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November 14, 2023
Each year at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries from all over the world—alongside companies, organizations, and subnational governments—convene to set new climate goals while building on past commitments to confront the climate crisis.
Previous COPs saw the launch of numerous commitments and plans. While the expectation is that these commitments will result in measurable action, there is no guarantee. COP28 will take a closer look at implementation through the first-ever global stocktake. The global stocktake assesses the world’s collective progress in addressing the climate crisis. Countries will conclude the stocktake at COP28, but the stocktake’s September 2023 synthesis report has already confirmed that the world is behind schedule to achieve its goal of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels.
COP28 offers an opportunity for countries to reflect and course-correct, leveraging previous announcements and commitments to reach their goals and combat the climate crisis. COP27 in November 2022 led to numerous announcements, such as the Global Offshore Wind Alliance and the Early Warnings for All Action Plan. Additionally, the Just Energy Transition Partnerships, which were launched at COP26, were significantly updated at COP27. This article will summarize where these key initiatives stand.
The United States joined eight other countries in entering the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA), which was launched at COP27 by Denmark, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). GOWA aims to accelerate offshore wind power deployment to combat the climate and energy crises. Renewable offshore wind energy is generated from wind turbines out at sea, where wind speeds are higher. According to IRENA, offshore wind is an effective tool for reaching renewable energy targets since it can be deployed at large scales in a timely manner and at a competitive cost.
IRENA and the International Energy Agency estimate that offshore wind capacity must exceed 2,000 gigawatts globally by 2050 to achieve net-zero emissions and limit global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7°F). The current capacity of offshore wind is just over 60 gigawatts. To close this gap, GOWA parties aim to remove barriers to the deployment of offshore wind and accelerate growth to at least 380 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2030, which will require installing 35 gigawatts of capacity each year throughout the 2020s, and then at least 70 gigawatts annually after 2030.
Since COP27, the United States has made progress in advancing GOWA’s goals in tandem with the Biden-Harris Administration’s domestic goal of reaching 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. So far in 2023, the Department of the Interior (DOI) has approved two new large-scale offshore wind projects, while two previously-approved offshore wind projects are making headway in their construction. According to a fact sheet released by the Biden-Harris Administration, DOI is on track to complete 14 more projects by 2025, representing 27 gigawatts of renewable energy. However, some recent setbacks—including two canceled projects that would have represented over 5 gigawatts of renewable energy—will need to be addressed to keep this work on track.
The Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169) supports the advancement of offshore wind component production through a suite of clean energy tax incentives. DOI and the Department of Energy (DOE) recently released a comprehensive action plan which identifies immediate actions required to connect Atlantic offshore wind projects to the electric grid as well as future actions to address current and anticipated challenges for offshore wind transmission development in the region.
GOWA members convened on March 22, 2023, for their first meeting since the alliance was launched. The meeting served as an opportunity to evaluate progress and exchange ideas on new goals and next steps for the group. GOWA has also welcomed new members like Ørsted (a Danish renewable energy company), the Australian State of Victoria, and other renewable energy companies specializing in consulting, fund management, and development.
At COP27, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced the Early Warnings for All Action Plan (EW4ALL), which calls for targeted investments of $3.1 billion between 2023 and 2027 to improve disaster risk knowledge, observations and forecasting, preparedness and response, and communication of early warnings for every person on Earth. Fifty countries, including the United States, support EW4ALL, which is led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a $33-million commitment to fund early-warning systems.
The average number of weather-related disasters has become five times greater per year in the last 50 years, due in part to climate change, according to a WMO report. While disasters have increased, the global loss of life because of extreme weather has decreased nearly ten-fold. According to WMO, the millions of lives saved can be attributed to advances in monitoring and forecasting hazards, as well as early-response planning. Warnings for weather-related disasters just 24 hours beforehand can reduce damage by 30 percent. Additionally, countries with comprehensive early-warning systems experience mortality rates eight times lower than countries lacking substantial systems.
Despite predictions of increasingly frequent and severe weather-related disasters in the coming years, half of all countries do not have adequate early-warning systems, and even fewer have regulatory frameworks that link early warnings to emergency plans. According to WMO, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are disproportionately on the front lines of the climate crisis, yet they often have worse early-warning coverage.
Since the plan was launched, leaders of EW4ALL have held meetings around the world to facilitate its implementation. EW4ALL had its first regional launch in Barbados in February 2023. At the launch, leaders from the United Nations and the Caribbean identified practical deployment measures. Another launch of EW4ALL took place in Nairobi, Kenya, during the Africa Climate Summit in September 2023. The United States has committed $28 million to early-warning systems as part of a package of investments announced at COP27 to accelerate adaptation action in Africa.
Workshops for EW4ALL also started this year in Tajikistan, Ethiopia, and the Maldives. In these workshops, leaders of EW4ALL and government agencies discussed recent advances and anticipated challenges of implementing early-warning systems.
In March 2023, Secretary-General Guterres convened an advisory panel consisting of leaders from U.N. agencies, multilateral development banks, humanitarian organizations, civil society, and insurance and IT companies. The panel discussed ways to gain more political, technological, and financial support for EW4ALL. EW4ALL continued to make progress in September at the U.N. Climate Ambition Summit, when the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) announced an investment of $1.3 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). This has kick-started a fund aimed at delivering $157 million from GCF and partner governments to EW4ALL.
COP26 marked the launch of Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs), an initiative by wealthier nations to help fund clean energy transitions in coal-dependent developing nations. To help the growth of JTEPs, the donor pool has expanded since COP26 to include multilateral development banks, national development banks, and development finance institutions. The U.S. Treasury Department also announced a billion-dollar loan agreement to advance U.S. climate commitments, including JETPs, one month before COP27.
South Africa was the first JETP recipient announced at COP26, with France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union promising a total of $8.5 billion in financing. South Africa’s coal reliance makes it the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in Africa. At COP27, South Africa published its JETP Implementation Plan (JETP IP), which highlighted electricity generation, electric vehicles, and green hydrogen as priority sectors for financing. The JETP IP will require $98 billion to meet its aims—far more than the $8.5 billion promised at COP26. South Africa has since made slow progress on its JETP IP as the country faces internal divisions, coal lobbyist resistance, and blackouts prolonging its use of coal power plants. These setbacks pile onto concerns about JETPs being debt traps and a revival of colonial-imperial relationships.
At COP27, the G7 countries, led by the United States and Japan, announced that they would launch JETPs with India, Indonesia, Senegal, and Vietnam. Since then, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Senegal have secured $20 billion, $15.5 billion, and $2.7 billion, respectively, through JTEPs. India has yet to join, with experts not expecting a deal in the near future as India does not plan to phase out coal anytime soon.
Despite some progress, Indonesia’s JETP is facing several challenges. As in the case of South Africa, Indonesia’s funding needs dwarf what has been promised by industrialized nations. The Indonesian government estimates it would need $600 billion to decommission just 15 gigawatts of coal power (one-third of Indonesia’s coal power capacity) and replace it with renewable capacity by 2050. Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati also noted complications in talks with international partners due to rising borrowing costs. Planners submitted a proposed JTEP IP to Indonesia’s government and its JTEP partners but delayed its public release. The JETP agreement allows for the development of new coal plants in accordance with Indonesia’s 2022 regulation, which facilitates coal development if it boosts the value of natural resources or is part of nationally strategic projects. All of these developments are taking place within the challenging context of the Indonesian political establishment’s links to the coal industry.
Vietnam and Senegal have also taken steps this year to advance their JTEP deals. In July 2023, Vietnam organized a secretariat to complete a JETP IP by November. Senegal reached the first step in its JTEP deal by securing financing in June 2023 and is now in the process of drafting its JETP IP.
During COP27, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry announced a package of U.S. investments to accelerate adaptation action in Africa. Several U.S. agencies attended the Africa Climate Summit in September 2023, where leaders from across the continent met to discuss the climate crisis. The United States announced it would provide $30 million to African nations to support the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE), which aims to support adaptation efforts in developing countries.
Also at COP27, Singapore and Thailand joined the Net Zero World Initiative (NZWI), which was launched at COP26 to leverage U.S. clean energy expertise to help partner countries with their energy decarbonization efforts. In August 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy hosted its first Net Zero World Ministerial, in which the NZWI partners discussed their current progress and goals as well as future steps and potential avenues for collaboration.
The Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN), which aims to address the challenges of nutrition exacerbated by the climate crisis, was announced by the COP27 Presidency and the World Health Organization. Two reports showcasing recent developments in I-CAN were presented at the Committee on World Food Security’s 51st Annual Session in October 2023.
During COP27 last year, Special Envoy John Kerry announced that several countries were joining the United States’ Ocean Conservation Pledge, which was established to conserve, protect, and restore 30 percent of the ocean waters under each signatory country’s jurisdiction by 2030. In March 2023, USAID announced an $84-million plan to initiate and expand on 12 programs that aim to protect ocean health and security.
COP27 saw the first meeting of the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP), which resulted from a COP26 pledge between 140 countries to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Unfortunately, the world is currently off-track to reach this goal, according to a new report by the Forest Declaration Assessment Partners.
Last year, Special Envoy John Kerry and U.N. Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions Michael Bloomberg launched the Subnational Climate Action Leaders’ Exchange (SCALE), which supports the development and deployment of net-zero and climate resilience targets in cities, states, and regions across the world. In its first phase, SCALE will focus on advancing the Global Methane Pledge, which was launched at COP26 with a goal of reducing methane emissions 30 percent by 2030. The U.S. State Department intends to support SCALE with $1.5 million in funding, which will be matched by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Since this announcement, Bloomberg has hosted meetings for mayors and city leaders to discuss their role in fighting climate change; however, none of the meetings appear to be officially linked to SCALE or the Global Methane Pledge.
EESI will be tracking key announcements and outcomes at COP28 with our daily COP28 Dispatch newsletter and other resources. Sign up here.
Author: Laura Gries
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