Today marks the last day of the 13-day COP28 in Dubai. On the penultimate day, after several rounds of negotiations, the draft text summarizing the outcomes and decisions of the Conference of the Parties, serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, was released, providing a comprehensive overview of global efforts to combat climate change.
The draft delves into various critical aspects of climate change, ranging from the global stocktake process and climate finance to loss and damage associated with climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation efforts. Emphasizing the indispensable role of multilateralism, international cooperation, and the consideration of human rights and gender equality, the document underscores the urgency of addressing the climate crisis through collective, coordinated, and sustained action on a global scale.
The draft of the First Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement acknowledges the imperative for profound, swift, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and urges participating Parties to consider a range of actions. These include, tripling global renewable energy capacity and doubling the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements worldwide by 2030.
Additionally, the draft also calls for the swift reduction of unabated coal, implementing constraints on new unabated coal power generation. The Parties are also encouraged to expedite global efforts towards achieving net-zero emission energy systems, utilizing zero and low carbon fuels well before or around mid-century.
Moreover, the document emphasizes the acceleration of zero and low emissions technologies, such as renewables, nuclear, abatement, and removal technologies, including carbon capture and utilization, storage, and low carbon hydrogen production.
The goal is to enhance efforts in substituting unabated fossil fuels in energy systems. Furthermore, it advocates for a just, orderly, and equitable reduction in both the consumption and production of fossil fuels to achieve net-zero emissions by, before, or around 2050.
The draft also emphasizes the urgency of accelerating the substantial reduction of non-CO2 emissions, particularly methane emissions globally by 2030. It calls for a swift reduction in emissions from road transport through various pathways, including infrastructure development and rapid deployment of zero and low-emission vehicles.
Lastly, the document underscores the importance of phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption and does not address energy poverty or just transitions, aiming for their elimination as soon as possible.
The draft mentions that a significant collective progress has been made towards the Paris Agreement temperature goal, with an expected global temperature increase reduced from 4°C to a range of 2.1–2.8°C with the full implementation of the latest nationally determined contributions.
All parties have communicated nationally determined contributions demonstrating progress towards the Paris Agreement temperature goal. Additionally, 68 parties have communicated long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies, covering 87% of the global economy, which provides the possibility of reaching below 2°C when fully implemented.
Mitigation technologies have become increasingly available, and the unit costs of several low-emission technologies have fallen over the past decade. However, despite overall progress, Parties are not yet collectively on track towards achieving the purpose of the Paris Agreement and its long-term goals. The impacts of climate change are rapidly accelerating, and there is an urgent need for accelerated action to keep the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach. The document emphasizes the need for enhanced financial resources, technology transfer, and capacity-building support to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
A key highlight of the draft is the acknowledgment of the findings from the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which underscores the imperative for accelerated action in response to the climate crisis. The draft text stresses the need for enhanced financial resources, technology transfer, and capacity-building support to meet the ambitious goals set forth in the Paris Agreement.
The document outlines a series of steps aimed at addressing loss and damage associated with climate change impacts. These steps include recognizing the need for enhanced knowledge and understanding of risk, acknowledging existing gaps in responding to increased scale and frequency of loss and damage, and emphasizing gender-responsive and conflict-sensitive approaches. The draft text also commends international efforts to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts in vulnerable developing countries, encouraging technical assistance through the Santiago network. Vinod Kumar (UAE)
