Context

The Petersberg Dialogue on Climate Change was held in Berlin to discuss the way forward towards COP28.

About the Conference:

• Around 40 countries attended the conference.
• It was hosted by Germany and the United Arab Emirates, which is going to host 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 
• Purpose:
  • The need for “cleaning-up our economies — breaking our fossil fuel addiction and driving decarbonisation in every sector” to achieve a 5 degree global warming pathway was discussed.
  • The Agenda calls for coal phaseout by 2030 in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, and
  • By 2040 in all others, as well as achieving net Zero electricity generation and decarbonising major sectors.

COP 28:

• The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference is going to convene from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• It will comprise of:
  • the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 28);
  • the fifth meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 5);
  • the 18th meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 18);
  • the 59th meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 59); and
  • The 59th meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 59).

Significance of the event:

• The first Global Stocktake of the implementation of the Paris Agreement will conclude at COP 28.
• Each stocktake is a two-year process that happens every five years, with the aim of assessing the world’s collective progress towards achieving its climate goals.

Key points for Paris Agreement (COP 21):

• The Climate Ambition Summit to mark the 5th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement started on 12th December 2020 at Glasgow, Scotland.
• It aimed to provide a platform for government and non-governmental leaders to demonstrate their commitment to the Paris Agreement and the multilateral process.
• The Goal of Paris agreement was:
  • To curtail the rise of global temperature this century below 2-degree Celsius, above pre-industrial levels; and also pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
  • Develop mechanisms to help and support countries that are very vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.
  • An example would be countries like the Maldives facing threat due to sea-level rise.
  • Confirms the obligation that developed countries have towards developing countries, by providing them financial and technological support.