What You Need to Know.
- The thematic focus of the day’s programming was on nature, land use, and ocean, including events on scaling effective solutions that protect, restore, and beneficially manage nature ecosystems, addressing drivers of nature loss, empowering Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and creating resilient livelihoods. As part of this discussion, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) launched a report highlighting that nearly $7 trillion of public and private finance each year supports activities that directly harm nature—thirty times the amount spent annually on “nature-based solutions,” or actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use, and manage natural resources that simultaneously provide human well-being, ecosystem, and resilience and biodiversity benefits.
- Late Friday evening, various news organizations reported that the head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) sent a letter to its thirteen members as well as ten additional countries (altogether known as “OPEC plus”), highlighting the increased pressure to reach an agreement to phase out fossil fuels at COP28. The letter urged the OPEC plus nations to “reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions.”
- Various high-level officials from international organizations or countries central to the energy transition made statements in favor of reaching an agreement to curb fossil-fuel production. Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, noted that it is “imperative” that countries agree to an “orderly and just decline in fossil fuels in line with our international climate goals.” These comments were echoed by Xie Zhenhua, China’s climate envoy, who noted China’s desire to see an agreement that would reduce fossil fuel consumption, and Alok Sharma, the president of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, who stated that “If you’re going to keep 1.5C alive” countries need both “language on a phase-out of fossil fuels” and “a credible implementation plan.”
- The Netherlands launched a coalition to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, along with Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Finland, Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, France, Denmark, Costa Rica, Luxemburg. The coalition has three pillars: (1) publishing a list of their fossil fuel subsidies before COP29; (2) working together to identify and address international barriers to phasing out fossil subsidies; and (3) shaping an international dialogue to share knowledge, develop national strategies for phasing out fossil benefits, and seek joint action to minimize carbon leakage.
Continue Reading COP28 Day 9 Recap: Nature, Land Use, Oceans, and Nature-Based Solutions