Three UN Climate Conference Hosts Unite for More Ambitious Commitments

The UAE, which hosted the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) last year, along with Azerbaijan and Brazil, which will host the upcoming climate summits, announced on Tuesday that they will collaborate to push for more ambitious emission reduction targets. Preparations for the climate summits in 2024 and 2025 are underway amid a political downturn regarding climate action in some countries, despite increasing extreme weather events and record temperatures being recorded almost every month. The UAE presidency of COP28 stated on Tuesday that the summit host countries will form a "troika" to focus on ensuring more ambitious commitments to reduce carbon dioxide ahead of a set deadline for COP30 in 2025 in Belém, Brazil. Sultan Al Jaber, President of COP28, said, "We cannot afford to lose momentum; we must do everything in our power to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal achievable." The goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels was established in the Paris Agreement of 2015. The main task for COP29 scheduled for this November in Baku, Azerbaijan, is to agree on a new global financing goal related to climate for developing countries. However, some climate diplomats are already looking to the 2025 Brazil summit as the next key stop in global climate diplomacy. Nearly 200 countries are expected to submit updated national commitments to reduce carbon dioxide as COP30 approaches. The next round of climate targets for countries is seen as a crucial last chance to prevent the global temperature rise from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, a goal that is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise globally. In a year filled with elections, some politicians, including Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in the United States, and far-right parties seeking gains in upcoming European elections, have backed away from climate policies in their efforts to gain voter support.