Day One: Treasure, Vision, and Dialogue
Hanna de la Vega Sanchez, Oyinkansola Babayode, Brett Haas
Hanna: Today marked our official first day at COP28. The day began with a devotional session, with our reflections centered on Matthew 13:44 “The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” Throughout the day I kept reminding myself how I could live out what I just learned. I forged new connections and established meaningful relationships with unexpected individuals—interpreters from Spain, an Uruguayan woman from the embassy of the UAE, a group from Bolivia, and a girl from Brazil. Upon our (CCOP) arrival at the venue, our initial focus was to familiarize ourselves with the different zones and conference rooms. Consulting the schedule, we strategically planned our activities. The
unique aspect of the experience lies in the freedom afforded to each participant to choose sessions based on personal preferences. This same flexibility allowed me to explore through the site, and little did I know I was going to end up attending the Opening Plenary Session, a venue typically closed to observers like me!
Oyin: The COP28 plenary meeting kicked off with opening remarks from outgoing COP27 president Sameh Shoukry. He emphasized the crucial decisions made in the previous COP and warned against the negative impacts of resorting to unilateral measures like incentives or taxes on our Paris Agreement goals. Shoukry then officially handed over the responsibility for global climate actions to the COP28 president, Sultan Al Jaber. In his speech, Al Jaber urged the parties to be flexible in negotiations and to find a common ground unifying fossil fuels and renewable energy. He pledged to make climate finance accessible, available and affordable, ensuring that the Global South does not have to choose between development and climate action. In His words: “Let this be the year that climate finance meets the magnitude of the moment. Let this be the COP that we deliver on our promises from the $100 billion to loss and damage”. Simon Stiell, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary in his opening speech highlighted the alarming records broken this year, including the hottest temperatures, emphasizing the significant impact on lives and livelihoods. He called for a decisive shift away from the fossil fuel era. Stiell outlined his vision for the next two years, emphasizing transparency through each nation’s submission of the first biennial transparency report. COP 29 will introduce a new finance goal, and by early 2025, countries are expected to present new nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
Brett- Later in the afternoon, part of our group attended the Informal Interfaith Gathering in the Spirit of Talanoa at Christ Church Cathedral in Dubai. Talanoa is a way of sharing stories with each other to bring people closer to understanding about the climate crisis. After a series of speakers spoke about faith communities amid climate action,we broke off into groups to reflect on different climate topics. I found myself in a room with people from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Baha’i faiths reflecting on intergenerational justice in climate change. We shared about how generations must come together but also take responsibility for what has taken place. What kind of world will our grandkids inherit? How can we move our culture from a “throwaway” mindset towards a sustainable one (and also transition jobs and economics towards that as well)? Our time at the church ended with a nice dinner and conversations with a Pakistani delegation.
