COP28: 'Exciting’ language on fossil fuels and a major climate march on day 9 of the UN summit

Mangroves win vital restoration and protection

With nature in the spotlight at COP28 today, 21 countries have endorsed the Mangrove Breakthrough, a project to restore and protect 15 million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030.

Not only are mangroves biodiversity hotspots, they act as carbon sinks, improve and maintain local water quality and help reduce coastal erosion.

“These critical ecosystems provide win-win-win solutions for climate, biodiversity and people,” says Pepe Clarke, WWF Global Oceans Lead.

“Their protection and restoration generate excellent return on investment, which is why the Mangrove Breakthrough is such a powerful tool to deliver impact at scale.

“When we properly finance the restoration, protection and sustainable management of ocean ecosystems, we unlock powerful nature-based solutions to address climate change.”

In Europe, the project has been endorsed by Belgium, Germany, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.

A massive protest at #Cop28 for the global day of action. Cries of #CeasefireNOW mixing with climate justice now and Indigenous drumming pic.twitter.com/FWS4MmFNaS

— Lottie Limb (@lottielimb) December 9, 2023

Army of COP28 greenwashing bots discovered on social media

Social media platform X - formerly Twitter - is swarming with 1,900 greenwashing bots that promote an environmentally friendly image for the current COP28 presidency, disinformation expert Marc Owen Jones has discovered.

The extensive bot network is seemingly aligned with UAE foreign policy. The researcher has so far identified 22 ‘generals’ who kickstart the conversation, and more than 1,850 accounts that function as ‘minions’, amplifying the content generated by the general accounts.

Similar bots were identified prior to COP back in June, and those accounts were deleted later.

🚨🧵1/ I have identified around 1900 Twitter/X bots #greenwashing COP28. They are part of a much larger bot network, likely connected to the UAE or a UAE-aligned entity. They post on issues ranging from Sudan to Mauritania. I will focus on #COP28 here though > #disinformation pic.twitter.com/MrPUgLIVaw

— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) December 8, 2023

A few photos from the huge climate march inside the COP28 venue in Dubai this afternoon, which started just after 3.30pm GST.

Chants of "ceasefire now" mingled with "climate justice now". There were a large number of banners expressing solidarity with Palestine, and watermelon imagery used to symbolise the state. 

Drumming from Indigenous groups provided a strong backing track as the protest made its way up one of the main venues inside the conference blue zone.

The UNFCCC approved the march, as well as calls and banners - though protesters were still limited in what they could chant, on threat of being penalised and potentially de-badged, an organiser announced at the start.

Activists around the world are gathering for the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice. Here are some scenes from Manchester, UK.

#NowWeRise Together for Climate Justice in Manchester!

Calling for an end to fossil fuels and to Make Polluters Pay!#StopEACOP #NoNewCoal #COP28 pic.twitter.com/X2cJAqmpz4

— North West FOE (@NorthWestFOE) December 9, 2023

‘It adds some human feeling’: Why one peace and climate campaigner is joining the march at COP28

Campaigners of all stripes are gathering for the climate march in Dubai’s Expo City this afternoon.

We caught up with Katrin Geyer, environment advisor at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), an NGO which uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. 

Global military activity adds 5.5 per cent of total global emissions (compared to around 2.5 per cent for civilian aviation). The richest counties spend 30 times more on their militaries than on climate finance. 

WILPF are at COP highlighting these shocking statistics, and calling for states to reduce military spending and re-allocate it to the climate emergency.

“We're really trying to raise awareness and shift the narrative for demonetisation to be included in the official negotiations at COP,” says Katrin. “We know that it's not going to happen this year, but we're seeing more and more awareness and support from the climate movement, as well as the peace movement.”

COP28 featured a peace themed day for the first time last week. But Katrin says the declaration that emerged from it failed to look at one of the root causes of the climate crisis and conflict: rampant militarisation.

She explains why the climate march this afternoon is important:

“I can imagine that people watching what's going on at COP from afar are thinking, 'what is even happening, they’re not getting anything done'. But one of the key benefits of a place like COP is bringing together some of the biggest climate justice activists in the world. And they have so much influence and power and they will come here, connect, learn, amplify each other's messages, and then go back to their own contexts where they spread the message.

So I think it's a really powerful show of solidarity; also solidarity with what's going on in Gaza right now. And it does provide some kind of human feeling to what can be a sanitised and cold and depressing space.”

Global policy campaign manager for Oil Change International, Romain Ioualalen, broke down how negotiations went last night in a humorous and accessible way.

Sitting in tonight's the GST negotiations on fossil fuel phase out #COP28.

Here is what countries are saying, using normal human language, a thread 👇

— Romain Ioualalen (@Rlalen) December 8, 2023

Azerbaijan says there is 'overall consensus' on Baku hosting COP29

Azerbaijan's ecology minister Mukhtar Babayev said on Saturday there is an "overall consensus" that his country should host COP29.

"We're very grateful to all countries in particular to the Eastern European group and the [COP28 summit] host United Arab Emirates for their support," he said.

Their approval is yet to be officially confirmed and a formal go-ahead would still be needed from the nearly 200 countries attending COP28.

If successful, Baku's bid would mean a second year with a petrostate as host of the UN climate conference. 

‘Alarming’: Big meat and dairy lobbyists triple at COP28

340 lobbyists from the industrial agriculture industry are present at COP28, an investigation by DeSmog has revealed.

Meat and dairy lobbyists are especially well represented with 120 delegates in Dubai, triple the number that attended COP27. This includes the North American Meat Institute, which has a history of denying climate science.

France gave country badges to dairy giant Danone and supermarket chain Carrefour, while Denmark brought in dairy firm Arla.

This drowns out small-scale family farmers, who produce a third of the world’s food yet have only 100 representatives at COP28.

Ahead of the summit, DeSmog and The Guardian reported that industrial meat and dairy companies and their affiliated lobbying groups were preparing a major campaign to convince policymakers that meat was good for the environment.

“With greater scrutiny over emissions from meat and dairy companies, it is not surprising they are stepping up their game to head off any COP outcome that might hinder their operations,” says Ben Lilliston of the non-profit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. “Even so, a tripling of delegates is alarming - it drives home the urgent need for reforms that limit corporate influence at UN climate meetings.”

Millions of green jobs are open to people with the right skills. The problem is many don’t have them

We spoke to LinkedIn co-founder Allen Blue on the sidelines of COP28 to find out how to prepare the world’s workforce for a green future.

Activists taking the opportunity to highlight human rights abuses at COP28 appear to be being censored.

In this image, protesters are required to cover part of a poster with the image of jailed activist Mohamed al-Siddiq.

He is one of the ‘UAE 94’ dissidents being held in Emirati jails beyond the end of their sentences, alongside human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor and at least 62 others, according to Amnesty International.

Around 500 carbon capture lobbyists at COP28

At least 475 lobbyists working on carbon capture and storage (CCS) have been granted attendance to COP28, new analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) reveals.

It’s the first time that CCS attendees have been monitored, and speaks to their growing influence within climate spheres - despite the fact that they are promoting unproven technologies that scientists say won’t curb global heating.

It follows the revelation that there are a record 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists inside COP28 this year, as calculated by the Kick Big Polluters Out Coalition earlier this week.

Lili Fuhr, Director of the Fossil Economy Program at CIEL comments: 

The fossil fuel industry’s presence in Dubai and their aggressive push to sell the idea that carbon pollution can be ‘managed’ and ‘captured’ is a sign of their desperation. CCS, the industry’s lifeline and latest delay tactic, is a smokescreen we must not fall for. [...] 

We can’t afford to allow CCS and fossil fuel lobbyists to peddle false solutions and distract from the real problem: the ongoing production and burning of fossil fuels. It’s time to confront the core driver of the climate crisis, not entertain ineffective band-aids.

More on the wider fossil fuel lobbyists story here:

Record number of fossil fuel lobbyists allowed to attend COP28 climate talks, campaigners say

What is happening on the Global Day of Action?

As is typical on the Saturday midway through COP, today is the global day of climate action. We’ll see climate campaigners take to the avenues inside the UN-run blue zone at 3.30pm GST, putting pressure on negotiators for an ambitious COP28 deal.

This COP28 venue is huge - practically the size of a city - but is tightly governed by the UN Climate Secretariat. Civil society groups say the rules on protest have been “way more restrictive” than at any COP before, including last year in Egypt. 

Specifically, it’s protests for Palestine that they claim have been restricted to an unprecedented degree, as we covered in the blog yesterday. Undeterred, activists say there is no climate justice without peace, and they will be marching in solidarity with Gazans as well as calling for a fossil fuel phase out and other key climate demands.

“We will be marching with banner that says ceasefire now, end occupation,” Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want told reporters yesterday. 

This language has been highly contested, and campaigners say they are still forbidden from naming Israel, or carrying Palestinian flags.

Good morning from Dubai! The 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, or COP28, is entering its ninth day.

The themes for today are nature, land use and oceans. The world reached a major deal to protect nature at the UN biodiversity conference last year, which took place just after the COP27 climate summit. So COP28 is an important occasion to bring these twin crises into conversation - and see how the agreement to restore at least 30 per cent of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030 aligns with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5C.

As for keeping 1.5C in sight: negotiations are continuing. A new version of the core text being discussed at COP8 - the Global Stocktake - was released yesterday afternoon, to some cautious optimism from developing countries and campaigners. It includes four possible choices on fossil fuels, which all refer to a phase out, rather than a phase down.

BREAKING #COP28 new text on global stocktake

Now 5 options on fossil fuel phaseout:

1⃣phase out all fossil fuels in line w/ science
2⃣as above + 1.5C + Paris principles
3⃣"unabated" + peak + "predominantly" FF free 2050
4⃣unabated + net-zero
5⃣"no text"https://t.co/NtOc6QPYfw pic.twitter.com/kTcilhS3E1

— Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) December 8, 2023

“We are excited about the possibility of strong language on phasing out fossil fuels coming out of this COP,” says ActionAid USA’s Director of Policy and Campaigns, Brandon Wu.

But greater climate finance is key to bridging an agreement between developed and developing countries. “A global fossil fuel phaseout that isn’t backed up by financial support for developing countries will place unrealistic and impossible expectations on those countries, many of which are already locked into destructive cycles of debt and extraction,” adds Wu.

The possibility of an ambitious deal on fossil fuels has got OPEC+ rattled. In a leaked letter seen by the Guardian newspaper yesterday, the oil cartel has warned its member countries with “utmost urgency” that “pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences” at COP28.

Catch up with our coverage of COP28 yesterday, where children were centre stage, and civil society groups said they were facing unprecedented levels of restriction around protest:

COP28: Negotiations resume as countries push towards a final deal at the UN climate summit