Climate action can’t wait, so what does COP28 hold for us?

Every year the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) comes together, connecting leaders from around the globe to drive change and maintain momentum towards tackling climate change. This year’s COP - COP28 - begins on the 30th November in Dubai. With climate change at the forefront of our mahi, we’re excited to see what the next two weeks holds for all of us.

COP is the decision-making body of the Convention, which are written legal agreements between the UN and countries a part of the convention. A key action for COP is reviewing national communications and emission inventories, alongside setting new rounds of negotiations towards climate change.

For a rundown on prior conventions, we highly recommend reading through

Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit’s ‘COP28: A visual guide’ in full:

The world has been slow at recognising climate change as an important issue. With the first COP being held in 1995, international agendas have slowly adapted accordingly. Since then some highlights have been the negotiation and implementation of:

— The Kyoto Protocol

— The Cancún agreements

— The Glasgow Climate Pact (as a further iteration to COP21’s Paris Agreement)

With these landmark agreements shifting the narrative around climate change globally - we look forward to seeing what COP28 holds for the future of collective action between countries.

We need a circular economy to complete the picture

In the words of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “while moving to renewables can address 55% of global GHG emissions, to achieve UN climate goals it is imperative [that we] tackle the remaining 45% that comes from the way we make and use products and food”. This is because humans consume 100 billion tonnes of materials every year and less than 8% of these materials are ever cycled back into our economy to be reused or recycled. 

To meet the targets set out in the Paris Agreement, countries need to commit to redesigning our economy to be circular. Designing out waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and regenerating nature. For us, the transition to a circular economy must be embedded in commitment and approached at COP28. Plain and simple.

What to expect at COP28 this year?

The program at COP this year will be based on a new thematic structure, with certain kaupapa for each day, including:

— Health / Relief, Recovery and Peace

— Finance / Trade / Gender Equality / Accountability

— Energy and Industry / Just Transition / Indigenous Peoples

— Multilevel Action, Urbanisation and Built Environment/Transport

— Day of Rest

— Youth, Children, Education and Skills

— Nature, Land Use, and Oceans

— Food, Agriculture and Water

Alongside this are the cross-cutting themes underpinning the delivery of the program are technology and innovation, inclusion, frontline communities, and finance. For the first time in COP’s history food, agriculture and water will be a headline focus at COP28. The importance of this can’t be understated, especially the imperative need to redesign our food systems to be circular to keep the rise of global temperature under 1.5 degrees celsius. 

Finally, the overarching theme for COP28 is actionism. The focus on actionism this year is to provide a platform for global media and storytellers to share their progress with the world, inspire hope and hold the world accountable. Anyone can share their story on the COP28 platform or explore like minded actionists who are engaging in climate solutions such as the circular economy. 

Some of the notable circular economy events during COP28 are:

— 1st December: Circular Cities: Housing for resilient urban communities

— 3rd December: UN Partnership for Action on Green Economy - Circularity as a game changer for climate action: upscaling applied research and economic solutions - watch the livestream here from 18:30 GST

— 4th December: China Pavilion with the China Association of Circular Economy - How the circular economy can support China’s carbon emissions reduction

— 6th December: Al Waha room with COP28 Presidency - No time to waste: closing the climate loop

— 10th December: Italy Pavilion with Intesa Sanpaolo - Circular economy and climate change: the role of financial institutions and the private sector in accelerating the transition towards a regenerative economy

What's new at COP28?

COP28 will mark the conclusion of the first-ever Global Stocktake. One of the main headlines that came out of the 2015 Paris accord was the agreement of countries to track their progress towards climate action and report back every few years. The Global Stocktake represents a progress report or a chance to take stock on what's been done and how far off countries are from meeting their commitments set out in 2015. It signifies one of the first common reference points to evaluate national and global efforts based on objective technical analysis. 

Some of the key areas of the global stocktake will include climate finance, adaptation and greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Check out this interactive table produced by Carbon Brief outlining who wants what at COP28.

What will Aotearoa New Zealand’s role look like at COP28?

Our New Zealand delegation includes official government representatives and non-official iwi representatives and business leaders; notably some of the business representatives attending this year include Fonterra, Beca and CoGo. Zespri is also attending to understand how they accelerate the uptake in sustainable solutions for food and agriculture. 

Aotearoa New Zealand has three priority international climate change objectives: fostering global action; supporting Pacific resilience; and supporting our own transition. With the results of the stocktake being revealed at COP28, the rest of New Zealand should treat this as a ripe opportunity to understand how we have tracked on our own commitments set out in the Paris Agreement and hold our government accountable for any successes and failures, especially on our climate change objectives. Carbon brief’s interactive table currently shows phasing out fossil fuels as a priority for New Zealand, but diplomats may have to change their approach with the new coalition supporting domestic oil and gas exploration.

Both Greenpeace Aotearoa and the New Zealand Green Party have launched open letters to the oil and gas industry, pledging to resist any attempt at new offshore oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa. Combined, the open letters have seen nearly forty thousand New Zealanders sign on in support.

What does COP28 hold for us?

It will be interesting to see how our new government uses the experience of COP28 and the Global Stocktake to respond to increasing local and global pressure around climate action. The one thing we do know is that redesigning business as usual to be circular and nature-positive will be an important vehicle for Aotearoa to fulfil its promises.

We’re especially interested in the Food, Agriculture and Water thematic day; and what actions, agreements and commentary is shared by leaders.

— Because how we produce our food is key to reducing emissions; food systems contribute 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions — 71% from agriculture and land use and the remainder from supply chain activities.

— The current value of our food is being lost or underutilised; nearly 1/3 of all food in the world is wasted. Where food is consumed often the impact is from packaging with low or zero recycling options. These fossil fuel plastics are persistent in the environment and take many years to degrade.

— The potential of Aotearoa's food industry and global leadership is boundless; Aotearoa's Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will require us to urgently design solutions for issues of organic waste streams, emissions, and more. This is an opportunity. We can transform the impact of our food, our industry and systems and global leadership, whilst also meeting consumer expectations and nutrition.

In Aotearoa, we’re blessed to have a diverse range of innovators and leaders within the food and agriculture industry who are already making a difference in improving the resilience of our food systems. And we know in order to create climate change, especially within this sector, we can do that by working together. We hope that this COP is a chance for us to highlight these shifts, and promote cross-collaboration that we need to foster in order to shape a new future for us all that is more abundant, nature-positive, and truly regenerative by design.