#CDRCOP28
For Immediate Release: November 7, 2023
Media Contact: Ben Rubin, Ben.Rubin@CarbonBusinessCouncil.org
–Recording of virtual media briefing about Carbon Removals at COP available online—
Carbon Removals at COP Returns to COP28, Focused on Accelerating Carbon Removal on International Stage in Tandem with Reducing Emissions
Carbon removal has scaled significantly since United Nations’ IPCC identified its role in global effort to avoid the impacts of climate change, will be a topic to watch at COP
Carbon Removals at COP announced programming plans throughout COP28 today. With its growing significance in climate change response plans and goal-setting for nations around the world, carbon removal will be a key topic to follow during COP28, as negotiations kick off about how the world can meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Carbon Removals at COP provides a Virtual Pavilion of carbon removal content at COP28, from science to policy and public engagement. Curated by Rethinking Removals and Carbon Business Council, with a coalition of NGO partners including Carbon Gap, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions and OpenAir Collective. Carbon Removals at COP will provide regular updates on the latest thinking and developments around carbon removal during COP28. The platform includes a full schedule of events, post-event recordings, end-of-day recaps, and featured talks.
Since the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings that carbon removal will be necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, carbon removal solutions have been in the global spotlight and are fast gaining momentum and policy support. Carbon removal is expected to appear throughout the COP28 negotiations:
- International Negotiations: The draft text from last year at COP27 included a call for developed countries to be net negative by 2030. Listen for calls at COP28 from countries in the Global South for developed countries to be held responsible for emissions reductions and to remove them from the atmosphere.
- Fossil Fuel Phaseout: Discussions about the phaseout of fossil fuels will be a central focus of the COP28 negotiations, with some countries calling for a complete phaseout and others expected to argue for addressing “unabated emissions.” The science is clear that dramatically reducing emissions is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, but also clear that gigatons of carbon removal is required even if the world stopped emitting tomorrow. With twin targets, there can be specificity in net zero pledges about how much carbon is being removed from the atmosphere and how much is being reduced.
- Global Carbon Markets: Article 6 of the Paris Agreement allows countries to cooperate to reach more ambitious reduction targets by exchanging carbon credits across country borders, including carbon removal credits. Watch for the final agreement on how carbon removal will be included in Article 6.4.
- Country Action: Countries in the Paris Agreement prepare Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for how they will meet climate goals and have just completed a Global Stocktake of efforts so far that shows we need more climate ambition. Stay tuned about to see if and how countries introduce carbon removal into their NDC commitments to match the scientific consensus that it’s unavoidable,
- Cross-Border Government Collaboration: Keep an eye out for details on the Carbon Management Challenge, an initiative announced by the Biden Administration from the U.S. to work with countries from around the world to scale carbon removal.
Scientists around the world have concluded that gigatons of carbon removal are needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, in tandem with the crucial work of reducing emissions. Rather than competing with emissions reduction and climate change adaptation, carbon removal solutions that remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are increasingly seen as a vital and complementary pillar of climate action.
All events will be viewable for all visitors to the website via the Virtual Pavilion platform. The platform can be accessed online and no registration is required. You can follow the conversation around carbon removal at COP on social media via the hashtag #CDRCOP28.
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Carbon Removals at COP is a collaborative effort composed of NGOs from across the carbon removal ecosystem. The platform is led by Rethinking Removals and Carbon Business Council, working with a broad coalition of carbon removal NGOs: Air Miners, Carbon Gap, Carbon180, Climate Action Platform – Africa, Direct Air Capture Coalition, German Association for Negative Emissions, Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy, International Biochar Initiative, Negative Emissions Platform, Open Air Collective, RMI, TreeMedia, UN Climate Change High-Level Champions Team and XPRIZE.