| Sparks were flying ahead of Thursday’s start of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai — from accusations of oil industry scheming to tensions around what’s on and off the agenda. But hours to go before its start, U.N. climate talks got a win. The summit hosts released a draft deal that would lay out key details of a planned global fund meant to help poor nations cope with climate calamities,writes Zia Weise, Karl Mathiesen and Sara Schonhardt. (Still to be decided: How much money should go into it?) That could set up a busy and productive first day. If nearly 200 nations agree during the opening session on the fund’s hard-fought outline, that could remove a major source of acrimony from the conference agenda. From there, the United States and other rich countries will have to figure out how to find potentially hundreds of billions of dollars for island nations and other vulnerable communities. One provision, demanded by the U.S., says all contributions to the fund are voluntary. (And definitely don’t call these “reparations.”) “We think this fund — the way it’s designed — will meet the needs of vulnerable countries,” U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told reporters today. U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell called on nations to “put meat on the bones of this fund.” “That means putting real money on the table,” he said. “Table scraps won’t cut it.” The future of oil
Perhaps the biggest issue overhanging the talks is what to do about the root cause of rising temperatures and sea level rise: the burning of fossil fuels. Conference host United Arab Emirates and other Middle East petrostates are expected to resist any proposal for a more rapid phaseout of oil. The conference comes as Saudi Arabia and U.S. oil producers are pulling down huge profits and funneling more into future oil and natural gas production. Tensions around the fact that the UAE is hosting the talks spilled over on Monday after the BBC published leaked documents alleging that the country planned to use its position to discuss oil and gas deals. Sultan al-Jaber, president of COP28 and chief executive of the UAE’s state-owned oil company, denounced the reports at a news conference today. “These allegations are false, not true, incorrect, and not accurate,” he said, “and it’s an attempt to undermine the work of the COP28 presidency.” All COP all the time The 12-day summit hasn’t even started yet but is already starting to gush news: — Vice President Kamala Harris will go to Dubai this week — and, her office says, is expected to join the round of world leader speeches.— The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it’s bringing its largest-ever delegation ever to COP, representing more than 85 companies such as PepsiCo, IBM and General Electric. And POLITICO is there too. Our reporters have started landing in Dubai and will be a growing presence in Expo City in the coming days, giving readers a glimpse behind the curtain. So please stay tuned.
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