Week #1 of COP28 kicked off with enthusiasm and energy from all participants which was evident everywhere, from the long lines for badge collection, to the activities in the green zone pavilions and side events. Our journey to the venue on the first day was filled with awe of the city of Dubai, interrupted by amusement at the bizarre placement of three brightly colored wind turbines on the way to the venue, which seemed to consume power rather than generate. My exhilaration on arrival was quickly replaced by astonishment over the size and the activities at COP28 – it was a massive thriving hub of of prominent figures, experts, knowledge seekers, and policy makers.

 

Eager to learn about making funds actionable and impactful to combat climate change, I gravitated towards the events focusing on climate finance, and the mechanisms of implementation. The concept of ‘blended finance’ (a blend of public and private funds to invest in climate focused ventures) was gaining steady momentum. The need for such a mechanism arose from the harsh reality of the “risk” of climate projects – I learnt that most impactful investments in the climate/green space are still conventionally considered “risky” and they require their investors to brace themselves for low/unsteady returns. This was at first disheartening to hear, since it meant to me that people perceive climate risk differently. While it is apparent to me that the returns of mitigating anthropogenic activities that harm our environment far outweigh the short term risks, this is clearly not the popular opinion among changemakers.

 

As I explored other side events outside of the formal negotiations, my initial dissatisfaction waned and I became hopeful of our fruitful efforts in mitigation. I witnessed  enthusiasm among private sector organizations, with climate tech startups in the global south taking huge leaps of faith in order to scale their efforts. On a panel focused on climate tech startups on the global south, I learnt of the role of multinational banks, enterprise supporting organizations and big businesses with vested interests in local businesses in accelerating the life of climate tech startups. Some panelists – entrepreneurs from India, Senegal, Chile and Jordan – spoke of how they built climate tech accelerators when they saw a lack of a start-up ecosystem in their regions. The final flourish of this conversation emerged when one of the speakers stated that “we need to stop looking at the global north for directions, and promote greater south-south collaboration to achieve speed and scale”. The Global Bankability Score tool initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation at the climate finance pavilion aims to address the global clean power gap by ranking 10 developing countries in order of their “bankability” to aid transnational investors in setting their expectations for projects in these regions. The ranks given by this tool help uncloud the misconceptions surrounding risk in these countries which often hinder energy access projects from receiving funding from potential investors.

 

While there is clearly a growing interest in bridging the clean power gap between the global north and the south, there have been few conversations at COP28 that took a granular look at what it takes to effectively drive a project from conception to completion. In the developing world, there is a huge skill training gap that is not being addressed which could derail our progress, and it requires much more than mere financial capital. Gearing up workforces for a green economy is an intersectional issue and it requires strong policy regulation that ensures representation of vulnerable groups. Little has been said at COP28 during my week #1 about the barriers to developing the global human capital for the energy transition.

At COP28, discussions continued on setting a ‘new collective quantified goal on climate finance’ in 2024, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries, with additional funds of billions of dollars committed to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). As the world watched the outcomes of the conference, it is important to sustain the enthusiasm witnessed at the beginning of the conference till our collective goals to combat climate change are met in a just and equitable manner.

A cartoon found in the blue zone at COP28