COP28: What's happening on day three of the UN climate conference?

Today, 117 governments pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030 and reduce fossil fuel use, while 50 fossil fuel firms signed ambiguous net zero and methane pledges. Financial pledges are also pouring in, with Norway announcing a $25 million (€23m) contribution to the loss and damage fund, the US promising $3 billion (€2.76bn) for the Green Climate Fund, and private institutions earmarking $1 billion (around €920,000) for climate and health. But experts have warned of the need to honour these pledges in the long term. While developing nations and Pope Francis took aim at the Global North, Middle Eastern leaders took the opportunity to highlight the environmental impact of ongoing conflict with Israel. “The climate crisis is but the latest chapter in a long history of hypocrisy and lies,” said Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca. “The gap between the opulent few and the masses of the poor has never been so abysmal,” Pope Francis added in a letter delivered byVatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Thanks for following our COP28 coverage today. Join us tomorrow for what is sure to be an action-packed fourth day of COP28. And if you need a refresher on all things COP, we’ve got you covered in our explainer here: What is COP28? Everything you need to know about the UN climate summit in Dubai this week Spain’s Díaz calls for international climate court Spain’s Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz has spoken out against the large companies that “are poisoning the planet”. She called for the creation of an international climate court to clarify their responsibilities and stem the proliferation of fossil fuels. Her remarks were made before a meeting analysing COP28 challenges with environmental groups, including Ecologistas en Acción, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF. These pods are an installation by British artist Michael Pinsky at COP28. Three of the pods carefully simulate the type of air pollution in three different cities: Beijing, New Delhi and London. They reproduce the amounts of ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide that pollute these cities. Walking through, you can smell, feel and taste what the air is like for the people who live in these cities. As a Londoner, breathing the air in the London pod felt pretty familiar! It replicates the diesel pollution problem the city is trying to solve with its Ulta Low Emissions Zone. With over seven million premature deaths a year from air pollution, the installation — which is supported by the Clean Air Fund and Breathe Cities — aims to highlight the interconnected nature of climate and health issues. The fourth pod showcases a range of solutions to clean up the air we breathe. 50 fossil fuel firms sign net zero and methane pledges 50 oil and gas companies representing more than 40 per cent of global oil production have committed to cutting emissions from their operations. The group — which includes 29 national oil companies — have pledged to cut the release of methane to near zero by 2030, reduce carbon emissions from their operations to net zero by 2050 and stop the routine flaring of natural gas. But it could be controversial as it only covers emissions from the production of fossil fuels — not burning them. That means the emissions the companies produce while drilling and processing the oil and gas. The targets aren’t binding and allow companies to increase fossil fuel production in the short term as long as it is reduced by 2050. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber called the pledge a “great first step”. “I know that they and others, can and need to do more. We need the entire industry to keep 1.5C within reach and set even stronger ambitions for decarbonisation,” he added. 117 countries agree to triple renewable energy 117 governments have pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030 and reduce fossil fuel use. “This can and will help transition the world away from unabated coal,” said COP28 President-designate Sultan Al Jaber. The pledge was led by the European Union, the United States and the UAE. It is part of a plan to cut fossil fuels from the world’s energy system by 2050. Although China and India have showed support for the initiative, they did not back the overall pledge today. Lebanon and Syria highlight environmental impact of conflict with Israel Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati used his Leaders Summit statement to highlight where the “challenges of climate change intersect with wars”. In particular, he said “Israeli aggression is… causing an intense environmental impact”. “The ongoing violations, which include the use of prohibited weapons such as white phosphorus, have caused the martyrdom of civilians and caused irreparable damage to more than five million square meters of forests, agricultural lands, and thousands of olive trees,” he said. Syria’s PM Hussein Arnous added that the cutting of trees and burying of hazardous waste in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights “is a clear violation of international law”. US climate envoy warns time is running out to avoid ‘worst consequences of climate crisis’ “We’re not asking anybody to give up the quality of life,” said US climate envoy John Kerry at a COP28 forum, while calling for cuts to “poisonous” greenhouse gas emissions. “We’re asking you to actually embrace a better quality of life. If you’re not dying because the quality of air sucks, then you’ve got a better quality of life. “When you’re not being sent off as a young person to fight a war to protect the sources of your energy — where energy is now being weaponised — you’ve got a better life. In fact, you even have a chance of staying alive.” $1bn in funding for climate and health More than 120 countries have signed a declaration acknowledging people’s health needs to be protected from the impacts of climate change. It commits them to meet and collaborate on addressing climate-related health impacts such as extreme heat, air pollution and infectious disease. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber said that climate change is “increasingly becoming a health challenge”. “Governments have now rightly recognised health as a crucial element of climate action,” he added. A total of $1 billion (around €920,000) in financing for climate and health was also announced this morning in Dubai. It comes from organisations like the Asian Development Bank, Global Fund and Rockefeller Foundation. And tomorrow will see the first-ever health day at COP. Ministers of Health and senior representatives from around 90 countries and the EU will come together for the COP Climate-Health Ministerial meeting. “For COP28 to go down in history as the first ‘Health COP’, it will be necessary for governments to sustain this focus on health throughout the negotiations, and to take real action to protect people’s health — including the phase-out of fossil fuels, additional finance to address the impacts of climate change, and making health a fundamental measure of our progress and success on climate action,” says Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. “President Obama in 2014 pledged $3 billion, out of which $2 billion has been delivered so far,” says Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, of World Resources Institute on the $3bn pledge from the US to the Green Climate Fund. “During the current replenishment cycle, peer countries like Germany, France and the United Kingdom have dug even deeper relative to the size of their economies.” Dasgupta says today’s announcement could be a step forward in delivering on President Biden’s commitment to provide $11.4 billion (€10.5 billion) a year to developing countries by 2024. US pledges $3 Billion to Green Climate Fund The US will put $3 billion (€2.76bn) into the Green Climate Fund, Vice President Kamala Harris said today as she arrived in Dubai. The UN fund aims to help developing countries adapt to and mitigate climate change. “The United States did not fully meet its previous GCF pledge and continues to fall behind other nations that have ramped up their pledges this year,” says Dr Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). “By living up to its global responsibilities, the United States can help unlock greater ambition from other countries and help build the goodwill and trust it will take for nations to confront this pressing challenge together.”