ESG Insider: COP28 and the future of fossil fuels
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The initial days of the UN climate change conference known as COP28 brought a flurry of announcements from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Several countries and the EU pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to a new loss and damage fund to assist countries particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Leaders from 116 countries pledged to triple renewable generation capacity by 2030, and some fifty oil and natural gas companies agreed to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 and methane emissions to near-zero by 2030.
While many people are heralding these developments as an early success for COP28 negotiations, others are expressing skepticism and demanding more meaningful action to back up lofty climate pledges.
“The fossil fuel industry is finally starting to wake up, but the promises made clearly fall short of what is required,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Dec. 3 .
This year’s conference also features the first global stocktake of countries' progress on achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The discussions among leaders and delegates at COP28 on the future of fossil fuels in the context of the stocktake is shaping up to be one of the conference’s major storylines.
Negotiators are considering different options for describing what place fossil fuels have going forward, according to a draft text of the conference’s global stocktake report . The draft text includes two options for a fossil fuel phaseout: The first calls for “an orderly and just phase out of fossil fuels,” while the second calls on countries to accelerate efforts toward a phaseout of fossil fuels and to rapidly reduce their use to achieve net zero by mid-century. A third option makes no mention of phasing out fossil fuels.
For more information on COP28 developments, read news from S&P Global Commodity Insights here .
In this week’s newsletter, as discussions over the future of fossil fuels continue at COP28, we examine projections that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels will rise to an all-time high in 2023. And staying on the topic of renewables, we explore the surge in solar energy installations in the US. We also give you an update on sustainability-related regulatory news in our monthly tracker.
And our ESG Insider podcast is on the ground at COP28, bringing you insights from the conference on a range of subjects ranging from climate finance to the importance of public and private collaboration in water projects.
Chart of the Week
COP28: Leaders pledge to triple renewable generation capacity by 2030 ?
Some 116 countries at COP28 signed a pledge to triple global renewable generation capacity by 2030 to at least 11 TW installed and double global energy efficiency improvement rates from around 2% per year now to more than 4% per year by 2030.
COP28: Global fossil fuel CO2 emissions set to jump to record highs in 2023
As global leaders discuss whether clear language over the phaseout of fossil fuels should be included in the negotiated text during COP28, climate scientists at the conference projected global carbon emissions from fossil fuels will rise to an all-time high in 2023.
In sunny sign for developers, US solar energy installations soared in Q3 2023
Construction activity of US solar farms more than doubled year-on-year in the third quarter, a sign that the industry is overcoming recent challenges such as inflation and supply chain constraints.
ESG Regulatory Tracker October 2023 – EU green bond standard, Brazil to adopt ISSB standards, US bank regulators’ climate risk guidelines
In our monthly regulatory update, we look at the EU’s Green Bond Standard, Brazil’s decision to adopt global sustainability standards and climate risk guidelines from US bank regulators.?
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ESG Insider: On the ground at COP28 As COP28 kicks off, talking climate finance with the Green Climate Fund ?featuring Hong Paterson, the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Green Climate Fund. >>Listen on Spotify , Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts
At COP28, solving for water challenges through public-private collaboration ?featuring Justina Nixon-Saintil, Chief Impact Officer at IBM; Emilio Tenuta, Chief Sustainability Officer at Ecolab; and Dr. Adewale Giwa, Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Water Desalination Engineering Program at the University of Sharjah. >>Listen on Spotify , Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts
Optimism, hope for progress palpable at COP28 ?featuring Henk Rogers, founder of the nonprofit Blue Planet Alliance. >>Listen on Spotify , Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts
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