COP28: A temperature check for the world
Dear friend,
Just like that, we’re reaching the end of the year! However, the most important climate event of the year has yet to finish…COP28 is still underway in Dubai! Delegates from various countries (including a sizeable contingent from Singapore) have descended onto the desert sands (well, more of an urban jungle to be honest) for the latest iteration of the annual UN climate conference.
This year, some important things to look out for are the Global Stocktake and negotiations on the new loss and damage (L&D) fund that was agreed to be set up at COP27 last year. These will be crucial in determining how much more ambitious countries will have to be in setting their climate targets, as well as whether developing countries will have the resources to do so.
Lastly, while all this is happening, it would be remiss of us to not acknowledge the ongoing crisis in Palestine. SGCR strongly condemns the continuation of violence and calls for an immediate ceasefire. We extend our condolences to the families of the deceased in the conflict.
Amid these heavy times, we hope you have a restful December!
For a better world,
SG Climate Rally
COP28 will see intense negotiations on all sorts of climate issues. It can be hard to break down some of the concepts, so our team has been hard at work with explainers on two of the issues. Our first series focuses on the L&D Fund that was just finalised at the start of the conference:
What does ‘Loss & Damage’ mean? Now that the fund has been formally established, what else will be up for debate at the conference? And should Singapore contribute to the fund? (Our position: yes). Check out the posts via the previous links or browse them at your leisure on our Instagram.
Stay tuned for our upcoming series on the Global Stocktake! 👀
Global News
🤔While COP28 got off to a promising start with the formalisation of the L&D fund, the lead-up to the conference was marred with controversy, with many questioning the UAE’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis, as well as leaked documents obtained by the BBC and the Centre for Climate Reporting appearing to show that COP28 chief Dr Sultan al-Jaber would discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 other countries including China and Brazil. Dr Jaber denied these allegations; however it was then further reported that Dr Jaber had also claimed there is “no science” behind phasing out fossil fuels to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C. His remarks have drawn condemnation from many including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US climate czar John Kerry. Dr Jaber is the CEO of the UAE’s state-owned oil company Adnoc, which many have cited as a conflict of interest with his role as the COP28 chief.
✅Other than the L&D fund, other pledges made so far at COP28 included more than 100 governments pledging to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030. However, China and India have not yet backed the pledge. The UAE also pledged to invest at least US$30 billion in a new climate fund together with several asset managers, and the US pledged US$3 billion to the Green Climate Fund. 50 oil and gas companies including ExxonMobil and Aramco pledged to attain net-zero by 2050, and reduce methane emissions to ‘near-zero’ by 2030. However, this agreement is non-binding, and the news has been greeted with scepticism by several experts.
Local News
🏝️To shore up coastal protection along East Coast, the government announced potential plans to reclaim around 800 hectares of land to form a new ‘Long Island’ off East Coast Park. The Long Island will be comprised of three tracts of land, with a tidal gate and pumping station built between each land mass, creating a new reservoir between the island and East Coast Park. This can help to reduce flood risks along the coast. Waterfront homes, amenities, and industrial facilities are also planned to be built on the island.
While the proposed Long Island may help to alleviate flood risks in the area, environmental experts and advocates have highlighted potential impacts on marine life, whose habitats will inevitably be lost with the construction of the island. Sea sports enthusiasts will also lose a venue for certain sports like sailing and windsurfing. It is also imperative to examine where the sand used for reclaiming the land will come from, and whether it will impact the communities in that area. Technical studies will commence early next year, and the island may take up to 50 years to complete.
As this will be a long-term project, with many trade-offs to consider, environmental advocates should keep a close eye on developments to ensure the necessity of these measures are not used as an excuse to ignore biodiversity and marginalised communities’ concerns. The government will be conducting public engagement sessions on the plans for the Island, which you can sign up for here. Several youth climate groups will also be holding a conversation about the Long Island on 20th December, 4-6pm. Sign up here!
📖Need more information about COP28? Qiyun from @theweirdandwild has put together an extensive resource guide on what will be going on at the conference, as well as some good background reading.
If you don’t like to read about COP28 (ok Zoomer), here’s a short video on what will be at stake in this COP:
⚖️Finally, we don’t blame you if you feel jaded at this point about these climate conferences. It can often seem like just a talkshop, with contentious negotiations leading to watered down outcomes that are insufficient to deal with the severity of the climate crisis. But for every Copenhagen Summit, we get a Paris Agreement, and it is only at conferences like these where we can collectively take stock of our climate ambitions and how much more we need to go. And it is where developing nations can confront the developed nations, and lay bare the hypocrisy of their actions. As the historian Adam Tooze notes in his commentary:
“They may seem like staid and ritualistic affairs, but it is in such venues that the lethal connection between oil, gas and coal production, rich-world consumption and the lethal risks facing those in the climate danger zone can be articulated in political form.
It is on that stage that activists and governments can pillory the disgraceful refusal of rich countries to cooperate in the establishment of a loss and damage fund to compensate those countries that are most in harm’s way…Such a fund is no solution to the problem of the triple inequality. For that we need a comprehensive energy transition and new models of truly inclusive and sustainable development. But a loss and damage fund does one essential thing. It recognises that the global climate crisis is no longer a problem of future development. We have entered the stage where the failure to urgently address the mounting crisis becomes an active process of victimisation. A victimisation that cries out, at least, for an admission of responsibility and adequate compensation.”