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Last edited 13 Dec 2023

COP28 Closing plenary remarks and UN summary of events

1 Closing statements H.E. DR. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber from live feed
2 COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber remarks as prepared for delivery
3 COP28 Agreement Signals “Beginning of the End” of the Fossil Fuel Era
4 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Closing statements H.E. DR. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber from live feed

Thank you thank you all for your great statements we have nwo reached the end of our joint plenary meeting. Delegates colleagues and friends I must say that you did it, you delivered. This is a true victory of multilateralism. This is a victory of unit. This is a victory for solidarity. This is a victory for true collaboration, for international partnership and for international cooperation. It is a true victory for those who are sincere and genuine in helping address this global climate challenge. It is a true victory for those who are pragmatic, results oriented and are driven by the science and led by the science.

It has been my privilege to help guide this process and help bring a historic turning point that puts the world back on track to keeping 1.5 within reach. We have practised what we have been preaching and we delivered a true road map that will put us back on the right track and that will help course correct.

I also want to thank the very many people that are in this room and anothers outside of this room, representing civil society, the business community, the faith leaders, local leaders and many others who I know for a fact have helped better inform this process and have contributed in a big way to achieving this historic result. I would also like to recognise two very special individuals, Gianni from my team and Annette, from the secretariat, plus their teams for their hard work. For their commitment and for the dedication and the fact that they were able to deliver the first global stock take. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I want to emphasise one very important point. This historic game changing result is a testament to the power of inclusivity and it is in fact this inclusivity that will be key to translating this political decision and to real and tangible results in the real world. Allow me to say, thank you all for your understanding, for your engagement, for your guidance and for your continued support, without which this would not have been possible. I thank you and I appreciate all your efforts. Please enjoy the rest of your stay here in the United Arab Emirates and safe travels.

This section is based on the live statement at the Closing Plenary on December 13, 2023.

[edit] COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber remarks as prepared for delivery

Excellencies, colleagues and friends. First let me say As-Salamu Alaykum … and thank you…We have travelled a long road together… in a short amount of time.

Over the last two weeks, we have worked very hard to secure a better future for our people and our planet. We should be proud of our historic achievement. And the United Arab Emirates…my country… is rightly proud of its role in helping you to move this forward. Ladies and gentlemen, the world needed to find a new way. By following our North Star, we have found that path.

We have delivered a comprehensive response to the Global Stocktake and all the other mandates. Together, we have confronted realities and we have set the world in the right direction. We have given it a robust action plan to keep 1.5 within reach. It is a plan that is led by the science. It is a balanced plan, that tackles emissions, bridges the gap on adaptation, reimagines global finance, and delivers on loss and damage.

It is built on common ground. It is strengthened by inclusivity. And it is reinforced by collaboration. It is an enhanced, balanced, but… make no mistake… historic package to accelerate climate action. It is…the UAE Consensus Many said this could not be done. But when I spoke to you at the very start of COP, I promised a different sort of COP. A COP that brought everyone together, private and public sectors, civil society and faith leaders, youth and indigenous peoples. Everyone came together from day one. Everyone united, acted and delivered.

We operationalized loss and damage… and started to fill the fund. We mobilized more than 85-billion-dollars in new financial commitments. We launched ALTÉRRA, the world’s largest catalytic private investor that is 100 percent focused on solutions to climate change. And we delivered world first after world first. A global goal to triple renewables and double energy efficiency. Declarations on agriculture, food and health. Many more oil and gas companies stepping up for the first time on methane and emissions. And… we have language on fossil fuels in our final agreement.

All of these are world firsts. And all of these are crucial actions that will help shape a better, cleaner world with greater, more equitable prosperity. And then we became the first COP to host a change-makers Majlis. And I felt that that was the turning point in our negotiations. You reconnected with your spirit of collaboration, you got out of your comfort zones and started speaking to each other from the heart. That… made the difference. Now, we can truly say that we united, we acted, and we delivered.

Friends… here let me sound a word of caution. An agreement is only as good as its implementation. We are what we do, not what we say. We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible action. If we unite in action, we can have a profoundly positive effect on all our futures. And I mean all our futures. Because inclusivity has been the beating heart of this conference. It kept us going during the difficult days. You never gave up on the process, a process that was driven by solidarity, transparency and a willingness to listen. And everyone has been heard, from indigenous peoples…to global youth…to the Global South.

As a result, we have delivered a paradigm shift that has the potential to redefine our economies. We have reframed the conversation around climate finance. We have integrated the real economy into climate action. And we have moved to a new mindset, where solutions to the climate challenge become the drivers of a new economic age.

Friends…it has been a personal privilege for me to have the opportunity to guide this conference. I am humbled by the commitment I have seen and the unwavering efforts I have witnessed. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all who made this happen. To every country who came and made this COP a success, I say thank you. To every single participant, everyone I met in this special place, I say thank you. You have come in record numbers, you care deeply about the future of this wonderful planet… and so do I. And to you, the delegates, who met me at 4 and 5 am, I also say thank you. And allow me to take this opportunity to express my deepest respect and gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates. I am deeply grateful for his confidence, guidance and constant support. I hope we made you proud. And to my family, who I have seen far too little of over the last year. You inspire and motivate me. I would not be standing here without you.

Thank you. To my team, who have worked non-stop for over a year… and who have supported me every step of the way in this historic process, I also say thank you. Our country has shown that we can deliver on the global stage for the benefit of the planet and its people. We have helped restore faith and trust in multilateralism. And we have shown that humanity can come together… to help humanity. Colleagues…Our task was to build on the foundations that others have laid for us. And I tell you… what we have built together will stand the test of time. Future generations may not know your names, but they will owe every single one of you a debt of gratitude.

We leave Dubai with our heads held high. And our work goes on. In unity and solidarity, we will walk the new path that the UAE Consensus has set for the world. Together, we will follow our North Star. We will follow it from here to Baku and from Baku to Belem. And together, we will secure the future of this beautiful planet for the many generations to come. And let me finish by saying this. I hope that the spirit of partnership, inclusivity and peace that has welcomed you here in the UAE… goes with you from this place…and lives on for the good of all humanity. Thank You.

This section is based on the live statement and the press release 'COP28 President Delivers Remarks at Closing Plenary' dated December 13, 2023.

[edit] COP28 Agreement Signals “Beginning of the End” of the Fossil Fuel Era

[edit] UN Climate Change News, 13 December 2023

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) closed today with an agreement that signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era by laying the ground for a swift, just and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emissions cuts and scaled-up finance. In a demonstration of global solidarity, negotiators from nearly 200 Parties came together in Dubai with a decision on the world’s first ‘global stocktake’ to ratchet up climate action before the end of the decade – with the overarching aim to keep the global temperature limit of 1.5°C within reach.

“Whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell in his closing speech. “Now all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.”

The global stocktake is considered the central outcome of COP28 – as it contains every element that was under negotiation and can now be used by countries to develop stronger climate action plans due by 2025. The stocktake recognizes the science that indicates global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut 43% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, to limit global warming to 1.5°C. But it notes Parties are off track when it comes to meeting their Paris Agreement goals.

The stocktake calls on Parties to take actions towards achieving, at a global scale, a tripling of renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030. The list also includes accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power, phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, and other measures that drive the transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, with developed countries continuing to take the lead.

In the short-term, Parties are encouraged to come forward with ambitious, economy-wide emission reduction targets, covering all greenhouse gases, sectors and categories and aligned with the 1.5°C limit in their next round of climate action plans (known as nationally determined contributions) by 2025.

[edit] Helping countries strengthen resilience to the effects of climate change

The two-week-long conference got underway with the World Climate Action Summit, which brought together 154 Heads of States and Government. Parties reached a historic agreement on the operationalization of the loss and damage fund and funding arrangements – the first time a substantive decision was adopted on the first day of the conference. Commitments to the fund started coming in moments after the decision was gaveled, totaling more than USD 700 million to date.

There was more progress on the loss and damage agenda with an agreement also reached that the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the UN Office for Project Services will host the secretariat of the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage. This platform will catalyze technical assistance to developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

Parties agreed on targets for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and its framework, which identify where the world needs to get to in order to be resilient to the impacts of a changing climate and to assess countries’ efforts. The GGA framework reflects a global consensus on adaptation targets and the need for finance, technology and capacity-building support to achieve them.

[edit] Increasing climate finance

Climate finance took center stage at the conference, with Stiell repeatedly calling it the “great enabler of climate action.”

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) received a boost to its second replenishment with six countries pledging new funding at COP28 with total pledges now standing at a record USD 12.8 billion from 31 countries, with further contributions expected.

Eight donor governments announced new commitments to the Least Developed Countries Fund and Special Climate Change Fund totaling more than USD 174 million to date, while new pledges, totaling nearly USD 188 million so far, were made to the Adaptation Fund at COP28.

However as highlighted in the global stocktake, these financial pledges are far short of the trillions eventually needed to support developing countries with clean energy transitions, implementing their national climate plans and adaptation efforts.

In order to deliver such funding, the global stocktake underscores the importance of reforming the multilateral financial architecture, and accelerating the ongoing establishment of new and innovative sources of finance.

At COP28, discussions continued on setting a ‘new collective quantified goal on climate finance’ in 2024, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries. The new goal, which will start from a baseline of USD 100 billion per year, will be a building block for the design and subsequent implementation of national climate plans that need to be delivered by 2025.

Looking ahead to the transitions to decarbonized economies and societies that lie ahead, there was agreement that the mitigation work programme, which was launched at COP27 last year, will continue until 2030, with at least two global dialogues held each year.

[edit] Event participation and inclusivity

World leaders at COP28 were joined by civil society, business, Indigenous Peoples, youth, philanthropy, and international organizations in a spirit of shared determination to close the gaps to 2030. Some 85,000 participants attended COP28 to share ideas, solutions, and build partnerships and coalitions.

The decisions taken here today also reemphasize the critical importance of empowering all stakeholders to engage in climate action; in particular through the action plan on Action for Climate Empowerment and the Gender Action Plan.

Strengthening collaboration between governments and key stakeholders

In parallel with the formal negotiations, the Global Climate Action space at COP28 provided a platform for governments, businesses and civil society to collaborate and showcase their real-world climate solutions.

The High-Level Champions, under the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, launched their implementation roadmap of 2030 Climate Solutions. These are a set of solutions, with insights from a wide range of non-Party stakeholders on effective measures that need to be scaled up and replicated to halve global emissions, address adaptation gaps and increase resilience by 2030.

The conference also saw several announcements to boost the resilience of food and public health systems, and to reduce emissions related to agriculture and methane.

[edit] Looking ahead

The negotiations on the ‘enhanced transparency framework’ at COP28 laid the ground for a new era of implementing the Paris Agreement. UN Climate Change is developing the transparency reporting and review tools for use by Parties, which were showcased and tested at COP28. The final versions of the reporting tools should be made available to Parties by June 2024.

COP28 also saw Parties agree to Azerbaijan as host of COP29 from 11-22 November 2024, and Brazil as COP30 host from 10-21 November 2025.

The next two years will be critical. At COP29, governments must establish a new climate finance goal, reflecting the scale and urgency of the climate challenge. And at COP30, they must come prepared with new nationally determined contributions that are economy-wide, cover all greenhouse gases and are fully aligned with the 1.5°C temperature limit

“We must get on with the job of putting the Paris Agreement fully to work,” said Stiell. “In early 2025, countries must deliver new nationally determined contributions. Every single commitment – on finance, adaptation, and mitigation – must bring us in line with a 1.5-degree world.”

“My final message is to ordinary people everywhere raising their voices for change,” Stiell added. “Every one of you is making a real difference. In the crucial coming years your voices and determination will be more important than ever. I urge you never to relent. We are still in this race. We will be with you every single step of the way.”

“The world needed to find a new way. By following our North Star, we have found that path,” said COP28 President, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber during his closing speech. “We have worked very hard to secure a better future for our people and our planet. We should be proud of our historic achievement.”

The section is based on the text issued vbia Press Release as 'COP28 Agreement Signals “Beginning of the End” of the Fossil Fuel Era' dated December 13, 2023.