IntelBrief: Politics, Potential, and False Promises at COP28

Bottom Line Up Front

• Growing tensions between business and climate interests have been displayed alongside international political divisions during this year’s annual global UN climate conference, known as the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• As the host of this year’s conference, the United Arab Emirates has faced numerous controversies over contradictions between its national energy interests and international climate goals.
• Global South leaders have challenged countries in the Global North over the seemingly insufficient investment in mitigating the harm of their outsized contributions to climate change, while some Middle Eastern heads of state used the forum to speak out against Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza.
• The UN has found that the international community’s current national emissions reduction goals will be insufficient to prevent the Earth from warming by the critical 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold by 2030.