Abstract
This article reviews outcomes of the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in late 2023. In particular, it considered the first Global Stocktake (GST) of actions taken by signatory nations to the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The GST examined the potential impact of bottom-up national pledges on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation required to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the twenty-first century. The achievements at COP28 were mixed, and disappointed many from the climate-vulnerable states at high risk from extreme weather events and rising sea levels. There is a significant GHG emissions gap between that needed to ‘keep 1.5°C alive’ and climate actions identified in the GST. Nonetheless, the parties agreed to ‘transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems’ in order to reach net zero GHG emissions (i.e. carbon neutrality) by 2050, and to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. This assessment sets out the background to what needs to be achieved at future annual COP summits, including the next GST at COP30 to be held in the Brazilian city of Belém later in 2025.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 193–204 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Energy |
| Volume | 177 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 20 Jun 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 6 Nov 2024 |
Funding
The first author (SJD) is now retired, but her research in the past has been supported substantially by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Energy Programme and its precursor programmes, including the large-scale demonstration Project LEO (Local Energy Oxfordshire), the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) [Phase 3; under Grant EP/L024756/1] and the Highly Distributed Energy Futures (HiDEF) project. She was also engaged in the European HORIZON 2020 programme, including the RealValue demonstration of smart thermal storage and the NEWCOMERS analysis of new-wave clean energy communities. The second, lead author’s contributions (GPH) to the study of low-carbon energy futures at the University of Bath has been supported by a series of UK research grants awarded by various bodies also associated with the UKRI Energy Programme. These included a nine-university EPSRC-funded consortium project entitled ‘Realising Transition Pathways: Whole Systems Analysis for a UK More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future’ [under Grant Ref:EP/K005316/1], for which he was the Principal Investigator and Co-Leader, and the four-university, EPSRC-funded Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIE-MAP) [under Grant EP/N022645/1], as one of its Co-Directors. The third author’s contributions (JW) have recently been supported by the UKERC [Phase 4; under Grant EP/S029575/1], the EPSRC Supergen Energy Networks Impact Hub 2023 [under Grant EP/Y016114/1], and the EPSRC Hydrogen Integration for Accelerated Energy Transition Hub (HI-ACT) [under Grant EP/X038823/1]. He is a Co-Director for all three consortium projects.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| EPSRC-funded | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | |
| Highly Distributed Energy Futures | |
| UK Research and Innovation | |
| Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council | EP/X038823/1 |
| EPSRC Supergen Energy Networks Impact Hub 2023 | EP/Y016114/1 |
| CIE-MAP | EP/N022645/1, EP/S029575/1 |
| More Electric Low Carbon Energy Future | EP/K005316/1 |
| UK Energy Research Centre | EP/L024756/1 |
Keywords
- climate change
- energy
- sustainability
