The president of COP28 Sultan Al Jaber has “hit back at claims that he denies a core part of climate science”, reports BBC News. This follows earlier comments made by Al Jaber that there is “no science” behind requiring an end to the use of fossil fuels in order to limit temperature rise, it continues. The Guardian quotes Al Jaber saying in defence of his earlier comments: “I respect the science in everything I do. I have repeatedly said that it is the science that has guided the principles or strategy as COP28 president. We have always built everything, every step of the way, on the science, on the facts.” The original comments were made by Al Jaber in response to former UN climate envoy Mary Robinson during an online event on 21 November, the article notes. It says Al Jaber also said at that event: “Show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.” The comments were described as “alarming” by climate groups and scientists, reports the Independent. Al Jaber’s defence of his remarks, at a COP28 press conference on Monday, say him saying that “one statement taken out of context with misrepresentation” had received “maximum coverage”, reports Reuters. US climate envoy John Kerry has “shrugged off” Al Jaber’s comments, reports Politico. He told the publication: “What I think he was saying, and maybe it came out the wrong way, I don’t know; I think he was saying that the science doesn’t dictate the methodology that you have to use.” It quotes him continuing: “You have to choose between many different ways of doing it. Maybe it happens through carbon capture, maybe it doesn’t.” Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Financial Times and others all have the story.

Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley said that global taxes on the financial services, oil and gas, and shipping industries could help to raise hundreds of billions of dollars for poorer countries to adapt to and cope with global warming, reports the Independent. Speaking to reporters during the “finance day” at COP28, she focused on how poorer countries, with help from richer countries and international finance, could shoulder the cost for adapting to climate change, reducing its future impact and paying for the loss and damage it causes, the paper adds. It quotes her telling reporters: “This has probably been the most progress we’ve seen in the last 12 months on finance…but we’re not where we need to be yet.” Banks in the UAE pledged to mobilise 1tn dirhams, or around $270bn, in green finance, the chair of the country’s banking federation told COP28 as part of the day dedicated to finance, reports Reuters. This joins the growing list of pledges on everything from building renewable energy to helping farmers improve soil quality, the article notes. Other “cash pledges” include the UAE announcing a $30bn climate fund, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners unveiling a $3bn “Growth Markets Fund II”, and a £2.5bn EU pledge to help fund the energy transition, reports Axios. Meanwhile, Spanish minister Teresa Ribera said that climate should be at the heart of all financial and economic decisions, reports the Guardian. It quotes her saying: “Private corporates should be stepping into a different development model in vulnerable countries. We went through some language on that that was broadly supported by all [EU] member states, which is: why not just start by an invitation to the oil and gas companies to dedicate part of the profits to invest in sustainable development of the most vulnerable countries. And that’s on a voluntary basis [at first], because why not?”

A second draft text on the “global stocktake” at COP28 shows negotiators are considering calling for an “orderly and just” phase out of fossil fuels, reports Reuters. The draft shows possible outcomes of the global stocktake process, in which nearly 200 nations are trying to agree on plans to curb rising global temperatures, it notes. The first option in the draft is listed as “an orderly and just phase out of fossil fuels”, the second called for “accelerating efforts towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels” and the third option would be no mention of a fossil fuel phase out, the article says. [For a detailed breakdown of the latest draft text, see the thread from Carbon Brief’s Dr Simon Evans.] There is expected to be a “delicate dance” around the decision to phase out fossil fuels, reports the Washington Post. In particular, the word “unabated” has “sparked another big squabble” the article notes, with environmentalists often viewing carbon capture technologies as a “false climate solution”. More than half of the 198 countries in the UNFCCC have called for a fossil fuel phaseout at COP28, marking a “turning point” after 27 years of climate negotiations, reports Inside Climate News. Pressure to phase out fossil fuels is growing, reports the Financial Times, adding that these calls are growing despite the “global decarbonisation accelerator” (GDA) announcement at COP28, which will see big energy companies accounting for 40% of global oil output pledge to eliminate carbon emissions from their operations by 2050. UN secretary general António Guterres noted that that announcement “says nothing about eliminating emissions from fossil fuel consumption” when their oil and gas is burned by end customers, the article notes. “The promises made clearly fall short of what is required. There must be no room for greenwashing,” added Guterres, the FT states.

Meanwhile, the number of delegates at COP28 who are linked to fossil fuel producers has quadrupled since last year, BBC News reports. Around 2,400 people connected to coal, oil and gas industries have registered for the climate talks, a record number that is more than the total attendees from the 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change, it adds. The figure was calculated by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition and raises further questions about the fossil fuel industry’s influence over this year’s UN summit, says the Guardian. The scale of oil and gas influence in Dubai is “unprecedented”, the article continues, with “lobbyists vying to push the interests of oil and gas companies such as Shell, Total and ExxonMobil”. Large numbers of major companies have flocked to COP28, with the dozens of chief executives attending the climate talks in Dubai leading critics to label it a “trade show”, reports the Financial Times. The wide range of corporate attendees includes EY chief executive Carmine di Sibio, Microsoft president Brad Smith, Lloyd’s of London boss John Neal, and Volvo deputy chief executive Javier Varela, among others, the article notes. Hilary Clinton has criticised the lack of women at COP28, saying it is a major concern and that the “tide has been turned” against the voices of women being heard in recent years, reports the Independent. According to the paper, the former US secretary of state told attendees at a packed COP28 event: “In many of the governments that are represented here at COP, there are no women. How do we get the concerns of women to be heard? That’s what events like these are about.”

Beyond fossil fuels, the US is among at least 60 countries to back a pledge to cut cooling-related emissions by 2050, according to an “exclusive” in Reuters. The Global Cooling Pledge would mark the first collective focus on energy emissions from the cooling sector, with a goal to reduce emissions by at least 68% compared to 2022 levels, the article says. According to a report published today by the UN Environment Programme, installed cooling capacity is set to triple by 2050, leading to cooling emissions surging by between 4.4bn and 6.1bn metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent, the newswire continues. This would equal one-tenth of expected global emissions, and strain electric grids, the article adds. 

Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels and cement production are set to hit a record high this year, exacerbating climate change and fueling more extreme weather, reports Reuters. The Global Carbon Budget report said that overall CO2 emissions have plateaued in 2023, due to a slight drop from uses of land such as deforestation, the newswire notes. The world is on track to have burned more coal, oil and gas in 2023 than it did in 2022, “pumping” 1.1% more CO2 into the atmosphere at a time when emissions “must plummet to stop extreme weather from growing more violent”, reports the Guardian. Total emissions from fossil fuels are projected to reach 36.8bn tonnes by the end of 2023, up from 2022’s record level, reports New Scientist. It quotes Prof Pierre Friedlingstein at the University of Exeter, one of the report authors, saying: “Unfortunately, China and India have had a significant increase in emissions.” It adds that he said “more promisingly” emissions have dropped in the European Union and the US. Emissions need to be falling by at least 5%  a year to have a realistic chance of keeping global warming within 1.5C, notes the i newspaper. It quotes Friedlingstein saying: “It now looks inevitable we will overshoot the 1.5C target of the Paris Agreement, and leaders meeting at COP28 will have to agree rapid cuts in fossil fuel emissions even to keep the 2C target alive.” Friedlingstein has co-authored a detailed article on the findings for Carbon Brief.

The UK will come back strongly to “lead from the front” in tackling climate change under a Labour government, party leader Keir Starmer has pledged at COP28, reports the Guardian. “There’s an overwhelming feeling here among world leaders that they want to see the UK back playing a leading role. That’s why our statement of intent that under a Labour government we will be back playing a leading role has been really well received,” he told the newspaper at the UN climate talks. Starmer reaffirmed Labour’s commitment to invest £28bn a year on low-carbon efforts by the end of the next parliament, the article adds, a commitment that has come under fire from the Tories and some members of his own party, as well as a pledge to complete the switch to clear power by 2030. Starmer was “in his element as he rubbed shoulders with world leaders at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, almost as if in rehearsal for the role of prime minister he hopes will soon be his”, reports Reuters. The opposition party leader held meetings on climate change and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with leaders including the Emir of Qatar, the King of Jordan and the president of Brazil, as well as conversations with US climate envoy John Kerry and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the newswire notes.

China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua stressed “the urgent need for international cooperation to enhance methane control in developing countries” and “urged global unity and action” at COP28, together with US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry, reports state-run newspaper the Global Times. Xie said: “China is still a developing country and faces a series of severe difficulties and risks in controlling emissions of methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases.” China Energy Net reports that the Chinese vice premier Ding Xuexiang urged the developed countries to “effectively increase support for developing countries in terms of funding, technology, and capacity building, turning the vision into reality through concrete actions”. Chinese energy outlet IN-EN.com also covers the speech, quoting Ding as saying China has “made important contributions to global climate governance” and “vigorously pushed forward green development, energy revolution and international cooperation to address climate change”. A separate article in IN-EN.com reports that the Chinese minister of ecology and environment Huang Runqiu remarked at COP28 that it is necessary to “safeguard the development rights of developing countries and promote a green and equitable transformation” and that “ambitious actions should be based on the different starting points and national conditions of each country”. China News quotes government thinktank academic Yu Hai as saying that “the green and low-carbon transformation in China requires the joint efforts of various actors, including the government, businesses, the public and social organisations”. He adds that the Chinese public has a “high willingness to adopt a green and low-carbon lifestyle, but has fallen short in actions”. Meanwhile, DC-based the Hill reports that John Kerry said that “there shouldn’t be any more coal power plants permitted anywhere in the world” in a COP28 speech. The state-run newspaper China Daily carries an editorial arguing that “climate response is increasingly taking over from the past pursuit of fast growth as the shaper of China’s modernisation path”. The state news agency Xinhua says that developed countries “attempt to claim the moral high ground on climate issues”, but that this depends on actions, not “empty promises”. 

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post carries an op-ed by Annalena Baerbock, German foreign minister, saying that “we know the conditions necessary for a successful energy transition and climate action are different in each country…We will support our partners to [develop a just transition]”. Bloomberg reports that president Xi Jinping and premier Li Qiang will meet with European Council president Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday, to discuss the EU’s probe into China-made electric vehicles and other trade issues. Another Bloomberg article says that US senator Joe Manchin (who has strong ties with the coal industry) “slams” Biden’s electric vehicles tax credit rules as “soft on China”. Finally, Reuters reports that western start-up technology firms are “racing to break China’s grip on rare earths refining” by developing “faster, cleaner and cheaper ways” to extract the minerals. 

Petrostate Dubai was “always an interesting choice of venue for the UN’s annual climate change conference” , says an editorial in the Daily Telegraph. The host’s commitment to reducing CO2 emissions was again brought into question by president Sultan Al Jaber’s comment that there  is “no science” indicating that a phaseout of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the article adds. “Yet Dr Al-Jaber is not resiling from a commitment to a low carbon future, but rather questioning the feasibility of eradicating fossil fuels in a world that still relies heavily upon them”, the newspaper says. This is “still a circle the campaigners have yet to square”, the article concludes. In the Guardian, specialist environmental correspondent Geoffrey Lean also discusses Al Jaber’s comments, but writes that his “claim that green policies damage economic growth is wrong and highly damaging”. Al Jaber must be held accountable for his remarks on phaseout of fossil fuels “on pain of resignation”, concludes Lean, and must now withdraw his reckless remarks and deliver a phase-out decision in Dubai.

Numerous other opinion pieces focused on COP28 have been published, including Times columnist Hugo Rifkind arguing that holding the summit in the UAE is a reminder that “even when decarbonisation becomes profitable, it will be fought bitterly”. In the Guardian, writer and lecturer Alexander Hurst argues that “an EU-led ‘climate club’ is our best hope of systemic action” on climate change. Writer Hugo Dixon urges readers to imagine “an alternative, better way to fight climate change”, than the COP process in an article in Reuters. In the Times, economics editor Mehreen Khan writes that the “west’s climate culture wars risk leaving poorer nations out in [the] cold”. In the New York Times, visiting fellow at the Oxford Martin School Dr Erle C. Ellis says as leaders gather for COP28, they need to rethink climate change, which was caused by “failures to assign and enforce social responsibilities”. 

Contrary to claims, the Fridays for Future environmental youth movement has not “been radicalised” or “become political” following statements made about Gaza, writes climate activist Greta Thunberg – together with members of Fridays for Future Sweden Alde Nilsson, Jamie Mater and Raquel Frescia – in the Guardian. “We have always been political, because we have always been a movement for justice. Standing in solidarity with Palestinians and all affected civilians has never been in question for us,” they continue. Advocating for climate justice “fundamentally comes from a place of caring about people and human rights”, and that means “speaking up when people suffer, are forced to flee their homes or are killed – regardless of the cause”, Thunberg writes. “The horrific murders of Israeli civilians by Hamas cannot in any way legitimise Israel’s ongoing war crimes. Genocide is not self-defence, nor is it in any way a proportionate response,” the article adds. The writers condemn the rise in anti-semitism and Islamophobia in recent weeks, and grieves the lives lost. “Demanding an end to this inexcusable violence is a question of basic humanity, and we call on everyone who can to do so. Silence is complicity. You cannot be neutral in an unfolding genocide,” they conclude.

The debate around US president Joe Biden’s “back-door electric-vehicle mandate” is a preview of what we can expect in the 2024 election campaign, argues an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. While the Environmental Protection Agency has stated it “is not imposing an EV mandate”, its proposed tailpipe emissions standards for greenhouse gases would effectively require that EV make up two-thirds of car sales in 2032, the article notes. Democrats have noted that Republican legislation would “stifle innovation”, but “car makers could continue to improve battery technologies”, it says, adding: “They merely wouldn’t be forced to lose money mass-producing EVs for consumers who don’t want them. Why can’t Democrats let producers meet the market demand for consumers?” If EVs were “as popular as the climate lobby claims, the administration wouldn’t have to mandate them, and Democrats wouldn’t be dissembling about what they’re doing”, the article concludes.

Increasing wildfires globally are “exceeding biological thresholds of resilience”, causing ecosystems to store less carbon, new research finds. The research reviews existing scientific papers to “synthesise the current understanding of above- and below-ground processes that govern carbon loss and recovery across diverse ecosystems”. It concludes: “Growing evidence suggests that plants compensate for fire damage by allocating carbon belowground to access nutrients released by fire, while wildfire selects for microbial communities with rapid growth rates and the ability to metabolise pyrolysed carbon.” In other words, evidence suggests plants are more likely to store carbon underground after a fire, where it is increasingly being digested by microbes that cause it to be released back into the atmosphere.

The rapid retreat of Pine Island Glacier (PIG), a part of the West Antarctic marine ice sheet, in the 1970s was “self-enhancing and irreversible”, new research says. The study combines ice data records and an ice-flow model to examine the recent retreat of PIG. The results suggest that “by the early 1970s, the retreat of PIG had reached a point beyond which its original position at the ridge could not be recovered, even during subsequent periods of cooler ocean conditions”. The irreversible phase ended by the early 1990s after almost 40km of retreat and 0.34mm added to global average sea level, the research says, making PIG the main contributor to rising sea levels from the Antarctic ice sheet in this period.