The Vietnamese delegation attending the technical negotiations at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is expected to host a number of events and participate in many side events to introduce Vietnam's experience and promote information and images on climate change adaptation, and call for international support for Vietnam's climate change adaptation.
COP28 to continue to enhance the implementation of climate change adaptation actions in vulnerable developing countries
The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 12, 2023, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is one of the largest and most important international conferences of 2023. It is expected to have over 70,000 delegates, including heads of state, government leaders, and world leaders from 197 countries and thousands of non-governmental organizations, businesses, youth groups, and other stakeholders.
The Climate Action Summit will be held as part of COP28 on December 1-2, 2023. It is expected to be attended by heads of state and government from participating countries. This is a forum for countries to make new, more ambitious commitments and actions in terms of financial contributions, technology, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction towards achieving the Paris Agreement goals.
At the invitation of the governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Republic of Turkey, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, along with a high-level Vietnamese delegation, will attend the World Climate Action Summit within the framework of COP28, carry out some bilateral activities in the UAE and make an official visit to Turkey from November 29 to December 3, 2023.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, COP28 is a very important conference, taking place at a critical time for global action on climate change. Here, world leaders will for the first time assess the goals set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change. COP28 will have many important topics.
COP28 aims at 5 important contents
On greenhouse gas emissions reduction, COP28 will continue to promote the parties to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bring net emissions to "0" by mid-century through the development of standards, emission reduction measures and ensuring feasibility in implementation. COP28 will continue to discuss the construction of a statement on the phase-out of fossil fuels, promoting transition as a key measure to implement greenhouse gas emissions reduction to achieve the target at 1.5oC by the end of the century according to the Paris Agreement.
On climate change adaptation, COP28 will continue to complete the global adaptation target framework; address the gaps and challenges in the process of building and implementing the National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change; integrate adaptation into national priority areas towards a transformative approach, create favorable conditions for monitoring, evaluating and multi-stakeholder participation in climate change adaptation activities; strengthen the implementation of climate change adaptation actions in vulnerable developing countries. COP28 also pays special attention to nature-based solutions, ecosystem-based solutions; continue to discuss solutions to address the issue of loss and damage on a global scale, operating mechanisms, resource contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund established at COP27.
On climate finance, COP28 will continue to review the progress of achieving the target of mobilizing 100 billion USD per year which should have been achieved in 2020; discuss the target of mobilizing resources by 2025 and subsequent phases; discuss to propose a definition of climate finance; complete the process to facilitate access to climate finance sources, measures to diversify climate finance sources, especially private finance, ensuring a balance between finance for adaptation and mitigation; the role of central banks, commercial banks, development banks, investment funds in attracting diverse resources for climate change response. Regular meetings of the Adaptation Fund (AF) Secretariat, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will take place to implement the financing plans by 2025 and the next phase.
On carbon credit trading and offsetting mechanisms, COP28 will continue to finalize regulations and detailed guidance for countries to implement carbon credit trading and offsetting mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. These include the contents of the mechanism for cooperation in transferring the results of emission reductions to implement Nationally Determined Contributions (Article 6.2); Mechanism to promote greenhouse gas emissions reduction and support sustainable development (Article 6.4); Integrated, comprehensive and balanced non-market mechanism (Article 6.8).
This includes standards and procedures for converting carbon credits formed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol to the mechanism to promote greenhouse gas emissions reduction and support sustainable development under the Paris Agreement.
On global effort assessment, COP28 will discuss the overall results of efforts to adapt to climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contribute to financial resources, technology and capacity building for climate change response that have been submitted by countries through national reports, NDCs and other documents to see the progress and gaps in implementing global goals on climate change response.
The Vietnamese delegation attending the technical negotiations at COP28, led directly by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, will attend the entire duration of the COP28 conference, including the preparatory sessions. In addition to participating in exchange and negotiation activities within the framework of COP28, the Vietnamese delegation attending the technical negotiations is expected to host a number of events and participate in many side events of COP28 to introduce Vietnam's experience and promote information and images on climate change adaptation, and call for international support for Vietnam to adapt to climate change.
In addition to the activities stipulated by the Convention, the
Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement, the UAE host country has also proposed thematic activities to promote cooperation and create consensus on the remaining issues in the negotiations. The activities are diverse and rich and focus on solutions that bring many benefits to the community. Specifically:
- Health, Recovery, and Peace Day (December 3): Discuss the impacts of climate change on humans in order to promote health support activities, humanitarian assistance, disaster risk reduction, reconstruction, and peace.
- Nature, Land Use, and Oceans Day (December 4): Focus on discussing and presenting solutions that bring climate and nature co-benefits. The recent adoption of the biodiversity conservation target provides an opportunity to strengthen policies and investments in nature-based and ecosystem-based adaptation solutions.
- Food and Water Systems Day (December 5): Focus on discussing global partnerships to achieve net-zero, nature-positive, climate-resilient water and agricultural food systems. Specific focus areas include innovation investment, procurement, and national transition pathways through financial mechanisms and project preparation.
- Fair Energy Transition, Industry, and Trade Day (December 6): Focus on discussing and presenting levers and pathways for rapid carbon removal across the entire energy and industrial value chain, promoting economic growth and job creation. Present the results of promoting renewable energy development, technological innovation in steel, cement, and aluminum production, promoting green hydrogen production and reducing emissions in the oil and gas extraction process. Discuss global energy access and the needs of workers in the energy sector and related cooling content.
- Youth, Education, and Skills Day (December 8): Discuss ways to facilitate youth participation in the decision-making process at climate change conferences; listen to the voices of young people in policy discussions; present solutions, technologies, and innovative startups led by young people.
- Climate Finance, Gender Equality Day (December 9): Discuss solutions to address the three main challenges in climate finance: lack of scale, accessibility, and affordability. Present evidence that investing in a low-carbon and sustainable economy is not only economically feasible but also creates attractive business opportunities. On gender equality, it will focus on policies and investments to achieve a "gender-just" transition that allows for the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and girls in climate action.
- Cities, Regions, and Urbanization/Transportation Day (December 10): In the context of a rapidly urbanizing world, cities and regions play an increasingly prominent role in changing lifestyles, consumption, and transportation.
