Climate Action Network Briefing for SB58, June 2023

Six months before COP28 in Dubai, UAE, we are yet to get a clear signal that this year’s climate summit will deliver on a commitment towards an equitable and just phase out of fossil fuels, alongside efforts to scale up investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The fact that this COP will be presided over by a fossil fuel executive, the Chief Executive Officer of ADNOC, puts particular emphasis on the need for civil society groups to ensure it is not hijacked by fossil fuel lobbyists and ends up as a greenwashing fest of hollow promises.

We are in a race against time in this climate emergency. Governments must use the time and opportunity when they meet in Bonn to prepare for an ambitious outcome at COP28 that is in line with the scale of the climate crisis we face. This means a clear plan to end the dependence on fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal – and to deliver support to those impacted by climate disasters by delivering more adaptation finance and ensuring the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage fund. The Global Stocktake must serve as a moment of accountability and lay out a roadmap for updated and enhanced national climate targets that will keep global warming below 1.5oC.The Bonn SB58 meeting will also be taking place against the backdrop of the recent G7 Summit where rich nations failed to commit to a fast and fair phase out from fossil fuels and instead used loopholes to continue investments in gas. This shows the extent of the political misalignment with science by rich countries such as the USA, Germany, Japan, Norway, Australia, Canada and the EU.

Recent attribution studies have shown that the fingerprints of climate change are all over the disasters we are now facing too frequently, from the ongoing drought in East Africa to the extreme heatwaves in parts of Asia and Europe. The IPCC Synthesis Report from earlier this year issued a stark warning that the window of time to keep warming below 1.5°C is fast closing and a recent WMO report showed that the next five years will be the hottest on record because of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

This briefing from Climate Action Network sets clear political and policy expectations and tables concrete proposals for an ambitious outcome at COP28. 

• The Bonn SB58 must lay a strong foundation and provide a roadmap for COP28 to deliver a commitment for a rapid and equitable phase out of fossil fuel production, while simultaneously setting a clear and ambitious goal for renewable energy deployment and energy efficiency.
• End all public finance for fossil fuels.
• Delegations should focus on achieving convergence on key questions around design and quantum in 2023 on New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) – it should include the use of a grant-equivalent subgoal with floors for needs based adaptation and loss and damage finance, a % GNI metric in addition to the quantified goal in USD, and 5-year ratchet cycles.
• Rich countries must provide a credible and transparent roadmap for full delivery of their 100bn climate finance commitments and the doubling of adaptation finance by 2025.
• SB58 should initiate work on redefining and restructuring the architecture of adaptation through a permanent agenda item on Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) under CMA and SBs.
• Parties should make substantive progress on designing the framework and provide clear direction and guidelines for the operationalisation of GGA at COP28.
• At SB58, the second Glasgow dialogue should advance discussions on the operationalization of the new Loss and Damage Fund and, and clarify support from the existing funding arrangements.
• Ensure that observers have equal access to the Glasgow Dialogue and other meetings and that the engagement is more transparent, inclusive and meaningful.
• SB58 needs to draft a decision on the host of the Santiago Network secretariat that meets the criteria, to facilitate a robust decision at COP28.
• Parties to begin discussing the content of the political outcomes in response to the Global Stocktake. Views on the structure, format, and elements of outputs from the Global Stocktake including a decision, declaration, and technical annex should be raised in both the Technical Dialogue and the Joint Contact Group.
• The COP28 Presidency and the High Level Committee for the Global Stocktake to present their plans for the political milestones on the roadmap to COP28. These events should purposefully build consensus and momentum toward ambitious GST outcomes in both global and national forums, with full civil society participation.