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Among the 100,000 participants, many represent business. This is not necessarily good for progress in the fight against climate change.
Almost 100,000 women and men from almost 200 countries traveled to COP28 in Dubai – from advisors to youth speakers. There are no exact figures, but it is obvious that more participants than ever before come from the private sector.
A wide variety of companies meet in Dubai that have something to do with climate protection, but increasingly more broadly with environmental protection. The Swiss financial sector is also prominently represented.
The climate conference has taken on the character of a second World Economic Forum, a WEF, says, for example, the Swiss State Secretary for International Financial Affairs, Daniela Stoffel.
Business must be on board
You are faced with the decision of whether you also want to assess climate and environmental protection economically, says Stoffel. Ultimately, measures would have to be taken in order to “preserve a type of nature that is necessary from an economic point of view – and that secures a common future for us on the planet.”
Accordingly, financial products that generate profits when the environment is protected have become a big topic in the industry. They are negotiated, discussed and sold in Dubai.
Legend:
Humanity’s CO2 emissions have never been as high as this year, and at the same time such a high annual average temperature has never been recorded anywhere in the world. Drastic measures to quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be urgently needed.
Keystone/Peter Dejong
In addition to the representative of the Swiss financial center, the project manager from Kenya is also looking for donors for his reforestation project. Jonathan Muriuku of Restore Africa is confident he will find them here. “There was a lot of interest in our project at a forum with investors yesterday,” he says.
Oil lobby wants to delay negotiations
Many of the business representatives at COP28 are not directly involved in the UN climate negotiations. Nevertheless, they flew to Dubai.
The representatives of the fossil energy lobby are not aiming at ambitious climate protection, but rather at delaying negotiations.
Does this advance climate protection? Yes and no, says Stefan Salzmann. He is responsible for energy and climate policy at the Fastenaktion aid organization and as an observer in Dubai.
“If economic interests run counter to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, it is critical for climate protection,” he says. In particular, Salzmann notes that the fossil energy lobby is strongly represented in Dubai. “The aim is not to achieve ambitious climate protection, but rather to delay negotiations. This is not good.”
Important promoters for renewable energies
On the other hand, it is good that many companies want to get involved in the expansion of renewable energies, for example. At COP28, they put pressure on states to make a clear commitment to more climate protection. However, the local population should not be forgotten, emphasizes the aid agency representative.
What seems clear is that the mere presence of so many representatives of the private sector shows that climate policy now affects and interests all areas of society and the economy. Things were completely different just a few years ago.