Reporting from COP28: The People at the Heart of It All

This week, we’re reporting from Dubai, where the 28th UN climate change conference (COP28) is now underway. Ever since the Paris Agreement was signed at COP21, the central issue has remained the same: How do the nations of the world keep global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels?

This year marks the first “global stocktake,” where the data on how well we’re collectively doing on meeting the Paris targets are front and center. Across the board, countries are failing. How much will this harsh dose of reality affect the negotiations? Perhaps more importantly, how does what happens at these international summits affect the people most at risk for flooding and extreme heat?

Claire Stockwell

Senior Climate Policy Analyst, Climate Analytics

Nisreen Elsaim

Sudanese Climate Activist; Former Chair, UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group

Abigael Kima

Host and Producer, Hali Hewa Podcast

Chautulieo Tranamil

Co-Founder, Indigenous Liberation and Aralez

Myrna Cunningham

Chair, Guiding Committee, Pawanka Fund

December 12, 2023 | 6:00 p.m.

Climate One is delighted to present the 2023 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication to atmospheric scientist Dr. Ben Santer.

Santer was lead author on the historic 1995 conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which proclaimed that "the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate." At the time, Stephen Schneider told Santer that the sentence he wrote would change the world. Santer's work also laid the groundwork for the expanding field of attribution science, which enables activists and lawyers to ascribe proportionate blame to specific polluters in lawsuits demanding damages for climate-disrupting emissions.

Also joining Climate One for the live ceremony will be Kassie Siegel, Director of the Climate Law Institute, Center for Biological Diversity. Tickets are on sale now!

December 13, 2023 | 12:00 p.m.

People's lives and livelihoods depend on science. But when those lives and livelihoods are threatened by impacts of a changing climate, how many of us know a scientist we can turn to who can help us protect our communities?

Community Science happens when lay people and scientists do science together to advance community priorities. Natasha Udu-gama is Director of the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Thriving Earth Exchange, which connects communities with scientists and supports them as they work together to tackle local challenges related to natural hazards, natural resources, and climate change. Daniel Wildcat is a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University and serves on the steering committee of Rising Voices, a network of tribal and community leaders and earth scientists that bring Indigenous and earth sciences into partnership. Angela Chalk is an AGU Community Science Fellow and Executive Director of Healthy Community Services in New Orleans.

Join Climate One Co-Host Greg Dalton in this special, in-person conversation with Udu-gama, Wildcat, and Chalk, presented in collaboration with AGU at The Commonwealth Club of California. 

Sultan Al Jaber is the chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the state-owned oil corporation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is also the president of COP28. The host nation traditionally picks a diplomat to preside over the conference, such as Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and president of COP27, but oil-and-gas rich UAE bucked tradition and gave the role to Al Jaber. 

The oil executive’s comments have overshadowed much of the second week of COP28. The Guardian reported earlier this week that Al Jaber stated there is “no science” to support the notion that the world should reduce fossil fuel use in order to keep global warming under the 1.5° Celsius increase agreed to at COP21 in Paris. Al Jaber’s quote comes just days after leaked documents revealed he aimed to use his position as leader of COP28 to make oil and gas deals on behalf of ADNOC. 

The scientific community has roundly dismissed Al Jaber’s assertion, with groups like the World Meteorological Organization saying the science behind the need to transition away from fossil fuels is “very clear.” More than 2,400 fossil fuel industry lobbyists are in attendance at COP28, a record total. If a final agreement about global fossil fuel use is reached, it is expected to be released on December 12.

PLUS:

John Kerry has been in the public eye for a long time, dating all the way back to his 1971 testimony to the Senate as a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He later won election to the Senate, ran for President against George H. W. Bush, and served as Secretary State in the second Obama Administration. But perhaps none of these roles have been as critical as his current stint as the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

As one of the leading members of the U.S. delegation to COP28, Kerry made headlines this week when he told the conference that the world must have “some phasing out” of fossil fuels in order to reduce emissions and meet the reduction levels outlined in the Paris Agreements. In February 2021, Kerry joined Climate One alongside then-White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy to discuss the Biden Administration’s plans for climate policy. Revisit their conversation today on all major podcast platforms.

Source: COP28 UAE via YouTube

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