Approximately 3.6 billion people currently reside in regions affected by climate change. However, collective global public efforts alone would not achieve the goal of limiting global warming to levels conducive to the survival of human civilization. In fact, the combined Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) fall short, leading to less than a 25% reduction in emissions by 2030. Additionally, the flow of capital for adaptation measures significantly lags behind. 

COP28’s main challenge was to accelerate decarbonization with the participation of all stakeholders and support resilience to safeguard lives and livelihoods. While the world celebrated a significant milestone with the UAE consensus, what were the key announcements?

·      An initial capitalization of $792 million for the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) to be hosted by the World Bank for an initial period of 4 years was the first tangible outcome. LDF will provide compensation to vulnerable countries with climate change induced loss and damage. 

·      Commitments were done and initiatives launched to fast track the global energy transition along 3 pillars (i) reducing methane and non-CO2 GHG emissions across sectors, (ii) Decarbonizing the energy system of today and (iii) Building the energy system of the future. The 3^rd pillar was endorsed by 132 countries who committed to tripling their share of renewable energy and doubling annual energy efficiency by 2030. 

·      An announcement by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) committing over  $180 billion in additional climate finance through multi-year programs was a remarkable climate finance outcome.

·      A new $30 billion catalytic climate fund, ALTÉRRA was launched by UAE, equipped with a USD 5 billion risk mitigation facility aiming at mobilizing USD 250 billion investments in developing countries by 2030 and a $25 billion facility steering institutional capital to scale climate investments and accelerate the shift toward a net-zero, resilient economy. 

·      A Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action was backed by $3.2 billion of financing by participating companies and philanthropies. Alongside this Declaration, a Call to Action for Transforming Food Systems raise controversy and was finally pushed to COP29 for further discussions.

 ·    Health, Relief, Recovery and Peace made their way to climate talks this year, with 144 countries endorsing a Declaration on Climate and Health, resulting to mobilization of $2.9 billion for climate and health solutions.