The 28th edition of the COP, which concluded a few days ago, attracted over 70.000 delegates from around the world, including the member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), but also journalists, business representatives, young people, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and other stakeholders. Harriet Klepper, M2 student in Sciences Po’s International Economic Policy Master, has attended COP28 for European NGO Young European Leadership (YEL) and is giving insights into her experience in Dubai.

By Harriet Klepper

“Keep protesting.” “Keep insisting on your demands.” “Campaign, meet up with MEPs – otherwise they will meet with other interest groups…” This is some of the advice high-level politicians, among them MEPs and European ministers, offer to us young people in conversations organised at the side of one of the world’s most high-profile climate summits. What seems hard to put to practice throughout the year becomes a full-time job in the days spent in the December heat of the second largest Emirate of the UAE. As world leaders gather to discuss the first global stake, set out for 2023 in the Paris Agreement signed eight years prior, the venue is filled with policy makers, negotiators, and lobbyists for all kinds of different interests exchanging on the topics at stake – the perfect opportunity to make youth voices heard.

Sciences Po meeting Sciences Po in Dubai

For me, it is the first time to take part in COP as a delegate of an observer organization. Having reached out to some people prior, I know that other Sciences Po students, professors, and researchers are heading to Dubai as well. They come to present their findings, chat with potential cooperation partners, or grow their network. We will meet up for coffee throughout the conference, if there aren’t any other meetings coming up last-minute (which happens more frequently than one would expect).

Much time however is spent running from one side to the other of the huge site constructed initially to host the World Expo 2020. Almost all countries have an own pavilion, a space to display their commitment to climate action and hold events – for some of them, like Portugal or Greece, for the first time at a COP. Some NGOs, international organizations, and research institutions, like the IPCC, UNEP, or the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC – which Sciences Po is also a part of), have set up their own spaces. Apart from negotiations, there are therefore dozens to hundreds of sidevents running at the same time. The Green Zone, open to the public instead of just delegates, organizes even more events, with many companies setting up own pavilions there.

Young People as stakeholders at COP

Despite the long list of side events, I unfortunately have too little time to make it to more than a handful of them. My delegation’s goal is to represent young European voices on site. Young People are those who are going to endure most of the consequences of present unambitious climate action. Placing youth at the heart of considerations should therefore be central in mitigation and adaptation commitments. Some countries, like Switzerland or Paraguay, include designated youth negotiators into their teams. Many of the youth activists I meet however come on behalf of NGOs.

More than 3000 NGOs were admitted as observers, allowing them to access the ‘Blue Zone’ where negotiations take place. The vast majority of those organisations are affiliated with one of the nine so-called constituencies, loose clusters of interests. The biggest ones this year in terms of affiliation of admitted NGOs were ENGOs (Environmental NGOs – around 42%) and BINGOs (Business and Industry NGOs, around 12%) – YOUNGO, the youth constituency, counted with just below 5%. Among their main goals is fostering youth engagement in the UNFCCC processes.

Diverse paths of action

Schedules at COP can look very different, depending on one’s goals. Networking and following the negotiations is however a part that seems to be on everybody’s agenda.

“The MEP just replied. Can we meet him in an hour?” Last-minute changes are all part of the plan. My four colleagues and I prepared a policy statement in the weeks prior to the conference as to harmonize our demands. They align with the Global Youth Statement, coordinated by YOUNGO, going however into much more detail. Having reached out before to a number of MEPs, EU, and national politicians from our respective home countries, we are happy to secure many bilaterals – many of which are arranged on the spot to accommodate with agenda changes. Those meetings are especially valuable to follow up on past promises. Not only do they provide us with the opportunity to get in touch with political leaders, but they also allow pushing for support on issues surrounding energy, agrifood systems, biodiversity, climate finance, and youth participation. None of our interlocutors comes alone: they all bring at least one assistant with them who can provide more concrete details to questions and respond to our calls for action. At one of our first meetings, an MEP suggests starting a petition concerning EU youth negotiator programmes that we could then hand over to the Commission – we will spend the rest of our time asking around for signatures and will have collected quite a few by the end.

Becoming a speaker at one of the many events is another possibility to create some noise around important issues. One of my co-delegates gives insights into climate education. Another colleague and I use a presentation to raise awareness for the importance of including marginalized groups in the process of making the agrifood system more sustainable. For instance, indigenous groups’ knowledge of the nature system they have been living in for centuries, or even longer, can serve as an important tool in the fight against biodiversity loss.

Organizing own events is another, more direct way to put overlooked topics on the agenda. Bringing together experts on a panel on plant-based nutrition in the EU as a mitigation tool makes me realize how little the topic is discussed within the agrifood conversations. This is surprising given that the livestock farming sector accounts for about a sixth of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to various estimates (for an overview, see for example Blaustein-Rejto & Gambino, 2023). The most mediatised way to influence negotiations are protests on site. In an autocratic regime like the UAE, protests are illegal – the country agreed only to allowing protests directly at the conference. In conversations with a local activist, I understand that especially for residents, it can still be tricky to publicly criticise, as repercussions of actions are unclear once the world will have turned its eye away from the city.

One of the protests I take part in occurs at the penultimate day of COP. The latest draft of the global stocktake is out, and a fossil fuel phaseout essential to comply with the 1.5 degree goal is nowhere in sight. Coal, oil, and gas account for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making them by far the largest contributor to climate change. Various activists take the stage demanding the recognition of scientific evidence of the role of fossil fuels in climate change while taking a stance for an equitable, just phaseout. For many countries in the Global North, this would mean providing climate finance to lower-income countries, taking responsibility for historical emissions, and phasing out faster than other parts of the world. The crowd consisting of around 70 young people chant easy-to-recall slogans. Never have I had so many cameras pointed at me as media outlets and other delegates film the protest. It’s more despair than hope that is in the air at that moment. 

Beyond COP: navigating the Road Ahead

With less than a day of additional negotiations, the parties agree on a text for the first global stocktake. In the end, they opt for “transitioning away” from fossil fuels and phasing out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies. It is a historic moment to some extent, as it has taken three decades to get to the conclusion that fossil fuels need to come to an end. The text however leaves many loopholes, and a complete phaseout is a matter far from common ground. Some wonder whether the phrasing would have been stronger if it hadn’t been for the presence of over 2456 fossil fuel lobbyists at the venue – if they had represented a state, they would have only been outnumbered by two other country delegations (host UAE and soon-to-be host Brazil). However, given the different phrasing options that have been on the table before – one without mentioning fossil fuels at all -, one can still feel some relief among delegates in favour of ambitious climate action.

Other outcomes also leave youth activists with both some hope and tears: for instance, the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund agreed upon during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh has been an early success in Dubai, but the pledges made up to date cover less than 0.2% of the estimated $400 bn needed to balance out the losses in developing countries.

When it comes to solving climate change, there is still a lot of work ahead of us. Young people need to fight for their inclusion in climate politics at any level – otherwise, they might end up being forgotten, whilst being forced to deal with the consequences later on. Getting involved can mean organising actions on the ground, joining protests, setting up petitions, reaching out to policy makers, participating at national or international conferences, campaigning for a just, equitable energy transition, cutting meat consumption, pushing for the introduction of climate education in curriculums… one of my main takeaways from this year’s COP has been that every step counts in the fight against climate change – and that the time to act is now. After all, as IPCC chair Jim Skea summarizes: “It is still possible that warming will stay below 1.5 degrees. But with every year that we continue emitting the kind of levels that we are at the moment, that is becoming less and less likely.” (Source: FT, 29.11.2023, Interview with Emiliya Mychasuk).