COP28: A reflection

COP 27 concluded with many left uninspired at the lack of progress made. There was also disappointment with negotiators failing to agree on larger cuts to greenhouse gas emissions as well as the phasing out of fossil fuels. Fast forward a year and COP 28 has provided some major changes to live up to.

A “historic” breakthrough arrived a few hours after the close of the conference when 200 countries agreed to sign the deal to “transition away from fossil fuels”, something that has been in dispute for several COP events. While indeed historic, there is still a sense of frustration as the language has changed from “phase-out” to the more ambiguous “transition away from”, fearing governments can use this as a loophole to continue to invest in fossil fuels instead of renewables.

A desire to do more

The commitment of funds for sustainable activities has been a key theme with more than $57 billion mobilised in the first four days highlighting a desire to do more.

A sense of scepticism

From the outset however, there was a sense of scepticism as the UAE was accused of using the COP 28 event to negotiate new oil deals as a result of its heavy ties with the oil industry and the appointment of Sultan al-Jaber, head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. His involvement was further scrutinised when he claimed that there is “no science behind a phase-out of fossil fuels” and that a phase-out would not allow for sustainable development.

Sport’s role in sustainability

The involvement of sports in discussions has been more pronounced during COP 28 than previous years – the summit dedicated the 8 December purely to the impact of sport in the climate arena.  

Large events, such as World Cups, are resource intensive from the supply chains to the running of the events itself. If sports can continuously operate more sustainably while educating its stakeholders on how they can do the same, it has the potential to influence other sectors.

Sports has become more experienced with its engagement in sustainability and more discussions have taken place at COP 28 to understand the impact that it can have on the climate. Motorsports, football, sailing and adventure sports were present with many holding their own events to discuss their sport and involvement in sustainability. Notable teams and associations attended, including Formula E, Liverpool Football Club, the FIA and SailGP.

The FIA hosted an event to discuss the innovation of low carbon technologies in motorsport and how this can ensure a transition towards net-zero for road vehicles. They also launched their white paper during the event that explores a wide range of sustainable technology solutions that can be used in motorsport and mobility.

SailGP has established itself as a leader in sustainability through impactful action and innovation. It tied its sixth race of the season in with COP 28 to form part of its “For The Future” event to highlight its commitment to climate action and demonstrate the ability of sports to work with cities, fans and supply chains towards a more sustainable future.

A video explaining “The Power of Sport for #ClimateAction” emphasised the need for sports of all forms to work together collectively to tackle the issue.

In line with this, sports organisations were invited to join the Sports for Climate Action movement where taking responsibility of their own carbon footprint would incentivise climate action outside of their sector.

Photo by Abigail Keenan on Unsplash

In the German Climate Pavilion, a panel discussed the Sports 20 framework which aims to use sports influence to inspire other sectors to engage in sustainability. The discussion stressed the importance of partnerships and alliances to transform the sports sector into a leader in sustainability using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which other sectors could emulate. This includes showing how sports can support the Sustainable Development Agenda through infrastructure, regulation and partnerships with relevant stakeholders.

With billions of fans engaging in sports, it is the perfect platform to raise awareness and influence behaviour change around sustainability. Individual teams and sports associations can work towards improving both the sustainability of their sports, but also, that of their fans to make similar considerations for their lives. The compounding impact of this would be substantial and could help drive the change needed in other sectors to work towards achieving the world’s environmental targets.