5 Climate Solutions Getting Attention At COP28

The COP28 climate talks are off to a strong start with numerous announcements and pledges. It can be challenging for sustainability leaders to keep up. While many headlines have already highlighted the now more than $600 million pledged for a new fund to assist climate-vulnerable countries dealing with the damages and loss from climate change, plenty of other solutions and developments are gaining attention that is worth keeping an eye on if you work in sustainability. Sustainability watchers can stay informed about the latest pledges here. In the meantime, here are 5 developments and solutions worth taking note of:

1/ Biggest Endorsement Yet of Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

One of the significant barometers of success for COP28 is whether countries will collectively agree to a phaseout (as opposed to “phasedown”) of oil, gas, and coal use. This is unfinished business from COP26 in Glasgow 2 years ago when countries agreed to phase down the use of coal. We’ll have to wait another ten days or so to see what progress is made.

In the meantime, more countries are signing onto complementary measures, including the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. The premise behind the treaty is to provide a framework for an equitable and orderly Just Transition out of fossil fuels. This includes supporting developing countries that have not had the luxury of the past 2 centuries to build off the back of income from their carbon assets.

In September, the Caribbean’s Antigua and Barbuda and Southeast Asia’s Timor Leste endorsed the Treaty at the Global Citizen Festival. At COP28, Colombia’s President, Gustavo Petro, became the 10th leader, and just the 2nd of a fossil fuel producer, to add his support. Indeed, Colombia is the 4th largest oil producer in Latin America. Petro’s endorsement is not naive. He knows that fossil fuel production has a limited horizon in transitioning to a zero carbon economy, and a just orderly transition is better for his people than a chaotic, abrupt transition that punishes both people and the planet. As he told a gathering of fellow leaders during COP, “Between fossil capital and life, we choose the side of life.”

2/ Breakthrough on Health-Climate Nexus

Over 120 countries have backed the COP28 UAE Climate and Health Declaration. Additionally, this COP will feature the first-ever health day to highlight climate change’s future and present impacts on people’s health. This is significant given that it is estimated that air pollution causes almost 9 million deaths annually. Meanwhile, extreme weather-related events reportedly impact 189 million people every year.

Gavi, the vaccine alliance, has announced that climate change risk will, for the first time, rank among the criteria informing Gavi’s Vaccine Investment Strategy, such is the expected impact it will have on the spread of infectious diseases. One of these is malaria, which has been back on the rise in recent years. The chart below demonstrates the explosion in cases following catastrophic floods in Pakistan last year, which put a third of the country under water at one stage. Fortunately, in October, the WHO recommended a new malaria vaccine. Scaling up its production and investing in health systems are now crucial steps for its widespread deployment.d a new vaccine for preventing malaria. It needs to be scaled and health systems invested in so they can be rolled out.

Leading into COP, the Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros, stated, “We must remind the world that the climate crisis is a health crisis.” COP28 is poised to make the most significant contribution to that end to date.

3/ Raising Funds for the Just Transition

The funds to help countries transition to clean energy and build infrastructure capable of withstanding natural disasters must come from somewhere. Ahead of COP28, the One Campaign published a new study – The Climate Finance Files – highlighting the appalling track record of wealthy governments delivering on their past climate financing promises.

In response to this shortfall, a new taskforce was launched at COP28, consisting of representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, France, Kenya, and Spain. Its mandate is to identify new major taxation mechanisms by COP30, scheduled in Brazil in two years, to raise much-needed financing for development, climate, and nature action. The taskforce will consider various proposals and present the most promising ones to be implemented by relevant decision-making bodies and institutions. While building consensus will be challenging, it marks a significant step toward through the launch of this taskforce with a clear mandate. Furthermore, the recent agreement on a 15% minimum global corporate tax rate by the OECD and G20 economies showcases that consensus can be achieved.

4/ Supporting Farmers on the frontlines of the Climate Crisis

From unpredictable rainfall patterns to drought, farmers are feeling the brunt. Fortunately, research and development are underway through organizations like CGIAR to equip them with better means to withstand a warming planet and thrive. Moreover, tools and know-how already exist. Earlier this year, I spent time with an eighty-five-year-old farmer in Fiji who was running workshops on Facebook, supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), aimed at female smallholder farmers to help them protect crops through “common sense solutions” to hurricanes.

Currently, however, very little funding exists. According to the Climate Policy Initiative, food systems received just 4.3% of global climate finance in 2019 and 2020. Fortunately, in the opening days of COP28, there have been some impressive commitments. The Netherlands has announced that it will increase its contribution to IFAD by 80%. This sets a strong example for other countries as IFAD seeks to raise $2 billion by the end of December to help support more than 100 million farmers.

5/ Ramping Up Carbon Removal

According to climate science, removing what we’ve already pumped into the atmosphere will be essential to getting us to avoid 1.5-degree rises in global temperature in the long term. I covered what this entailed earlier this year when my friend, Craig Cohon, launched his Walk It Back campaign.

The stakes could not be higher. A few months ago, Brennan Spellacy, the CEO of the climate platform Patch, explained to me that if we do not scale carbon removal technologies now, “we’re all gonna be running to the door in 2030, or 2050, looking for direct air capture, but whether the capacity exists or not.” Spellacy points out that we currently don’t even achieve 1 in 10,000 of the permanent carbon removal we need to do if we desire to reach net zero emissions by 2030.

Carbon removal has received little attention until recently. This is unsurprising given that it remains very expensive, and there is much we can do to reduce emissions right now. However, achieving zero emissions is impossible; there will be a small amount of residual emissions for the foreseeable future, even if we do everything right. Therefore, we will be in trouble if we’re not removing at least 5-10 gigatons of carbon by 2050. To provide a sense of scale, according to NASA, 1 gigaton of carbon is roughly equivalent to the carbon emitted by 10,000 fully loaded U.S. aircraft carriers. Fortunately, carbon removal is beginning to get the attention it needs.

Firstly, a survey released by Patch in September shows heightened awareness among European business leaders of the value of investing in carbon removal methods, both natural and technology-based, through carbon credits. Business leaders with more advanced sustainability knowledge see the value of paying, on average, 82% more for high-integrity credits than those newer to the industry. Those same business leaders are also participating more effectively in the carbon market, with 24% reportedly purchasing over 100,000 tonnes of carbon credits.

However, 37% of sustainability leaders and those newer to the industry reported that securing budgets and resources for climate programs is the greatest challenge in implementing their sustainability plans. Only some companies can do this; generally, these are willing to pay at least USD 100 or more to remove a ton of carbon (currently, carbon credits are much cheaper, and the EU-regulated price is hovering between 70-80 euros a ton). Many of these companies are based in Germany.

This is likely to change. Until now, purchasing carbon credits has been entirely voluntary in many markets, including the U.S. Under voluntary standards like the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), companies working hard to reduce emissions along their supply chains have had the option to purchase carbon credits to offset the equivalent of their residual emissions. However, during COP28, SBTi and other integrity standards are expected to release further guidance that could make the purchasing of carbon credits, above and beyond in-value chain emission reductions, mandatory to receive their stamp of approval on corporate climate policies—coupled with financial incentives like those from the Inflation Reduction Act, such a development would likely to drive a ton of investment into carbon removal over the coming years.

In many cases, countries in the global south benefit from this increased investment. Spellacy pointed out, “Whether it’s growing kelp off the coast of Morocco or the rise of permanent natural system-based technologies like mineralization, African entrepreneurs will be able to charge as much as $300 a ton, which is much more than the $20 or $30 they currently make through the voluntary carbon market.” In his remarks at COP28, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that wealthy countries and companies could make a massive impact by helping to fund natural climate removal solutions in developing countries.

Carbon removal advocates have long called for an end to the ‘either/or’ dichotomy that pits removal against emission reduction efforts. That era might be coming to an end as we usher in a new perspective. Ultimately, we need both. To quote Spellacy, “We need to rewrite the playbook.”

*** Disclaimer: The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, CGIAR, and IFAD are partners of Global Citizen whom I work with ***

Michael Sheldrick is the author of the upcoming book: “From Idea to Impact: A Playbook for Influencing and Implementing Change in a Divided World.” Available for pre-order here.