Introduction
The COP28 summit in Dubai, held from 30th November to 12th December 2023, was inaugurated with the passing of the Loss and Damage Fund, where in 700 million USD was allocated to countries most affected by climate change. This fund will be hosted by the World Bank for an interim period as was agreed by the Transitional Committee, despite civil society criticism about the World Bank’s track record with investing in fossil fuels, its propensity to increasingly invest in the private sector and its spotty track record of delivering adequate remedy for environmental and human rights associated with its investments. Energy Finance Tracker.
The UN Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), the agency responsible for managing the annual Conference of the Parties (COP), announced that the COP28 agreement signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era. That does not seem to be the case for the 2400-plus fossil fuel companies – whose representatives were numerously present at the event in Dubai and were responsible for diluting the language and commitments for phasing out of fossil fuels. This was also reflected in the final Global stocktake text which had weaker language such as “transitioning away from fossil fuels” and also recognised gas as a transition fuel along with other false solutions such as Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS). Many civil society organizations present at the COP were unhappy with the outcome of the agreements which according to them, lacked a human rights-based approach and gave further legitimacy to false solutions that allow polluters to continue to harm the climate
The lack of clear commitments and accountability is only further supporting oil and gas companies, many of whom signed important contracts just a few days after the conclusion of the conference.Just to name a few, Chevron, Shell, Qatar Energy, and Total Energies concluded agreements with the governments of Suriname and Venezuela to benefit from the Latin American countries’ rich oil resources. Moreover, the oil output of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the most powerful international oil cartel) rose in December 2023.
With the intensifying climate crises in the Global South, record-breaking levels of CO2 emissions, and global temperatures crossing 1.5 degrees Celsius in 2023, a complete phase-out from fossil fuels is an urgent need to address the planetary crisis. Unfortunately, this is still not reflected in the financing and policy decisions of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) nor of the companies and governments which continue to provide support for the fossil fuel industry. According to research by Oil Change International, between 2020 and 2022, MDBs provided an average of 3.2 billion USD towards fossil fuel projects with the World Bank Group providing 1.2 billion USD at an average per year.
It is imperative that climate action for a just, energy transition - including the newly-established Loss and Damage Fund - takes a community-led approach and is grounded on principles of accountability and justice. Though the urgency and scale of the climate crisis unequivocally warrants a rapid shift towards renewable energy, this transition must still ensure that investments to address the climate crises do not exacerbate the losses and damages that have already occurred, and cause further harm to communities. Indeed, those people who contributed the least to climate change and global warming, are now suffering the worst consequences, often without the appropriate means to defend themselves and ensure an adequate recovery from the destruction these events bring.
It is crucial that groups often marginalized in decision-making processes can participate meaningfully in designing climate and energy solutions. Similarly, the meaningful participation of affected communities is essential in determining effective and meaningful remedies. Yet, our experience has demonstrated that the MDBs’ access to information policies and practices often lack the people-centered focus central to fulfilling communities’ right to development.
The Early Warning System is the first centralized, civil-society-led database to provide both granular-level project documentation and analysis of investments made by the largest and most influential 16 development banks.[1] The Early Warning System is updated daily and holds more than 26,000 projects since 2016b by 16 MDBs and more than 14,000 private actors recorded. The information is reviewed and published at the time of disclosure. This interactive database shows project-level information on investments going to energy projects.