The COP28 has concluded with an array of new commitments towards green energy and technology to help transition away from fossil fuels.
Speaking at the closing of the summit, the COP28’s president Dr. Sultan Al Jaber stated that attendees should feel “proud” of the progress made during the summit which began on the 30 November.
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“The world needed to find a new way. By following our North Star, we have found that path,” he said, adding: “we have worked very hard to secure a better future for our people and our planet.”
Commitments agreed upon by the 198 attendee parties include a target for all attending countries to triple their use of renewable energy sources, restructure their financial aid to green technology and encourage economy wide emissions targets.
Additionally, attendees agreed to submit a nationally determined contribution to decarbonisation in two years’ time. There is an expectation for these contributions to feature the most recent scientific research of that country.
As part of this commitment, extra financial aid to the science and technology community can be expected.
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By GlobalDataThe European Commission’s President Ursula Von der Leyen has already committed €2.3bn towards the green energy sector.
The winners of the COP28’s TechSprint were also announced on 5 December. Teams from the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong won the competition run by COP28 to create sustainable tech solutions using AI, blockchain and IoT.
Intensel, the Hong Kong winners of the AI category, created an analytics platform that uses AI to monitor the environment and climate risk of an area. This system can then predict the financial risk that an area’s climate poses.
However, this year’s COP summit was not without controversy.
The Guardian reports from the event stated that COP28’s President questioned the science behind the phasing out of fossil fuels whilst in conversation with Mary Robinson, current chair of advocacy group the Elders.
Some tech industry insiders also cast doubt over the promises made at the event.
Cloud software company IFS’ chief sustainability officer, Stephen Keys, stated that although it was positive that 200 countries had voted to phase out fossil fuels entirely, he questioned whether the tech industry would receive the proper knowledge and tools to meet these targets.
“Understanding how businesses can be more energy efficient is crucial to make this a reality and reporting is a vital part of this,” Keys said, “However, the full scope of ESG goes beyond a few metrics; it involves deeper visibility across your value chain, which is often challenging.”
Cross-functional collaboration between a business’s departments would be paramount for success said Keys, but evidence-based targets and emission transparency requires the right support from governments.
CEO of non-governmental organisation Global Witness, Mike Davis, shared a starker warning.
“Governments have agreed, after 28 attempts, what we’ve known for decades – we must reduce fossil fuel use. At a COP run by petrostates and flooded by thousands of oil and gas lobbyists, that simple acknowledgment is a hard-won victory,” he said, “But we should be realistic about what the failure to agree a phase-out means: fossil fuels forever.”
Serious climate action, Davis stated, means absolutely no loopholes or unproven technology.
A 2023 survey from research company GlobalData further demonstrates a sense of trepidation within the tech industry around ESG (environment, social and governance) promises.
Although over 40% of respondents stated that their companies had ESG policies in place, a staggering 53% of respondents also answered that they believed many companies only see ESG policies as a marketing strategy.
Only 4% of respondents named ESG as their top business concern.
