COP28: How quality data can make or break us
At COP28, we believe that governments have the opportunity to turn things around. With quality data in their hands, governments can pave a clear way forward and drive real action. How, and if, they use it could make or break us.
Almost eight years ago, 195 governments signed one of the most important international treaties of our time: the Paris Agreement. Since then, progress has been mixed. There has been a swathe of commitments from governments and the private sector alike. Nearly 4,000 companies have set a science-based emissions reduction target through the SBTi. More than 70 countries, including the biggest polluters – China, the United States, and the European Union – have set a net-zero target, covering about 76% of global emissions.
Yet progress in turning these commitments into real action has been slow. Recent CDP analysis has shown that only 24% of disclosing companies are actually on track to meet their targets. At COP28, we believe that governments have the opportunity to turn this around. With quality data in their hands, governments can pave a clear way forward and drive real action. How, and if, they use it could make or break us.
The role of disclosure data
A commitment without a plan is a wish, and a plan without accountability is meaningless. Yes, it’s great to set a target. But how do we know that you’re really doing anything to reach it? For both planning and accountability, disclosure is the answer, and it has an absolutely critical role to play in the Paris Agreement process.
High-quality disclosure is an important tool for achieving net-zero targets and avoiding greenwashing. It provides transparency into what companies are actually doing: if they have set a target, do they have a plan to reach it? Is that plan realistic, is it being followed? Are they really reducing emissions? Disclosure enables us to track progress against the Paris Agreement goals, by providing insights into the actions of the private sector. It provides robust data that underline recommendations for the Global Stocktake, a key mechanism of the Paris Agreement, which is undertaken every five years to determine our progress towards reaching the agreement goals.
At CDP, we’re proud of the role our data and insights play. CDP is the largest repository of corporate environmental data, with more than 23,200 companies worth two thirds of global market capitalization, and more than 1,100 cities, disclosing in 2023 alone. This includes 94% of the FTSE 100 and 86% of the S&P500.
This data has, and will, be essential to our ability to track progress and determine what action is needed. To truly understand our trajectory and the way forward, we need a whole of society view. Through the UNFCCC’s Global Climate Action Portal (GCAP), to which CDP is a key data provider, engagement with the UN High Level Champions, including the Race to Zero Data Explorer, and our participation in the technical dialogues, CDP data has helped shape the first Global Stocktake process. Alongside the participation of a wealth of actors in this process, the inclusion of our data on corporate, capital market and sub-national action has helped ensure that the first Global Stocktake process is truly purpose-driven, inclusive, and evidence-based, and will continue to increase transparency, accountability, and action under the Paris Agreement.
What we need from COP28: An evidence-based roadmap
We know we are well off track from a 1.5°C future. However, there is more to the Global Stocktake than just telling us where we are. It determines where we go next. The culmination of the Global Stocktake will be agreed at COP28 and it must provide a concreate, actionable roadmap for all actors, not just governments, to drive transformative action on climate and nature.
The journey for corporates and cities is crystal clear and the Global Stocktake must reflect this. Disclose through CDP to understand risks, opportunities and impacts. Set science-based targets for climate and nature. Develop and disclose a transition plan ensuring that robust, time-bound plans are in place to deliver on commitments, and the can isn’t just being kicked down the road. Once a company has this, they must continue assessing their performance and raising ambition by disclosing it annually.
Following these steps will ensure that any net-zero commitment is aligned with the UN High Level Expert Group’s (HLEG) recommendations. It will ensure that actions align, that finance flows towards environmental shifts and that the worst impacts of climate change and biodiversity lost are dealt with. We know from CDP data that many companies are still neglecting critical steps of the net-zero journey. Less than half of companies are reporting any of their Scope 3 emissions, despite supply chain emissions significantly outsizing direct emissions.
It doesn’t stop with the Stocktake: looking to 2024
The Paris Agreement is designed to be an ambitious spiral. Once COP28 is over, governments must immediately look to what’s next. Critically important are governments’ reports under the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). The ETF should build on the momentum of non-state actors’ engagement in the Global Stocktake to include both corporate and subnational data in Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs).This data is important to ensure accurate information that can guide decision-making. For example, in enhancing and implementing decarbonization policies in line with Nationally Determined Contributions and to accurately track progress towards achieving them.
Ultimately, while we are far off track, governments have a chance to course correct at COP28. One of the underlying problems is lack of harmonized action- humanity has always worked best when in unison. To achieve the most impactful, cost effective, equitable transformation, to cut any fraction of a degree, fragmentation must be banished. To do this, fragmented data underlining fragmented action must be dealt with. Governments must utilise the data and insights from environmental disclosure and ensure they agree an inclusive, ambitious response to the Global Stocktake.
How the world responds to the stocktake at COP28 will determine the pace for environmental action over the next decade, and beyond.
Read more about our key asks for COP28.
By Pietro Bertazzi, Global Director, Policy; and Amir Sokolowski, Global Director, Climate Change.