CoP-28 is beset with problems even before it has begun

Even before the glow from New Delhi’s G20 success could fade comes another meeting of world leaders in the neighbourhood.

Will it be any different or will there be the usual photo-ops, predictable episodes of finger-pointing and insincere promises? Dubai is hosting the 23rd United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will include the 28th meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP-28), from 30 November to 12 December. Predictably, at the meeting, vows will be made and broken, global corporations will send spin doctors to slow down the decarbonization process and advanced nations will use subterfuge to dodge the payment of reparations for their past misdeeds.

In a letter to all parties, the UAE’s special envoy for climate change and CoP-28 president-designate, Sultan Ahmed Al Jabar, has requested CoP-28 to focus on four paradigm shifts: fast-tracking the energy transition and slashing emissions by 2030; setting a new climate finance template by delivering on old promises while developing a new financing framework; putting nature, people, lives and livelihoods at the heart of climate action; and mobilizing the most inclusive CoP ever.

So, will CoP-28 be any different from its predecessors? If the recently concluded G20 Leaders’ Declaration, outcome documents from the energy ministers’ meeting in Goa and environment ministers’ meeting in Chennai can be considered early pointers, it is unlikely that CoP-28 will leave any lasting footprints on the UAE sands. Two recent developments and two policy knots also give rise to this sense of foreboding.