Progress with Climate Finance at COP28?
From decorated country and corporate pavilions to a myriad of side events and several business-sponsored dinners, the opportunity to attend my first COP after several years of reading about COP negotiations kept me wondering: am I at a trade circus or a meeting of government officials and climate activists with an agenda of high-stakes negotiations that could shape the future trajectory of global climate action?
Source: Office of the Second Lady. Seth chatting with the Second Lady of Ghana, H.E. Hajia Samira Bawumia
But the more I interacted with people, the more I realized, and rightly so, that most, if not all, of the over 80,000 registered attendees had a specific reason for attending COP28, either with an interest in one or more areas of climate action, or with the hope of seeing progress made by world leaders on tackling the climate crisis.
As a pre-doctoral researcher with a focus on financing climate action in developing economies, my ultimate goal for attending COP28 was to follow progress with negotiations on three key climate finance topics. The first was to monitor how COP28 would operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund established at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh. The second was to follow progress with the new collective and quantified goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The third was to assess progress with the mobilization of climate finance by multilateral development banks (MDBs) following the Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26) in 2021 which calls for a scaled-up climate finance from MDBs, and the COP27 call for reforms of MDBs to make them effective in financing climate action in developing nations.
Surprisingly, day one of COP28 delivered a historic move to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund. Despite the contentious meetings between developed and developing nations over who should operate the fund, who and how to fill and replenish the fund, and which countries should be eligible to receive funding, world leaders united under the COP28 presidency to get the fund running. At the end of week 1, the fund received $700 million in pledges from the UAE, Germany, and other developed economies. While I look forward to further details about the fund that will address outstanding concerns of developing nations by the end of the COP, day 1 indicated that COP28 could make significant progress on climate finance.
Seth with Travis Franck, Mieke van der Wansem, and Kelly Sims Gallagher at COP28
Sitting through the informal consultations on the NCQG was one of my key highlights for attending COP28. As a first-time attendee, it was an insightful experience to witness first-hand how COP negotiations play out. It became apparent why reaching a consensus on climate negotiations is difficult. Negotiators must deal with lengthy draft texts. All negotiating blocs must ensure that the language of each paragraph truly reflects their position and aspirations, leading to prolonged deliberations to find common ground. While no decision on the NCQG will be finalized during COP28, a high-level ministerial dialogue is expected to guide the structuring of an ambitious NCQG by the end of 2024.
During my time at the COP, however, I spent more time at the pavilions of the MDBs by attending side events on financing climate action. The side events offered me an unparalleled opportunity to interact with MDB officials, private investors, project sponsors, and government officials under one roof. While it became evident from formal and informal discussions that a radical reform of the financing architecture of MDBs will be challenging in the near term, there is a general recognition that MDBs must redefine their mission to support low-carbon and climate-resilient development paths. In particular, MDBs must lead in catalyzing private capital for climate investments in developing economies.
In all, COP28 offered an insightful and practical experience for my research work on climate change and clean energy. Albeit highly tiring because of long walks from one event or meeting to the other, building a network of new climate friends, making contacts for my dissertation interviews, running into old colleagues and friends, and being exposed to various climate organizations around the world and their innovative approaches to tackling the climate crisis is an experience I will forever cherish.
Seth Owusu-Mante is a Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at The Climate Policy Lab at The Fletcher School.