COP28 Dispatch

What Congress Needs to Know from Dubai

Welcome! Today is Energy and Industry, Just Transition, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day at COP28.

Delegates continue to elevate climate finance as a top cross-cutting issue of the summit. From financing clean energy projects around the world to ensuring that financial mechanisms and institutions are accessible to and support the rights of Indigenous people—conversations here in Dubai keep coming back to finance. The UNFCCC also held an Indigenous Knowledge Holders dialogue today that created a space for countries to hear directly from Indigenous groups at COP28.

If you are in Dubai, catch up with EESI President Daniel Bresette and Policy Manager Anna McGinn! To connect, email Anna at [email protected].

Miss yesterday’s edition? Check it out here. We are also compiling key COP28 announcements and reports throughout the conference—check back for updates.

Confused by COP terminology and acronyms? Check out EESI's glossary of terms and other helpful guides in the Resources section!

EESI event alert: Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 6, at 4 p.m. GST/7 a.m. EST, EESI will hold a press conference at COP28. Speakers will share key successes on climate action from around the U.S. and explain why these stories matter in the context of COP28:

Mayor Errick Simmons, Greenville, Mississippi
Raya Salter, Esq., Founder of the Energy Justice Law and Policy Center; EESI Board Member
Michael Jeans, President and CEO, Growth Opps

Join us in person in Press Conference Room 2, Building 77, Zone B6 or online.

Key Takeaways for Congress

The U.S. announced two investments in nuclear energy designed to increase national security and support competitiveness of the nuclear supply chain. (U.S. Updates)
The U.A.E. and the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Global Cooling Pledge, supported by the release of UNEP’s Global Cooling Watch report. (Around the World)
Over 130 countries have now signed on to the COP28 U.A.E. Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action. (Around the World)

Negotiations

Negotiators confer during an informal consultation at COP28.
Credit: IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis.

Next steps: Negotiations are ongoing for most issues, including the global stocktake, for which a new draft text was released early on December 5. Delegates are also reviewing a new global goal on adaptation text. The first half of COP wraps up tomorrow, Wednesday, December 6, with the closing of the subsidiary bodies. Any issues that are not resolved by the closing will either go to minister-level negotiations that officially begin on December 8, or be pushed to the next gathering of the parties in the late spring of 2024. For detailed updates on the negotiations, see the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s daily report (detailed summary) and highlights (quick overview).
- EESI Briefing: What’s on the Table for the Negotiations

Agriculture and food security: The negotiations on agriculture are taking place under the Sharm el-Sheikh joint work on implementing climate action on agriculture and food security. This four-year work program, agreed to at COP27, aims to move the conversation on sustainable agriculture from discussion to implementation. Negotiators need to decide on a roadmap for the work program, what their annual synthesis report will look like, what three workshops they will hold in the next year, and how to operationalize an online platform for knowledge-sharing. The negotiators are discussing draft conclusions, but it is unclear if they will be able to converge on a path forward.
- EESI Briefing Series: Farm Bill in Focus

Congress at COP28

Expo City in the morning. Credit: EESI.

Congressional hearing: The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee heard from witnesses today about energy dominance, security, and environmental stewardship in the lead up to COP28. This hearing was a continuation of the November 29 session convened by the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee.

In his opening remarks, Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) said, “As we continue our path towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and cleaner air and water, we cannot lose sight of the role energy plays in assuring our economic future, our nation’s security, and the security of our allies.”

Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) followed up with a statement emphasizing the importance of methane reductions: “According to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, without even more deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the risk of intensifying harmful climate impact will only continue to grow. So, how do we do that? There are several ways, but one of the most critical ways is targeting methane emissions.”

Full Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) will lead a bipartisan delegation of Energy and Commerce members to COP28 later this week.

EESI Press Release: “The Fifth National Climate Assessment Demands the Attention of Congress”

U.S. Updates

Millenium Challenge Corporation CEO Alice Albright introduces
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani at the U.S. Center. Credit: EESI.

Developments in nuclear: Two announcements were made at a U.S. Center event on the global deployment of nuclear energy. First, Export-Import Bank (EXIM) Chair Reta Jo Lewis announced the approval of a resolution to help fund exports of U.S.-made small modular reactor systems, with the goal of boosting the competitiveness of U.S. exporters. Not to be outdone, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins announced that the U.S. and its fellow members of the “Sapporo 5” (Canada, Japan, the U.K., and France) collectively intend to invest at least $4.2 billion towards increasing uranium production capacity and providing reliable nuclear fuel supplies to U.S. allies. Of this funding, $700 million is set to come from the Inflation Reduction Act. The Biden-Harris Administration anticipates this initial injection will encourage investments from the private sector.
- EESI Briefing: The State of Play for Nuclear Energy in the United States

Institutions investing in climate: At a U.S. Center event on the importance of institutional investors as partners in climate and energy projects, stakeholders announced a new strategic partnership agreement between the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Investor Leadership Network, a coalition that oversees $10 trillion in assets. The USTDA will help provide project preparation guidance, with a focus on mobilizing capital for high-impact, commercially viable clean energy, sustainable infrastructure, and critical minerals projects in developing and emerging economies.
- EESI Briefing Series: Scaling Up Innovation to Drive Down Emissions

State climate goals in action: At an event hosted by America Is All In and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) on the impacts of state climate action, EDF showcased the conclusions of its report, Turning Climate Commitments into Results: Evaluating Updated 2023 Projections vs. State Climate Targets. The report found that if U.S. states implemented the emissions goals they have currently set, the U.S. would be almost 50% closer to meeting its Paris Agreement goal of achieving emission reductions of at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.

A just workforce transition: A U.S. Center panel hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor and United Airlines discussed pathways for ensuring that the clean energy transition does not leave workers behind. Department of Labor Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee highlighted initiatives her agency has undertaken, including leveraging competitive grants to help people in disadvantaged communities who have lost their jobs, and the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations Grant Program. She also discussed increasing focus on the work programme on just transition pathways (established at COP27) and expanding “earn as you learn” registered apprenticeships that provide workers with relevant clean energy skills. United Steelworkers Director of Regulatory and State Policy Anna Fendley emphasized that the onus for retraining and job searching should not be on displaced workers, and highlighted a California program that provides training and job search support for displaced oil and gas workers.
- EESI Fact Sheet: Climate Jobs

Partnerships for innovation: DOE Deputy Secretary David Turk pointed to agency initiatives that are harnessing private sector investment—such as $7 billion in funding for regional clean hydrogen hubs (expected to unleash $43 billion in private sector investment), as well as the Affordable Home Energy Shot—at an event hosted by the U.S. Center. He also highlighted that since its passage, investments from the IRA have unlocked $170 billion in private sector investment. The event also featured Assistant Secretary of Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water Kushla Munro and Amazon’s Head of Worldwide Sustainability Kara Hurst, both of whom emphasized that clean energy innovation cannot happen without strong collaboration between policymakers and the private sector.
- EESI Podcast: “How the Department of Energy is Catapulting Clean Energy Innovation to Commercial Liftoff”

Aligning climate and development: A Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) event at the U.S. Center featured the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, and ministers from Malawi, Indonesia, and Nepal, all countries that have received large, five-year grants (compacts) from MCC. President Osmani shared that Kosovo has just submitted their first voluntary NDC. She also highlighted that MCC’s recent investment is “the most transformative energy investment in Kosovo in decades.” Until recently, the majority of Kosovo’s energy came from coal. MCC funding from the U.S. will support transitioning away from coal, deploying energy storage, and training the workforce, especially women.

Cities lead the way: The U.S. experiences a billion-dollar disaster approximately every three weeks, costing close to $150 billion each year. An America Is All In event brought together mayors from across the U.S. to share how funds from the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) are helping them “do more, sooner” towards building resilience in their respective cities—such as planting urban canopies in New Orleans, Louisiana; improving rental home energy efficiency in Columbia, Missouri; reinvigorating public transit in Columbus, Ohio; and improving infrastructure in Des Moines, Iowa. Throughout the panel, mayors repeatedly emphasized that low-income residents are most at risk, and that the financing of resilience efforts must be equitable.
- EESI Resource: Climate Solutions by State Map

Around the World

World Green Building Council CEO Cristina Gamboa provides
remarks at a Breakthrough Agenda session with DOE Deputy
Secretary Turk and officials from Slovenia and the U.K. Credit: EESI.

Keep cool without warming the planet: The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) held an event to announce the launch of the Global Cooling Pledge, in tandem with the release of its Global Cooling Watch report, Keeping It Chill: How to Meet Cooling Demands While Cutting Emissions. The report explores pathways to reducing emissions from cooling while also supporting the sectoral growth needed to meet increasing demand in the face of rising temperatures. The report’s recommendations fall under three key themes: passive cooling measures like insulation or reflective surfaces, energy efficiency for cooling equipment, and reductions in the use of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants (in accordance with international commitments under the Kigali Amendment). The UNEP’s Cool Coalition joined forces with the U.A.E. to create the cooling pledge, which is backed by over 60 countries, including the U.S.
- EESI Article: “Senate Ratification of Kigali Is Good for the Climate and U.S. Competitiveness”

Utilities join the global climate fight: A group of 25 global utilities and power companies launched the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA), to be led by the International Renewable Energy Agency and the U.N. Climate Change High-Level Champions. The Alliance marks a first-of-its-kind commitment to achieve net-zero sectoral emissions by 2050 through electrification and clean energy deployment, including preparing the energy grid for renewables. UNEZA will focus on mobilizing finance, securing supply chains, building a skilled workforce, and working with lawmakers and regulators.

Breakthrough Agenda for buildings and cement: Efforts to decarbonize the building sector and the cement and concrete industry are now on the Breakthrough Agenda alongside power, road transport, steel, hydrogen, and agriculture. France and Morocco are leading the charge on buildings, while Canada and the U.A.E. will help advance cement and concrete. The Breakthrough Agenda, an international clean technology plan, was launched by 45 countries representing almost three-fourths of global GDP at COP26 and reinvigorated at COP27 with a list of priority recommendations. Panelists, including DOE Deputy Secretary Turk, described how sectors featured on the agenda benefit from enhanced international cooperation and collaboration to make cutting-edge emission reduction technologies more affordable.
- EESI Article: “Achieving Sustainability in the Built Environment, Brick by Brick”

To build on that: At a U.N. Climate Change side event, Cristina Lobillo Borrero, director of energy policy for the European Commission, described the ambitious steps that the E.U. is taking to reduce carbon emissions from buildings. Under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, E.U. member states are required to increase the share of heating and cooling in buildings from renewable sources. The European Parliament is expected to finalize legislation to implement this directive by the end of this year. The Buildings Breakthrough and Cement Breakthrough will be launched at COP tomorrow.
- EESI Briefing: Building Materials: From Production to Reuse

Global collaboration on climate-friendly agriculture: Over the weekend, the COP28 Presidency announced that over 130 countries have signed on to the COP28 U.A.E. Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action. The objectives of the sustainable agriculture declaration are to scale up adaptation and resilience activities, promote food security and nutrition, support agricultural workers, strengthen the integrated management of water, and maximize the climate and environmental benefits of agriculture through sustainable approaches. In his remarks during the announcement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Behind the statistics on food insecurity [are] real people… As President Biden has said, if parents can’t feed their children, nothing else matters.” The secretary also announced a pledge of $50 million for the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils fund.
- EESI Article Series: Agriculture and Climate

Roadmap for ZEVs: The Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council’s Global Zero Emission Vehicles Transition Roadmap was launched by Graham Stuart, U.K. minister of state for energy security and net zero, at a side event on the vehicle transition to an emissions-free future. The roadmap outlines actions the council and its partners will take to “help make ZEVs the most affordable, accessible, and attractive option in all regions by 2030.”
- EESI Fact Sheet: The Future of the Trucking Industry: Electric Semi-Trucks

Other News

Raya Salter, Esq., founder of the Energy Justice Law and Policy
Center and EESI board member (center), poses questions about
systemic change, adaptation, and economics to IPCC Lead Author
Debora Ley (left) and University of Maine Associate Professor of
Anthropology Cindy Isenhour (right) at a press conference.
Credit: EESI.

Closing the climate adaptation finance gap: The United Nations Industrial Development Organization and its Global Environment Facility (GEF) have partnered on a project designed to bolster private sector investment in climate adaptation and resilience. This project will draw from the insights attained by the 19 winners of the GEF’s Challenge Program for Adaptation Innovation, which provides seed money to projects that demonstrate innovative climate adaptation solutions for the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts.
- EESI Podcast: “Talking about ‘The Octopus in the Parking Garage’ with Rob Verchick”

Climate finance for Indigenous communities: At a U.S. Center event on Indigenous communities and climate finance, Janene Yazzie, Southwest regional director of the NDN Collective, called for direct access to climate funding for all Indigenous communities, investment in financial mechanisms and institutions that support the rights of Indigenous people, and increased participation for Indigenous people across all parts of the COP28 negotiations. Panelist Kim Pate, managing director of the NDN Fund, spoke of the fund’s values of resilience and regeneration. “We make sure that every single one of our loans has a climate dimension,” Pate explained.
- EESI Article Series: Growing Stronger: Spotlight on Indigenous Sustainable Agriculture

Fossil fuel interests at COP28: Climate Action Network - International (CAN) highlighted two updates related to fossil fuels at a press conference today. An expert from Greenpeace International shared a new report estimating the number of deaths expected to occur as a result of one year of emissions generated by fossil fuel companies. The study concluded that the 2.7 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions produced by nine major European oil and gas companies—Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Equinor, Eni, Repsol, OMV, Orlen, and Wintershall Dea—in 2022 could result in at least 360,000 premature deaths by the end of the century. The Kick Big Polluters Out coalition reported during the press conference that at least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists have accreditation to attend COP28.
- EESI Fact Sheet: Climate, Environmental, and Health Impacts of Fossil Fuels

Resources

EESI resources

Article series: Quick reads connecting international climate talks to Congress
Briefing series: What Congress Needs to Know About COP28
- Congress and International Climate Finance
- What's on the Table for the Negotiations?
- The First Global Stocktake
Climate Change Solutions: Bi-weekly newsletter covering climate, energy, and environmental issues
COP28 Announcement Tracker: Key Announcements from the 2023 U.N. Climate Summit
COP28 Report Tracker: Key Climate Reports Launched at the 2023 U.N. Climate Summit
U.S. Leaders at COP28: Updates on Members of Congress and Other U.S. Officials at the 2023 U.N. Climate Summit
EESI's United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Glossary of Terms

Tracking the negotiations

CarbonBrief: Reporting and analysis on the U.N. climate talks, with in-depth tracking of country positions in the negotiations
COP28 Resource Hub: World Resources Institute's extensive set of resources on the climate negotiations
Earth Negotiations Bulletin: A play-by-play of the negotiations, plus expert analysis from the International Institute for Sustainable Development
ECO Newsletter: The climate advocate’s perspective from Climate Action Network International

Background and logistics

U.A.E. COP28 Presidency website: Priorities, details, and logistics for the negotiations from this year’s host country
UNFCCC COP28 website: Conference details and all updates on documents produced during the negotiations
Congressional Research Service: Reports related to the UNFCCC

Questions about COP28?

Reach out to EESI Policy Manager Anna McGinn with your questions. We will get back to you or include the information in an upcoming newsletter.

Thanks for reading!

This newsletter covering COP28 will be running from November 30 to December 12.
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Staff contributors: Daniel Bresette, Molly Brind’Amour, Alison Davis, Amaury Laporte, Anna McGinn, and Nicole Pouy

About EESI

EESI is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit advancing science-based solutions for climate change, energy, and environmental challenges to achieve a sustainable, resilient, and equitable world. Founded on a bipartisan basis by members of Congress, EESI has been informing policymakers about the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and environmental conservation since 1984.

CFC #10627