For Pacific Nations, a COP28 Agreement Could Be a 'Death Certificate'

Frontline delegates and representatives from the Pacific Islands and global Indigenous communities say the COP28 Global Stocktake has overwhelmingly failed climate vulnerable island nations and communities. 

The COP28 conference, held earlier this month, is a meeting of representatives from more than 100 countries that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The annual event is used to attempt to reach agreements around ambitions to combat climate change – the most well known being 2015’s COP21, where the Paris Climate Agreement was signed.

But Pacific delegates have criticised this year’s agreement as being unacceptable and say it has been reached at the cost of ambition.

From this stocktake of reviewing their efforts, parties then had to determine whether they were on track to hit this target and reevaluate their efforts if they were not.

Many delegates went to Dubai to push for stronger climate action, especially during the drafting of the Global Stocktake. This included pushing for stronger definition of the responsibility of attending parties to phase out fossil fuels, which ended up being the most contentious element of the agreement.

In early drafts, for the first time in any COP agreement, there was a specific call out for the rapid phase-out – or phase-down – of fossil fuel use. This was advocated by a number of countries and regions including Australia, the United States, Europe, island nations and progressive Latin America. However, after push back efforts by nations including Saudi Arabia and Russia, later drafts had largely stripped back or watered down these calls. 

These later drafts of the Global Stocktake prompted many delegations to declare that they would not sign the new draft of the agreement, including many Pacific Island nations most at threat from climate change if the 1.5 degree target is not maintained. 

Samoa’s Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), strongly condemned the watering down of initial commitments during a press conference. 

“We will not sign our death certificate,” he told other delegates. “We cannot sign on to a text that does not have strong commitments on phasing out fossil fuels”.

And Tongan climate activist Joseph Sikulu, who attended COP28 as 350.org’s Pacific Managing Director, took to social media to further affirm the weakened nature of the agreement. He said the “watering down” of commitments to a wish list was “an insult to those of us that came here to fight for our survival.” 

“How do we go home and tell our people that this is what the world has to say about our futures?"

Samoan delegate Tunaimati’a Jacob Netzler told VICE the process “has failed the Pacific Islands.” 

“Those of us most vulnerable to the climate crisis, those of us whom contribute the least yet have to deal with the everyday realities of climate change… We finally have fossil fuels mentioned in the text, but at the cost of ambition and the clear commitments required to correct our course in line with the 1.5 goal of the Paris Agreement,” he said.

Kupakwashe Matangira, a Zimbabwean-Australian youth delegate with the Australian Youth for International Climate Engagement, called the agreement “like a step backwards.”

“Any more than 1.5 degrees means drought and desertification will become more common, drying up food sources,” they told VICE. “It means weather events will become more severe and that small island states may not exist in 20 or 30 years' time.”

“Australia needs to do more in the Pacific and contribute more substantially to the global loss and damage fund. It also must centre Indigenous knowledge and ways of being, knowing and doing in its domestic climate action.”

It’s important to note the general context of the conference when understanding why there was so much pushback on an energy transition. 

These climate talks were controversial from the start, due to the host country being the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where almost half of the national economy is powered by oil. The UAE has also been criticised for designating Emirati politician Sultan Al Jaber as COP28 President, who is also the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. 

In November, the Guardian reported Al Jaber had claimed there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is necessary to combat climate change “unless you want to take the world back into caves”. These comments then prompted over 1,000 scientists to sign an open letter stating that: “Moving towards the phase-out of fossil fuel combustion is necessary to keep the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement within reach.”

The proximity to fossil fuels at the climate talks did not stop there – the UAE gave access to at least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists into the conference. This is almost four times more fossil fuel industry representatives than the amount admitted in COP27, seven times more than the 316 official Indigenous representatives in attendance at COP 28 and vastly outnumbering delegations from climate-frontline nations.

More than 160 representatives with a track record of climate denialism also received access, including influential industry trade groups, think tanks and public relations agencies. 

This does not create the ideal conditions for climate action but many delegates still went to Dubai to represent their communities and fight for their futures against the threat of climate change. 

The demands from delegates like Kulkalaig climate activist, Tishiko King, a member of Torres Strait climate action campaign Our Islands Our Home, are clear: “Phase out fossil fuels”.

“We need fast and immediate action to stop new gas, coal and oil projects so we can keep in line with limiting global warming to 1.5, starting yesterday,” she said.

“Within my lifetime, my communities could become climate refugees. We need the global north to lead in phasing out first – and the fastest – in order for this process to be fair. We need more ambitious commitments from developed nations, G20, rich countries etc for financial resources so that everyone can transition.”

“We still have a long way to go, but we have seen the power and love from our Indigenous, First Nations, island state communities, right across the globe, who continue to hold the line.”

Phoebe is McIlwraith is a Bundjalung and Worimi dubay/galbaan writer and content producer based in ‘Sydney’.