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Opinion | COP28: Companies’ embrace of carbon credits puts to shame countries’ climate backsliding
- Governments are not on track to meet the target of limiting global warming, and some, particularly in the Global North, are retreating from measures to combat climate change
- However, more firms are offsetting emissions with carbon credits – and research shows such companies decarbonise faster
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Every year, the 195 parties to the Paris Agreement on climate change come together at a United Nations’ conference. This year’s meeting, COP28, is particularly important because it will hear the results of the first “global stocktake” of countries’ progress on their climate commitments.
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The outlook is not good. The Climate Action Tracker, for instance, shows not a single country on track to limit global warming to the 1.5 degree Celsius target. The world may be headed for a catastrophic 3 degrees of warming this century.
But instead of inspiring extra effort, the risk is that governments will attempt to backslide on their carbon commitments, judging that politically, a weak promise kept is better than a bold promise broken. This risk is underlined by wavering support for climate policies in some rich countries.
The United Kingdom is a prime example – 35 years after Margaret Thatcher became the first world leader to take a stand on fighting climate change, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced plans to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves, and postpone or cancel policies to accelerate the uptake of less-polluting transport.
The consequences of a global backslide on carbon commitment on the safety of everyone on Earth are considerable. Worryingly, it may usher in a period of conflict between wealthy Global North nations and developing Global South states.
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In recent years, the countries most under threat from climate change have increasingly voiced frustration at the speed and scope of action by the wealthiest and most polluting countries. Plans for a US$100 billion compensation fund underwritten by wealthy countries have met an impasse; the financing of major climate infrastructure projects by organisations such as the World Bank has also been less than forthcoming.
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