COP28 begins today in Dubai: PM Narendra Modi, Rishi Sunak, King Charles III, Kamala Harris to attend summit

The world's most crucial annual climate change summit, COP28, is set to start in Dubai that will be attended by prominent leaders from member countries. The summit will be held from November 30 to December 12. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, King Charles III,  UK PM Rishi Sunak are expected to attend the summit, along with dozens of other world leaders and 70,000 attendees. US Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the global climate summit in Dubai after US President Joe Biden backed out.

COP stands for "Conference of the Parties", where parties mean the countries who have signed the original UN climate agreement in 1992. This year's COP is expected to discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change.

Besides, host UAE is also expected to announce a commitment from major oil and gas companies to reduce methane leakage.

This year, parties are also expected to assess how far off track the world is from a goal set in the Paris Agreement 2015 to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

COP28 President-Designate Dr Sultan Al Jaber said the UAE Presidency will hold every country and every stakeholder accountable to keep the 1.5 degree Celsius target within reach.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP that the COP28 climate conference should aim for a complete "phaseout" of fossil fuels. He warned of "total disaster" on humanity's current trajectory.

"I think it would be a pity if we would stay in a vague and noncommittal 'phase-down' whose real meaning would not be obvious for anybody," he said.

"A phase-down can be whatever, you never know exactly what it means -- to phase out means that at a certain moment, it stops," Guterres added.

Agenda in COP28

COP28 is expected to push the goal of limiting long-term global temperature rises to 1.5 degree C. This was agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015.

The 1.5 degree C target is crucial to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change, according to the UN's climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

At present, the warming stands at about 1.1 degree C or 1.2 degree C compared with pre-industrial times.

However, recent estimates suggest the world is currently on track for about 2.4 degree C to 2.7 degree C of warming by 2100.

As a result, the window for keeping the 1.5 degree C limit in reach is "rapidly narrowing", the UN says.

COP28 will focus on fast-tracking the move to clean energy sources, to cut greenhouse gas emissions before 2030. Besides, it will also look into getting money for climate action (climate finance) from richer to poorer countries and working on a new deal for developing nations.

At last year’s climate change conference in Sharm el-Shaikh in Egypt, countries had agreed to set up a loss and damage fund, which developing countries, hit by climate disasters, can access to rebuild themselves.

Last week, Reuters in a report said that France, supported by the United States, is planning to halt private financing for coal-based power plants during the COP28 in Dubai. 

India's agenda

PM Modi will attend the first two days of the annual climate conference. On November 26, the Ministry of External Affairs said in its statement that H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, has invited the Prime Minister for the summit.

As per news reports, India is looking at COP28 as a platform to build upon its G20 achievements.

The MEA also noted that climate change has been a focal point during India's G20 Presidency, and the upcoming COP-28 presents a chance to build on these achievements.

Besides, PM Modi is also expected to pitch its Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA), which was launched during the G20 Summit in New Delhi, to the attendees.

The Global Biofuel Alliance, which includes top producers Brazil and the US, is expected to help build the worldwide market for trade in biofuel, which is obtained from biomass.

India has said it stands committed to achieving net zero by 2070, reaching the nation's non-fossil energy capacity of 500 GW and meeting 50 per cent of our energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.

UAE as host of COP28

It was reported that the UAE initially planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks as a platform to strike deals on oil and gas with multiple countries. The UAE is one of the world's top 10 oil-producing nations.

Oil, like gas and coal, is a fossil fuel. According to a report on BBC, the UAE team wanted to push their personal agenda at the global summit. The team did not deny using COP28 for business talks, and reportedly said: “private meetings are private”.

Also read: UAE planned to use COP28 climate talks to make oil, gas deals with other nations: Report

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