This is the fourth blog in a series about COP 28 from CIPL supporter Amy Quirk
California, a world-class economy and environmental leader, continues to innovate at COP28.
Technically, the “parties” negotiating at each Conference of the Parties are national governments, so the State of California participates at the subnational level to have an impact.
For example, California officially announced the creation of The Subnational Methane Action Coalition on December 3, 2023 in Dubai. The founding signatories, including jurisdictions in Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Nigeria and India, had registered their commitment in September to reduce methane. By the formal December 3rd announcement, there were new coalition members from other regions of Brazil and the United States and from Canada, South Korea, Bolivia, Germany and Spain.
This coalition is globally significant. It coordinates the work of jurisdictions responsible for overseeing and regulating methane sources such as those in agriculture, energy and landfills. The agreement is “to share goals and best practices in reducing the short-lived climate pollutant that accounts for almost 30% of current global warming and is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period”.
Since city and state governments actually implement many climate change commitments, such as those in the Paris Agreement, subnational collaborations became critical when former President Trump withdrew the national government from the treaty in November of 2020.
Although President Biden eventually reversed the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, in the interim, California became a founding member of the U.S. Climate Alliance, formed in 2017 to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The Alliance is a “bipartisan coalition of 25 governors securing America’s net-zero future by advancing state-led, high-impact climate action.”. California continues to participate domestically in the Alliance for impact internationally.
California’s leadership in these subnational collaborations influenced a historic development in Dubai, The COP28 Local Climate Action Summit. It is a “first-of-its-kind” summit “in recognition of the critical role local leaders play in reducing emissions, addressing climate risk, and supercharging national efforts to move further and faster on climate progress.”
There is so much more to learn about California’s work in Dubai. The State of California’s Delegation to COP28 is posting updates the California Interfaith Power & Light community may access here:
Wade Crowfoot (@WadeCrowfoot), Secretary – California Natural Resources Agency
David Hochschild (@ChairHochschild), Chair California Energy Commission
Karen Ross (@agsecross), Secretary, California Department of Food & Agriculture
Christina Snider-Ashtari (@CATribalAffairs), Secretary, Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs
Lauren Sanchez (@lsanchez020), Senior Environmental Advisor, Office of Governor Newsom
From Dubai,
Beyond COP28: The Innovation Zone
This is the third blog in a series about COP 28 from CIPL supporter Amy Quirk 
There is another conference venue. Beyond COP28’s Expo City campus, and closer to the Arabian Gulf, is the Innovation Zone in the Madinat Jumeirah Conference and Events Centre.
The Innovation Zone’s campus and purpose differ from COP28, yet they are complimentary.
The COP28 campus is in Expo City. It serves as the locus for negotiations among national governments, the actual “parties” who meet at these conferences. That campus includes the Blue Zone, for accredited party and observer delegates, and the Green Zone, open to the ticketed public. (You can read more about these spaces in blog #1 here). The Faith Pavilion is located there as well. (Read more about the Faith Pavilion in blog #2 here)
In contrast, Climate Action’s Innovation Zone is a separate campus, operating alongside COP28, but functioning differently. It brings together leaders and practitioners from “business, finance, cities, regions and countries to drive climate action at speed and scale.” The goal is to facilitate cross-sector collaboration and partnerships for capacity building and problem solving.
Run by the UK-based Climate Action, it will be open from Monday, December 4th through Friday, December 8th.
For the faith community, the Innovation Zone offers valuable insights into international business, finance and investment interests addressing climate change issues. These participants may be potential partners in California Interfaith Power & Light’s work. While communicating with governmental entities (local, regional, state and federal) is vital, connecting with the private sector is important as well.
Here are three examples of how the Innovation Zone functions.
Scheduled for Monday, December 4th and Tuesday, December 5th, the Sustainable Innovation Forum’s mission is to promote transformative innovation, to explore the actions needed “to transition to a nature positive, net zero, just, and equitable global economy” while forging “cross-sector partnerships, identifying effective business action, and discovering innovative solutions.” The point is to break down silos to accelerate ambition and achieve results.
The extensive roster of speakers includes leaders the CIPL community may recognize:
Ambassador Patricia Espinosa, CEO and Founding Partner of onepoint5, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (leading toward full implementation of the Paris Agreement)
Tom Steyer, Co-Executive Chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions
Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency
For more information click here.
Wednesday, December 6th is the Sustainable Finance Forum, a significant finance sector event held alongside COP28. The hosts include Climate Action, the Principles for Responsible Investment and UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative.
The aim is to align sustainable finance with the real economy and “enable a just transition to a net-zero, nature positive global economy.” Forum participants will address “best practices to identify, measure, disclose, and manage sustainability risks in the financial sector.”
For more information click here.
The Island of Hope site is designed to bring together “key global actors from small island states and climate-vulnerable regions, donors, investors and solution providers.”
It is curated by Island Innovation, a global network to advance innovation and sustainable change across island communities worldwide.
For information about the Island of Hope click here.
Online registration for virtual participation in the entire Innovation Zone is available here.
This is the second blog in a series about COP 28 from CIPL supporter Amy Quirk
Welcome to a historic collaboration among people of faith. Located in the Blue Zone, where international negotiators convene, the Faith Pavilion is open to delegates at COP28 and to you via live-streaming.
“In response to the growing climate crisis, faith communities are coming together to host the first-ever Faith Pavilion at COP28. It brings together a wide range of stakeholders to call for urgent action, inspire the world with solutions, and demonstrate the pivotal role of faith communities in tackling the climate crisis in support of people and the planet.”
The pavilion is adjacent to key meeting sites and, hopefully, signals the moral authority of the world’s major religions in these negotiations:
The pavilion is hosted by the Muslim Council of Elders in collaboration with the “COP28 Presidency, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and a diverse coalition of global partners including the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, the Episcopal Diocese of California, the Peace Department, the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), and over 50 faith organizations.”
As depicted by the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, there are six goals for the Faith Pavilion:
Here is the schedule of events from Friday, December 1, 2023 through Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
One event may be of particular interest due to recent news reports about fossil fuel interests at COP28:
Background information about the treaty is available here.
The events will be live-streamed, but please note that the times listed are local to Dubai.
I hope to see you there!
COP28 begins November 30, 2023
This is the first in a series of posts about COP 28 from CIPL supporter Amy Quirk, who is attending in Dubai.
Come, experience this environmental conference. Our faith communities can access various aspects of COP28 without traveling to Dubai. Some pathways are available now and more may open soon.
The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international climate summit. World leaders gather to collaborate on solutions to tackle climate change. There are now 198 Parties (197 countries plus the European Union) to the Convention, constituting near universal membership.
Here is a brief history of UN Climate negotiations through the years.
This year is the 28th Conference, hosted by the United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12, 2023 in Dubai.
You are welcome to attend as well. Here’s how.
Let’s begin with a depiction of the COP28 site in the Expo City district of Dubai. This visual may help you orient yourself.
The Blue Zone
The Blue Zone is open to accredited party and observer delegates. It hosts the formal negotiations across the two weeks of the conference.
Though members of the public, who are not accredited delegates, cannot attend the conference in person, many events in the Blue Zone, such as “the plenary sessions of the bodies, the high-level segment with heads of states, many press conferences and side events will be webcast live for the public on unfccc.int”
All events in the U.S. Center at COP28 pavilion within the Blue Zone will be live-streamed, recorded and posted for viewing later. View the schedule of events here.
And avail yourselves of live-streaming and recordings at the U.S. Center at COP28 here.
The Green Zone
The Green Zone is open to the ticketed public to explore climate innovations and technology, interactive exhibits, art, film screenings, and talks.
Within the Green Zone will be these interest-area hubs:
- Energy Transition Hub
- Knowledge Hub
- Climate Finance Hub
- Technology & Innovation Hub
- Startup Village
- Humanitarian Hub
- Youth Hub
- Greening Education Hub
Here is the latest schedule for events within the Green Zone.
The UNFCCC has provided a listing of social media access points for all COP28 events. Hopefully, one or more of these will help you experience the conference wherever you are.
Let’s go!
Beyond COP28: The Innovation Zone