On Wednesday 29th November there was a session in Parliament organised by Caroline Lucas which is entitled “COP28” and her initial comment is “(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero if she will provide an update on the UK Government’s commitments in relation to COP28.” The next comment comes from Amanda Solloway who is a Minister from the Government and her initial text is below. Also two days earlier on Monday 27th November Caroline submitted an Early Day Motion which was called “COP28” and in that week there were twelve other MPs who endorsed that EDM which included Lloyd Russell-Moyle who is our other Brighton MP. Then in the next week so far on Wednesday there have been another 18 MPs have supported it. There are currently 16 Labour’s, 3 SNPs, all 3 Plaid Cymru MPs and 2 Liberal Democrat MPs. The text of that is below and the information and the list of the MPs are available here. Interestingly there was another EDM in mid September that Caroline created on COP28 and that only achieved 13 more MPs. So here is the text for the current EDM item:

That this House notes that COP28 in Dubai marks a critical moment in efforts to secure a liveable future; expresses profound alarm that, according to the UN, governments plan to produce double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than is consistent with limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees and that current pledges under the Paris Agreement would lead to a 2.5-2.9°C temperature rise this century; welcomes the Prime Minister’s attendance at COP28 in person and calls on him to work with other leaders to deliver an agreement on the urgent and just phase-out of all fossil fuels in recognition of the end of the fossil fuel era; calls on the UK to back an ambitious political deal in response to the Global Stocktake; further notes the damaging impact of the delayed delivery of the $100bn climate finance pledge and the UK’s changes to its climate finance definitions on trust between countries and efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement goals; urges the Government to deliver its existing climate finance commitments in full, ensure funding is new and additional and support efforts to increase climate finance at COP28, laying the ground work for agreement of the New Collective Quantified Goal; notes that the full operationalisation of a properly resourced Loss and Damage Finance Fund will be the litmus test of success at COP28; and further urges the UK to support this goal and to contribute by providing grant-based funds which are additional to existing ODA and climate finance commitments.

So here is the initial few words from Amanda Solloway in the discussion last week and the location is here

I am glad to come to the House to discuss this important subject today. The upcoming COP hosted by the United Arab Emirates is an important moment in the climate crisis. Amid record temperatures and emissions, the first comprehensive stocktake of progress against the Paris agreement at COP28 will show that the world is badly off-track. We have made significant progress through the Paris agreement, with temperature projections shifting from 4°C before Paris to between 2.4°C and 2.7°C after Glasgow through nationally determined contribution commitments, but we know that that is not enough.

When Amanda had finished her initial comment there were some comments from Caroline which included these first few words.

I thank the Minister for her response. COP28 will be the most consequential climate summit since COP21 in Paris, yet we are way off track. The UN’s recent emissions gap report warns that current pledges under the Paris agreement would see temperature rises of between 2.5°C and 2.9°C this century. Ministers are fond of saying that the UK has the most ambitious nationally determined contribution for 2030 of any major economy, yet the Minister will also be aware of the Climate Change Committee’s recent assessment that

“the UK is unlikely to meet its NDC”.

That is not least because the committee calculates that just 28% of the required emission reductions for 2030 are covered by credible Government plans. She will know that targets without plans are cheap. What concrete plans do the Government have to urgently close that gap? Does she agree that we must see an ambitious outcome from the global stocktake, with significantly strengthened 2030 NDCs and new economy-wide targets by 2025 that see the richest countries going further and faster?