The annual UN climate summit, COP28, arrives as 2023 is set to be announced the hottest year the planet has ever experienced. Accumulated heat in the oceans and on land has driven a series of climate disasters and the urgency of the crisis has never been greater - but still the fossil fuel industry is determined to block action.

COP28 is hosted by the United Arab Emirates. The COP President, Sultan Al Jaber, is CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, planning a massive expansion of its own oil and gas production (the biggest expansion of any single company), and UAE is reportedly planning to use the summit as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals. COP28 will see record numbers of fossil fuel lobbyists, as well as representatives of other polluting industries - and of course government delegations who are closely linked to vested interests. Greenwash measures such as carbon capture and storage are expected to be heavily pushed.

The UAE also has a dismal human rights record with concerns about the impact of mass surveillance and repression on climate activism at COP28.

No prizes for UK

The UK government is deliberately blocking the path to a green transition, intending to grant over 100 new oil and gas licenses and giving consent for the massive Rosebank oil field which would generate more CO2 emissions in total than the 28 lowest-income countries do in a year.

Rishi Sunak even boasted in his speech at COP28, “We’ve scrapped plans on heat pumps and energy efficiency, which would have cost families thousands of pounds,” showing a remarkable lack of shame about his backtracking and his ignorance that these measures are essential to actually cut energy bills.

Climate finance for climate justice

Last year’s COP27 saw a crucial victory  for countries on the frontline of climate breakdown. After decades of blocking by rich nations, a Loss and Damage Fund was finally agreed for countries most affected by climate change to cover devastating impacts like flooding and drought. The fund was formally set up at the start of COP28. For the first four years it will be hosted by the World Bank, a temporary arrangement reached in negotiations against the wishes of countries in the Global South who wanted an independent body to control the fund under the UN. The World Bank model is based on loans not grants, and is not set up to allow rapid access to funds after climate disasters. They also fear the dominance of the US over World Bank decision-making.

The history of climate finance has not encouraged trust. In 2009 in Copenhagen, rich nations pledged to provide US$100 billion a year to less wealthy nations by 2020, to help them adapt to climate change and develop sustainably. That target was not met in 2020. It was claimed to have been reached in 2023. However, analysis by Oxfam found that the majority of climate finance was in the form of loans to be repaid. Project funding which was not genuinely climate-related was also included - leaving the real value of funding just a fraction of the claimed total.

Take action

Communities and activists around the world will take to the streets on 9 December for the Global Day of Action. You can find events near you here.

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COP28 Coalition global demands for climate justice based on human rights.

Follow updates on COP28 via CarbonBrief

We stand with millions around the world calling for:

Ceasefire now. An end to the siege on Gaza: safe water, food, fuel, and medicine now.

Release all hostages and all Palestinian political prisoners being held illegally.

An end to Israel's occupation and work towards a just peace

We're joining a protest at the Home Office this Saturday 4th November, following Suella Braverman's inflammatory speech at the Conservative Party Conference where she suggested that the UK was facing a 'hurricane' of migration and that the government's policy on immigration had been hampered by being 'far too squeamish about being smeared as racist'.

What are the links between refugees and climate change?

An obvious connection is that people are forced to leave their home by climate breakdown. Most starkly, the very existence of Pacific island states is at risk from rising sea levels. In recent years, we have seen a regular series of climate disasters around the world, extreme weather events which would have been unlikely or impossible without fossil-fuelled climate breakdown. These can force thousands, or even hundreds of thousands from their homes temporarily. But the destruction of homes and livelihoods mean not all can return. Changing weather patterns also cause less visible changes: repeated crop failures from drought, floods or both; rising sea levels causing salinisation of farmland. 

Some areas, such as the Sahel region of Africa, face both climate change and armed conflict. Exacly how resource scarcity and conflict are linked is debated, but one thing is clear: this is a deadly combination. From Honduras to Afghanistan, from South Sudan to the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar now in Bangladesh, climate breakdown exacerbates situations of violence and inequality. And consistently, those who have done least to cause the climate crisis are suffering worst from its impacts.

Another link is that both immigration and climate action are being used by this government to in an attempt to stoke a 'culture war' ahead of the 2024 general election. This has led to complete abandonment of rational policy-making. Braverman's plans for asylum-seekers, including deportation to Rwanda, combine cruelty with sky-high costs to taxpayers and as a whole are widely considered unworkable. On climate change Sunak is wooing backbenchers and right-wing media by taking a wrecking ball to the political consensus on the UK's legally binding climate targets, ignoring not just climate scientists but industry experts, businesses and public opinion polls.