Climate Change COP28

Reports on dimensions of COP28 of interest to the International Environment Forum
REPORT ON COP28 CONCLUSION
SUMMARY REPORT ON COP28
REPORTS ON COP28 EVENTS
Presentation summarising COP28 results and Bahá'í contributions
Highlights of more COP28 events
Interfaith Statement Pre-COP28
Faith for Climate - A Call to Action
Recording of IEF 23rd Webinar Reflections on COP28 and Ideas for Moving Forward

Report on COP28 conclusion

COP28 was a crucial meeting for action on climate change, as the UN warns that a radical transformation is now required. Country positions were far apart, with many, including the most vulnerable and those listening to the science, insisting on a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, while the oil-producing countries refused any mention of fossil fuels. 

Complex negotiations throughout the night pushed the conference a day overtime.

COP28 waiting for the final plenary

At 11:15 GST on 13 December 2023, a wave of thunderous applause swept through the halls of COP 28 as Parties to the Paris Agreement formally adopted the decision text on the first-ever Global Stocktake with no objections. The following is part of the statement of the COP President.

COP28 final plenary

"We have delivered a comprehensive response to the global stocktake. We have delivered a robust action plan to keep 1.5c in reach. It is a balanced plan that addresses emissions… it is built on common ground. It is strengthened by full inclusivity. It is a historic package to accelerate climate action. It is the UAE consensus.

"Many said this could not be done. When I spoke to you at the very start, I promised a different sort of Cop, private and public sectors… everyone came together from day one. Everyone united, acted and delivered. We operationalised loss and damage and filled the fund. We delivered world first after world first.

"It is built on common ground, it is strengthened by full inclusivity. It is enhanced, balanced but make no mistake, a historic package.

"For the first time, to deliver on methane and emissions. We have language on fossil fuels in our final agreement for the first time ever.

"Let me sound a word of caution. Any agreement is only as good as its implementation. We are what we do, not what we say. We must turn this agreement into tangible action. If we unite, we can have a profound effect on all of our futures. Inclusivity kept us going in the difficult days. Everyone has been heard, from Indigenous peoples or youth to global south.

"We have reframed the conversation around climate finance. We have integrated the real economy into the climate challenge.”
- Sultan Al Jaber, COP 28 President

Sultan Al Jaber at end of the closing plenary

SOURCE: https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/65d6762b-55b3-4a24-83b2-fee145b042…

Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen's reaction on LinkedIn:
Adoption of the Global Stocktake outcome at COP28. Many will have wanted more but let's see the progress made where we can rally around that all Parties "...recognizes the need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5 °C pathways and calls on Parties to contribute to the following global efforts...[a number of other bullets on renewables, coal etc.]... Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science" and creating a process for the coming two COPs to keep the pressure and support up for enabling countries to increase ambition in their next national climate plans.

Reflections and photographs by Kiara Worth on 14 December 2023*

"I don’t know how, but we survived COP28."

"After consultation all night, the revised text on the Global Stocktake came out early this morning. While it didn’t bring a clear call to phase out fossil fuels, it did set in motion the transition away from them and indeed, this is a big step. There was applause as the decision was made and immediately news headlines hailed this as an ‘historic achievement’."

"As the COP President said in his closing remarks, ‘The world needed to find a new way. By following our North Star, we have found that path.’"

"But not everyone agrees."

"Samoa, representing the small islands most vulnerable to climate change, said it was not ambitious enough. ‘We have concluded that the course correction needed has not yet been secured.’ This was met by an uproar of applause, particularly from civil society and developing countries."

"The delegate from Marshall Islands burst into tears, realising the fate of her people has been sealed, and I burst into tears too."

"I’ve been crying ever since and I don’t know how I made it through that closing plenary. I was overwhelmed with emotion, thinking about the small islands, and Palestine, the self-congratulatory remarks about what a ‘success’ this has been, how we’ll ‘take note’ of people’s suffering, and the ‘north star’ I don’t get to see because I, like most people, am from the global south."

"‘Shame,’ the youth delegates screamed into the microphone, ‘shame!’"

"I felt like they were shouting at me. Have I done enough? Can I hold myself to account, the way I expect others to? What has my contribution been and why haven’t I done better? Why haven’t we all done better and what will it take for us to recognise our common humanity? I know a lot of this is sheer exhaustion, and the sudden depletion of direction after giving so much of myself over these weeks, but there’s an underlying truth to it too."

"Yes, there were positive outcomes, and yes, we’re on a better pathway, but it’s not enough. My virtue for today was acceptance, and I don’t think I’ve done very well with that."

"The only thing I can think of are the words of the UN Secretary-General: ‘I promise, I won’t give up.’"

Kiara Worth

*Kiara Worth from South Africa was official photographer to the Secretary-General at COP28, and is a niece of IEF board member Wendi Momen. This comes from her posting on Facebook on 14 December.

SUMMARY REPORT

This IEF page cannot provide a full report on COP28, especially of the formal negotiations and outcome, but it does share some of the highlights of events of interest to IEF. With 70,000 participants in Dubai, including over 40 Bahá'ís and several IEF members, the following report illustrates efforts to bring a values perspective to the public discourse on climate change, especially through the Bahá'í International Community and the Climate Governance Commission with which the IEF collaborates.

Video of COP28 on 11 December with IEF board member Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0tgY_5J-7X/

Most events took place in the intergovernmental blue zone or the non-governmental green zone or in other locations around Dubai without being recorded or accessible online, so they can only be mentioned here. Reports on the content of some accessible events are included after the summary report.

Redefining Success: A Just and Equitable Transition
through greater Climate Action and SDGs Synergies

United Nations Climate Change - UN DESA – official event
recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-_GNtEHKOc
SEE REPORT BELOW

Beyond Growth: Prosperity in a Changing World

SEE REPORT BELOW

Baha'is participating in the first week of COP28

Bahá'í International Community events

COP28 "Values Roadshow"

During COP28, a group of organizations including the Bahá'í International Community coordinated a “Values Roadshow” that created spaces across many different Pavilions and events to explore humanity’s shared values and the coherent principles to be collectively embraced to advance climate justice. These events took on a variety of formats, while offering an opportunity to explore the following questions:
What values must underlie initiatives and advancement on each issue?
What values currently underlie work on the issue - consciously and subconsciously?
Where do we see misalignment between the two previous questions and how can we overcome it?
What are examples where we see an evolution of thinking at the level of values on the issue?

Diversity of thought, background, and approach are critical. It is through the interaction of diverse perspectives and experiences that higher degrees of insight can be gained. The Values Roadshow explored values through the lens of a diversity of intersecting themes and constituencies, including the following issues: climate induced migration, resilience, disaster risk reduction, faith, food systems, gender equality, Indigenous issues, Small Island Developing States, and youth.

6 December 2023

Engaging at the United Nations Climate Conference, COP28 in Dubai, UAE, are Representatives of the Bahai International Community’s United Nations New York Office, - Daniel Perell, Saphira Rameshfar and Cecilia Schirmeister, alongside Hatem El-Hady Representative of the Baha’i International Community to Arab Countries.

They are joined by a delegation representing the efforts of the global Baha’i Community in advancing humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

BIC Events

BIC and the Climate Governance Commission hosted a half day activity on 7 December with some 70 people visiting a mosque, a sustainable city innovation and a dinner with meaningful conversations. IEF was one of the sponsoring organisations next to a long list of others mentioned at the start of the dinner.
A Visual Expression of Sustainability’s Values at the Global Renewables Hub
A Visual Expression of Humanity’s Values at the Faith Pavilion
Culture, Values, and Spiritual Perspectives: Mobilising Action Towards a Just Food System Transition at the Food4Climate Pavilion

Other events hosted by the BIC, Baha’is and partners at COP28
Future Economy Forum/ebbf daily events in the Blue zone stand of FEF in Food Pavilion
Exhibit in Startup Tech Village
Geledés - Black Woman Institute (Brazil) side event in Brazil's Pavilion
The Convergence Forum, Climate Impact Storytelling Workshop in the PCCB Capacity Building Hub (Blue Zone)
Food systems transformation: elevating healthy diets and protein diversification as climate solutions, BIC side event
Baha’i and Partners Exhibit Booth, BIC exhibit
The Convergence Forum, Climate Impact Storytelling Workshop, in the Slovenia Pavilion (Green Zone)

The COP Drop with Dan Perell

Faiths for Biodiversity, the COP Drop, 2 December with Dan Perell, BIC, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zYoZ7KOuM8
SEE REPORT BELOW
Faiths for Biodiversity, the COP Drop, 11 December, with Dan Perell, BIC, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTC7B-YGuc
SEE REPORT BELOW

Faith Pavilion

Prior to COP28, a Global Faith Leaders Summit was held in Abu Dhabi in November where an Interfaith Statement Pre-COP28 was adopted.

The Faith Pavilion at COP28 held 65 sessions with 300 speakers from every corner of the world; 120 faith-based organisations signed up to take part.

Faith for Climate: A Call to Action

Inspired by the Interfaith Statement signed by Pope Francis, Ahmed El-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, and around 30 religious leaders and representatives from a range of traditions, launched on December 3, the Faith Pavilion at COP28 put forth a Call to Action and invited signatures. The text can be viewed on this website and it can be signed here.

Faiths for Biodiversity, the COP Drop, 2 December with Dan Perell, BIC, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zYoZ7KOuM8
SEE REPORT BELOW

Climate and Nature: Strengthening Advocacy and Action, 9 December

Faiths for Biodiversity, the COP Drop, 11 December, with Dan Perell, BIC, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTC7B-YGuc
SEE REPORT BELOW

UNEP Faith for Earth has its own special page for COP28: https://www.unep.org/events/conference/faith-based-engagement-cop28

Article about the Faith Pavilion in the New York Times

At the U.N. Summit, There’s a Quiet, Spiritual Place
By Jenny Gross, New York Times, 5 December 2023 (excerpts)
A pavilion at COP28 offers a space for meditation, prayer and something that feels lacking, at times, from global warming talks: hope.
Among the hubs for climate scientists, activists and fossil fuel lobbyists at the United Nations climate summit is a new addition this year: a place to pray. The first-ever Faith Pavilion, inaugurated by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, in a video message on Sunday, offers a space for meditation, daily prayers and even a chanting session led by an Indian mystic and yogi.
The pavilion is also a place for pastors, imams, rabbis and other spiritual leaders to exchange ideas about how to guide people through the effects of climate change.
The Rev. James Bhagwan, the general secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, spoke on a panel on Monday in Dubai about how to comfort people in the Pacific islands who have been displaced from their ancestral and spiritual homelands because of rising sea levels and climate disasters. Mr. Bhagwan cited Psalm 137, “How do I sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”, and emphasized the importance of faith-based support for displaced people who face challenges in adjusting to their new homes. Parts of some low-lying island nations in the Pacific, like Tuvalu, are already being swallowed by rising seas.
All religions are based in a recognition that nature is an act of divinity, according to the U.N. Environment Program. In the Baha’i faith, nature reflects both the divine and the oneness of humanity. In Buddhism, karma involves taking responsibility for future generations. According to the Shinto faith in Japan, spirits correspond to wind, rocks and water, and forests are sacred.
More than 300 religious leaders representing Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Unitarian Universalism and Indigenous faiths are expected to participate in discussions at the pavilion during the two-week climate summit.

Climate Governance Commission events

The Climate Governance Commission collaborated in the following events.

The Climate Governance Commission launched its report, Governing Our Planetary Emergency on 28 November, SEE REPORT BELOW

Strengthening Climate Governance: Tightening the Screws on Existing Architecture, SEE REPORT BELOW

Strategy session on a proposed Climate and Planetary Boundaries Leadership Centre

10 Must-haves Initiative - 10 ambitious targets for global transformations that would ensure just and sustainable futures for all, Arizona State University (ASU) at COP28, SEE REPORT BELOW

10 New Insights in Climate Science 2023/2024, Arizona State University (ASU) at COP28, SEE REPORT BELOW

Creating A Sustainable ‘Zero Carbon Footprint’ World: Accelerating and Connecting Business, Technology and Governance Solutions (Hosted by Future Economy Forum). The first panel brought together government officials, investors, corporates, labor leaders, and developers to discuss practical steps in achieving a 'carbon reduction' future. The second panel broadened the global conversation, uniting corporate/labor leaders and policy experts for a comprehensive clean energy revolution.

Governing Our Planetary Emergency: Key Perspectives and Proposals from the 2023 Climate Governance Commission Report, SEE REPORT BELOW.

Rising to the Challenge: Courageous Thinkers and Doers for a Sustainable Future.  The current planetary emergency presents a transformative opportunity for a global clean energy transition, potentially saving $12 trillion by 2050 in energy system costs alone. However, courageous leadership across sectors is crucial to catalyze the necessary positive transformations.

Aligning Principles With Action: How to Make Climate Change Solutions a Reality (Hosted by the Baháʼí International Community). Discussion about the forces that prevent meaningful policy and how to overcome them by aligning principles with action.

The Role of Education in Building Climate Resilience (Hosted by Dubai Cares and the Global Center on Adaptation).

“Cleaning Up” is Part of the Solution: 10 Reasons for Paris+10. This event sought to tackle an issue fundamental to the common future of humankind. A Portuguese climate law already includes the objective of recognizing the planetary climate system as a “Common Heritage of Humankind,” in addition to the Lubango Declaration of CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries) which encourages the discussion of this subject. In this context, Common Home of Humanity organized this event at the Portugal Pavilion at COP28, to have framing discussion on the road to Paris+10 (COP30 in 2025).

Governing Our Planetary Emergency: Sparking Governance Innovation and Bold Leadership for a Workable Future. The Chair of the Climate Governance Commission and Chair of The Elders, Mary Robinson, along with Commission Co-Chair Maria Fernanda Espinosa, 73rd President of the UN General Assembly, along with other Commissioners and Commission experts, explored the dimensions of the bold leadership, governance innovation and fresh perspectives needed to properly govern Our Planetary Emergency, in the interests of all of humanity.

REPORTS ON COP28 EVENTS

28 November

The Climate Governance Commission
Governing Our Planetary Emergency

The Climate Governance Commission launched its report, Governing Our Planetary Emergency on 28 November. Go to a summary, or access the full report
watch the launch of the report here

Keynote Speakers, alongside other Commissioners, were:
• Mary Robinson: Lead Co-Chair of the Climate Governance Commission and Chair of the Elders, Former President of Ireland
• Maria Fernanda Espinosa: Co-Chair of the Climate Governance Commission and Executive Director of Global Women Leaders Voices, 73rd President of the UN General Assembly
• Johan Rockström: Scientific Co-Chair of the Climate Governance Commission and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
• Maja Groff: Convenor, Climate Governance Commission (Moderator)

1 December

Strengthening Climate Governance:
Tightening the Screws on Existing Architecture

On 1 December, experts from Wageningen University, the Earth Commission, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) discussed innovation in governance, finding a path toward reliable Earth system management.

Moderator Maja Groff introduced the Climate Governance Commission (CGC) exploring innovative ways to improve present governance and new systems that could better respond to the current triple crisis as we overshoot planetary boundaries. The CGC report launched on 28 November makes ten near-term proposals and five medium-term initiatives, including creating a Global Environment Agency. These proposals can feed into the Summit of the Future and conferences of the parties. Science shows that we are in a planetary emergency on a path to catastrophe, requiring Earth System governance.

Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen then addressed the issue of accountability, based on a policy brief for the CGC prepared with Arthur Dahl. There are many Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) but compliance is insufficient. Strong accountability requires measuring performance, leading to consequences. The problem is that sovereign states refuse to accept accountability. In the short term there are three options: nurturing mindsets of shared accountability based on ethical concerns; enabling broad accountability where assessments of progress cover efforts, processes and outcomes; and empowering dynamic accountability resulting in learning. The Global Stocktake under the UNFCCC could lead to a collective judgement that parties would be obliged to take into account in determining their Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs). Self accountability could encourage states to consider their ethical or moral responsibility with honesty and integrity. A science-based International Climate Council could recommend carbon budgets and provide tools for advocacy. Sharing of national best practices could encourage learning. Mechanisms should be created to provide tangible support if needed. However, in the longer term, deeper change will be needed, starting with a move beyond consensus to majority voting to achieve strong accountability.

Then Shikha Bhasin shared her experience with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) in India looking at the sustainable cooling sector involving air conditioning and refrigeration. The gases used not only damage the ozone layer, now regulated under the Montreal Protocol, but are also potent greenhouse gases. An estimate that they contributed 25 percent of Indian greenhouse gas emissions blocked any policy action, but CEEW calculated this was only 7 percent because so few Indians could afford air conditioning or refrigeration. India then agreed to take the leadership among high ambient temperature countries to get these chemicals out of cooling systems. A national cooling action plan now needs to involve other relevant ministries such as agriculture and industry, as well as consumer awareness for household uses, to enable a fast transition.

Drew Jones of Climate Interactive described EN-ROADS, a policy action simulator that can show which actions leverage the most change in greenhouse gas reductions. Experience shows that simply publishing research does not impact policy. People need to experience things for themselves. Their online simulator makes it possible to show what actions would bend the curve in emissions, and what demands are most important, making it possible to challenge assumptions and demonstrate the combinations of actions that can meet global warming targets.

David Obura of the Earth Commission and chair of IPBES explored the interconnections between our interlocking crises, both environmental and social. The start must be equity, acknowledging inequalities in consumption and decision-making. To bend the curve, we need transformative change in all of them, but our institutionalised processes are trapped in silos. The Earth Commission has shown the complexity of the drivers beyond just carbon to the social aspects that need to be balanced. We need to bridge the divide between the natural and social sciences. Governance is struggling between science and policy action. The High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism has made proposals for environmental governance, and the Secretary-General has proposed an emergency platform, but how should these be designed? We should build on what we have, including the interconnectivity built into the Sustainable Development Goals. To think across divides, we could create small task forces for individual problems, and then connect them together. Science needs to innovate. IPBES is exploring interconnections, as with its nexus and change assessments.

Finally, Alyn Ware introduced MEGA, Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance, to be launched in January but already online, aiming for policy action. The Climate Governance Commission report is a major contribution, and other campaigns such as on Ecocide, nuclear non-proliferation and Earth trusteeship are already well developed. MEGA provides a platform for these campaigns and how to engage. The campaign for the International Criminal Court, now operational, shows what can be accomplished. The International Court of Justice could be improved by inviting other countries to accept its jurisdiction, and the request for an Advisory Opinion on the climate obligations of countries, now being considered, will be another step forward.

Issues raised in the question session included how equity could be introduced into global models by providing breakdowns by country or income levels. Parliamentarians are an important constituency that can be addressed through the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) which needs to work on the implementation of its resolutions. A UN Parliamentary Assembly could bring this group into the UN system. One challenge is how to educate policy makers in climate governance. It would be useful to have a policy clearing house to share best practices.

Speakers:
Maja Groff, Convenor, Climate Governance Commission (moderator)
Sylvia Karlsson Vinkhuyzen, Associate Professor with the Public Administration and Policy Group of Wageningen University, the Netherlands, Board member of One World Trust and International Environment Forum
Andrew (Drew) Jones, Executive Director and Co-founder of Climate Interactive, Co-developer of En-ROADS with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Sustainability Initiative
Shikha Bhasin, UNEP Cool Coalition and Advisor, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)
David Obura PhD, MBS, Chair, IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), Member of Earth Commission
Alyn Ware, Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA), Founder and global coordinator of the network Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND)

Key Partners/Collaborators: Climate Governance Commission, Wageningen University, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW); co-sponsored by International Environment Forum

2 December

The COP Drop with Dan Perell

Faiths in Biodiversity and Bahá'í International Community, video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zYoZ7KOuM8

Dan said the Bahá'í International Community at COP28 is trying to be more future-oriented, more detached from the immediate challenges. At the BIC Values Roadshow, we ask how values find expression in peoples' work in any space. Values are the underlying assumptions behind any actions that we take. We are joining with other partners in different spaces at COP28. We also have a side event on food systems, an exhibit booth where we show artistic expressions of the future people would like to see as a different way of expressing our feelings about climate change.

Responding to the question of how faith groups can influence the conversation, we look at how our assumptions determine our experience. Usually we just enter a conversation where it is, and bring in some concept of justice. To add to that, we can question the very nature of the system. What systems do we need to to really address the problems? This is what the BIC is trying to do. Beyond just being part of the NGO activist community, we can ask what else we bring as a faith community. We have a distinctive values side to contribute.

Asked how do our beliefs contribute to action, Dan explained that the BIC's primary role is to contribute to conversations at the UN and internationally, and it does not engage directly in action, but draws on the learning of Bahá'í communities at the grassroots. The Baha'i'´I writings ask us to be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age in which we live, but this should be locally driven, whether the issue is biodiversity, gender, race, etc. The youth are really attuned to reading their local reality and identifying the needs. For example, a video shows how the youth on Tanna in Vanuatu saw that fish stocks were depleted, and started an intergenerational conversation in the community about returning to traditional ways of limiting overfishing. This worked so well that other communities copied it. An international organisation had tried to do this earlier, but it failed because it was not owned by the community. The BIC can share these examples.

At COP 28, faith groups have reached a new level of COP engagement with the support of the government, with their own Faith Pavilion, a quiet space where people gather and reflect, and listen to what is being shared from different faith perspectives. This is an opportunity to demonstrate that faiths can be a learning community, not rigid and outdated, producing more sustainable results. The faith declaration we adopted is only the first step. Now we have to come to terms with our own assumptions and our own faith identity. The next step should be for the interfaith community to learn to work together with the scientists, youth, Indigenous peoples, women, consolidating what we had achieved and reaching out to others. Hopefully future COPs will also have a Faith Pavilion, and next year there will be three COPS: climate, biodiversity and desertification.

4 December 2023

10 Must-haves Initiative - Panel Discussion

4 December, Arizona State University (ASU) at COP28
recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl3PrjmE8J4

Led by Peter Schlosser and Johan Rockström, this dialogue explored the pivotal role of the 10 Must-haves Initiative in international climate policy negotiations, fostering knowledge exchange and accelerating collective action for a sustainable and thriving future.

Peter Schlosser asked how to find other pathways to achieve the Paris Agreement. Johan Rockstrom presented the 10 Must-haves:
1. A limit of global warming as close to 1.5°C as possible by 2050
2. An immediate halt and reversal of the loss of nature’s functions and diversity
3. Just economies that operate within planetary boundaries
4. Equitable access to resources needed for human well-being
5. Governance transformations to stay within planetary boundaries
6. Healthy, safe, and secure food for the global population
7. Reconnection of human well-being to planetary health
8. An ethical digital world providing for human security, equity, and education
9. Stability and security for a global society
10. A resilient global society ready to respond to planetary crises
He said we are in the zone of danger for planetary stability, and must have a plan and be prepared to implement it. The 10 must-haves are such a plan, as discussed at the Global Futures Conference. These are not utopian, but can be realized.

Alex Dehgan gave highest priority to the loss of nature and the functions of biodiversity, since everything else depends on this one. We subsidize the destruction of nature which undermines national security. Sustainability depends on nature-based solutions, not ESG, leading to a circular economy. Companies need to be given pathways to protect nature and the climate, by monitoring their impact on nature. Mass extinction is happening, so we need to create a new regenerative economy.

Global governance was then explored by Maja Groff of the Climate Governance Commission (and IEF member). Beyond climate change, we need planetary boundary governance, referring to the CGC report issued 28 November. Strong global governance includes subsidiarity. Among the recommendations are COP reform, strengthening accountability, creating climate councils in countries to hold them to account, implementing a UN emergency platform, the General Assembly declaration of a planetary emergency, integrating scientific capacity to assess the whole Earth system, and upgrading environmental governance, including eventually a Global Environment Agency. These can be achieved through civil society coalitions with like-minded governments.

Jemilah Mahmood linked human health and planetary health. She said the health system was clueless about the rest of the world. Medical education did not include the environment, and climate change was not recognized as a health problem. The 10 must-haves were an important basis for action in the global South, but the language needs to be clear and understandable to the public. The behavioural sciences need to be involved in communicating to people, and particularly the youth. Everyone needs to be connected as we come up with a roadmap for environmental governance, leading to the Summit of the Future next year. We need a revolution in the private sector and in education, pushing for change.

The questions explored the need for revolutionary approaches, with a new generation of innovators to plan the next phase of our economy. For optimism in governance despite present nationalistic behaviour and a failing UN, we can turn to a new generation of actors overcoming climate denial and public mistrust with better communications and positive actions. Social tipping points can happen. The health sector needs to acknowledge that it contributes 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and needs better trajectories towards health care without harm. A planetary health strategy can educate people to planet-friendly behaviour and a planet-healthy diet. Governments need to understand that their security responsibility includes environmental security. There is a need for a whole system approach, and interconnectedness is an opportunity. We have levers for transformation, and the time to push is now.

Speakers:
Peter Schlosser (Vice President and Vice Provost of Global Futures, ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory)
Johan Rockström (Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Earth League Co-Chair)
Alex Dehgan (CEO & Co-Founder, Conservation X Labs)
Maja Groff (Convener, Climate Governance Commission)
Jemilah Mahmood (Executive Director, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health)

4 December 2023

10 New Insights in Climate Science 2023/2024

Arizona State University (ASU) at COP28
video recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LKBamzyIi4

Peter Schlosser opened the event which reports on the 7th edition of 10 New Insights in Climate Science 2023/2024, prepared by Future Earth and published today (4 December 2023) to provide policy-makers with the latest scientific understanding of climate change over the last year, based on contributions of 67 scientists from 24 countries.

Johan Rockstrom then highlighted some of this year’s discoveries that need to be considered by COP negotiators.
1. The target remains 1.5°C, but we are now committed to 3-4 decades of overshoot which must be minimised.
2. A rapid and managed fossil fuel phase-out is required.
3. It is essential to find credible CO2 removal technologies.
4. Nature-based carbon sinks are uncertain and cannot be relied on alone.
5. The biosphere and climate change are interlinked and interdependent, with the same drivers, requiring joint governance.
8. There is a challenge of human immobility, because while climate change drives migration and conflict, the most vulnerable lose everything and cannot even afford to move.

Laura Pereira from South Africa agreed that overshooting 1.5°C is inevitable and a call to action.
5. The systemic interactions of biodiversity and climate must be managed together.
9. New tools to operationalise justice will enable more effective climate adaptation
10. Reforming food systems is necessary for just action, meeting nutritional needs while respecting environmental limits.

For Sandrine Dixson-Declève, the report shows the role of solutions in our efforts to truly decarbonise, addressing both policy-making and the need for governance frameworks.
2. New insights from science justify the fossil fuel phase-out.
3. Technologies for CO2 removal cannot replace emission reductions, we need both.
She referred to the new Climate Governance Commission report and the need for stronger governance at all levels: international, regional, national and local. There is no governance framework for the risks of geoengineering. The COP needs reform to inject the newest science, as there is no science access to the COP at present, and only 0.5 percent of people at COP are scientists.

Carlos Nobre, an Amazon specialist from Brazil, highlighted the risks in the Amazon illustrating two insights.
4. While the Amazon rainforest was a major carbon sink, it is close to a tipping point, with the dry season getting longer and land use change to pasture reducing rainfall. If this continues, it will become savanna and emit CO2 rather than absorb it.
5. This illustrates the links between climate change and biodiversity.
Brazil is now planning to restore 24 million hectares of forest to try to prevent this.

In the discussion, Sandrine noted that the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth report 50 years ago already warned that we only had 50 years to turn the corner. We don’t have another 50 years. The new Earth for All report shows that business as usual is too little, too late. The alternative giant leap scenario includes all the insights, including the importance of social tipping points from poverty and inequality. It includes five turn-arounds for the giant leap including in the financial system, new economic indicators, and linking social and environmental transformation.

Laura linked the food system and values systems. What do we aspire to? How do we allocate value? Investing in nature in Africa should not justify consumption elsewhere. Values can give us hope, by asking what is enough, what is our entire way of being. There are African approaches against inequality, such as Ubuntu. We need a radical transformation for future generations, with values linked to all the insights. IPBES has been exploring desirable futures, although this is increasingly hard. We have to keep up hope and remain optimistic.

Sandrine pointed out that, with COVID, we made a fundamental transformation in solidarity, showing it is feasible. We can avert future crises and come together, building hope. Governments must support this, but there is a crisis in leadership. For Carlos, whose generation did not do anything, the younger generations are more open to radical change, and will soon have much more power, bringing together energy, biodiversity, and the values of Indigenous peoples. Johan was also optimistic, but from anger and frustration. Sustainability gives better outcomes, and we can bring radical change up front, going from frustration to responsibility.

On the role of science in determining actions, there has been denial all through history, but the science is too clear today to allow this to happen. Science rights and human rights go together. The loss and damage fund was announced with $400 million, but the daily profits of the fossil fuel industry are $1.2 billion. Such profiteering along with energy poverty must stop. Responsible advocates for science are playing a more positive role. Science has changed, beyond delivering information to proposing solutions. Diverse types of science and knowledge systems are emerging, more interdisciplinary including the social sciences. One can be both a scientist and an activist for science. Academia is getting better at engaging with society, but can do more.

REFERENCE: Future Earth, The Earth League, WCRP (2023). 10 New Insights in Climate Science 2023/2024. Stockholm. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10034364

Speakers:
Peter Schlosser (Vice President and Vice Provost of Global Futures, ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory)
Johan Rockström (Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Earth League Co-Chair)
Sandrine Dixson-Declève (President, The Club of Rome)
Laura Pereira (University of the Witwatersrand, Stockholm University)
Carlos Nobre (Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Sao Paulo)

5 December 2023

Governing Our Planetary Emergency: Key perspectives and proposals from the report

ASU at COP28 – Climate Governance Commission
watch recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIn0oTUb96M

After the November 28th launch of the Report, “Governing Our Planetary Emergency,” of the Climate Governance Commission, Chaired by Mary Robinson, Johan Rockström, and María Fernanda Espinosa, experts invited by the Climate Governance Commission (CGC), with a special focus on youth, discussed key perspectives and proposals from the report.

Maja Groff, Convenor of the Climate Governance Commission and Moderator of the panels, provided some background on the Commission in its high-level phase to provide thought leadership on needed governance innovations. The climate situation is dire, requiring improved governance at all levels. With six of nine planetary boundaries overshot, we are at the intersection of many crises. The CGC Report recommendations follow two tracks: the top 10 near-term (1-3 year) proposals, and five deeper reforms to be pursued over 3-5 years.

The first panel of Commission members and other experts reflected on proposals in the report. Clea Kaske-Kuck of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) described their Corporate Performance Accountability Guide to help businesses respect their climate obligations. There is presently a misalignment between the financial system and its company valuations with no reference to contributions to climate change, Companies need help to assess and report on their carbon performance. There is a need for government to adopt coherent policies at the local (city), national and international levels. Companies want alignment but need a level playing field. There is presently great confusion on regulations and reporting, especially between different countries and regions. Clarity and simplicity are needed.

Ma Jun from China called for agreement among the four greatest emitters, the USA, China, India and the European Union, to show the way in carbon reductions. The Chinese government supports multilateralism in the UN framework. The Paris agreement brought countries together. China and the US represent 40 percent of global emissions, and should show their responsibility in the energy transition. Big multinational companies in China, as elsewhere, have often made net-zero commitments, but do not deliver, especially when they export carbon embedded in the supply chain. Unfortunately there is no data on China to assess performance. Companies need help in measuring and disclosing their carbon emissions, and digital solutions and target setting may help. China is open to working together.

One solution was presented by Gavin McCormick in the Climate TRACE project, a collaboration of a hundred groups to use remote sensing to prepare a global map of greenhouse gas emissions from 350 million facilities, including the type of facility and the degree of confidence in the measurements. No one can hide. They have documented every ship in the oceans. This is an example of independent science offered to help countries identify emissions and plan for their reduction.

While most attention is on the big emitters, Bhadra Kanaiya described his efforts in Sunways Global to address the last mile in renewable energy connectivity for small rural villages that have great difficulty in obtaining energy access. Rather than building transmission lines from big power plants, they build small renewable energy projects within 15 miles from towns and villages. With 15 projects, they produce 100 megawatts to supply 50,000 households while making a profit. They plan to scale up to meet the needs of those suffering from energy poverty.

In the discussion, the challenge was raised as to how to make the CGC report recommendations implementable and reasonable at the local level, calling for economic inclusion and targetted media and communications.

The second panel addressed youth and advocacy, highlighting the need for a strategy for public outreach. A representative of the World's Youth for Climate Justice showed how youth could reach the highest level, in this case the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where four years ago 27 law students at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu initiated a request for an Advisory Opinion on State obligations under the Paris Agreement on human rights threatened by climate change. The request was carried forward by Vanuatu and supported by their campaign involving youth from all continents, leading to approval by consensus in the UN General Assembly with 132 countries voting in favour. It is now before the ICJ, and their organization is campaigning for youth submissions to the court, supported by their handbook for climate justice. When the opportunity comes for hearings before the court, they will work for youth to tell their own stories. In two days, they will receive the Carnegie Youth Peace Prize.

A representative of the Young Scholars Network, one of the oldest youth organizations with many regional chapters, considers a diversity of issues in an interdisciplinary approach that is very different among youth. Youth today have a lot of information, but do not know how to express their opinions in ways that lead to advocacy. It is important to look from regional, national and local perspectives where policy is translated into action. For a bottom-up approach, policy needs to be down-scaled to the local level.

John Vlasto then introduced MEGA, Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance, supported by the World Federalist Movement which works for legitimate, empowered global governance. While they failed to stop war, they succeeded with the campaign for an International Criminal Court, which shows that innovation in global governance is possible. Learning from this, MEGA aims to create a smart coalition to get traction for the CGC report, showing how like-minded countries can benefit.

An immediate and practical action for youth involvement was demonstrated by Veena Balakrishnan, whose Climate Youth Negotiator Programme puts young people into decision-making spaces to achieve intergenerational equity, starting with the UNFCCC. They train young negotiators for six months. Of the 174 negotiators from 64 countries trained this year, 125 are at COP28 in government delegations. They help to find funding for young delegates, and create spaces for a community to build consensus.

The last panelist, Joseph Hammond, youth ambassador for the African Union (AU), described the AU interfaith climate change working group, and Faith for Our Planet, making a moral and ethical case for climate action. They noted a link between climate change impacts and extremism. Drawing on all faith organizations and non-faith youth actors, they are founding new organizations, such as Faith and Her, addressing women in the global South who are most impacted by climate change.

Speakers:
Panel I: System Leadership and Innovation
- Ma Jun, Commissioner of the Climate Governance Commission, Director, Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), Beijing
- Clea Kaske-Kuck, Director, Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement & Member of the Extended Leadership Group, World Business Council for Sustainable Development
- Gavin McCormick, Co-Founder Climate TRACE
- Bhadra Kanaiya, CEO, Sunways Global, Innovator in Solar Power, Champion for Village Energy Empowerment

Panel II: Youth and Advocacy
- Young Scholars Network, Institute of New Economic Thinking (INET)
- , Core Team Member, World's Youth for Climate Justice
- Veena Balakrishnan, Founder, Youth Negotiators Academy/Climate Youth Negotiator Programme (CYNP)
- John Vlasto, Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA), Chair, World Federalist Movement / Institute for Global Policy (WFM/IGP)
- Joseph Hammond, African Director, Faith For Our Planet, Pulitzer Center Grantee, African Union iDove Fellow

6 December 2023

Redefining Success: A Just and Equitable Transition
through greater Climate Action and SDGs Synergies

United Nations Climate Change - UN DESA – official event
recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-_GNtEHKOc

Building on the recommendations of the First Climate and SDG Synergy Report and the outcomes of the Fourth Global Climate and SDG Synergy Conference, this event presented actionable steps to accelerate progress on both agendas while upholding equity and just transitions. Speakers were from IIASA, University of Pretoria, Vice-chair IPCC Centre for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy, SEI, Swaminathan Research Foundation, and others including youth and civil society representatives, upholding principles of gender and regional balance.

The report discussed is Synergy Solutions for a World in Crisis: Tackling Climate and SDG Action Together.

The event opened with comments from two government representatives. Denmark welcomed the report, but expressed the concern of some sceptical countries that linking would shift attention from development to climate change. The Summit of the Future (SOTF) next year needs to address this nexus. Brazil stated that reducing poverty is the highest priority, requiring also addressing climate change. The synergies are there. Brazil, as new G20 chair, established task forces on poverty eradication and on climate financing. There is a need to create incentives to reduce deforestation, with a new bioeconomy valuing biodiversity and protecting it, for example by fostering novel foods from forests.

An introduction to the report from leaders of the report team from IISD, and a vice-chair of IPCC, showed how climate change and the SDGs must be tackled together. 80 percent of SDG targets are climate related. This can significantly advance both agendas. The co-benefits significantly outweigh trade-offs. Linking can help to course-correct by integrating the social dimension to enhance climate targets. This can help to balance short and long term efforts and ensure just transitions.

The report identifies some of the barriers to be overcome, such as lack of knowledge of the interactions, a lack of methodologies, economic and financial barriers, and the challenges of political cycles and priorities, lack of motivation, and lack of transparency in implementation.

The 10 key recommendations of the report are:
1. Enhance collective resilience against current and future global crises
2. Strengthen science-policy-society interactions to advance synergistic action
3. Promote institutional capacity building and cross-sectoral and international and national collaboration
4. Ensure policy coherence and coordination among policy makers across sectors and departments
5. Develop a framework for action that can help decision makers in public, private, and civil society sectors identify synergistic action for systems change
6. Use the ‘framework for action’ and other means to ensure a just transition
7. Address the large investment gaps in the climate and development agendas to enhance the necessary synergies
8. Utilize COP 28 in Dubai to initiate and accelerate synergistic action on climate and SDGs
9. Prioritize the role of synergies in the work of the UN and international financial institutions, including an improved system of sharing information to help countries in their reporting responsibilities
10. Treat cities, sites of major population growth and expansion of economic activities, as an opportunity for focusing on climate and development synergies.

A second report is coming next year on 4 themes.

Wednesday 6 December 2023

Beyond Growth: Prosperity in a Changing World

A recording of this event will be available

Given that six out of nine planetary boundaries have now been transgressed, and with cascading tipping points approaching, the gravity and urgency of the planetary climate and biodiversity emergency is patently clear, widely understood, and increasingly acknowledged. Science is showing us that unless we rapidly and radically shift course, the world is heading for catastrophic climate change and possible ecological collapse. As we are now deep into the Anthropocene, it is now clear that human extractive and polluting activities exceed the regeneration rate of natural systems. This has reinforced the conclusion that we need a new economic paradigm as the current growth policies do not correlate with the needs of a global transition towards sustainability within the operating space that safeguards the biophysical processes that regulate the functioning, stability and resilience of the entire earth’s system

The panel:
1) Addressed the linkage between the current economic model, the climate and ecological crisis and social injustice and highlight why the current economic growth model fails to align with scientific evidence.
2) Discussed the various proposed approaches to move beyond a growth economy and share insights into the methodologies and tools that will enable policymakers to fully integrate social, environmental, and economic objectives.
3) Explored the ways in which governments, individuals and businesses can make the necessary changes for a just transition within planetary boundaries

Neda Salmanpour introduced this rich discussion by highlighting the present state of emergency as we overshoot planetary boundaries, and the need for transformative models to meet our material needs in balance with nature, with reciprocity and care rather than exploitation.

Sandrine Dixson-Declève, speaking from COP28, said it is facing the greatest wakeup call, as climate, COVID and conflict show that we are beyond the safe operating space, and we need an economic reset to achieve stability and peace. Fifty years on from The Limits to Growth, the key tipping points for a new economic system are social and environmental risks. The new Earth for All report shows that social tipping points are the most important, as poverty and inequality lead to instability. We need to renew governance, the economy and financial system to provide well-being for most people. The two scenarios in Earth for All are too little, too late with business as usual, and a giant leap forward with five turn-arounds: eliminate poverty, reduce inequality, empower women, transform food systems, and the energy turn-around. There are already five well-being economies using new indicators: Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales and Finland. Surveys show that 74 percent of G20 citizens are ready to move towards a well-being economy for people, planet and prosperity.

Philippe Lamberts has been leading the fight for an ambitious green deal in the European Parliament, beyond just green growth. There is now a vehement backlash against a green deal or anything to do with planetary boundaries by the right, that claims this would make live more miserable and expensive. It has become an ideological fight with a full speed backlash against woke thinking, including science. Under EU rules, new funding must either come from defunding health or education, raising taxes, or borrowing. Public debt is already too high, and the other options are unacceptable to one side or the other. Climate change is presented as a terrorist threat along with Russia.

Timothée Parrique’s research has been on the political economy of degrowth. Green growth is still growth, and continuing growth within planetary boundaries is impossible. We must act on consumption and production, with downscaling in high income nations. First we must accept that there are objective limits, then plan for degrowth as a transition, to finally arrive at a post-growth or beyond growth destination, but with what objectives? We cannot have well-being economies in countries beyond their biocapacity. This means dismantling the capitalist system that aims only to accumulate money, and finding a post-capitalist economic model.

Patrizia Heidegger from the European Environment Bureau, a network of citizens organizations, raised the issue of inequality in Europe where the richest 10 percent have more than the 50 percent poorest. We must return within planetary boundaries with well-being for all. We must question GDP growth that hides inequalities and find alternative indicators. Europe measures SDG progress with GDP, and how good it is as a global partner, while importing the cheapest goods from the poorest countries. We need a wider societal debate, with degrowth in some sectors like coal, plastic and fast fashion, while ensuring social justice. The EU clean deal lacked integration with social policy. We need to explore what is behind our growth dependence and show alternatives to a wider audience.

In the following roundtable, the controversy over the Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty at COP28 was raised. Sandrine said this reflected a pushback by entrenched power interests under pressure, with the political right holding on to power by saying such measures will make life worse for common citizens. We are losing the debate. Mary Robinson confronted the Sultan (president of COP28) on climate change, and he denied there was any science showing the need to end fossil fuels. The Saudis refuse to accept an end, and the US, China and India resist. Even the science is called into question. The EU is the only Western region supporting high ambition states like the SIDS. We need to be careful to bring people along with equity and a multistakeholder approach to fossil fuel phase-out. We are fighting against growing greed. How much profit is enough, when earnings of CEOs increased 1,400 percent when employee salaries rose 8 percent? Why are governments not taxing excessive profits and the wealthy? We must change the governance framework, and hold companies and governments accountable for their heavy subsidies to fossil fuels and industrial agriculture. Fortunately, there are some companies that are moving in the right direction and becoming part of the new economy.

For Timothée, measuring progress with GDP per capita does not correlate with quality of life beyond a certain level. One quarter of the population of OECD countries have mental health problems. In France, rising GDP is accompanied by an increase in poverty. The poor do not benefit from an economic system that does not reallocate the results of increased economic activity. Five countries with a high quality of life have a GDP per capita 37 percent less than the US. We can downsize the nature-intensive goods and services used by the rich, and design safety nets for the disadvantaged.

Patrizia said the European Environment Bureau had compared green growth and degrowth. Transitioning to electric vehicles with the same growth trajectory will increase the demand for lithium and critical raw materials with environmental conflicts, a boom in mining and new dependencies. Why not reduce demand and provide alternative forms of transport? How many private cars are needed? There is no global body that governs raw material demand.

Degrowth is not related to extremes of wealth and poverty, where we know what to do. We can take money from the rich to give to the poor, for example by adjusting income taxes and providing a guaranteed minimum income. Health care is expensive when it is provided by private companies in a monopoly position. Health, education and housing should be public services in a post-capitalist economy. The growth imperative has framed the present economy, with an impact on our psychology, locking us in to competition and consumption. What do we do with a cancerous materialism driven by advertising and social media? It is a political and cultural problem to change this narrative. How do we communicate to a wider audience the benefits of alternative lifestyles? Different values can be beneficial, with other concepts of well-being. These narratives are gradually moving towards the centre, with movements articulating other futures.

Speakers:
Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve, Co-President of the Club of Rome
Philippe Lamberts, Member of the European Parliament and Co-President (Greens/EFA) Belgium
Patrizia Heidegger, Deputy Secretary General, Director for EU Governance Sustainability and Global Policies
Timothée Parrique, Researcher in Ecological Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University (Sweden)

Moderated by:
Ms Neda Salmanpour Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Global Peace and Prosperity Forum

11 December

Reframing Economics: Prosperity in a Changing World

Speakers
H.E. Danilo Türk, President of Club de Madrid
H.E María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of seventy-third session of the United Nations Assembly, former Foreign Minister of Ecuador
Dr Arunabha Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)
Moderator:
Ms Neda Salmanpour, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Global Peace and Prosperity Forum

11 December

The COP Drop with Dan Perell

Faiths for Biodiversity organized the COP Drop on 11 December with Dan Perell of the Bahá'í International Community (BIC), streamed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTC7B-YGuc

Dan was asked what he took away from participating in COP28. First, COP28 was so multidimensional, exploding over so many spaces and activities beyond the official negotiations. His first reflection was that nothing is taboo any more. Issues that could not be mentioned at previous COPs like fossil fuels were now discussed, as least as rhetoric, although action may only come later. It was a big climate fair that allowed like-minded actors to make connections across different spaces, with a high level of engagement of faith communities. One problem was that everyone came to talk and no one to listen, so attendance at events was often limited. The BIC delegation held a dinner off-site that allowed meaningful conversations on values. This raised the question of the utility of events versus partnerships.

With thousands of like-minded coalitions in such an event, it is hard to find coherence and what is really useful. Beyond reporting on a result, what was the process that led there, how did you transform, what had to change? It is hard to measure changes in heart, in values, that make things happen. What makes people accept short-term sacrifices for a long-term goal? We are clearly not moving fast enough and need stronger motivation. Market forces and self-interest are not sufficient. The economy discounts the future as compared to the present. The future is worthless in our economic model, yet parents will sacrifice everything for their children. We must replace the whole system as we go forward.

There is also the reality of all those who will lose out when phasing out fossil fuels, who are scared because their jobs and economies depend on them. We must plan a just transition, beyond only words on a page. It is complicated when the issue is us versus them, so we need real solutions. One tool used in the Bahá’í community is consultation, with everyone together not adversarial and criticising but looking for positive solutions, co-creating a better future. The process is inclusive and open, suited to the needs of the community. A government institution in Australia saw the profound impact of such an approach promoting good things for the future the country in a shared society, and is learning from it.