Closing summary
Cop28 has wound up for the day. The key events were:
widespread outrage at the news that a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists have been given access to Cop28,
agriculture and food systems have been left off the latest draft of the negotiating text on the global stocktake and
Mary Robinson has made her first comment since the row over the Cop28 president’s controversial response to her questions on the need for a fossil fuel phase-out, revealed by the Guardian.
Thanks for joining us, we’ll be back tomorrow.
Updated
It’s Indigenous people’s day at Cop28, where it is very hard for native communities to get a seat at the negotiating tables where life and death decisions about their lands and customs are made. Which is a huge loss for all of us, as we need more delegates like Teresa Christa Mashian, 33, who is representing the Achuar people from the Ecuador Amazon. It’s her first Cop: she is the first woman from her community to travel outside of Ecuador, and the first woman to ever be elected as community leader – a post she has held for three years. “My job is keep the community safe, and protect the forest for future generations. Women were never allowed to take roles outside the home in the last but I’ve shown them that we are capable.”
Her biggest achievement so far has been gaining protected status for 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres) of virgin forest – with the help of Conservation International. Last year, carbon offset brokers – unknown people from other countries – started showing up, offering money to the community to join various schemes. “The community has needs – our young people have to leave to study and find jobs in the city, and some fall into addiction and prostitution. We’d love to start a community tourism project. But other communities have had bad experiences with carbon market projects so I am trying to find out more information as I don’t want to be scammed.”
It’s worth remembering that access was granted to seven times more fossil fuel lobbyists than official Indigenous delegates at Cop28.
Updated
The daily “fossil of the day” award, given by activists to the country deemed to be lagging in its climate action, has been handed to … the US.
The unwanted dinosaur-themed trophy was bestowed, to accompanying boos, for US expansion of oil and gas drilling. There were two runners-up: Japan, which prompted someone in a Pikachu costume to emerge, and Russia.
Updated
John Kerry, the US climate envoy, has just spoken at an event on nuclear fusion energy, sometimes described as the holy grail of clean energy. “We are edging ever closer to a fusion powered reality,” the former US secretary of state declared.
Kerry said that the potential power source, which would create electricity via nuclear fusion reactions, has the potential to “revolutionise our world, change all of the options in front of us and provide the world with abundant and clean energy without the harmful emissions of traditional energy sources”.
“We’ve had a little debate in the last few days about what the science shows or doesn’t show,” Kerry added, in reference to the furore caused by Sultan Al Jaber’s comments on a fossil fuel phase-out, reported by the Guardian, but that the “science clearly tells us without any question whatsoever” that the burning of fossil fuels is the root cause of the climate crisis.
Kerry acknowledged that he couldn’t say how close nuclear fusion energy was to being a reality, however, after a breakthrough by American scientists last year that showed a crucial part of the process was possible.
Updated
If you’ve ever wanted to glide around the increasingly superheated seas on a yacht but worry about feeling a tad guilty about it then rejoice – ‘responsible’ yachting has come to Cop28.
Sunreef Yachts, a Polish yacht maker, has just held an event under the scorching Dubai sun extolling their range of solar-powered yachts. The company’s representatives acknowledged the rather un-green image of super yachts, admitting that the 300 biggest boats in the world cause emissions equivalent to that of 10 million people.
“We have to realise at first that yacht builders have a bad reputation in general in the area of all things sustainable,” said Artur Poloczanski, PR director of Sunreef.
The emissions from yachts are “scary”, Poloczanski admitted, but added “it’s fair to say the yachting environment is very diverse. We are here to discuss the alternatives.”
A range of different yachts provided by Sunreef include a solar ‘skin’ that can generate power, stored by batteries. Some can run on hydrogen fuel cells, too. But the company does also offer extremely large vessels, complete with private spas, gyms, outdoor cinemas and space for jet skis, powered by tanks holding upto 5,200 gallons of fuel.
If you do have enough money for a super yacht, you’ll likely be within an elite with an outsized contribution to the climate crisis. As reporting by the Guardian on the eve of Cop28 showed, the richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest two-thirds of people on the planet.
Updated
Agriculture and food systems have been left off the latest draft of the negotiating text on the global stocktake.
A coalition of groups, including WWF, the Food and Land Use Coalition and the Environmental Defense Fund are calling on the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCC) to ensure agriculture and food become part of the stocktake.
The global stocktake is supposed to be a thorough assessment of how much progress countries are making toward the Paris agreement targets, which committed countries to limiting global warming to below 2C, and ideally to 1.5C compared with the pre-industrial era.
The NGOs, in a letter to the UNFCC on Tuesday, said: “We note with significant concern the omission of agriculture and food systems from the draft text released this morning.
“The findings of the IPCC and the global stocktake technical phase are unequivocal – we will not achieve any of the long-term goals of the Paris agreement without more ambitious, comprehensive, and equitable climate action on food …
“To be clear: the global stocktake cannot deliver its mandate and build a resilient, equitable future for all without considering food systems as a solution for both mitigation and adaptation.”
Updated
At this year’s UN Cop28 climate summit the issue of air conditioning will be at the forefront of discussions as some of the world’s largest economies have signed up to the first ever global cooling pledge, led by the UN environment programme.
So far, more than 50 signatories have signed on to cut their cooling emissions by 68% by 2050.
India, however, is not expected to join. The country’s market for ACs is growing faster than almost anywhere else in the world. Higher incomes, rising temperatures in an already hot and humid climate and increasing affordability and access are driving more and more Indians towards buying or renting one as soon as they can afford it – and sometimes even when they cannot.
Between 8% and 10% of the country’s 300m households – home to 1.4 billion people – have an AC, but that number is expected to hit close to 50% by 2037, according to government projections. A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that by 2050, India will have more than 1bn ACs in operation.
It could have significant implications for the global effort to keep temperature rises within 1.5C. Around the world, ACs are still largely inefficient and use a huge amount of electricity mostly generated by fossil fuels.
En masse, they can drive up outside temperatures as they pump out heat from indoors to outdoors. They contain chemical refrigerants which, if leaked, can be almost 1,500 times more environmentally destructive than CO2…
The vast amount of electricity that India’s growing number of ACs will require presents a significant challenge. Already during peak summertime hours, ACs have accounted for 40% to 60% of total power demand in the cities of Delhi and Mumbai.
According to the IEA, by 2050, the amount of power India consumes solely for air conditioning is expected to exceed the total power consumption of all of Africa.
Most of this electricity is produced by burning coal, and while India’s capacity from renewables such as solar power is expanding, it is happening nowhere near as fast as the growth of the AC market, which will soon outpace all other household appliances.
Updated
The 2022 greenhouse gas emissions from Europe’s nine major oil and gas companies could cause at least 360,000 temperature-related premature deaths by the end of the century, according to a new study by Greenpeace Netherlands released at Cop today. The true climate death toll is likely to be significantly higher as the study calculates only heat and cold related excess deaths – and not those caused by floods, fires, drought, infectious diseases or air pollution caused by the extraction and production of fossil fuels.
Lisa Göldner from Greenpeace’s Fossil Free Revolution campaign, said:
“Fossil fuels kill. Today’s emissions will be tomorrow’s deaths. Phasing out fossil fuels is a matter of life and death, so governments need to act now to ban new fossil fuel projects and force fossil fuel companies to rapidly cut their emissions.”
The report also includes analysis from legal experts in five European countries (UK, UK, Italy, France, Netherlands and Czechia) on the concept of “climate homicide”. Overall, the experts conclud that while this is untested legal ground, in each country there could be a legal basis to criminally prosecute fossil fuel companies for endangering both human life and the environment under their respective national criminal laws.
“Numbers like these are too overwhelming to comprehend, but each of the 360,000 premature deaths we are talking about are real people like you and I,” said Vanessa Nakate, climate justice advocate from Uganda. “We need to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the lives they endanger, we need to make polluters pay.”
The study analysed the self-reported 2022 greenhouse gas emissions from the companies and applied the carbon mortality measure developed by R. Daniel Bressler at Columbia university in New York.
In 2022, the nine companies reported $163 billion in combined profits. According to one study, developing countries are facing climate loss and damage costs of around $400bn a year by 2030.
Updated
Discussions on whether to include a fossil fuel phase-out in the final Cop28 mandate are still ongoing, as Greenpeace releases more evidence of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas companies. As reported here by Nina Lakhani.
Updated
It’s half way through the sixth day of Cop28, and these are the highlights:
• Mary Robinson has made her first comment since the row over the Cop28 president’s controversial response to her questions on the need for a fossil fuel phase-out, revealed by the Guardian.
• The latest draft of the negotiating text on the global stocktake has been published, showing some progress but that the big decisions are still to be made. The global stocktake is a key component of the Paris agreement that measures how far the world has come in tackling climate change and how far it still has to go.
• There has been widespread outrage at the news that a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists have been given access to Cop28.
Thank you for reading. I’m now handing over to my colleague, Sandra Laville.
Updated
The rate and impact of climate change surged “alarmingly” in the 2010s, the World Meteorological Organization has found.
The list of examples in the report is long. During the hottest decade on record, more of the planet’s glaciers were lost than ever before in the modern record. Sea levels rose even faster. The rates at which oceans grew hotter and more acidic soared. Greenland and Antarctica lost 38% more ice than they did in the decade before.
All of that might sound far away, but it translates into concrete damages for most of humanity. The consequences range from less drinking water to stronger coastal floods to dead fish – and the cause is no mystery.
“This is unequivocally driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities,” said WMO secretary general, Prof Petteri Taalas. “We have to cut greenhouse gas emissions as a top and overriding priority for the planet in order to prevent climate change spiralling out of control.”
For those looking for a spot of good news this morning, the report also found that the hole in the ozone layer was smaller in the 2010s than in either of the two decades before because of actions to limit pollution that were agreed at an environment summit.
The number of casualties from extreme weather has also continued to fall – even as the climate has grown more dangerous – mainly because of better weather forecasts and early warning systems. But while humans can flee floods and storms, their homes and businesses cannot. Economic losses and displacements from violent weather have continued to rise.
“Our weather is becoming more extreme, with a clear and demonstrable impact on socio-economic development,” said Taalas. “Droughts, heatwaves, floods, tropical cyclones and wildfires damage infrastructure, destroy agricultural yields, limit water supplies and cause mass displacements.”
Updated
'You don't bring arsonists to a firefighting convention' – anger after record number of fossil fuel lobbyists given access to Cop28
There’s been more reaction to the news that a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists have been given access to Cop28.
Climate Action Network, the world’s largest coalition of climate NGOs, highlights that there are:
More fossil fuel lobbyists than delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined
More than seven times the number of fossil fuel lobbyists than official Indigenous representatives
You don’t bring arsonists to a firefighting convention — or the climate talks, for that matter — but that’s precisely what is happening here at #COP28.
— Climate Action Network International (CAN) (@CANIntl) December 5, 2023
Big Polluter interference in climate negotiations is costing millions of people their homes, livelihoods & lives.
Tzeporah Berman, the chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, says “stop negotiating with them and start regulating them”.
Unbelievable. 2400 oil, gas and coal lobbyists here at #cop28. 400% increase. And we wonder why we can’t get strong agreements that constrain fossil fuels responsible for rise in extreme weather, floods, fires, droughts? Stop negotiating with them and start regulating them.
— Tzeporah Berman (@Tzeporah) December 5, 2023
Green New Deal Rising, a movement of young people fight for climate justice, joins the dots.
Record high temperatures.
— Green New Deal Rising (@GNDRising) December 5, 2023
Record high emissions.
Record high number of fossil fuel lobbyists at the UN climate summit.
These facts are not disconnected. Our current systems are breaking records for all the wrong reasons.
Joseph Sikulu, a Pacific climate activist, says, “This poisoning of the process needs to end.”
"The sheer number of fossil fuel lobbyists at climate talks that could determine our future is beyond justification.
— 350 dot org (@350) December 5, 2023
This poisoning of the process needs to end, we will not let oil and gas influence the future of the Pacific." — @JoSikulu, @350Pacific https://t.co/DSMSbhB6TB
And StopRosebank, a campaign group to stop new oil and gas development in the North Sea, says the fossil fuel industry cannot be trusted “to come up with solutions to a crisis of its own making”.
🚨 BREAKING: A record number of fossil fuel lobbyists are in attendance at #COP28 - almost four times as many as last year.
— #StopRosebank (@StopCambo) December 5, 2023
Their number exceeds the total attendees from the 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change.
We can't trust the fossil fuel industry to come up with… pic.twitter.com/ZWaouzQ7js
Updated
Sultan Al Jaber could be president of Cop29 as well
Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the UAE’s state oil company, has certainly been a controversial choice as president of the Cop28 climate summit. Normally, he would have one go, then the summit moves on to the next region, to be hosted by another nation and a new president from that country.
But Russia’s war in Ukraine means Al Jaber could well be the man in charge next year as well, as Simon Evans at Carbon Brief explains.
#COP28 is due to choose the host & presidency of #COP29 next year
— Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) December 4, 2023
Host is due to be from Eastern Europe, but Russia is vetoing EU, Armenia & Azerbaijan are vetoing each other…
Per UNFCCC rules:
If no-one is chosen, it will be held in Bonn, with UAE's Al Jaber as president
🧵 pic.twitter.com/DSZhOfKPnx
It is the turn of eastern Europe to host the next Cop, but Russia is vetoing the 27 EU nations, and Armenia and Azerbaijan are vetoing each other. That leaves only seven, mostly small states, and putting on a Cop is very expensive.
As Evans explains, the UN rules of procedure are clear: Bonn, in Germany, and the sites of the UN climate secretariat is the default location and, if no new president is elected, it will be Al Jaber presiding at Cop29. Those who attended Cop23, which only just squeezed into the small German town in 2017, will wonder how it will cope with much higher number of attenders expected next year. Delegates will also have views on a second Cop run by Al Jaber.
Updated
Three more governments have signed carbon credit deals with the UAE-based firm Blue Carbon on the sidelines of Cop28, as an expert warns formal negotiations could open up the Paris agreement to “carbon cowboys”, writes my colleague Patrick Greenfield.
Comoros, Dominica and the Bahamas have become the latest countries to reach agreements with Blue Carbon, a company backed by a young Dubai royal which has overseen a series of carbon offsetting deals that cover an enormous area of African forest.
Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum, the Dubai royal behind the firm, has so far overseen deals that cover a fifth of Zimbabwe, 10% of Liberia, 10% of Zambia, 8% of Tanzania and “millions” of hectares of Kenya, collectively amounting to an area larger than the size of the UK.
Under the agreements, Blue Carbon will develop climate change mitigation projects using the countries’ forest, coastlines and natural resources, selling the resulting carbon reductions and removals as credits.
Ahead of Cop28, concerns were raised about the Blue Carbon agreements, as well as about the sheikh’s previous business ventures.
At the summit, governments are negotiating how countries could use these credits towards their own national targets.
Draft text on article 6.2 of the Paris agreement, which covers country to country agreements on carbon trading, proposes that governments should be allowed to unilaterally approve credits for sale. .
“The proposed inclusion of unilateral Article 6.2 deals could open the way for unfettered “carbon cowboyism”,” said Axel Michaelowa, a carbon markets expert at the University of Zurich.
Blue Carbon has previously said its “vision with these projects is not only to accelerate global climate action but also to tackle crucial environmental challenges at the local level thereby ushering in community benefits and advancing sustainable development in the countries involved”.
Alok Sharma, an MP for the Conservative party in Britain and president of Cop26 that was held in Glasgow two years ago, has made some comments about Al Jaber’s presidency: “everyone should be questioned,” he says.
The President of Cop26 in UK, @AlokSharma_RDG on criticism of #COP28UEA presidency: “You need to judge every Cop Presidency on the outcomes … The UK faced criticisms going in to our Cop too. That’s right – everyone should be questioned.”
— Damian Carrington (@dpcarrington) December 5, 2023
Environment ministers from Germany and Colombia have led an open letter calling for the inclusion of nature in the global stocktake outcome, which countries are negotiating at Cop28.
The GST is a key part of the Paris agreement as it sets direction of travel for the next round of national plans for limiting global heating: should it include a phase out of fossil fuels? How much should we scale up renewables? What about subsidies?
Susana Muhamad and Steffi Lemke, Colombia and Germany’s environment ministers, say it must include language on nature and how it can be used to mitigate global warming.
Nature-based solutions is an umbrella term for using the power of nature to mitigate the impact of climate change while benefiting biodiversity and human wellbeing. Scientists say they are a cheap and underused option for protecting humanity from the environmental crises of the 21st century.
The letter underscores that the climate and biodiversity efforts, agreed at last year’s nature-focused Cop15 in Montreal, can be intertwined, producing wins for both.
“The GST provides a critical moment to recognize the importance of just and inclusive means of implementation, and address the significant finance gap for nature-based solutions,” said Muhamad. “In particular, the involvement and respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities is critical, in addition to the urgent need to align financial flows to enable the transformations required to deliver the Paris Agreement goals.”
For those a bit unclear on exactly what a global stocktake is, or why it matters, here is a short explainer from our environment editor Fiona Harvey, as part of her very useful jargon-busting guide to Cop28.
Global stocktake
Under the Paris agreement, nations are required to measure the progress made towards the emissions cuts needed to ensure the world stays within the temperature limits of the treaty. This five-yearly process is scheduled to begin this year, with the first ever global stocktake, a comprehensive assessment of countries’ progress – or lack of it.
The essential parts of the global stocktake have already been published, and they contain little of surprise. The world is far off track to meet the Paris goals, and drastic action is needed urgently in order to cut emissions in line with scientific advice.
However, one important element of the global stocktake is that it can be forward-looking – rather than just a look at what has happened, the process will also advise on what needs to be done now. Governments are not scheduled to make the next revisions to their NDCs until 2025, but the global stocktake should inform what those revisions must be.
Latest draft of negotiating text on global stocktake published
The latest draft of the negotiating text on the global stocktake has been published, showing some progress but that the big decisions are still to be taken.
On the crucial issue of the phase-out of fossil fuels – which Al Gore in an interview with the Guardian said would be “huge for humanity” if agreed – there is still language that would commit nations to a phase-out, but the option of the text being deleted completely is still not ruled out.
There is also reference to the need for countries to improve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), though this is unlikely to happen before 2025 when NDS focused on 2035 are due under the Paris agreement five-yearly “ratchet”.
Negotiators reported to the Guardian that there had been a solid 24 hours of negotiating to produce the text last night – spread over two days, rather than an all-nighter at this stage of the talks – and reported constructive attitudes and a willingness to get down to work.
However, there are some concerning signs.
Saudi Arabia is attempting to introduce references to carbon capture and storage at every opportunity – and even where there should not be an opportunity.
The kingdom is also trying to add the word “emissions” after fossil fuels in any reference to their phase-out or phase-down.
China’s position is also puzzling in some respects – the country has not signed up to the pledge to triple renewable energy, despite having one of the strongest renewable energy industries in the world, and being a major supplier of renewable energy components and equipment that stands to benefit hugely from this commitment. Some experts believe it may have to do with China’s perennial reluctance to sign up to anything it did not initiate, or to do with internal wrangling over the future of coal.
The Guardian has also been told by more than one country that China’s negotiators, who are aligned with the China and G77 negotiating group, have taken so long to speak in their allotted slots that other developing nations have been unable to get a look in. They say there are potential differences of opinion within the G77, as smaller developing countries have bigger concerns about 1.5C while China has a history at these talks of preferring to talk about “the Paris goals” – the plural is a pointed reference to the higher temperature goal in the treaty, of holding temperature rises to “well below” 2C.
The least developed countries chair Madeleine Diouf Sarr told the Guardian: “The issue of global equity and historic responsibility also need to be addressed. Developed countries must take the lead. We have established common but differentiated responsibility as a principle, that is important.”
Sultan Al Jaber told the Guardian he was hoping for “the most ambitious global stocktake”.
Lord Browne, a former chief of BP, warned that private sector oil companies were not the main issue when it came to a phase-out of fossil fuels – most hydrocarbon extraction in the world is done by states, through nationally owned companies such as Adnoc, the UAE national oil company of which Cop president Sultan Al Jaber is chair. He said it was doubtful whether states with fossil fuel reserves would agree to end using them.
Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at the Climate Action Network, said:
“The latest draft of the Global Stocktake, which includes a range of options from ‘no text’ to an ‘orderly and just phase-out of fossil fuels,’ prepares the ground for intense future deliberations. “As negotiations advance, the world watches, expecting bold commitments to an equitable transition from coal, oil, and gas towards greener, more resilient economies, underpinned by financial support.”
Tom Evans, E3G policy advisor, said:
“With the clocking ticking down to the end of the first week, now’s the time for champions of the most ambitious outcomes to keep up the pressure in the negotiations. We need to see governments coming out strongly for priorities like a fossil fuel phase out, more action on adaptation, and driving total finance system transformation to unlock more money for climate. With sharp divisions between Parties, there’s a high chance that we get stuck – so above all, we need to see the UAE presidency’s game plan for taking this forward next week.”
Updated
Nina Lakhani has sent an entry in our best-dressed competition.
Sunday Geofrey Mbafoambe is a climate justice advocate from Cameroon and a Cop first-timer. He’s enjoying meeting and learning from other advocates, but is finding the negotiations hard to follow (join the club, Sunday).
“It’s important that those people making decisions about climate finance hear from us that are working on the ground with communities.”
‘The science compels: phase out fossil fuels’: Mary Robinson responds after Cop28 row
Mary Robinson has made her first comment since the row over the Cop28 president’s controversial and ill-tempered response to her questions on the need for a fossil fuel phase out, revealed by the Guardian.
Robinson, chair of the Elders and a former president of Ireland, has taken a diplomatic approach, as perhaps befits a former UN climate change envoy. She does not name Sultan Al Jaber, who had told her a fossil fuel phase-out could mean “going back into caves”.
“A successful Cop28 is not about a single individual or nation, but the collective will and concerted efforts of all countries in these negotiations,” Robinson posted on X. “The science compels: phase out fossil fuels rapidly, accelerate renewable energy adoption, and radically scaled up finance.”
Al Jaber was forced to fiercely defend his respect for climate science on Monday, having told Robinson on 21 November that there was “no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C”, a view strongly rejected by many scientists.
Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, remained unimpressed:
“It’s clear that the comments by Al Jaber were a moment where the mask slipped and all his warm words about being a climate champion were revealed as greenwashing. When someone shows you what they are, we should believe them. He showed that when pushed, he lashed out with the climate denial lines proposed by the fossil fuel industry for years.”
“This Cop will be remembered for one thing: whether or not we get a fossil fuel phase-out date agreed or whether we don’t,” Adow said. “Actions speak louder than words and if we don’t get that phase out date, this Cop will be remembered as the one that was overseen by an oil baron.”
The former US vice president Al Gore was also outspoken, telling the New York Times:
“From the moment this absurd masquerade began, it was only a matter of time before [Al Jaber’s] preposterous disguise no longer concealed the reality of the most brazen conflict of interest in the history of climate negotiations. Obviously, the world needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible.”
Al Jaber is also CEO of the UAE’s state oil company. Gore said Al Jaber “has been preparing one of the most aggressive expansions of fossil fuel production, timed to begin as soon as he bangs the final gavel to conclude Cop28”.
The US climate envoy John Kerry, who is still involved in the Cop28 negotiations and has previously supported Al Jaber, remained diplomatic. He told Politico that Al Jaber’s “no science” comment may require “clarification”. Kerry said: “Maybe it came out the wrong way. Look, he’s gotta decide how he wants to phrase it, but the bottom line is this Cop needs to be committed to phasing out all unabated fossil fuel.” More than 100 countries are calling for that commitment.
Updated
The opinion desk has published an interesting comment piece by the environment writer Geoffrey Lean on Al Jaber’s comments that there was “no science” showing that phasing out fossil fuels would keep the global temperature rise within 1.5C above preindustrial levels.
It’s headlined: Cop28 president told a shocking lie about fossil fuels – and he’s wrong about climate economics too
his … assertion, about human civilisation devolving back to caves, received much less attention. But it is even more pernicious.
Opponents of action on climate change have almost entirely stopped denying the science in the face of conclusive evidence (making Al Jaber’s claim against it all the more extraordinary). Instead they are focusing on claiming that the level of intervention needed would be economically ruinous.
They have made headway on this. The far-right parties advancing throughout the west have taken up the theme, and it appears to have influenced Rishi Sunak’s decision to delay net zero targets. In this new political atmosphere, fossil fuel companies are stepping up their drilling, while barely investing in renewables.
Al Jaber’s “back into caves” jibe will give them comfort. But it could not be more wrong. Far from harming growth, economists, businesses and governments increasingly recognise that green measures offer the best hope of achieving it.
Indigenous leaders call for big polluters to be kicked out of climate talks
Indigenous, Black, Brown and other frontline community leaders made an impassioned – and angry – call for big polluters to be kicked out of the UN climate talks, as new data released this morning revealed that 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to Cop28. “Our children have to share inhalers at school because they cannot breathe from the [fossil fuel project] pollution, but my nation is not at the table of the United Nations,” said Kathryn Diane Horinek, a Ponca elder from Oklahoma. “We pity those who think they have the power. Their time is past, we are here to reclaim Mother Earth.”
All protests have to be pre-approved by the UNFCCC and no countries or companies are allowed to be mentioned – or else delegates risk being thrown out of the summit. “Climate change is a plague of colonization,” said Thomas Harmy Joseph from the Water Climate Trust. “Kick big polluters out, kick big polluters out.”
It’s perhaps not surprising given this summit is being run by the president of an oil company, but still pretty shocking that one in every 30 people at this year’s climate talks is lobbying for the fossil fuel industry.
Updated
My colleague Nina Lakhani has published new figures on the number of fossil fuel lobbyists at this year’s Cop, leading to calls for a “conflict of interest policy”. It comes as a new report confirms that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels reached record levels again in 2023 – when they should be cut, drastically and urgently, to limit global heating and stop extreme weather from getting worse.
At least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the Cop28 climate negotiations, according to an analysis.
The figure calculated by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition is a record number that raises further questions about the fossil fuel industry’s influence over this year’s UN summit, which is being run by the president of the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company.
The scale of oil and gas influence in Dubai is unprecedented, with almost four times as many industry-affiliated lobbyists than the number registered for Cop27 in Sharm el-sheikh – which itself was a record year.
Read Nina’s full story here.
Good morning. This is Natalie Hanman, bringing you coverage from the sixth day of the UN’s Cop28 climate summit.
The Guardian will be liveblogging the negotiations throughout, as always, and we look forward to your contributions: please email me on natalie.hanman@theguardian.com with thoughts and suggestions. Sandra Laville (sandra.laville@theguardian.com) will be taking over later on.
Today’s official themes are energy, industry, just transition and Indigenous peoples, so expect reports and news focused on those themes, as well as on the wider negotiations.
Yesterday, the main event was Sultan Al Jaber, the summit president, calling a surprise press conference after the Guardian revealed he had said a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves”.
Al Jaber defended his record, said he believes in the science behind the climate crisis and that Cop28 has been very successful so far.
He will be judged at the end of the summit – can he fulfil his pledge that an “unprecedented outcome” to keep alive hopes of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C is within reach?
In other developments:
Water Aid called for rich countries to do more to meet this year’s target of $300m for the climate adaptation fund.
More than 1,000 climate scientists called for mass collective action to avert climate breakdown.
Representatives of small island states said they would continue to demand a phaseout of fossil fuels – and hold Sultan Al Jaber to account for this.
