COP 28: An Occasion Ethiopia Successfully Advances Its Climate Diplomacy

Bereket Sisay 

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28), held from November 30 to December 13 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, took stock of the progress made over the years and set a new course in the fight against global warming, notably by reaching a historic agreement on the transition away from fossil fuels. However, the agreement was criticized by developing countries, among others, for failing to make concrete commitments on financial support for their transition away from fossil fuels. Despite the accord on the final document, the world is once again caught in a dilemma as the toll of climate change continues to mount, while the nerve-wracking question of whether these ambitious promises will be kept or, if past trends are anything to go by, fallen short.

Developing Countries Apprehension 

COP 28 attempted to resolve an outstanding issue for developing countries by agreeing to a Loss and Damage Fund. The need for the fund was based on the fact that developed countries should take responsibility, based on their sheer level of historical emissions, as part of the burden-sharing of the global south, which is bearing the brunt of current global warming. Following the approval of the L&D Fund, developed countries pledged a total of $700 million by the end of the conference. This is a huge step forward, but it falls short of what is needed, as it covers only a meagre 0.2% of the losses that developing countries suffer each year as a result of the threat of global warming to which they have contributed little. Moreover, the pledges are not significant given that losses and damages in developing countries are estimated at more than $400 billion per year.  Nevertheless, there are various questions about how the fund will be sustained, how it will deliver, and other critical factors to address major gaps in compensating the most affected countries. And it is up to developing countries to drive the agenda until it is pragmatically translated into action.

Despite the progress made in approving the research and development fund, the concerns of developing countries have not been fully addressed in line with the lack of financial commitment on how to transition away from fossil fuels and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Indeed, low-income countries have been calling for a framework to help them attract more adaptation finance and to link the adaptation goal to specific financial targets, but financial delivery is not in sight. This is partly related to the burden-sharing of the global south, as a significant number of countries are financially capable, which severely hampers investment in capital-intensive innovative technologies for climate adaptation. UN data from November shows that developing countries will need between $215 billion and $387 billion a year to adapt to climate change in this decade alone, while only $21 billion in public adaptation finance will be available by 2021. This is a huge gap and a new financial deal is needed to close it. In particular, financial support is needed to accelerate climate-smart agriculture. Many countries, particularly in Africa, are currently facing various socio-economic challenges as a result of higher temperatures, droughts, changing rainfall patterns and climate variability. This threatens to reverse some of the development gains and push millions of people into higher levels of extreme poverty.

Ethiopia’s Climate Action 

Ethiopia is one of these developing countries facing the challenges of climate change. Despite the impact of lack of adequate financial support for its climate action, as part of the Global South, yet it has been implementing various types of adaptation and mitigation strategies by once own internal resource mobilization. And, COP 28 has helped the country to showcases its effort in averting climate change and its effort to contribute its fair share for the common global challenge. 

In his remarks at the summit, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PHD) highlighted the home-grown solutions Ethiopia has been implementing to reduce emissions and build resilience, citing the Green Legacy Initiative launched in 2019 as a nature-based solution to avert climate apocalypse. Under the Green Legacy Initiative, 32.5 billion seedlings have been planted so far, while the country aims to plant 50 billion by 2026. "Our goal is to reach 50 billion by 2026. When completed, it will be the largest reforestation project in the world," said the Prime Minister." This initiative is successfully reducing carbon emissions, preserving our biodiversity, creating jobs and boosting sectors such as tourism.  

Furthermore, Ethiopia's pavilion at the summit showcased the country's efforts to combat climate change, in line with the Prime Minister's remarks at the opening of the summit. The pavilion also showcased Ethiopia's efforts to transform its food system by planting various drought-tolerant crops and using climate-smart irrigation technology. This has resulted in some concrete achievements over the years, such as the production of wheat on 6 million hectares in one year. The platform also provides an opportunity for Ethiopia to showcase its efforts to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture, including livestock and dairy products, through a programme called 'Yelemat Tirufat', which loosely translates as 'Bounty of the Basket'. This programme alone is playing a crucial role in transforming the country's food system from subsistence to a more productive output. This is a huge step towards achieving the goal of food security, while at the same time contributing to a more nutritious diet that will help build a healthier society in the long term.

In addition, visitors to the Ethiopian pavilion were amazed at what Ethiopia is doing to tackle climate change, citing Ethiopia's efforts as exemplary and expressing their willingness to work together. Representatives of international organisations and officials praised Ethiopia's leadership on climate change, saying that Ethiopia's journey towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy serves as an inspiration for other developing countries facing the challenges of climate change. They also acknowledged the challenges Ethiopia faces and stressed the importance of international cooperation in addressing climate change. This is indeed a good opportunity for Ethiopia to promote its climate action and pave the way for partnerships with countries and international organisations. Ethiopia has also hosted and participated in various events and conferences related to climate change, and while this gives a direct impetus to its climate diplomacy, it is crucial for Ethiopia to strengthen its multilateral engagement and cross-sectoral cooperation.

Building a Sustainable Future 

In short, COP 28 was an important opportunity to further strengthen action to avert climate catastrophe. Moreover, the Summit has recognized that developing countries, especially African countries, are grappling with the challenges of climate change, while at the same time calling for more support for these countries to help them build resilience. We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the fight against climate change requires a concerted effort and that any retreat from a comprehensive approach would have negative consequences in terms of missing the climate target. Therefore, addressing the concerns of developing countries in particular, and fast-tracking the Loss & Damage and Adaptation Funds would have a huge impact on accelerating climate action, rather than hindering progress. Reinforcing this idea, Prime Minister Abiy stressed that "the biggest challenge to scaling up the solution is the cost of capital and the way international finance is structured". He went on to say that no country can effectively address the climate challenge if debt is a burden, and urged the international community to help countries address debt, the climate challenge, and pursue more equitable and sustainable economic growth goals through the distribution of funds.