End-of-day summary
We are wrapping up the blog. Here is a refresh of a very busy day at the summit:
Keir Starmer, the UK opposition leader, has accused Rishi Sunak of “shrinking and retreating” from showcasing leadership on the global stage at Cop28 and over the climate crisis. Starmer added he he’d had a “lot of engagement” and many requests for bilateral meetings, “more requests than we can possible handle”. He added: “The prime minister said this morning we will be judged by our grandchildren not on what we said but what we did and what we didn’t do. And therefore, for the prime minister to reduce this down in the way that he does, the smallness of his politics is becoming a feature of his politics. We saw it with the Greek prime minister. We saw it with some of the lines that he was putting out about ‘eco zealots’ as he got on the plane to come here. This is not something to shrink from, not something to retreat from.”
Sunak declared to attenders of the summit that he had watered down climate policy in the UK, drawing anger from politicians and climate experts who said he had “misread the room”.
World leaders, particularly those from developing countries at the forefront of the climate crisis, called on large economies and emitters to take urgent action to reduce emissions and fund loss and damage.
A UN report found that droughts were a global emergency causing widespread famine, and that they were a silent, often ignored, killer.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said it was not possible to tackle the climate crisis without also tackling inequality. He spoke of climate suffering in the Amazon, which was experiencing one of the “most tragic droughts in its history”, while cyclones in the south of Brazil had left a trail of “destruction and death”.
Greek people were excited that King Charles wore a Greek-motif tie and pocket square during his address to the conference – signalling – or so it has been interpreted – his support for the return to Athens of the Parthenon marbles after a row over the antiquities this week.
Speaking of the monarch, his speech was certainly more well-received than Sunak’s. Charles said alarming tipping points were being reached and that it was greatly worrying that the world was so far off track in tackling the climate crisis. “Unless we rapidly repair and restore nature’s economy based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be imperilled,” he added.
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The leaders’ speeches are over and I am pretty certain Rishi Sunak is the only one to have used it as an opportunity to boast about domestic climate policy rollback. A less tone-deaf leader may have focused on the positive actions Britain has taken, and urge other countries to follow suit, rather than doubling down on our regressions. In my personal view, it is quite embarrassing and sets a bad example for other countries to follow. Why should poorer countries, which are bearing the brunt of our emissions that are causing extreme weather events, invest in decarbonising when the British prime minister will address Cop of all places to trumpet a retreat from net zero policies? It is a dangerous move to talk about the so-called costs of decarbonisation at a summit where each country is being asked to do its utmost to prevent climate catastrophe.
Below is a summary I wrote in September about Sunak’s net zero rollback to remind you of the policies we are referring to.
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Starmer accuses Sunak of ‘retreating’ from climate leadership at Cop28
Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of “shrinking and retreating” from showcasing leadership on the global stage at Cop28 and over the climate crisis.
This comes after Sunak’s tetchy press conference during which he boasted about UK plans to water down climate action.
Starmer made his comments on the first day of the Cop28 summit, which he attended with the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, and the shadow net zero secretary, Ed Miliband.
Starmer said he has had a “lot of engagement” and many requests for bilateral meetings, “more requests than we can possible handle.”
He added: “The prime minister said this morning we will be judged by our grandchildren not on what we said, but what we did and what we didn’t do.
“And therefore, for the prime minister to reduce this down in the way that he does, the smallness of his politics is becoming a feature of his politics. We saw it with the Greek prime minister. We saw it with some of the lines that he was putting out about ‘eco zealots’ as he got on the plane to come here. This is not something to shrink from, not something to retreat from.”
Updated
Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow energy secretary, was not very impressed by Sunak’s remarks to the media in which he reiterated his plans to water down the UK’s domestic climate commitments.
He described Sunak’s stance on the crisis as a “failure”, explaining: “That was a complacent performance from a prime minister in denial about the energy bills crisis at home, and the weakening of the United Kingdom’s standing abroad in his time in office.
“Working people are paying the price for Rishi Sunak’s climate failure, in the form of higher bills, and in the awful costs this leaves our children and grandchildren. His approach, criticised today by a former Tory prime minister, is undermining Britain’s energy security.
“Only Labour can deliver the climate leadership that Britain needs, to cut energy bills for families, make the UK energy independent, and protect the planet.”
Rishi Sunak's complacent performance at COP today was one of a PM in denial about the energy bills crisis at home, and the weakening of the UK's standing abroad in his time in office.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) December 1, 2023
Working people are paying the price for his climate failure, in the form of higher bills.
Updated
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is on stage at the world leader’s speeches. He said “climate science shows we are off track” and that credibility is being undermined by “climate politics”. This phrase appears to mean, judging by his press conference earlier, criticising him for his net zero rollback.
Sunak criticised the divide between “lofty rhetoric on stages like this” and what happened on the ground. He pointed out that the UK had “decarbonised faster than any other major economy”.
The prime minister again boasted on the world stage that he was “taking a new approach” to net zero and watering down commitments.
He outlined the £1.6bn fund announced today, which will include loss and damage funding as well as support for forests, and said the UK was a leading green finance centre.
Sunak added: “I believe we can deliver here in Dubai but we’ve got to work together.”
The UK PM will not be around to work on the climate negotiations, however, as he is soon due to board his private jet and return to the UK after spending only eight hours in Dubai.
He also said “the debate is too divided”, which may surprise the climate experts he has repeatedly labelled as “zealots” in recent days.
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Here are some further extracts from the leaders’ speeches:
The prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, welcomed the summit’s plans to conclude the first ever global stocktake but the world is not yet on pathway to 1.5C. He outlined the country’s financial and energy transition plans, including a goal to make renewable energy its main source of power – Japan is apparently the world’s third largest market for solar power.
Abiy Ahmed, president of Ethiopia, said his country had planted 32.5bn seedlings and was turning a desert into a biodiverse paradise. He said his country is planting climate resilient plants, and produced 6m hectares of wheat in one year. He said “this has relieved us from decades of import dependency” and that they had for the first time become a wheat exporter.
Pedro Sánchez, president of Spain, said we need to have a “polluter pays” principle, where polluters pay for the destruction they cause.
It was pretty difficult for the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, to commit to anything very significant as he has already stepped down as prime minister and his appearance follows a divisive and angry election in the tiny but wealthy country. He contented himself with an exhortation to action, particularly on behalf of the young people around the world, and an acknowledgment that the decarbonisation in the Netherlands has been tricky. “It is a painstaking process but it can be done.” It remains to be seen what the government that succeeds him – still taking shape after the far-right politician Geert Wilders won an unprecedented percentage of the vote – will want to do on this topic.
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Unsurprisingly, climate experts are not impressed by Sunak’s decision to use Cop as an excuse to boast about the UK’s back sliding on climate goals.
Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift, an organisation campaigning for a fossil fuel free UK said: “The prime minister has completely misread the room. While the head of the UN implores countries to urgently phase out fossil fuels, the UK is one of just a handful of wealthy nations that is continuing to greenlight major new oilfields.
“Rishi Sunak’s disinterest in tackling the climate crisis plays badly with voters at home, but to play dumb at Cop and ignore the UK’s role in literally adding fuel to the fire, for example by approving the massive Rosebank oilfield, is diplomatically embarrassing.”
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Here are some more updates from the world leaders.
Nikos Christodoulides, president of Cyprus, told the summit that his country was experiencing the effects of climate change – wildfires, floods, and extreme heatwaves which have destroyed large parts of their forests and had a devastating effect on livelihoods. The eastern Mediterranean and Middle East climate change initiative was working on a coordinated response across the region. “Let us come together to build resilient and green businesses and communities of the future.”
Vahagn Khachaturyan, president of Armenia, said it was clear we cannot continue down the route of using predominantly hydrocarbons for energy. He said we need to “phase down” fossil fuels – he didn’t say he wanted to phase them out.
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, went well over his allotted time, delivering a long and comprehensive analysis of the many changes that need to be made to international structures so that action on climate change can be optimised. His speech focused on routes to decarbonisation around the world and pointed out the dysfunction of the investment systems that run them. He called for a complete U-turn on the subject of coal, with the G7 countries must set the example and commit to putting an end to coal. “France will close all plants by 2027,” he promised and the richest countries must help developing countries to phase out coal.
He said the world must also stop subsidising new coal power plants and must change rules when it comes to private financing: “The private sector has no disincentive, and our investment systems are dysfunctional.”
He wanted to see the World Trade Organization redraw its trade rules to allow countries to subsidise green industries and place a tariff on coal.
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Asked by the Telegraph about the leaders of the world’s two largest emitters, China and US not attending the Cop, UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, focused on the UK’s emissions.
“The UK accounts for less than 1% of global emissions. We have to acknowledge in reality that what we do isn’t going to be the difference in terms of our emissions.”
However, many argue that the UK needs to lead by example as a wealthy, developed country which has historically been one of the world’s largest emitters.
Sunak reiterated net zero needs to be “pragmatic and proportionate” because “we only account for less than 1% of emissions”.
Asked by the i about his meeting with Tony Blair, Sunak said “it was nice to see Tony Blair”.
Asked by Politico why he is spending more time on a private jet than at Cop, which he is only going to be at for a matter of hours, he said it is not about the amount of time spent but the impact made.
He said he had very useful meetings with people about a “very significant reform of the global financial system that needs to happen”.
Sunak said: “I feel very good that it’s been a very productive day.”
Updated
Now some questions to Sunak from journalists. He was asked by the BBC if he was saying the UK has “already done its bit” and the onus was on other more emitting countries.
He replied that the UK has more ambitious targets than other countries, adding: “We are on track to deliver all these targets, we have carbon budgets that we have met and we are on track to meet the next one as well. With all the announcements I made earlier, we are still on track to meet these carbon targets.”
Sky asked him whether other world leaders had raised concerns about the net zero rollback. Sunak says: “Hand on heart, 100% no. Not a single leader I have spoken to today has, because our targets are more ambitious than theirs.”
He added that other countries are “hugely appreciative” of his work and the UK.
Defending himself, he added: “I shift a date to be in line with almost every other country and it’s treated like it’s a rather extreme measure.”
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Rishi Sunak: 'climate politics is close to breaking point'
Sunak has declared to Cop that he has watered down UK climate policies, potentially embarrassing the country on the world stage.
As other world leaders ask for more action to be taken on the climate emergency, the prime minister continued his environment rhetoric – which has been condemned as damaging by environment charities.
“Climate politics is close to breaking point”, he said, adding that “the costs of inaction are intolerable but we have choices in how we act”.
Sunak said that net zero would only be delivered in a way that “benefits the British people”, adding that “we have scrapped plans on heat pumps and energy efficiency that would have cost people thousands of pounds”.
He also highlighted his new nature plan, which has been panned by critics.
Despite this, he did tell other countries that “the mounting science and evidence of climate related disasters prove we are not moving fast enough”, and added that “everyone can do more”.
He called on major emitters to cut faster and said “the UK is leading the charge”.
Updated
Here are some more highlights from the leaders’ speeches, by Bibi van der Zee and I.
Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan, president of the Seychelles, said he was disheartened that so many financial commitments on climate change were yet to be fulfilled despite the urgency of the crisis.
“Small island developing states are on the frontline of climate change,” he told the summit. They urgently need money to deal with the coastal erosion they are seeing. “We made history by operationalising the loss and damage fund on the first day of this Cop … It is vital that this fund is equitable and genuinely helpful.” The Seychelles is an environmental champion which already protects 32% of its marine land, but it is categorised as a high-income country, and Ramkalawan is extremely concerned that this will affect their ability to access LAD funding.
Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was another leader who made comparisons between the war in Gaza and the climate crisis. He said: “Turkey has stood by peace during all these crises and works towards finding solutions on the basis of equity. We approach the issue of climate change from the same perspective.” He pointed out that Turkey is the second in Europe and ninth in the world for hydro energy. He said despite the devastating earthquake in February they are managing to keep on track for their goals and are “healing the wounds” of the disaster while building “climate and environment friendly” structures.
Zuzana Čaputová, president of Slovakia, asked the summit: “How much more do we want to harm future generations?” Her country’s emissions have peaked already, and are 55% lower than they were in 1980. They plan to use 5% of GDP from public sources to decarbonise their country and by the end of this year will stop using coal to generate electricity.
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Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s environment minister, has said the loss and damage fund should help rebuild trust between the global north and south after years of tense negotiations.
Earlier today, Canada committed US$11.8m to the new fund, which will be housed within the World Bank. Guilbeault also said his country was happy to support language on reducing fossil fuels that was consistent with Canada’s 2050 carbon neutrality target.
“It is significant. For 30 years, we made absolutely no progress on loss and damage. We went from nothing about a year ago to a fund and countries pledging money today. I think for the global south, this is a very significant issue. Between that and the $100bn dollar goal, I think these are very important elements that will help restore trust. Trust is the fuel of this process. I think it bodes well for the next two weeks,” he said.
“It’s not a recognition that we are willing to take on liability from the results of climate change. But as large emitters, we have a role to play. We have a greater role to play in supporting the global south.”
When asked whether Canada supports language to phase out all fossil fuels, a key point of contention at the Cop28 summit, Guilbeault said his country was open to different forms of language in the final text and underscored that fossil fuel production would have to drop.
“We support language that’s aligned with our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050. Whether you want to call it phasing out unabated fossil fuels or say it in a different way. Some people would like us to say we want to phase out all fossil fuels but even the IPCC and the IEA still say in a 2050 carbon neutral world that we will still be using fossil fuels,” he said.
“I don’t know how realistic it is to say we will phase them all out but what’s important is that we radically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. And for those that we are using, we need to capture and sequester the emissions. We don’t have a choice. But we need to see significant emission reduction from the oil and gas centre. We can’t do that through abatement technology. There is going to be a reduction in production,” he said.
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Veteran climate reporter Roger Harrabin, who used to work for the BBC and is now freelance – sometimes writing for the Guardian – points out that only political journalists, not environmental specialists, have been allowed into an event with Rishi Sunak. Harrabin says he was “kicked out”.
I’ve just been kicked out of this ‘private event’ - a lobby conference with @rishisunak about to start. I’ve been reporting on climate for 35 years so it’s possible I know more than most Pollcorrs. That’s why the environment corrs are left outside. @fionaharvey pic.twitter.com/IZ4aNBPBfh
— Roger Harrabin (@RHarrabin) December 1, 2023
We have a brilliant reporter in there and will bring you the news from his press conference, but it is true that this government often hides from scrutiny and one of the ways it does that is by barring specialist reporters from its briefings.
Our environment editor, Fiona Harvey, has also reported troubles in accessing press conferences at the summit.
Journalists being told we can’t access the main press conference room #Cop28 without special tickets. And an escort. Security won’t let us through. This is absurd. Not transparent and very not helpful.
— Fiona Harvey (@fionaharvey) December 1, 2023
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The leader’s speeches continue. Here are some updates from myself and one of my editors, Bibi van der Zee, who is also listening in.
Santiago Peña, president of Paraguay, said: “In my country of Paraguay all energy is clean and renewable. Yes you heard that, it is all clean and renewable.”
He’s right – the Itaipu Dam, located on the Paraná River, is one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world and generates about 95% of Paraguay’s electricity, all of which comes from renewable sources.
He also pointed out that 44% of their land surface is forest, and asked China to allow Taiwan to be included in the Cop process – the small country is currently barred at the instruction of the Chinese government.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of Kazakhstan, has pledged to join the global methane pledge. He says there is extraordinary potential for wind and solar in his country – a key oil exporter - and also points out that Kazakhstan is poised to become a major source of rare earth minerals. Tokayev is planning to convene a regional climate summit in 2024 under UN auspices.
President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that temperatures in his country have increased by 1.8C already. Serbians experienced uncomfortable “tropical nights” over 20C degrees celcius for the first time this October, which he said was “unprecedented for the region”.
Abdul Latif Rashid, president of Iraq, drew on the history of the region, pointing out that his predecessors in Mesopotamia, 4,500 years ago, drew up the first agreement for sharing water resources, and warned the summit that the famous rivers of Iraq were now under threat from drought linked to climate change. “The drought in the south of Iraq, the record level temperatures, desertification, and sand storms have led to economic challenges that resulted in a larger level of poverty and internal displacement.” He urged the gulf countries to act as a unified bloc, and condemned the aggressive attack on Gaza.
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‘Planetary emergency’: droughts, the deadliest of disasters
Droughts supercharged by global heating are “an unprecedented emergency on a planetary scale”, according to a UN report released on Friday at Cop28, leading to food shortages and famine.
While other climate impacts such as heatwaves, wildfires and floods often hit the headlines, droughts are often silent disasters, the report said, and “the massive impacts of human-induced droughts are only starting to unfold”.
The report is from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which is an international agreement on good land stewardship. It says “few if any hazards claim more lives, causes more economic loss and affects more sectors of societies than drought”.
Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD executive secretary, said: “Unlike other disasters, droughts happen silently, often going unnoticed and failing to provoke an immediate public and political response. This silent devastation perpetuates a cycle of neglect, leaving affected populations to bear the burden in isolation.”
“With the frequency and severity of drought events increasing, as reservoir levels dwindle and crop yields decline, as we continue to lose biological diversity and famines spread, transformational change is needed,” he said.
Extreme droughts that have wrecked the lives of millions of people in Syria, Iraq and Iran since 2020 would not have happened without human-caused global heating, a recent study found. The climate crisis also made the record drought across the northern hemisphere in summer 2022 at least 20 times more likely, scientists have calculated. Without human-caused global heating, the event would have been expected only once every four centuries.
“Several countries already experience climate-change-induced famine,” said the UNCD report. “Forced migration surges globally; violent water conflicts are on the rise; the ecological base that enables all life on Earth is eroding more quickly than at any time in known human history.”
The report cited a string of scientific findings:
120 million people are people expected to experience extreme drought even if global temperatures are restricted to 1.5C. Current policies are on track for 3C of heating, meaning extreme drought for 170 million people
In China, 15-20% of the population face more frequent moderate-to-severe droughts this century
1.2 million people in the Central American dry corridor are in need of food aid after five years of drought, heatwaves and unpredictable rainfall the drought in the La Plata basin of Brazil and Argentina in 2022 was the worst in 78 years, reducing crop production and affecting global markets
The report notes that those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are most exposed: 85% of those affected by droughts live in low- or middle-income countries.
The report said better farming techniques, such as drought-resistant crops, efficient irrigation methods, no-till farming, can reduce the impact of drought on farmers’ crops and incomes. The International Drought Resilience Alliance, which was launched at Cop27, by the leaders of Spain and Senegal at Cop27, is creating political momentum and mobilising money and technology for a drought-resilient future and now has 34 member nations.
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Brazil's Lula: 'it is not possible to face climate change without combating inequality'
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said his country was leading by example: “We have adjusted our climate goals, which are now more ambitious than those of many developed countries. We have drastically reduced deforestation in the Amazon and will bring it to zero by 2030,” he said.
Lula, as he is best known, called for developed countries to invest more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to support developing nations who are suffering from climate impacts.
“The planet is fed up with unfulfilled climate agreements. Governments cannot escape their responsibilities. No country will solve its problems alone. We are all obliged to act together beyond our borders”, he argued.
He told delegates that the trillions of dollars spent on weapons should be used against hunger, inequality and climate change: “The world has naturalised unacceptable disparities in income, gender and race and that it is not possible to face climate change without combating inequality.”
He spoke of climate suffering in the Amazon, which is experiencing one of the “most tragic droughts in its history” while cyclones in the south of Brazil have left a trail “of destruction and death”.
Although his energy minister announced yesterday that Brazil will align more closely with the world’s biggest oil syndicate, Opec, Lula said it was necessary to “work for an economy less dependent on fossil fuels.”
As an aside, we have reported on this inequality in our series The Great Carbon Divide.
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A royal observation that may have gone unnoticed but over in Greece is causing waves of excitement.
King Charles’s address has been well received in Athens and not only for his dramatic call for climate action to save the planet for future generations. The Greek media has noted with a touch of euphoria that the British monarch was donning a Greek-motif tie and breast pocket handkerchief – signalling (or so it has been interpreted) his support for the return to Athens of the Parthenon marbles in the wake of this week’s row over the antiquities.
Charles, who regularly holidays in Greece, the country of his father’s birth, has frequently spoken of his great love and passion for all things Hellenic. The king cannot publicly take a stance in the centuries-long row over whether the 2,500-year-old sculptures are better exhibited in the Duveen gallery of the British Museum or the Parthenon gallery of the Acropolis Museum beneath the fifth-century BC temple but in this instance his sartorial choice, say Greeks, appears a little more than symbolic.
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World leaders are using their Cop speeches to push other political points.
Gitanas Nausėda, president of Lithuania, said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has committed “ecocide” in his war against Ukraine and should not be about to get away with it.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president of Zimbabwe, said “economic sanctions placed on our country are hindering climate action”. He demanded the lifting of what he described as the “heinous sanctions”. These sanctions were put in place by the US, UK and EU in 2022 because of human rights violations such as murdering protesters, and not respecting democracy and the rule of law.
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Ursula von der Leyen calls for world to follow EU with carbon pricing
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, had a focus on “loss and damage” in her speech. She said:
At this Cop we will set a decisive step forward to protect the most vulnerable citizens worldwide. They suffer loss and damage and we will stand by their side.
She added: “Global emissions must peak by 2025, we must phase out fossil fuels and we must reduce methane emissions”
Von der Leyen said the EU would contribute to the new loss and damage fund, and that they’ve pledged more than £270m so far. “We must get the fund up and running and we must do it fast,” she added.
In terms of private finance, she said: “We need to reform the international financial system, we need more carbon pricing.”
Updated
William Ruto, the president of Kenya, said that his region was already facing the horrific effects of climate breakdown.
“In eastern Africa, catastrophic flooding has followed the most severe drought the region has seen in over 40 years,” he said, adding that studies indicated droughts were now more than 100 times more likely in parts of Africa than in the pre-industrial era.
The extreme weather this year has “seized lives and destroyed communities” as well as destroying infrastructure and supply chains.
He added that the world needs to invest in green energy and other infrastructure in Africa. “A tendency to ignore Africa’s developmental and industrial needs … is no longer a tenable position. Turning Africa into a green powerhouse is not just essential for the continent, it is also vital for global industrialisation, decarbonisation.”
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David Cameron, the recently appointed UK foreign secretary (and former prime minister) seems to be enjoying himself at Cop, shaking hands and beaming his way around the conference centre. Our environment editor, Fiona Harvey, is, as we write, sitting just behind him at a press conference and we will find out from her what he has to say very soon. For now, enjoy these pictures of a very happy Cameron. He seems delighted to be out of his shed and back on the world stage.
So good to see @David_Cameron engaging with some of the great indigenous leaders at #COP28
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) December 1, 2023
There’s no tackling climate change without nature & there’s no better or more effective guardians of nature than indigenous peoples
@JUANJINTIACH
@MinaSetra2 pic.twitter.com/bLJ0OebIQ0
Great to catch up with my friend @narendramodi at #COP28
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 1, 2023
🇬🇧 and 🇮🇳 relations as strong as ever! pic.twitter.com/V7slOQBSMN
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It’s now been confirmed that more than 130 prime ministers and presidents today signed the Cop28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action – the first of its kind commitment to adapt and “transform” food systems as part of broader climate action. But, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (Ipes-Food), an independent, expert panel on sustainable food systems, points out that the declaration contains no legally binding commitments. And there are no targets or clear steps to tackle key climate-related issues such as the crazy amount of food waste in some countries, the overconsumption of industrially produced meat and processed foods, and the food industry’s huge fossil fuel footprint.
Lim Li Ching, co-chair of Ipes-Food and senior researcher for Third World Network said: “It’s encouraging to see that food systems are finally taking their place at the heart of climate negotiations and at the highest levels of government. We cannot meet our global climate goals without urgent action to transform the industrial food system, which is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and 15% of fossil fuel use. But while this is an essential first step, the language remains very vague – and specific actions and measurable targets are conspicuously missing.”
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Zambia’s president, Hakainde Hichilema, has hit back at suggestions that a wave of carbon offsetting deals in African countries by a UAE sheikh, which include his country, are a new “scramble for Africa”.
Speaking after an EU event on carbon markets alongside Ursula von der Leyen, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the heads of the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Hichilema said his country lacked expertise on developing carbon projects and needed international organisations to help.
This year, the rights over vast tracts of African forest have been sold off in a series of huge carbon offsetting deals that cover an area of land larger than the UK to a UAE-based firm called Blue Carbon, with concerns raised about the previous business dealings of the young Dubai royal behind the agreements.
When asked about the secretive Blue Carbon deals, Hichilema said they would benefit local people.
“It shouldn’t be [a scramble for Africa’s resources]. When someone comes to our country and brings an idea around carbon, we say that we don’t understand how to work through this. That is why we have asked the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO, the African Development Bank to put the technical capacity together, learning from what the countries of the north have done,” he said.
#Cop28 event hosted by @EUClimateAction on carbon markets pic.twitter.com/WnEWhvQxjl
— Patrick Greenfield (@pgreenfielduk) December 1, 2023
In a speech that lacked specifics, Ursula von der Leyen has said carbon markets and taxation were important for global decarbonisation, including voluntary carbon markets which have been beset by accusations of poor quality by scientific research and journalistic investigations.
The new World Bank president, Ajay Banga, said his organisations would soon be presenting high-quality forestry projects in three countries that, he hoped, would help assuage concerns about lack of environmental integrity in forest carbon projects.
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Leaders speeches begin with pleas on Palestine and Pacific islands
Hello, Helena Horton here, an environment reporter here at the Guardian and I’ll be blogging throughout the rest of the day. The leaders have started speaking. Here are a few highlights.
We are starting with some monarchs – the UK’s King Charles spoke earlier.
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, the king of Jordan linked the climate emergency to the war happening in Gaza. He said:
“As we speak the Palestinian people are facing an immediate threat to their lives and well being. Tens of thousands have been injured or killed in a region already on the frontline of climate change. The massive destruction of water makes the environmental threats of water scarcity and food insecurity more severe.”
He added that people there are living without clean water and with a bare minimum of food supplies and points out that climate change exacerbates the destructive nature of war.
The monarch asked for more aid to be sent to the most vulnerable and pointed out that Jordan does not contribute significantly to climate breakdown but is greatly affected, with water scarcity a real threat.
Tupou VI, the King of Tonga said it was “painful” for small developing island states to see that Cop28 “may not be the milestone moment we were all hoping for” and that progress on the Paris agreement had been far too slow.
Every year, we hear anguished pleas from those representing small island states who are literally sinking under the water due to climate breakdown. Unsurprisingly they have felt ignored as large, wealthy countries continue to belch out fossil fuels. Tupou said that over 50,000 Pacific island people were displaced every year as their homes are lost as a result of climate breakdown. He told the conference: “We are ocean people, the ocean is our lifeblood, it feeds us, is our mode of transportation and is a deep part of our culture.”
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Summary
It has been a busy morning with big name politicians from around the globe arriving for day two of Cop28.
• King Charles addressed delegates telling them “I pray with all my heart that Cop28 will be [a] critical turning point towards genuine transformational action.”
• The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, arrived for a flying visit but his decision to push ahead with new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea and rowing back on key climate measures has not got down well.
• A new declaration on transforming food systems has been agreed, the first Cop resolution which directly tackles the relationship between what we eat and the changing climate.
• Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, was due to arrive with a cadre of administration officials, including Tony Blinken, the US secretary of state, and Michael Regan, administrator of the EPA.
My colleague Helena Horton is taking over the blog now as leaders begin their addresses to conference
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Some reaction to the new declaration on food that my colleague Nina Lakhani reported on earlier.
Tom Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, said:
“This agreement is a tentative first step in addressing one of the thorniest problems of the climate crisis – our broken food systems. They are responsible for so many greenhouse gas emissions, from cutting down forests and clearing land for animal feed, to the emissions of cattle themselves. It’s staggering there has been no obligation to include this sector in emissions reductions plans for so long.
“Government subsidies have long supported the polluting effects of large scale agriculture, acting as a hidden brake on climate action. These payments should be redirected in a way that means people and nature can thrive.”
Patty Fong, from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, said:
“The declaration doesn’t set out how governments will tackle food emissions, and makes no reference to fossil fuels, despite food systems accounting for at least 15% of fossil fuels burned each year –equivalent to the emissions of all EU countries and Russia combined. This is a glaring omission.
“However, the commitment to integrate food and farming into domestic climate action plans is welcome and long overdue. Over 70% of countries’ nationally determined contributions lack adequate action on food systems – updating them is where there is real potential to tackle emissions and unlock climate finance.
“Our more than two dozen philanthropic members and other partners around the world are working to catalyse much-needed food system transformation that can help to phase out dependency on polluting fossil fuels in the sector while improving health, community wellbeing, and biodiversity.”
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Some photographs from today at Cop28
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A quick analysis shows that while women and girls bear the brunt of the climate crisis, only 15 out of the 133 world leaders participating in this year’s Cop28 are women.
Last year, seven out of the 110 world leaders attending Cop27 were women. So although there has been a welcome increase since last year, at 11%, women are still significantly underrepresented.
Helen Pankhurst, senior adviser on gender equality at Care International UK said: “Yet again, the red carpet is being rolled out for male leaders at Cop and men dominate among the senior negotiators. How are we going to achieve a fair outcome in climate negotiations with such inequity at the top? Women and girls are the most affected by climate change, yet they are silenced. Invisible. This must change.”
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More from Nina Lakhani on the new food declaration
While far from perfect, the groundbreaking declaration was widely welcomed by small-scale and Indigenous farmers – who produce a third of the world’s food – as well as right to food campaigners, consumer associations and small business groups.
“The destruction of nature and climate change threatens food security, rural livelihoods and nutrition, but our food systems also cause a third of global emissions and are a primary driver of wildlife loss. It’s about time the Cops put them on the main menu,” said Hilal Elver, a former UN special rapporteur on the right to food. “Food and agriculture must be at the heart of new climate plans and funding if we are to meet the Paris agreement and have enough nutritious food for everyone.”
Esther Penunia, secretary-general of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Development, a regional alliance representing 13 million family farmers, said: “The declaration is a major milestone on the road towards a more resilient and sustainable food system. Governments need to work with family farmers networks to ensure these promises are translated into the concrete policies and funding needed to support small-scale producers and promote a shift to more diverse and nature friendly farming, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed to safeguard food security.”
Other commitments include a pledge to accelerate and scale science and evidence-based innovations – including local and Indigenous knowledge – which increase sustainable agriculture, promote ecosystem resilience and improve livelihoods, including for rural communities, smallholders, family farmers and other producers.
It’s been a long time coming but finally, world leaders seem to be catching on to the fact that achieving the long-term goals of the Paris agreement will be impossible without transforming agriculture and food systems. Progress on this is a key area to watch, especially given the power and influence of the meat, dairy and industrialized farming conglomerates.
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World leaders have signed a declaration on transforming food systems – the first ever Cop resolution which directly tackles the symbiotic relationship between what we eat and the changing climate. The resolution recognises that “unprecedented adverse climate impacts are increasingly threatening the resilience of agriculture and food systems as well as the ability of many, especially the most vulnerable, to produce and access food in the face of mounting hunger, malnutrition, and economic stresses … [we recognise] the profound potential of agriculture and food systems to drive powerful and innovative responses to climate change and to unlock shared prosperity for all.”
The 100+ countries to sign the declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action have committed to including food and land use in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation plans by Cop30 in 2025.
Globally, food systems account for about one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, with the vast majority coming from industrialised farming, particularly livestock and fertilisers. The climate crisis is already impacting agriculture and food security, as extreme weather events like floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires – and slow-onset impacts like sea level rise and desertification – fuel high prices and food shortages in countries across the world.
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As the Cop28 conference continues, a new study underlines the growing severity of the fossil fuel driven climate emergency.
Research by the short-term climate prediction team at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, finds that after the warmest summer on record we could be heading for a similarly abnormal winter.
Published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, the study predicts the “imminent maturity of a moderate to strong eastern Pacific El Niño” during the northern hemisphere winter, creating more record-breaking temperatures in the coming months. It notes that large parts of Asia and most parts of the Americas are likely to experience an exceptionally warm winter – and gives a 95% chance that the global average surface temperature for the 2023-24 winter will set a new historical record.
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Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, arrives in Dubai today with a cadre of administration officials, including Tony Blinken, the US secretary of state, and Michael Regan, administrator of the EPA.
Harris will “highlight the administration’s historic achievements” in combating the climate crisis when she addresses Cop28 tomorrow, according to a US state department official. A new US rule limiting methane emissions is expected to be unveiled tomorrow, to chime with the visit.
Other developments have been less flattering for the Americans, however. Joe Biden himself is skipping Cop28 (he took part in the essential business of lighting the White House Christmas tree yesterday) and his administration is auctioning off large tracts of public land for oil and gas drilling during the summit.
At Cop, the pledge made by the US, the world’s leading economy, to the loss and damage fund was just $17.5m (£13.8m), a figure described as “embarrassing” by climate campaigners. A group of Republican lawmakers are making the trip to Dubai, meanwhile, where they will push a contrary message – that Biden is waging a war on American energy and that China is being let off too easily in emissions cuts.
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One may think former prime minister Boris Johnson would have relished the chance to make an appearance at Cop. Last year he was widely credited with forcing Rishi Sunak, who had just become prime minister, into going by announcing his appearance. You’ll remember Sunak banned the king from going and planned on skipping it himself, before U-turning.
However, friends of Johnson tell us he isn’t going this year, despite registering and hoping to, because of the timings for the Covid inquiry. He’s due to appear next week and is going over his evidence to prepare for what are likely be some gruelling days of interrogation.
He would probably much prefer addressing international groups at Cop, where he is quite well-respected because of his enthusiastic hosting of Cop26, where pledges for international finance and halting deforestation were made, and for his public pronouncements on the climate crisis (which did not always match with his policy). Johnson, who is still said to partly blame Sunak for his downfall, would also probably have enjoyed usurping the prime minister’s appearance, particularly as Sunak’s standing on climate has arguably diminished even since last year, what with his net zero rollback, frequent use of private jets and descriptions of climate experts as “zealots”.
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My colleague Damian Carrington is picking up more frustration with the UK’s stance on climate action under Sunak.
A British veteran of UN climate talks has told me: “It doesn’t matter what Sunak says today.” He said the delegates at Cop28 told him they have seen what the prime minister has done at home: pushed new oil and gas licences and delayed measures on electric cars and home heating. “We used to be a climate leader. Now we are going backwards.”
It’s a big day for food and agriculture at Cop28, with the first ever major statement by world leaders on food and climate expected this afternoon, with more than a hundred countries expected to commit to transforming their food and agricultural systems. The fact that it’s taken so long for a Cop commitment on food is remarkable given that industrialized agriculture and food systems are both a cause and casualty of global heating – and could also play a major role in mitigation.
Like everything at Cop, the expected commitment seems to have been watered down a fair bit, but overall small scale farmers, Indigenous groups and right to food campaigners seem quite positive about what’s to come. Stay tuned for more details.
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Downing Street has also been forced to defend the decision for Sunak, King Charles and the foreign secretary, David Cameron, to all fly to the climate conference on three separate private jets.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “It is in line with the government’s position that we are not anti-flying. We do not seek to restrict the public from doing so and it’s important the UK has strong attendance at Cop28 given we continue to be a world leader in tackling climate change.”
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King's climate warnings 'meaningless' unless UK government acts, say climate action groups
Reaction to King Charles’s speech is already coming in and it is mainly taking aim at Rishi Sunak’s record on climate.
Izzie McIntosh, from Global Justice Now said: “King Charles’s dire warnings are meaningless unless the UK government backs them up with actions. Instead, Rishi Sunak has been rolling back net zero plans, expanding North Sea oil and gas, and is now fiddling the figures on climate finance. Rich polluting countries saying the right thing while doing the wrong thing has become all too familiar over 30 years of climate summits – the only difference this time is that in Charles and Rishi it’s a deceitful double act.”
Zahra Hdidou, from ActionAid UK said:
“We welcome King Charles’s keynote speech at Cop and his continued dedication towards climate action … The irony should not be lost that the king is flanked at the summit by two men who remain committed to climate wrecking policies. On one side we have a prime minister who has gone on record as saying he wants to “max out” North Sea oil and gas – and stands accused by former colleagues as being ‘uninterested’ in environmental policies. And on the other side, the king is joined by a foreign secretary who swiftly abandoned his own promise to lead the greenest government on record just three years after being elected in 2010.”
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King Charles said the world was facing a dark choice and asks how dangerous are we prepared to make it for future generations.
He said humans were carrying out a vast, frightening experiment, changing every ecological condition, all at once, at a pace that far outstrips nature’s ability to cope.
The conference was an unmissable opportunity to keep common hope alive, he said. “I can only urge you to meet it with ambition, imagination, and a true sense of the emergency we face.”
He said delegates should remember what the indigenous world view taught us “that we are all connected. Not only as human beings, but with all living things and all that sustains life … The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.”
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King Charles tells Cop28 summit 'our own survivability will be imperilled' unless we 'restore nature's economy'
King Charles is addressing the conference now. He says he was touched to be asked to speak at the opening of COP21 in Paris, which culminated in the landmark Paris Agreement, and adds “I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action at a time when, already, as scientists have been warning for so long, we are seeing alarming tipping points being
reached.”
He says we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached and that is greatly worried that we are so far off track in efforts to address the climate crisis.
“Unless we rapidly repair and restore nature’s economy, based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be imperilled.”
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The prominent climate scientist, Dr Friederike Otto, at Imperial College London, has a simple message for Cop28.
“Climate change is already destroying lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems around the world. Until we radically cut carbon emissions, extreme weather events will become more frequent and intense. That means there is a human rights imperative to phasing out fossil fuels.
“Despite their carefully crafted, green-washed talking points, fossil fuel companies will not save the world. Since 2021, we’ve known that no new gas and oilfields could be developed if the world is to keep warming to 1.5C. But fossil fuel companies continue to expand their operations, ignoring the suffering of millions of people around the world, so they can make more money.”
“Climate negotiations need to be highly sceptical of the influence and involvement of big oil.”
Cop28 is being run Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of an oil company planning a huge expansion in production. He says his background is an advantage in bringing everyone to the climate table.
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My colleague Nina Lakhani has more on yesterday’s loss and damage agreement.
As the second day gets under way, the president of the G77 plus China group – the bloc of 135 developing countries which played a key role in yesterday’s historic resolution on operationalising the loss and damage fund – said the decision sent a clear political message.
“It was a milestone in terms of creating a positive mood for the very, very complex process on the GST [global stock take] that we had ahead of us now. But the fund needs to be filled up. The pledges announced were a welcome sign, but they were just pledges and must materialise as soon as possible. And we expect much, much more because of the impact of loss and damage in developing countries,” said ambassador Pedro Pedroso of Cuba.
Yesterday’s pledges by UAE, Germany, the UK and Japan amounted to almost $439m for the start-up loss and damage fund – not nothing but a drop in the ocean compared with the $400bn a year of climate related irreversible losses being incurred.
Further pledges are likely as world leaders take to the stage today and tomorrow, but some countries have an inglorious track record on repacking existing funding commitments into new pledges – and a move towards providing loans rather than grants. “We have seen a lot of recycling of money by developed countries like the UK outrageously changing its methodology on climate finance. We’re not naive and we’ll keep a check on that.”
Future loss and damage will depend on the success of climate mitigation and climate adaptation measures, which all depend on the global stocktake and climate finance negotiations under way.
“Mitigation, adaptation, supporting technology and capacity building are all interconnected with each other – and loss and damage. In the context of the GST, there has to be the recognition that the means of implementation is the single most important cross-cutting factor that will enable developing countries to transition justly to another development model. So we will be watching the negotiations on the GST very closely,” said Pedroso.
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From my colleague Damian Carrington.
Bad news for Rishi Sunak as he arrives in Dubai today: the UK’s own North Sea regulator has concluded the new annual oil and gas licensing rounds Sunak is forcing are unnecessary. The North Sea Transition Authority, which is charged with maximising oil and gas extraction, said a mandatory annual process was not needed and undermined its independence. This was the “unanimous view” of the NSTA board, as the Financial Times reported.
Tessa Khan, at campaign group Uplift, said the NSTA minutes showed the government “pressed ahead with a policy that will do significant damage to the UK’s reputation and efforts to tackle climate change globally, despite being told by the body in charge of licensing that it is completely unnecessary”. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, who, like Sunak, is attending Cop28, has ruled out new licences if elected, and called Sunak’s move a “gimmick”.
Sunak’s announcement was widely criticised and runs counter to the International Energy Agency’s statements that all new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with net zero goals, and the consensus of scientists that most oil and gas reserves must stay in the ground to restrict global heating to 1.5C.
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My colleague Patrick Greenfield reports that the loss and damage commitments – money being pledged to poorer countries to help them deal with the costs of the climate crisis – are continuing today after yesterday’s landmark agreement. Canada has committed $60m to the fund, environment minister Steven Guilbeault announced outside his country’s pavilion.
That brings the initial size of the fund to US$489m. €225m ($245m) has already been committed by the EU, including US$100m from Germany. There is also £60m ($75m) from the UK, $24.5m from the US and $10m from Japan.
A little more from my colleague Aletha Adu on what Sunak said when he landed in UAE this morning.
Asked who he meant when he said he was “not in hock to ideological zealots” over climate change, the UK prime minister told broadcasters in Dubai: “Perhaps the people protesting outside my house recently. “But there are people who think we should get to net zero without any regard to the cost on ordinary families. I don’t think that’s right. “I think we’ve got to be cognisant of the impact of this on ordinary families up and down the country.”
Sunak declined to single out China when asked which countries need to do more to tackle climate change, and heaped praise on Cop28 host the United Arab Emirates.
Pressed on whether Beijing should do more, the prime minister told reporters in Dubai: “Everyone collectively needs to do more to make sure that we do reduce emissions sufficiently.”
Quizzed on scepticism over a major oil producer hosting the summit, he said: “I actually commend the UAE for their leadership. “They’ve been particularly strong on the issue of climate finance.”
The UK has “a great story to tell” at the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, Sunak has said. Challenged over whether his rollback of climate ambition at home makes it harder to push other countries to do more, the prime minister told broadcasters: “We have got an incredible track record in decarbonising in the UK, faster than any other major economy. We should be really proud of that. “And I’ll be proud of that record at my meetings later today.”
He said other countries were “deeply appreciative” of the support that they were receiving from the UK to help them with the transition.
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Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE president of Cop28, is addressing the conference now urging delegates to be flexible and to work together during the negotiations. He says it is essential global south countries do not have to chose between development and climate action. “let this be the Cop when we deliver on our promises [of financial support to the those in the global south]” he told delegates.
He says the next two weeks will not be easy, adding everyone understands the gravity of the situation now they need to accelerate progress and push a “positive can do attitude.”
“Let’s delivery some good news to the world.”
While we are waiting for day 2 of Cop28 to get going this is good read on what it is all about and why it matters from my colleague Fiona Harvey
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My colleague Damian Carrington reports that the arrival of the world’s leaders at today’s conference is adding an extra challenge for delegates.. . and journalists.
Cops are always a marathon for delegates, long days and long walks around the huge sites. But today is an ultra-marathon for the thousands of attendees. The short walk from the metro to the venue was blocked off, a security mounted for the world leaders arriving today. That meant a trek in the sun to even enter the site. And once in, more barricades have been erected to cordon off the presidents and prime ministers, turning 5 minute trots into 30 minute slogs.
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Rishi Sunak, King Charles and other world leaders fly in to Cop28
World leaders and assorted dignitaries are due to fly in to Cop28 today including UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles. My colleague Alehta Adu is with the prime minister and says he has just touched down.
King Charles, a long time campaigner on climate issues, is due to give a “call to arms” in his opening statement to the conference. Sunak on the other hand will have his work cut out defending a series of policy moves – including a decision to push ahead with new oil and gas licences in the north sea – that have been widely condemned by climate experts and campaigners.
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Good morning. This is Matthew Taylor, on the second day of the Conference of Parties 28th climate change summit, or Cop28.
The Guardian will be liveblogging the negotiations throughout, as always, and we look forward to your contributions: please email me on matthew.taylor@theguardian.com with thoughts and suggestions. Helena Horton (helena.horton@theguardian.com) will be taking over later on.
Today will see the formal opening ceremony, where the world’s leaders will be addressing the conference. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is flying in from the UK, as is the leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer.
Yesterday saw significant developments at the conference as a deal on a fund for loss and damage was finally done after many years of discussion; we lost count of the number of people who called it historic.
A quick summary of yesterday’s events with the loss and damage fund to help countries deal with the impacts of climate breakdown the big news of the day;
The UAE immediately pledged $100m to the fund, and was followed by contributions from the EU, led by Germany, the UK, the US and Japan, though the US in particular were criticised for their relatively modest pledge
The World Meteorological Organization said that 2023 would be the hottest year ever recorded. UN secretary-general António Guterres responded to the news by saying “We are living through climate collapse in real time”
A representative of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said coal is, and will continue to be, an important part of India’s energy needs
Let’s see what today brings.
