A plan for sustainability

The UN Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties (COP28), held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, wrapped up on December 12 last year. According to the official press release, there were some encouraging outcomes. 

Global stocktake

Demonstrating global solidarity, 200 negotiators agreed to create the world’s first “global stocktake,” calling for a tripling of renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030. It also promotes accelerating the phase-down of coal power, removing fossil fuel subsidies, and an orderly transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. This added pressure will help compel countries to act before the end of the decade. The stocktake is viewed as the key outcome of COP28—it was the foundation of every concern under negotiation and will bolster the nationally determined contributions of countries’ climate action plans, due by 2025. In his closing speech, UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell said, “Whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end… Now all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.”

Funding

One hundred and fifty-four heads of state reached a historic agreement to help fund loss and damage resulting from climate change. Funding commitments of more than USD $700 million began rolling in just moments after the agreement, and the Green Climate Fund then saw a second tranche of funding with pledges from more than 30 countries of $12.8 billion. New commitments to the Least Developed Countries and Special Climate Change funds tallied more than $174 million, and pledges to the Adaption Fund totaled $188 million. It should be noted the financial pledges still fall short of the trillions needed to support clean energy transition in developing countries. To help bring more funding to the table, the parties at COP28 discussed a new goal on climate finance that focuses on the needs and priorities of developing countries, with a baseline of $100 billion per year to design and implement national climate plans in these countries by 2025.

Road ahead

To decarbonize our economies, COP28 laid the foundation for a new era of the Paris Agreement by delivering an enhanced transparency framework that includes reporting and reviewing tools. These tools were showcased and tested at COP28, and the final versions should be available by summer 2024. 

At COP29 in Azerbaijan, governments are expected to establish a financial goal to address the scale and urgency of the climate challenge. At COP30 in Brazil, they must submit new nationally determined contributions that are economy-wide and cover all greenhouse gas emissions. Steps in the right direction.

The COP meetings seem to be gaining momentum in their attention and impact. These meetings play a central role in collaboration and bringing unity to not only the targets the world needs to achieve, but also the frameworks necessary to fund their implementation.

Together, Reliable Controls, the Reliable Controls Authorized Dealer network, and our customers have a critical role to play: to pursue the Art of Building Sustainability that will help decarbonize the built environment. Please reach out to your local Authorized Dealer today and make a plan for sustainability.