Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, at COP28

As we've just been reporting, countries at the summit have just agreed that a fund to help countries hit by climate-related events can start handing out money.

While funding has already been provided to help countries adapt to rising temperatures, and to help them curb their emissions, no help has been forthcoming to help with the destruction caused by storms and droughts.

That’s changed significantly today.

For years, richer countries fought tooth and nail against the idea of a fund for "loss and damage" as it's called, wary of paying “compensation” for historic carbon emissions.

Last year at COP27 in Egypt, the moral force of the argument won the day and countries agreed to set up a fund.

Here in Dubai, the fund is getting going and several countries are pledging to contribute to the pot of money. This augurs very well for the prospects for this COP.

The UK has just committed to sending £60m ($76m) to the loss and damage fund we mentioned in our previous post.

We're now hearing from US special climate envoy John Kerry, who has pledged £13.83m ($17.5m) towards the fund.

Kerry says: "We have been working very very closely with [others] in order to design an effective fund that is based on cooperation and does not involve liability or compensation."

COP28's host country, UAE, has pledged £79m ($100m).

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, at COP28

In a positive move on the first day of this climate conference, the delegates have agreed that a fund to help countries hit by climate change can start handing out money.

This fund will channel money to countries hit badly by climate-related disasters.

This is something long sought by developing countries and is a “positive signal of momentum”, according to COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber.

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor, at COP28

Image source, EPA

Can a summit in one of the world's richest oil states deliver meaningful action on climate change? We'll see over the next two weeks - here are the key issues at play:

Commitments: At the top of the agenda is an attempt to get an agreement to make governments’ promises of climate action more comprehensive - covering emissions from all economic activity, including food and farming, for example.

Renewables: One of the UAE's targets is to get the world to sign up to treble the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030 - this has already been agreed by the US, China and other G20 countries.

Cash: The big success of COP27 in Egypt in 2022 was the agreement to create a new "loss and damage" fund to help deal with climate disasters in the poorest countries. But which countries - if any - will put money in the fund?

Fossil fuels: We can expect the return of an old COP favourite - the game of "down or out". Should the world "phase out" what's known as "unabated" oil and gas - that's when fossil fuels are burned without technologies to capture their greenhouse gases - or should they just be "phased down"?

You can read my full piece about COP28 here.

The World Meteorological Organization says it is "virtually certain" 2023 has broken the global temperature record.

"It's a deafening cacophony of broken records," the UN body's chief, Petteri Taalas, said as it published its provisional State of the Climate report.

"Greenhouse gas levels are record high. Global temperatures are record high. Sea level rise is record high. Antarctic sea ice is record low," he added.

It's worth taking a look at these graphs below, to get a sense of how unusual a year it's been.

Image source, ..

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Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter, at COP28

Image source, COP28 Children and Youth Pavilion

Shreya KC lives in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal.

Aged 17, she is one of youngest participants in this global meeting. She’s here to tell nations that her home and her community are at risk of being wiped out by the impacts of climate change.

“I have seen dramatic changes in the Himalayas - there’s an alarming decline in the snow cover and the number of glacial lakes has grown significantly,” she tells me.

Those lakes can burst and overflow at any moment - causing catastrophic flooding. "When this happens, it not only destroys the hardly-built infrastructure, but also our hopes and dreams for a better future," she says.

She often feels anger and frustration but says there is “no time left to blame each other”.

"Being a climate activist allows me to fuel my feelings to work for a better future."

Hints of climate deals to comepublished at 11:25 Greenwich Mean Time 30 November 2023

11:25 GMT 30 November 2023

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor, at COP28

Image source, Reuters

That was a rousing speech by COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber.

Al-Jaber, who is also head of the UAE’s vast state oil company, said his “guiding star” was science.

He said nations need to promise to make deeper cuts to their emissions and work together to triple renewable power capacity and double energy efficiency - we know those are key goals for the UAE as hosts of this summit.

But there were tantalising hints of possible deals to come.

Jaber said some of the biggest oil and gas companies are poised to commit to reducing methane emissions to zero by 2030 - that’s significant as methane has 28 times the heating potential of CO2.

But the promise on cash for developing countries was even more striking.

He said the UAE “would unlock finance to ensure the global south does not have to choose between development and climate action”. That is quite an undertaking, given the hundreds of billions of dollars required.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter at COP28

The UN climate executive secretary Simon Stiell is, rather surprisingly, evoking Yoda from Star Wars in his speech.

“Do or not do. There is no try," he says.

Mixing an emotive call to arms and dire scientific warnings about the crisis our planet is facing, his speech is aimed at the thousands of delegates here who will negotiate for the next two weeks.

The science is clear, he says. "We have around six years before we exhaust the planet’s ability to cope with our emissions - before we blow through the 1.5C limit."

He calls on countries to make progress by updating their plans to tackle climate change.

And he calls on countries to make sure money is provided for what's called loss and damage - the finance for poor nations to deal with climate impacts that they can't recover from.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter, at COP28

Image source, Reuters

This year will be the hottest year in human history, the head of the United Nations has said, at the start of the COP28 climate summit.

UN secretary-general António Guterres said the record showed "we are living through climate collapse in real time".

Imploring the international community to act and deliver on climate commitments, he said the record should "send shivers down the spines of world leaders".

His comments came as the World Meteorological Organisation reported it was "virtually certain" 2023 had broken the global temperature record.

There are fears 2024 could be warmer still because of the El Niño weather system.

Guterres noted in a speech that sea levels and sea surface temperatures have reached record highs and that sea-ice levels in Antarctica have hit a record low.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter at COP28

“Never lose sight of our North Star - 1.5C," Sultan al-Jaber says to applause in the room.

He's referring to a commitment to stick to one of the core promises of the landmark 2015 climate agreement - not allowing global temperature rise more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

It's a goal that some experts say is deeply threatened as global average temperatures continue to rise.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter at COP28

The head of COP28, Sultan al-Jaber, is addressing the tens of thousands of people arriving at this year's summit.

"I am so glad that this day has finally arrived," he says.

"We come from different backgrounds, different generations, but we share something vital.

"At some point in each of our lives we all made a choice - a choice to help carry the burden of a great responsibility, to raise our hands and bear some portion of the weight on our shoulder. That choice is why we are all here in the UEA today."

The world has reached a crossroads, he says.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter at COP28, Dubai

As the new president of COP28 Sultan al-Jaber is sworn in, you might be thinking "another year, another climate meeting".

This is, after all, COP28 - meaning we’ve had 27 of these before, and yet this year the world has seen unprecedented extreme weather linked to climate change.

Can this meeting actually do anything?

Camilla Born, who was a senior adviser to the UK government at COP26 and COP27, says the UN talks are not perfect but they have set out a plan that all countries have agreed to.

“What we're trying to do is tackle climate change as well as live with the climate change that is now happening. It's complicated. We're learning. We've never lived in a world like this before,” she says.

What surprised her most from inside negotiating rooms is how results can be affected by relationships between the people there.

“Friends and humans are at the heart of making this process work,” she says, adding that she has seen long friendships make a difference to when and how deals are done.

Malu Cursino
Live reporter, at COP28

We're currently listening to COP27 president, Sameh Shoukry, who is handing over the baton to this year's president.

Shoukry recalls the achievements made in Sharm el-Sheikh, such as establishing a new fund to help less economically developed countries mitigate the effects of climate change. (It's commonly known as the loss and damage fund.)

But he adds that we need "a frank assessment" of the current situation across the world.

It's time for a "reality check", he adds.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter at COP28, Dubai

Image source, Georgina Rannard

I talked to prominent Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, 27, sitting under palm trees, looking for shade from the middday heat here in Dubai.

“These talks cannot fail. We cannot afford it to be a failure,“ she says.

“We've seen a number of climate disasters in different parts of the world, clearly showing that nowhere is safe anymore and no-one is safe anymore."

She laughs when I ask what her favourite thing about COP28 is - after all, it’s a serious conference discussing perhaps the biggest threats to our planet.

“COP brings all these faces to you - activists from around the world I work with online but then finally meet,” she says.

Malu Cursino
Live reporter, at COP28

I’m making my way to the ceremonial opening of the conference - where COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber will lay out his vision for the next two weeks.

We’ll be watching closely to see where his ambitions lie.

We’ll also hear from the head of the UN’s climate agency. Stick with us as we guide you through it all, directly from the conference floor.

Image source, EPA

This morning we'll see the United Arab Emirates officially take the helm of the UN’s climate process.

The man in charge will be Sultan al-Jaber. He's also chief executive of the UAE's giant state oil company, Adnoc, and of the state renewables business, Masdar.

Yesterday, he denied that his country was using the meeting to make oil and gas deals.

The BBC reported on Monday that leaked briefing documents revealed plans by the United Arab Emirates to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations.

Al-Jaber said at a news conference that the report aimed to undermine his COP28 presidency. "These allegations are false, not true, incorrect and not accurate," he said.

In response, a BBC spokesperson said the investigation was "rigorously researched according to highest editorial standards".

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter, at COP28

On Dubai's busy metro this morning, we bumped into Uili Lousi, a senior Tonga delegate well-known among negotiators for his positive determination in getting climate deals done.

That was on full show this morning - after taking two flights, travelling for more than 24 hours, he made his way straight to the venue, suitcases in tow.

Over the course of the 30-minute journey he spoke openly about his hopes and challenges for this climate conference.

He's particularly keen to see greater representation and involvement of young people: “18 to 30-year-olds around the world aren’t voting and we need them to, as they’re the ones that are going to change the world."

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor, at COP28

Image source, EPA

Campaigner Greta Thunberg has said these UN climate summits are just "blah, blah, blah" - all talk and no action.

If COP didn't exist, we'd certainly want something like it - but making progress is tough going.

The world collectively agreed to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change only eight years ago, at COP21 in Paris.

Currently, that Paris deal can't force countries to do anything - all action is voluntary.

At the top of the agenda this year is an attempt to make government promises of action more comprehensive.

There will also be an effort - and this is a longshot - to try and make countries a bit more accountable for the promises they make.

That Paris agreement has triggered "near-universal climate action", the UN says. But the world is still not acting anywhere near fast enough, a recent UN report confirmed.

Malu Cursino
Live reporter, at COP28

People from across the world are descending on Dubai, with its sweltering heat, to kickstart this year's UN climate summit - COP28. Welcome to our live coverage.

I’ve just arrived alongside thousands of delegates, heads of state and journalists at the enormous Expo City, where this year's Conference Of the Parties (COP) will welcome more than 70,000 people.

The conference always attracts criticism but this year has proved especially controversial because the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the world's top 10 oil-producing nations and the president of the talks is the chief executive of the state oil company.

But the negotiations, as usual, are expected to be intense, and the stakes high.

We'll be reporting on what to expect but we’ll also be hearing from communities most impacted by global warming, leading researchers and the decision-makers who will determine the world’s collective response to the threat of climate change.