3Degrees’ COP28 Week 1 Round-up

As the first week of #COP28 wraps up, we want to highlight some of the top stories and announcements that caught our attention.?

• Global Stocktake Focused on Fossil Fuel Phase Out Debates. COP28’s Global Stocktake (GST), which requires member states to assess progress towards the 2015 Paris Agreement’s climate goals, has been dominated by debate over a fossil fuel “phase down” or “phase-out”. Despite global scientific consensus that use of fossil fuels must decline to achieve global net zero by 2050, some countries have resisted such a move, with Saudi Arabia preemptively announcing that they won’t agree to a GST text that calls for a fossil fuel phase down.
• Billions of dollars of climate finance promised by the public and private sectors. In the first week of COP28 alone, governments, companies, and philanthropies pledged billions of dollars to high-priority climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, including methane abatement and COP27’s “Loss and Damages” fund.
• Renewable energy buyers maximize their climate impact. The Clean Energy Buyers Institute (CEBI) launched its Beyond the Megawatt toolkit, which provides two actionable sets of criteria for renewable energy purchasers seeking to increase the emissions reductions and social benefits of their renewable energy procurement.
• Voluntary carbon markets double down on integrity. In an effort to reinforce their commitment to high-quality carbon credits, six major voluntary carbon registries announced a collaboration to increase the dependability of carbon markets. Meanwhile, the UN Development Program launched its own High Integrity Carbon Markets Initiative, which calls for increased transparency and equity in carbon markets while nodding to the work of existing integrity initiatives like VCMI and ICVCM.
• Supply chain decarbonization in the spotlight. The Science Based Targets initiative announced its COP28 Supply Change initiative, calling on companies to engage directly with suppliers to reduce their scope 3 emissions and create a cascading decarbonization “snowball effect” on value chains globally.

3Degrees’ Selma-Penna Utonih (Jr.) , European Environmental Markets Policy Manager, is in Dubai for week 2 of COP28. Stay tuned for further updates from the 3Degrees team.