Context

• A key draft note of the ongoing COP-28 climate summit in Dubai (UAE) has been released Global Goals on Adaptation (GGA).

Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA):

• The draft text is titled as ‘Global Goal on Adaptation’.
• GGA is an attempt to identify a common global goal on adaptation, just like keeping temperatures below the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold is a global goal on mitigation.
• It has been a long pending-demand of the developing countries, primarily to ensure more focus and resource mobilisation on adaptation.

About the GGA Draft : 

• Reducing climate-induced water scarcity
• Making food and agricultural production climate-resilient
• Strengthening resilience against climate-related health impacts
• The report also calls on countries to assess their risks and vulnerabilities, prepare and implement adaptation plans, and establish monitoring and evaluation systems.

What is COP Climate Summit?

• In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, 154 countries signed a multilateral treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• It aimed to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system.”
• The treaty came into force two years later, and since then, countries which are part of the UNFCCC, meet every year at different venues.
• Today, there are 198 ‘parties’ or signatories of the Convention.
• The first ever COP took place in Berlin, Germany in 1995. The first edition of COP entailed a discussion on how to implement the UNFCCC.
• At the meeting, an agreement was reached “to meet annually to discuss action on climate change and emissions reductions”.
• COP-8 was held in New Delhi, India. It is the only COP held in India till date.
• Between 30 Nov to 12 Dec 2023, the Government of the United Arab Emirates is hosting the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP-28).

COP28

• Measuring progress towards achieving the Paris goals on climate finance and adopting existing plans is a key dimension of the problem, and that is why COP28 is of such great importance, the first global stocktake was launched at COP26 in Glasgow, Which will end in Dubai.

Rio Conference or Earth Summit 

• United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) also known as Rio Conference or Earth Summit.
• was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
• Major achievement: The 1992 conference established the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

• Drafted: 9 May 1992
• Effective: 21 March 1994
• Signatories Country: 165
• The UNFCCC was established as an international environmental treaty partly to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system" and to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
• Its highest decision-making body, the Conference of the Parties (COP), meets annually to assess progress in combating climate change.

Carbon emissions trading

• A type of emissions trading scheme designed to offset carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHG).
• This is a form of carbon pricing.

Objective:

• The aim is to limit climate change by creating a market with limited allowances for emissions.
• This may reduce the competitiveness of fossil fuels.
• Fossil fuels are the main driver of climate change, accounting for 89% of CO2 emissions and 68% of all GHG emissions.

 Important Facts

United Arab Emirates

• President: Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
• Capital: Abu Dhabi
• Currency: UAE Dirham