The EESC at COP 28

The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference will convene from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will actively participate in the annual negotiations as in previous years.

At COP28, the first Global Stocktake of the implementation of the Paris Agreement will conclude. Each stocktake is a two-year process, every five years, to assess the world’s collective progress towards achieving its climate goals. The first Global Stocktake is at the mid-point of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs, including Goal 13 (climate action). 

In a letter to parties dated July 2023, the Presidency announced that COP 28 will focus on four paradigm shifts:

• Fast-tracking the energy transition and slashing emissions before 2030;
• Transforming climate finance by delivering on old promises and setting the framework for a new deal on finance;
• Putting nature, people, lives, and livelihoods at the heart of climate action; and
• Mobilising for the most inclusive COP ever.

The EESC delegation will be part of the EU delegation and will count on the participation of the EESC President, the six members of the Ad Hoc Group on COP, plus the EESC youth delegate to the UNFCCC. 

The EESC delegation will engage in meaningful conversations, bilateral meetings and side events calling on the EU institutions and Governments to step up climate ambition, following science and scientific information, and focusing on the role of organised civil society to accelerate climate action.

In the EESC resolution adopted in 2022 Jointly tackling an existential threat - social partners and civil society for the implementation of ambitious climate action, the EESC stressed that we are living through a climate emergency, highlighted that policy decisions need to respond to science and scientific information; and called on the European Commission and the EU Member States to take a leadership role and to update the nationally determined contribution (NDC) following the Glasgow Climate Pact. The key messages from the 2022 Resolution remain valid.

In addition, in 2023, the EESC adopted two specific contributions on implementing climate action on food and agriculture and on the just transition work programme as an input to the negotiations.

The EESC has also expressed concern about the sustained assault on human rights and freedoms as reflected in the Joint Statement: UAE Human Rights Record Ahead of COP28 by Human Rights Watch and calls on the UAE government to comply with its obligations under international human rights laws.