COP28 has
officially begun from November 30, 2023. Before that we saw the resignation of
COP28 president from his position of Adnoc CEO. Adnoc is the biggest oil firm
in UAE. Few days ago, BBC also revealed the leaked documents which say UAE is
planning to use its role as the host to make new oil and gas deals. The leaked
documents revealed the UAE’s plans to use this opportunity to strike deals with
15 nations.
The opening
ceremony was dedicated to the professor Saleemul Huq and Pete Betts who both passed away prior to the
COP28, with the Bangladesh recalling the efforts made by Prof. Huq’s in the
establishment of Loss and Damage Fund. . The COP28 started with the
announcement for Loss and Damage. Loss and Damage refers to the loss and damage
caused by the climate crisis in the MAPA regions (Most Affected Peoples and
Area). Such announcements are made usually made at the end of the summits. It
can be considered one of the biggest victory in the fight seeking for climate
justice because it took 30 years for the countries to get here. But it won’t
matter if the host country or other countries secretly strikes any new oil and
gas deals. This will only mean they did it on purpose to shift the focus from
what is actually happening. COP28 needs to be a meaningful COP where phasing
out fossil fuels and investing more on renewable energy should be at focus. As
I mentioned earlier, the COP28 started with the announcement of 100 million
dollars for loss and damage fund by the host country UAE. It was followed by
the announcement of the same amount of money from Germany. The total
contributions from UK, US,EU and other are around 400 million dollars for the
poor countries facing the consequences of climate change.
The fund was set up last year at COP27 in Egypt where countries agreed to set up a loss and damage fund for the MAPA regions. The UK has agreed to pay 60 million euros which is not enough when taking the historic emissions in account. The EU has promised 275 million dollars to the fund. The US, the world’s largest economy has only agreed to pay 17.5 million dollar to the fund despite the fact it is the second largest country in terms of the carbon emissions each year.
COP28 Live Blog- Their Voices For Climate!