STOCK TAKING OF DUBAI COP 28

 As a follow up of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development  held in 1992 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change became a regular feature commencing from 1994 popularly known as Conference of Parties(COP).The 28th COP has just concluded in Dubai,UAE. The Dubai COP 2023 has undertaken major Global Stock Taking exercise to evaluate measures taken to meet the objectives of reduction in emissions, adoption of green technologies,green energy and provision of concessional climate finance particularly loss and Damage (L and D)Fund for the severely impacted victim countries of climate change.Infact GST is designed largely to keep individual countries accountable and encourage them to increase their climate ambitions over time. In the 1915 Paris Agreement, countries were committed to keep global temperatures not to  rise beyond 2•C by the end of present century and as far as possible maintain it at below 1.5 *C. During the nearly three decades of COP meetings so far major economies have broadly agreed on basically three principles - 1.Countries that rapidly industrialized during the 20th century have disproportionately emitted more carbon dioxide than their "fair share "given the population sustained there.2. Economic growth on the other hand depended on fossil fuel consumption which is cheaper than renewable energy.3.Developing countries and those with minimum industrial infrastructure presently must be adequately compensated for adopting cost effective cleaner non fossil fuel sources for developing their economies. There is also consensus that the countries already suffering from climate disasters must be adequately compensated and assisted to build their infrastructure. 

Year 2023 so far experienced the hottest year in history with devastating climate shocks ranging from extreme heat in North America and Europe wild fires in Canada, floods in India and Libya and extreme drought in Africa Climate change is caused by long term volatile wild changes in weather and temperature patterns resulting in changes in Sun's activity and volcanic eruptions.This in turn is the result of human activities like burning of fossil fuel- coal, oil and gas.Burning of fossil fuel in turn leads to emission of carbon dioxide and methane polluting atmosphere, increasing global warming, consequently leading to vicious cycles  of intense drought, water scarcity, alarming wild fires,rising sea levels, flooding, melting of polar ice and thinning of glaciers,catastrophic storms and deteriorating biodiversity .The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Report for 2011-2020 observed that due to extreme weather conditions a spurt in economic losses occurred despite a marked decline in deaths which were attributed to advanced early warning system and prompt disaster management measures. This is also the first decade of depleted ozone layer. Similarly glaciers that were already measured around the world thinned by approximately one meter on an average from 2011-2020 . Greenland and Antarctica lost 38% ice  during the period 2001-2010.In India during 2020-21 a breach in the NandaDevi glacier in Himalayas led to Uttarakhand flood of June 2013.

The Global Cooling Pledge at COP 28, committed countries to reduce cooling emissions at least 68% by 2050 and outlined strategies to tackle them.Even though such emissions currently account for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it is expected to triple by 2050.Infact rising global temperatures will worsen the situation with sustained large scale increase in the cooling demand which necessitated extensive use of ACs,refrigerators etc. Number of cooling devices is projeted to jump from 3.6 billion to 9.5 billion by 2050. Eventhough most of the cooling appliances initially used Chloroflurocarbons(CFCs) as refrigerants ,after 1987 Montreal Protocol, countries  largely replaced CFCs with two groups of chemicals namely Hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).Although both chemicals don't damage the ozone layer, but they discharge powerful green house gases which in turn absorb infrared radiation trapping heat inside the atmosphere and letting it escape back into the space generating green house effect that aggravate global warming further.

Climate Finance. The need for climate finance to assist developing  Countries to achieve net zero emission have been acknowledged since 2009 in COP 15Copenhagen .UN has defined Climate Finance as the local, national or transnational financing daws from public, private and alternative sources of financing that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation.While mitigation refers to reducing risk of loss from the occurrence of any undesirable climate crisis,by getting countries to commit to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions based on Global Stock Taking (GST) procedures,Adaptation is the process of adjusting to the current and future effects of the climate change as per ecological, social and economic systems especially in response to all anticipated effects of climate change. The main challenges associated with climate financing varies among nonfullmintation of commitment made by developed countries, a large share of non concessional loans,skewed money allocation, inadequate financing and over statement of financing.In any case Dubai COP 28 was successful  to agree to establish a Loss and Damage Fund (L and D)- obviously a thee decade old demand.Loss and Damage fund is utilised for assisting severely affected victims of climate change for reduction in emissions, adoption of green energy and green technologies and concessional finance for loss and Damage causes by climate change. While the host country UAE and Germany made a financial commitment of $100 million each, US $ 17 million and European union $145 million and so on.All the developing countries are eligible for financial assistance for damages caused by  climate change. The attempt to provide loss and damage compensation to the victims of climate change especially developing countries is a major breakthrough in Dubai COP 28 Conference. However much more needs to be done not only to strengthen the climate finance  funds but also to reach desired climate objectives. 

Since 1995 the conduct COP meetings witnessed dynamic changes from a closed door meeting to peopled with bureaucrats and technocrats, officials, subsidiary bodies,working Groups, business men, consultants, traders,indigenous people and other lobbyists.As the GST covers mitigation, adaptation, financing and other support to developing countries GST review o

f COP 28 indicated  that countries would be required to submit raised emissions reduction targets by mid 2025, for finalization of COP 30.Global warming should be restricted to 1.5*C above the pre industrial level. Global warming is rapidly impacting severe heat waves, droughts, forest fires, floods and extreme rainfall witnessed more frequently along with probable irreversible melting of polar and glacial ice and rise in the sea-level. It has been observed that fossil fuels are responsible for around 75% of all greens house gases and about 90% of  world's  carbon dioxide.  Even though COP 28 agrees to move away from fossil fuels coal alone was singled out to be  "phased down" .It may be recalled here that President of COP 28,industry Minister of UAE and Head of the largest oil and gas producers AbhuDhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) himself remarked  that "there was no Science that called for cutting back on fossil fuel to tackle climate change ".It is to be noted here that as against 600 fuel lobbyists in COP 27 their numbers increased more than four fold to 2456 in COP28.In any case Dubai COP with 198 countries agreeing that the world must " transition " away from fossil fuels in a "just orderly and equitable manner " so as achieve net zero is a positive outcome provided it is implemented truly in letter and spirit by all stakeholders. 

As far as the revised text of Global Goal of Adaptation (GGA) is  concerned  it focused on significant reduction in climate induced  water scarcity for implementation by and beyond 2030.Other measures include enhancing climate resilience to water related hazards and to achieve a climate resilient water supply, sanitation and access to safe and affordable potable water to all .There was no provision for adequate financial support.Developing countries maintained that Financial support from developed countries for Adaptation purpose have been meagre.It has been observed frequently that  global North is responsible historically to emissions and climate change  that in turn contributed to global warming and vice-versa. On the other hand global South emerging market economies are now major emitters including China and India(but not on per capita basis) . Hence arriving at a amicable decision on phasing out fossil fuels and achieving other climate goals seems to be quite difficult, partly due to the fact that developed countries were already unwilling to provide climate fund even in the past and now they are confronting with issues like declining GDP growth,high indebtedness, and inflationary pressures .Similarly tripling the renewable energy and other climate goals were declared. However a workable road map to achieve these   objectives remained inadequate. Infact if youth, non governmental organizations and political parties across the globe together take up massive awareness programmes about the catastrophes waiting to fall on humanity unless the climate change is not averted. There is also a strong case for utilising the expertise of scientists, meteriologists,technocrats and other related experts in the planning designing and implementation of  climate resilient projects.