perceived to be on how oil companies can continue their operations, but remains on the change that is fundamentally needed to meet climate targets.
Overall, the commitments announced at the WCAS offer a step in the right direction; however, there is still a long way to go.
The absence of a commitment to phase out fossil fuels remains a key concern as reiterated by a representative from the IPCC, it is a vital component of the means to deliver non-devastating, Paris-aligned, degrees of warming.
The coordination of a loss and damage fund is vital in supporting countries impacted by climate change, but representatives from the Global South have highlighted the amounts pledged so far are only a ‘drop in the ocean’ compared to what is required to adapt to changing conditions.
