COP 28 Important Knowledge

UNFCCC: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

COP: Conference of the Parties

1977 Kyoto Protocol: international climate agreement under which certain

countries agreed to place legally binding limits on their greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.
- International emissions trading – Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol created
the foundation for a carbon market based on emissions permits, which
were divided into assigned amount units (AAUs)
- however, failed to limit big emission countries (US & China)

From Green Growth to Degrowth: Reshaping Climate

Governance (Joyce Lee)
Inequality of climate governance:
- lack of coordinated leadership
- privilege walk activity
- economically disadvantaged ppl from developing countries will be
ford to migrate internally
- 2% founding on disadvantaged children
- weak accountability mechanisms
Approaches:
1. Green growth
 a. fostering economic growth while preserving ecosystems
b. technological innovation makes production more sustainable
i. question: advanced technology is extremely hard to
reach out to the underdeveloped regions, for example,
drones or trash collecting electric boats by the Ocean
Cleanup
2. Doughnut economics
a. social foundation and collaborative
b. work with regenerative cycles
c. growth → economic → social
3. Circular economy
a. don’t waste materials
b. products are kept in circulation
4. Degrowth
a. stop econ growth (reducing production & GDP, replace with
social well being)
b. reducing resource and energy use in rich countries
c. prioritize reducing social inequality & wellbeing
d. reduce working hours → devalue capitalism
5. Is there a possibility of coordinating all 4 mechanisms on the
approaches to global sustainability? Yes → they are compatible with
each other
Transition Challenges

Personal experience:
- raise environmental awareness
- meat less monday
- managing food waste data
- coordinate all environmental clubs at school
- NGOs/ activists
Case study: Chances for Childhood
- advocate for children & let children advocate for themselves

Question:
1. Underdeveloped or developing nations often face both social and
environmental challenges. Why do you think the environmental
crisis should be tackled first by the local government?
2. Do you think it is the right or obligation for the west to impose
environmental standards on developing countries?
a. no, we need international forums → eg COP28
 3. What is the greatest political challenge now on tackling
environmental issues?
4. How do you think climate awareness can be raised in schools
without students thinking that these sustainability statements are just
another way for the school to torture them on boring curriculums
and projects?
a. not a future event, but an urgent event
b. multilateral approach

*circular economy jr

Building Climate Resilience

Important vocab: UCCR (Urban Climate Change Resilience)
1. climate information and urban growth data → make right decisions
2. Urban planning
a. good data
b. integrate different sectors and scales
c. be iterative and inclusive
3. Infrastructure and services
a. able to withstand the impacts of climate
4. build in redundancy to bounce back quickly from disasters
5. institutional capacity
a. gov needs to understand how to access risk
b. identify the most vulnerable ppl and systems
c. develop and implement actions
6. Community development
a. poor and vulnerable ppl need to know what their risks are and how
to better avoid or recover from them
7. Private sector
a. businesses should invest in projecting their physical assets and
supply chains (ex: to prevent oil leaks)
b. work with governments to provide urban lifeline utilities
8. Catalysing finance
Climate Politics
Important vocab: ​IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

Environmental Economics
Biggest question: How can we enhance economic growth while preserving a
good environment?
important:
- reduce carbon footprints & new pollutants
1. Identify the sources of the most air pollution
a. factories
b. oil
c. coal
2. Decrease the supply or demand of these technologies and products
3. Implementation challenges
a. The tragedy of the common: no government wants to reduce
carbon footprint
b. pollution represents market failure: a situation where markets fail
to produce the amount that society wants
c. don’t have time to wait for cheaper alternative resources to replace
fossil fuels
4. Solutions by government
a. provide price incentives → encourage individuals to make choice
that are better for the environment (ex: add taxes to gasoline
b. permit market: setting a limit on how much firms can pollute, and
allowing these firms to buy pollution permits

Climate Technology

News
COP28: UAE planned to use climate talks to make oil deals
Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, the head of the COP20 summit in Peru in 2014, worries a
collapse in trust could mean no progress on tackling climate change in Dubai.
第一則：
感受、環境
聯合國第28屆氣候高峰會
聯合國氣候變化綱要公約第二十八次締約方會議
我是少年新聞週記特派記者許淳曦，現在在聯合國第28屆氣候高峰會，簡稱COP28的綠
區現場。今年是有史以來規模最盛大的氣候峰會，七萬多人在會場中流動、交流。因為
規模龐大，活動被分成兩個大型園區，總共有17個大安森林公園的大小：藍區由各國首
領與各大媒體組成，綠區則是民間氣候組織、商業氣候部門、與民眾可進入。這次峰會
是暨2015年巴黎協定之後，第一次進行全球盤點，全盤檢視世界各國在巴黎協定上重要
進展的會議。氣候不僅是世界領袖們需要關注的議題，更是身為下一代地球繼承人的我
們需要瞭解的課題。因此，峰會中也有很多專注於青少年和青年的展覽和活動。現在是
＿點＿分，氣溫＿＿度，因為杜拜屬於亞熱帶沙漠型氣候，就連冬天都還是相當炎熱。
今天也是豔陽高照，再加上場館之間至少需要徒步移動15分鐘，我已經對接下來的行程
有點擔心了。從下午開始，我每天會去參加不同氣候活動，包括氣候能源領域的青年創
業、投資青年主導的氣候項目等等。非常期待接下來能在峰會中有更多收穫，也能帶起
我們這一代台灣學生對於氣候議題的了解和關注。

Climate Justice
Environmental regulations & developing countries
- developed country
- intention behind imposing environmental regulations: reduce
greenhouse gas
- balancing responsibilities with economic interest
- developing country
- economic and social challenges
- the Environmental Kuznets Curve: there are more
important problems to be dealt with (poverty, hunger,
equity…)
- global environmental equity
- why important?
- disparities in global pollution contributors

Industrial polluters and forest restoration

Forest restoration vs. research for pollution mitigation technologies

hydrogen power plant

electricity
My opinion:
- Take a more active approach → invest on research → towards
“green industry” → pressure on greener industry → also working
towards forest restoration

Climate Change mitigation vs. adaptation

Mitigation
Adaptation

technology vs. humanity/ moral approach → how can we involve more

data cannot tell the story, but they are also important
humanitarian approach are the leading forces
transform data into stories to persuade policy changes

developing countries focus on mitigation?

developed countries focus on adaptations?

Role of individual actions vs. systemic change

Renewable energy transition challenges

look at the statistical numbers and aspects → then look at the backstory
train your data knowledge brain

Statistics:
What can we, as young, new generations do?
As the young generation, we cannot make world-changing decisions or be the
heads of cities, states, or countries. However, don’t be limited by what you can
do or what you can think of. Adults in this generation are irresponsible and
ignorant, leaving massive climate disasters and problems for us to face as our
generation becomes the ones in charge. Promises from governments, or how
billions of dollars are being put into climate related funds, fail to deal with the
root causes of climate change. Governments are limited. As our generation, we
need to wake up! Climate change is not only numbers in the SDG projects we
need to do, nor a distant, unsolvable problem that everyone just gives up with at
last. The real changes are made from communities, cities, or states, but not yet
from a national or international scale.

Environmental debate topics

In the case of developing scientific solutions for climate change, this house supports
scientific tests on ecosystems even though it may do harm to the animals.

This house supports the development of nuclear energy in Taiwan.

This house believes that capitalism does more harm than good to the planet.

This house would ban all use of plastic.

If possible to measure, this house would place an emission tax on each citizen that
exceeds 16000 pounds of carbon emission annually.

This house, as government of a developing country, would prioritize solving climate

issues (eg. building climate resilient cities and improving climate justice) over other
issues in the country.

This house believes that environmentalist groups in developing countries should fully
abandon advocating for the mitigation of climate change, in favor of campaigning for
adaptation efforts instead.
3 Reasons Why Christians Also Need to Care About Climate
Change
While 82 percent of Christians completely or mostly agreed that God gave humans a duty to protect and care for
the Earth, only 50 percent agreed that climate change is an extremely or very serious problem, and only 45
percent agreed that the planet is warming mostly because of human activity. (NASA reports 97 percent of
actively publishing climate scientists believe humans are causing climate change.)
What Can the Bible Teach Us about Fighting Climate Change? | The Brink | Boston University

1. 神看祂造的一切都是好的，祂派我們管理這地，但當我們肆無忌
憚的破壞祂所造的環境，是不是成為那個「偷竊、殺害、毀壞」的
惡人了？
a. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life.” –John 3:16
b. “God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the
cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep
along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was
good.” – Genesis 1:25
c. 28 “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and
multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it!” → God gave us the
advantage to use resources from what He has created, but at
the same time respecting it because it comes from Him, that
He made these wonderful things for us
i. Elsewhere the Hebrew verb translated “subdue” means “to enslave” (2 Chr
28:10; Neh 5:5; Jer 34:11, 16), “to conquer,” (Num 32:22, 29; Josh 18:1; 2
Sam 8:11; 1 Chr 22:18; Zech 9:13; and probably Mic 7:19), and “to assault
sexually” (Esth 7:8). None of these nuances adequately meets the demands of
this context, for humankind is not viewed as having an adversarial
relationship with the world. The general meaning of the verb appears to be
“to bring under one’s control for one’s advantage.” In Gen 1:28 one might
paraphrase it as follows: “harness its potential and use its resources for your
benefit.” In an ancient Israelite context this would suggest cultivating its
fields, mining its mineral riches, using its trees for construction, and
domesticating its animals.
ii. "Subdue" (hupotasso) means "to place in order '' or "to place under in an
orderly fashion."This word describes someone neatly rearranging scattered,
disorganized objects according to a pattern
d. 15 “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard
in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.” Genesis 2:15
2. Misunderstanding: “There are much bigger problems in the world
today”
a. Social problems that many Christian organizations care about,
such as hunger, poverty, displaced, homeless, all involve
climate change as the cause of the issue.
b. **Climate justice”
3. “Love your neighbors” → many Christians/ non-christians,
demonstrate care about the “socially marginalized”, but not the
“climate vulnerable”, which are, the same group of people