Where COP28 Delivered for People and Nature

A few weeks out from COP28 and I am still marveling at the quantity and quality of conversations and milestones that were reached for nature. In Glasgow, we worked with our coalition partners at Nature4Climate to create a space for nature – we continued this through Sharm El Sheik and in Dubai we saw the realization of real outcomes.

In fact, at The Nature Conservancy , we developed a scorecard that lays out in detail the progress - and the areas where we will need to do so much more.

As we traversed the vast areas between the Blue Zone, the Green Zone and the numerous external venues associated with this year's events, there were a few moments and actions that stood out among the rest -

• For the first time in 30 years of climate negotiations we addressed fossil fuels directly. Although this year’s final text is not as strong as many leaders, scientists and activists had hoped, getting almost 200 countries to agree to transition away from fossil fuels signals that governments are finally open to dealing with the elephant in the room.
• The reaffirmation of the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C and an emphasis on conserving, protecting and restoring nature to meet these goals, including halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 and conserving biodiversity, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards.
• The call for tripling renewable energy capacity and double the average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements globally by 2030.

• For the first time, the role of food, agriculture and water was also recognized, including an agreement by almost 160 countries to reduce emissions from agriculture while building climate resilience and avoiding harm to nature.
• The first mandatory individual cattle traceability program for cattle in Brazil. This is a huge step for ending deforestation in the Amazon – the program will cover an area bigger than France, Spain and Norway combined, with over 24M cattle on more than 295,000 farms.

• A landmark deal was announced on loss and damage, to help the poorest and most vulnerable countries pay for the impacts of climate change. While the current total (close to $800M) is a fraction of what is needed, this is a huge step forward.
• The US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and IADB launched a new task force on sovereign debt that will strengthen credit enhancement tools for countries to refinance their sovereign debt. I am proud that TNC was influential in the creation of the task force and will support its efforts going forward.
• And that TNC is a supporting partner of the Freshwater Challenge, which 43 countries have joined, committing to protect and restore 300,000 kilometers of rivers and 350 million hectares of wetlands by 2030.
• Finaly, there were huge wins for our oceans and coastal areas - early on, philanthropies, UN Agencies, and impact investors convened to launch resilience-focused actions in line with the newly established targets of the 2030 Coral Reef Breakthrough. Toward the end of COP, on Oceans Day, significant progress was announced for the Mangrove Breakthrough with USD 4 billion of new investments by to protect 15 M Ha by 2030. This was an incredible effort to get commitments from 49 governments (representing around 60% of the world’s mangroves) as well as over 50 non-state actors to halt mangrove destruction. Not to mention that a group of the world’s biggest philanthropies pledged $250 million to ocean resilience and ocean-based climate solutions.

At the close of any major negotiation the work does not stop when the gavel comes down. There is still a raft of additional outcomes we will continue to work toward as we collectively move from commitments to action.

Going into 2024 we’ll be rolling up our sleeves to help countries develop new, economy-wide commitments that safeguard and maximize the contribution of nature. It also means that we will continue to analyze the areas where we fell short – both in the strength of the language in the text and the representation in the rooms that mattered the most.

Thanks to these and other accomplishments I am closing out 2023 energized – we are steadily realizing important goals for people and the planet, and it is our job to ensure that it continues.