Cop28 live: energy in focus after scientists reject president’s fossil fuel comments
Cop28 live: energy in focus after scientists reject president’s fossil fuel comments | Cop28 | The Guardian
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.
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.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate diplomacy
Talks are well underway in preparation for the next major international meeting on climate change, 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), scheduled to begin Nov. 30 in the United Arab Emirates.
Much like last year’s COP27, finances — specifically, aid to developing nations — will be at the center of conference deliberations.
The conference faces an even greater sense of urgency brought on by the Sept. 8, 2023, release of the first global stocktake, which calls for accelerated action to meet the goals set in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (COP21).
Climate diplomacy: COP 27 | Climate diplomacy: COP 28 | Climate diplomacy: COP 29