The climate chess game

A focus on COP28

On November 30th, nearly 100,000 people representing governments, corporations, NGOs, and civil society gather in Dubai for the opening of the annual flagship event on climate change: COP28.

The Conference of the Parties on climate change has now come to its 28th edition since its first one held in 1995 in Berlin.

This annual gathering was designed as a system to keep countries accountable in their management of carbon emissions through reporting and implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

However, after 27 summits, the nature of this event has changed. During the last years, we’ve witnessed an increasing attention from the private sector in having its own seat and voice side by side with governmental counterparts.

The concern for the impartiality and the objectivity of such effort grew exponentially. That’s why also the civil society wanted to be involved in the discussion hosted at the event, to prevent it from becoming the playground of private interests.

I’d say that the COP has now become a very complex chess game between two opposite forces:

1. The first one: accelerating the progress in the fight against climate change

2. The second one: preserving the status quo in the sake of short-term shareholders’ interests

A game played among endless negotiations, well-crafted diplomatic strategies, and clashing interests where the future is at stake.

Who led the match this time at COP28?

Let’s find it out 🔍