The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which will take place from November 30 to December 12, would be decisive to advance multilateral responses to the climate crisis. IDOS will be active as an observer organisation. We will showcase our research findings at events and analyse progress made on various agenda items of the negotiations. Our key areas of focus will be climate finance, loss and damage funding arrangements and fund, just transitions, and the global goal on adaptation. IDOS experts will further engage in other climate policy fields such as health, human mobility, local communities and indigenous peoples, and non-state climate action.

Press briefing
2023 UN Climate Change Conference: How far has the world come to curb the climate crisis?
Wednesday, November 22, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm CET (online)

Events at COP28

Official side event
Designing Coherent and Equitable Climate Policies for a Just Transition

Date & Time: Wednesday, 06 Dec 2023, 18:30—20:00

Location: SE Room 7, Blue Zone (COP28 Delegates only)

Partners: Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), IDOS, Green Club

Description: The primary aim of the side-event is to discuss on-the-ground challenges national governments face in implementing their climate and development goals and achieving a just transition. Bringing together institutions from the Global South and the Global North, the event includes key policymakers and actors from JET-P countries to highlight mechanisms for implementing just policies, as well as civil society actors sharing the implications of a just transition on the ground. Overall, the event provides insights and examples on how interactions between climate change, sustainable development and inequality can be managed within national contexts to achieve a just transition.

Speakers: Åsa Persson (SEI), Zoha Shawoo (SEI), Alexia Faus Onbargi (IDOS), Zuzanna Borowska, (Liberian government COP28 delegation), Yun-Jeng Gina LEE (Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition), Hui-Ping Chen (Taiwan Green Energy for Charity Association), Bahareh Seyedi (UN-DESA), Innocentia Modau, WWF-South Africa , Birgit Strube (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ))

Side event
Pathways for strengthening global climate finance mechanisms for drought and land degradation

Time: Sunday, 10 Dec 2023, 09:00 – 10:00

Location: Land and Drought Resilience pavilion, Blue Zone (COP28 Delegates only)

Partners: IDOS, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat, Africa Research and Impact Network (ARIN)

Description: The event will explore synergies between the UNCCD and UNFCCC regimes with a focus on pathways for strengthening global finance mechanisms for drought and land degradation in the context of climate change adaptation and responses to residual loss and damage. The discussion will further seek to provide regional insights from Africa on opportunities for enhancing national governance structures for effective allocation and utilization of climate finance for tackling drought and land degradation.

Speakers: Chizuru Aoki, Lead Environmental Specialist, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Daniel Tsegai, Programme Officer, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat, Joanes Atela, Executive Director, Africa Research and Impact Network (ARIN), Mercy Grace Munduru, Head of Programs and Fundraising, ActionAid International Uganda, Mariya Aleksandrova, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) (Moderator)

Side event

Immobility as an overlooked aspect in the loss and damage debate

Date & Time: Sunday, 10 Dec 2023, 10:30—11:30am

Location: GCCM Climate Mobility Pavilion, Blue Zone (COP28 Delegates only)

Organizers: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)

Description: The event brings together affected communities, academics and policy makers to discuss how loss and damage relates to the needs of immobile people and how the new loss and damage fund can support such needs, with an aim to develop policy recommendations for the climate change and mobility community.

Information about other events will follow.

Stay tuned for more updates from our delegation at COP28.

Featured latest policy briefs

Trade, energy & climate change mitigation

• Germany's Energiewende: synergies, trade-offs and political drivers https://www.idos-research.de/en/policy-brief/article/germanys-energiewende-synergies-trade-offs-and-political-drivers/

Climate finance

• The future of climate and development finance: balancing separate accounting with integrated policy responses https://www.idos-research.de/policy-brief/article/the-future-of-climate-and-development-finance-balancing-separate-accounting-with-integrated-policy-responses/
• The implementation of sustainability taxonomies: the case of South Africa https://www.idos-research.de/en/discussion-paper/article/the-implementation-of-sustainability-taxonomies-the-case-of-south-africa/
• Geopolitics, the Global South and Development Policy https://www.idos-research.de/en/policy-brief/article/geopolitics-the-global-south-and-development-policy/

Just urban transitions

• Climate (im)mobility in urban contexts: from recognition to action https://www.idos-research.de/en/policy-brief/article/climate-immobility-in-urban-contexts-from-recognition-to-action/
• Green jobs and the city: towards a just transition in developing countries https://www.idos-research.de/en/policy-brief/article/green-jobs-and-the-city-towards-a-just-transition-in-developing-countries/

Featured research projects

• Klimalog: Climate-resilient and nature-compatible sustainable development through socially just transformation (Klimalog III)
• Implementing sustainable development goals in an incoherent world: Aligning climate action and reduced inequalities (ClimEQ)
• Social Cohesion in Displacement Contexts
• Between Crisis Management and Global Sustainability Transformation: The Role of the European Union
• How does the COVID-19 pandemic affect climate policy? Case studies on climate targets, recovery spending, and carbon fiscal reform (COVCLIM)
• Green hydrogen economy of tomorrow - (how) can developing and emerging countries benefit?
• Fostering resilience through Health and Social Protection policies in times of multiple crises