This COP Could Be Different

2023 could see the public’s attention increase towards COP declarations, impacting the share prices of some publicly-traded corporations.

COP-28 stands for the 28^th annual “Conference of the Parties" for countries who are signatories to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). 70,000 people are expected to attend this year’s meeting, which starts Thursday in Dubai and runs for 2 weeks.

For a long time, the declarations that came from COP summits were not followed through on. As a result, most countries aren’t making very good progress towards their targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We know this now because the results of the Global Stocktake (GST) are out.

This is the first COP to have access to the Global Stocktake (GST) results, an initiative that for years has been tracking countries’ progress towards commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement. It provides negotiators with an inventory of all the work being done to prevent global warming, from carbon removal to emissions reduction, and financing adaptation for vulnerable regions.

The hope heading into COP-28 is that the GST will force countries who are lagging to step up taking action to reduce emissions, and get back on track to reaching stated commitments. One of the laggards is Canada, where among other extreme climate events, an unprecedented wildfire season in 2023 impacted the wellbeing of people across North America.

This is one reason why Canada’s dismal progress in reducing GHG emissions could translate into greater political pressure at this COP than in the past. Another reason is this year’s focus on food, health, and water.