What is the COP28 climate summit and what is it trying to accomplish?

Diplomats from nearly 200 countries, and many heads of state and government, are meeting in Dubai for two weeks of United Nations climate talks to try to draft a plan to accelerate the global transition away from fossil fuels. That’s because burning them is dangerously heating Earth. The conference, which officially runs from Nov. 30 through Dec. 12, is convened annually by the United Nations. COP stands for Conference of the Parties, with “parties” referring to the 197 nations that agreed to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. This is the 28th time countries have gathered under the convention, hence COP28. At last year’s summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, nations agreed to establish a fund to help poor, vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters made worse by the greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere by industrialized nations. But they’ve made little progress on actually cutting those emissions. A proposal to phase out fossil fuels was stymied by countries that produce and use gas, oil and coal. And Egypt, the host country, made deals on the sidelines of the summit to sell natural gas to Europe. Two facts loom over this year’s conference: the planet is careening toward climate disaster, and governments are acting too slowly to avert the crisis. That the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s largest oil producers, is hosting the conference has drawn the anger of many activists, complicating the negotiations. The talks are also happening against a backdrop of geopolitical turmoil including wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, making cooperation between nations even more difficult. Lisa Friedman reports on federal climate and environmental policy from Washington. She has broken multiple stories about the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal climate change regulations and limit the use of science in policymaking. More about Lisa Friedman