The Nepal Weekly 
November 28, 2023
The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, widely known as COP28, will be the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference, will be held from 30 November until 12 December 2023, at the Expo City, Dubai in UAE. The conference has been held annually since the first UN climate agreement in 1992. The COP conferences are intended for governments to agree on policies to limit global temperature rises and adapt to impacts related with climate change.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries, leaders of business and finance, and representatives of civil society will gather for the COP28 with the aim of fast-tracking the transition to a clean-energy future.
At the end of October 2023 a pre-COP meeting of ministers was held. 100 delegations and 70 ministers attended, more than any prior pre-COP meeting. The general director of the COP, Majid al-Suwaidi, insisted the conference will deliver in the domain of loss and damage what was agreed at 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Also to note, on 15 November, the United States and China announced an agreement based on negotiations between climate envoys John Kerry and to “pursue efforts to triple renewable energy globally by 2030”. The agreement included a commitment to addressing greenhouse gases, including warming agents other than carbon dioxide, but was criticized for not including a commitment from China to phase out coal-fired power plants.
COP28 is expected to stress the importance of collective action to stop climate change and the critical role of finance in the low-carbon transition. With our participation we hope to help investors and other capital markets participants see what’s ahead and back climate commitments with action. In the COP28, Global Stocktake, Loss and Damage Fund, Global goal on adaptation, Reduce Carbon Emission, Climate Fund will be among top agenda.
The leading officials of Nepal Government has been saying that the upcoming global climate change conference will be used as an opportunity.
In the COP28 (28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) to be held in Dubai, UAE from November 30 to December 12, Nepal says that it will present its agenda in depth on the effects of climate change. In the Pre-COP opening speech Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the COP28 President, called for unity, action and multilateralism. Addressing the 70 Ministers and over 100 country delegates present, Dr Sultan was clear: the world needs to do more and seize the opportunity of COP28 to take action and keep 1.5 within reach.
Nepal Government Ministry of Forests and Environment official informed that a road map is prepared and discussed in the climate change conference. The government has discussed with the experts which issues should be prioritized, and everyone will raise one voice on behalf of Nepal at the conference. Good agenda and an effective team can be influential for Nepal to raise its voice on the global forum on the losses and damages Nepal has been bearing as the effects of climate change. The country will also raise voice about the problem of the mountains in the conference. Since the issue of mountains is not a matter of one country, the countries that have mountains can raise their voices together.
For Nepal, COP28 should be able to deal on cooperation on reducing climate change effects in Nepal and other countries as well. Thus, technical and financial resources must be availed for effective activities as an important outcome of COP28.
Moreover, Mountain issues to bring into agenda is one other action Nepal is preparing. The Mountain’s agenda cannot be achieved by speaking alone, it should be carried out in consultation with other countries.
Besides taking as COP28 is an opportunity for Nepal to showcase the problems and damages it has been bearing due to climate change effects, the country needs to present climate actions taken by the country in reducing consumption of fossil fuels, development of hydropower and renewable energy technologies. Nepal has been also supplying electricity generated by different hydropower plants to India and to a small amount to Bangladesh.
The country is seriously developing more such climate friendly energy generating plants – hydropower, solar pv farms, wind energy, biogas and appropriate utilization of biomass. These all are available means in Nepal to support climate actions. Moreover, renewable energy for agriculture – irrigation, mechanization and agro-processing, industrialization, transportation electric vehicles for private and public powered by battery in the current context, and hydrogen fuel cell in future, and electricity for domestic uses such as electric cooking and other appliances are Nepal’s priority. However, the country has been facing technical and financial gaps to achieve desired goals.
Therefore, the team Nepal which will be led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will have to strongly advocate in COP28.
