15 Weeks To Go

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UNFCCC will be held in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December 2023. In the coming months, our UAE office selects and shares articles to keep you informed on preparations and perspectives from the wider Arabian Gulf.

African climate and environment ministerial meeting discusses COP28. Sultan Al Jaber, COP28 President-Designate, spoke at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in Ethiopia. He highlighted his Action Plan to fast track the energy transition, fix international climate finance, focus on people’s lives and livelihoods and underpin everything with full inclusivity. Discussions also focused on preparing for the upcoming Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi.

IOM gathers African youth to discuss climate-induced migration. Over 70 young people from 37 African countries gathered in Nairobi to discuss climate-induced mobility as well as opportunities for youth engagement on migration, environment and climate change across the continent.?The youth engagement forum, organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), feeds into a ‘Global Youth Statement’ ahead of the Africa Climate Summit.

World-leading economists set out next steps to reform climate finance. A meeting of world leading economists and finance leaders convened by the COP28 Presidency has delivered consensus on the next steps towards establishing a new framework for international climate finance and to drive progress at COP28 and beyond. Particular areas of focus include addressing debt distress in vulnerable countries, and the role of the private sector.?

Brazil increases push for climate legislation as COP28 approaches. Brazil's government plans to pass several energy transition-related bills, aiming to enhance the country's decarbonization efforts ahead of COP28. The legislative package includes proposals involve creating a carbon market, standardizing offshore wind regulations, and regulating green hydrogen. President Lula has also pledged to halt illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by 2030.

Report: Gulf and Middle East Decarbonization Strategies Ahead of COP28. The Center on Global Energy Policy of Columbia University has published an analysis trying to answer the question of how Gulf and MENA states can decarbonize their fossil-fuel-dependent domestic economies and reduce or reconfigure their hydrocarbon sales, which bring in the bulk of government revenues and export earnings.

Pacific Small Islands Developing States hold high level climate dialogue. Fiji is urging world leaders on the need for investment funds to assist in protecting food systems, agricultural productivity and water supplies. Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said in his opening statement at the Pacific Small Islands Developing States High Level Dialogue on Climate Change (21-22 August) that "we have to be more self-reliant".

Opinion: Only genuinely clean hydrogen can help solve the climate crisis. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who also chairs the Green Hydrogen Organization, writes that the notion of “clean” or “low carbon” hydrogen has become ubiquitous and a subtext for promoting fossil-fuel derived hydrogen with emissions which are still too high for our planet to cope with. He argues that "at COP28 we need to rally behind all hydrogen trending towards near zero emissions by 2030."

Politico: Wealthy oil nation lays groundwork for ‘eye-popping’ climate fund. The UAE is considering creating a multibillion-dollar fund to spur clean energy investments across the world that it plans to unveil at this year’s UN climate talks in Dubai, Politico reports. According to the news source, a G-7 government official said envoys from the oil-rich Mideast nation had privately mentioned the idea of a fund of at least $25 billion.

Gabon 'blue bond' swap raises hopes for African debt-for-nature deals. A $436 million "debt-for-nature" swap by Gabon to fund marine conservation has backers hoping for more such money-saving environmental deals, but some investors still see room for improvement in the increasingly-popular transactions. Concerns remain around questions of the enforceability of conservation commitments and the consequences of a potential default.

'Silent threat': Bahrain to build walls against rising sea. By next year, the small Gulf state will begin building its coastal defenses against sea levels that have begun advancing, by widening beaches, constructing taller sea walls and elevating land. "Bahrain is vulnerable," Mohamed bin Mubarak bin Daina, Bahrain's oil and environment minister and special envoy for climate affairs, said in an interview. "The main threat is a silent threat, which is the sea level rise."

India has agreed on the overall theme for its COP28 country pavilion. The current theme of India’s G20 presidency, "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam", will also be the theme for India's country pavilion at COP28. It translates to "one earth, one familiy, one future." The theme is drawn from the ancient Sanskrit text of the Maha Upanishad, which affirms the value of all life - human, animal, plant, microorganisms - and their interconnectedness on Earth and the universe.