Read updates from Princeton's student delegation about the 28th Conference of the Parties in the United Arab Emirates.
At these annual conferences, governments assess their countries' progress in addressing climate change, including country reports on greenhouse gas mitigation targets and reports of subsidiary bodies. At this major global convening, heads of state, ministers, and negotiators as well as civil society representatives, researchers, local government representatives, climate activists, industry representatives, and others come together to discuss a range of issues related to addressing climate change.
This year’s COP marks the conclusion of the very first “global stocktake” -- an assessment cycle that will take place every 5 years to monitor and track global progress in implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement. According to the UNFCCC's press release at the start of COP28, "The findings are stark: the world is not on track to limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by the end of this century. It does recognize that countries are developing plans for a net-zero future, and the shift to clean energy is gathering speed, but it makes clear that the transition is nowhere near fast enough yet to limit warming within the current ambitions."
Against the backdrop of these findings, governments continue their negotiations on matters related to finance (long-term climate finance, Green Climate Fund); capacity-building and support for less developed countries; incentivizing early action on nationally determined contributions; and "loss and damage" -- reparations for irreparable harm caused by climate change beyond what communities can (or have the resources to) adapt to. Read additional background on the lead-up to COP28 from the students who attended the Bonn Climate Change Conference in June 2023.
On this page, we'll be posting the reflections of students attending COP28 throughout the two weeks of the conference.
Blogs
December 1st, 2023: First Day at COP28 (Edmund Downie)
December 2nd, 2023: Second Day at COP28 (Loïc De Weerdt)
Source: Avery Barnett
December 7th, 2023: Decarbonization and Resilience in the Caribbean (Avery Barnett)
Source: Brent Efron
December 8th, 2023: Youth Leadership at COP28 (Brent Efron)
December 9th, 2023: The Gap between Climate Mitigation and Finance (Christian Perkins)
December 10th, 2023: Negotiations at COP28 (Achinthya Sivalingam)
December 11th, 2023: Youth Leadership at COP28 Part II (Anthony Solís Cruz)
Source: Charles Fraser