Jump to navigation

Vol 64 No 25

Published 14th December 2023


The 28th UN Conference of the Parties Climate Summit – a users' guide

How to navigate the facts, the figures and the declarations | By Tim Concannon and Jerry Sam in Accra and Caroline Chebet in Nairobi

The UN's COP summits are a marathon – even by the standards of other international summits organised by the UN, the IMF and sundry regional organisations.

This year's summit – COP28 in Dubai – is already an epic in terms of the over 90,000 people that have registered as delegates.

It opened on 30 November and is due to run until at least midnight on 16 December when the hosts, the United Arab Emirates, will release the final communiqué and roster of financial pledges and declarations of policy actions from the nearly 200 nations participating.

This dossier offers a point by point guide to the key issues under discussion – from the debate over the Loss and Damage Fund and the need for a global carbon tax to whether the final declaration will include an agreement to 'phase-down'  (as the hydrocarbon economies want) or 'phase out' (as the climate activists want) of fossil fuel production.

For a detailed guide to the facts, the figures and the declarations, read our Special Report here: The 28th UN Conference of the Parties Climate Summit – a users' guide




Related Articles

Calls grow to regulate ballooning carbon credits

President William Ruto holds up carbon trading as his country’s next big export but climate activists want much tighter controls

By elevating carbon credits to the top of the climate finance agenda President William Ruto has made Kenya a key player on environment policy in Africa. He has won public backing f...


Nairobi vies for green capital status

William Ruto advances his own, and Kenya's interests, but fails to pull in much climate finance from industrial economies

Having spent much of the first year of his presidency staking out the ground as one of Africa's leading voices on climate change and energy policy, Kenya's William Ruto was the nat...


SPECIAL REPORT: How Vincent Bolloré came to dominate business in Togo – using money, media and merchandise

Africa Confidential presents a Special Report on the Breton tycoon’s growing influence in Africa. Far from quitting the continent, Vincent Bolloré’s business and political interests in Africa are deepening – even as he faces trial in Paris for grand corruption in league with two West African leaders. By Andrew Weir and Nicolas Vescovacci

Billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who has built up monopoly control over some of the biggest container terminals in Africa, is heading back to the French courts with two of his to...

READ FOR FREE

Stalemate on climate finance talks irks African negotiators

After technical negotiations over green transition funds in Bonn hit a deadlock, talks are to resume at the UN General Assembly in September

Despite hopes of progress on climate finance for Africa at recent UN negotiations, an impasse emerged at the interim SB60 meeting held in Bonn, Germany from 3 to 13 June. Critical ...