Global heads of state will meet in Dubai on 30 November-12 December 2023 at COP28, the United Nations climate summit, to discuss global action on tackling climate change.

This year’s COP is also the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement – where countries will be able to assess progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. As the official COP28 website states: “We are at a halfway point. It has been 7 years since Paris, with 7 years to go to 2030. We must respond to the facts. We need to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030 and course correct on adaptation, finance and loss and damage.”

Discussions this year will include among other things: renewable energy targets; decarbonisation of the oil & gas industry’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions while investing in clean energy solutions such as low-carbon hydrogen, CCS, and carbon dioxide removal; accelerating the phasedown of unabated coal power; further detail on a “loss and damage” fund; and a revised climate financing framework for MDBs. With the devastating physical effects of climate change making themselves only too evident this summer, we can expect two weeks of heated discussions and gruelling negotiations. 

The Linklaters ESG team will be following the negotiations closely and keeping you updated on what this means in practice for corporates and the financial sector across the globe.