The COP Summits: Empty Words or Concrete Action

Eman Nawab

Climate change is now a crisis. It is a reality that can no longer be ignored otherwise it would result in a climate catastrophe. Another bitter reality is our governments, the world leaders are not doing enough to stop it. Yet there is still hope and that hope comes in the form of the much-anticipated COP 28 summit. It is considered to be the most important climate conference. It is an annual summit arranged under the United Nations and this year it will be hosted in Dubai, UAE. The conference will last from November 30th to December 12th. Diverse segments of the society will be attending it; world leaders, business tycoons, youth advocates, and climate activists.

To understand how the COP started one has to go about 30 years in the past. In the year 1992, approximately 150 countries signed a UN treaty. The aim was to contain the rapidly increasing pollution in the environment. The parties that signed the agreement held their first conference in 1995. This came to be known as the Conference of Parties or as it is now called the COP. Since then, member states have gathered annually to discuss strategies to cope with the issues resulting from climate change. The COP 21 has been the most fruitful and remembered as of yet. The year was 2015 and around 190 countries signed an agreement famously known as the Paris Agreement. It is intended to limit global warming up to two degrees Celsius. If this is not done soon climate change and its consequences might make life for humans difficult. The Paris Agreement although being a milestone did not specifically outline what measures should be taken by the countries to achieve the given objective.

What is alarming is that the planet since that agreement has already been warmed by 1.2 Degrees Celsius. This an urgent situation which needs to be tackled soon. This is what makes COP 28 all the more important. It is expected that at COP 28 effective strategies shall be formed to fight the issue. This brings one to ponder upon this year’s COP summit agenda. Firstly, it will be regarding fossil fuels. A deal to replace fossil fuel with clean environment safe energy options like wind or solar power sources. It is however difficult to determine if nations will agree to such measures as this will require a lot of work. If an agreement is reached this would prove to be a landmark. The next thing on the agenda will be the Loss and damage fund. In the COP summit held last year developed economically empowered nations (who it can be said are responsible for the majority of climate change issues) decided to establish a fund for developing and vulnerable nations. Months were taken to discuss the details of the fund and how it should be established. However, there is one big thing missing, the capital or simply put, the money. It is aimed to get the fund operational by the next year that is 2024. COP 28 is expected to make a comprehensive framework.

World leaders of more than 160 nations are attending the summit. King Charles the Third and Pope Francis will be among the attendees as well making him the first pope to do so. However, two major leaders will be missing. US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping; both being leaders of the two countries which are the world’s top polluting nations. They will be sending representatives in their place. This makes one question how seriously they take environmental issues if they choose to miss the biggest climate conference of the year.

The summit is hosted in a different country each year. This time it’s the United Arab Emirates the world’s fifth-largest producer of oil. Analysts term this a conflict of interest, however, others say it is unfair to villainize oil-producing nations as all the countries of the world use what they produce. What can now be hoped is that countries start to implement their plans to reduce global warming. With COP 28 ongoing all eyes are set on it as this will determine the future of our planet Earth.

The writer is a student of Peace and Conflict Studies.