COP28 Daily Digest: Everything You Need To Know in Food and Climate News Today

Welcome to the first day of #COP28 – watch the opening ceremony here. If, like us, you’re likely drowning in the sheer volume of COP-related coverage, we’ve got the solution for you. In our Green Queen COP28 Daily Digest, our editorial team curates the must-reads, the must-bookmarks and the must-knows from around the interwebs to help you ‘skim the overwhelm’.

Headlines You Need To Know

The COP-related news you cannot miss.

LOSS AND DAMAGE ARRANGEMENT REACHED ON FIRST DAY OF TALKS: Less than a day into COP28, developing countries celebrated a major win: the establishment of an initial $300 million fund to help the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations affected by the climate crisis including $100 million from both the UAE and Germany with more contributions expected.

LEAKED DOCS SHOW OIL BOSS ALLEGEDLY PLANNED TO USE CLIMATE MEETINGS TO PROMOTE OIL AND GAS DEALS: Dr Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of UAE national oil company Adnoc and COP28 president planned to use climate meetings to promote deals for its national oil and gas corporations, according to leaked documents, which include over 150 pages of briefings about meetings held by Al Jaber between July and October but speaking to journalists in Dubai yesterday, Al Jaber emphatically denied allegations that he used his power to sign oil deals for his company.

US VEEP TO ATTEND SUMMIT: Vice President Kamala Harris has confirmed she will attend COP28. She will be the highest-ranking US government official to participate in the climate negotiations after President Joe Biden bowed out without citing an official reason. China’s President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to Dubai either.

AUSTRALIAN FARMERS SAY ZERO-EMISSIONS FOOD PRODUCTION NOT POSSIBLE TODAY: Australian farmers and scientists are saying that zero-emissions food production isn’t possible with existing technologies. “Agriculture is the sector in the world that is most affected by climate change,” Natalie Collard, CEO of Farmers for Climate Action, told ABC. Food and fibre account for 17% of the country’s emissions, something that’s set to increase as other sectors decarbonise.

CARREFOUR UAE TO LABEL OVER 2,500 PRODUCTS WITH HOW GOOD CLIMATE LABELS: US research firm HowGood has partnered with Majid Al Futtaim, which operates Carrefour in the UAE, to introduce climate impact labels on over 2,500 products in five of the retailer’s locations in Dubai, including the store at COP28’s Blue Zone in Expo City. This includes three labels: one displays the carbon footprint of the product, another rates its environmental credentials on a percentile basis, and the last one spotlight specific traits like Water Smart, Clean Label or Climate Friendly.

BIG MEAT LOBBY PLANNING TO USE COP28 TO PUSH SUSTAINABLE MEAT MESSAGING: Documents seen by the Guardian and DeSmog reveal that meat and dairy companies and lobby groups – think JBS, Global Dairy Platform and the North American Meat Institute – have a comms plan installed to get pro-meat messaging heard across the summit, presenting meat as “sustainable nutrition”. This includes pushing the FAO – which will unveil a roadmap to reducing emissions from food – to host “positive livestock content” at the conference.

Key #COP28 Reports

The food and climate reports you need to know about today.

• Meat Misinformation: Changing Markets Foundations published a meat and climate misinformation report yesterday that analysed 285 million online posts and revealed that nearly a million (948,000) either bent the truth about the meat and dairy industry’s climate and health impacts, or attacked veganism and alternative proteins, which has drawn comparisons to big oil misinformation – a shocking and brilliant piece of investigative journalism.
• UNESCO report published warns of the ethical risks of climate engineering technologies like carbon capture: As we keep falling short of our climate goals, climate engineering (also called geoengineering) tools both hold promise and pose significant risks for mitigation efforts but UNESCO argues that these can undermine climate policies, and the high cost of developing them could exacerbate climate inequalities.
• Fossil-fuel-linked air pollution kills over 5 million people a year: Findings from a large-scale study published by research journal The BMJ on the eve of COP28 say that the use of fossil fuels in production, energy and transport account for 5.1 million ‘avoidable’ deaths a year globally.
• Factory farms responsible for over $8.65 billion worth of damage in Global South: World Animal Protection, which is co-hosting the Food4Climate Pavilion at COP has published a report suggesting that factory farms in the Global North have caused billions of dollars worth of climate-disaster-related damage in Africa, Asia and South America. 

More COP28-related reports we covered in the leadup include:

• 4 major climate reports reveal the breadth of global inaction – read our coverage. four morbid ones (ADD DETAIL)
• An Oxfam study reveals how the emissions of the rich (including Bill Gates) impact the vulnerable most.
• The rich need to eat less meat if we are to stay within Paris Agreement limits.

Awesome Resources From Media Friends

A curation of our favourite reads of the day – excellent guides, explainers and op-eds from around the web.

• Who’s Who at #COP28: Semafor’s detailed list of who to know and watch during the climate summit (The A-Listers, Horse Traders, Green Backers, Hellraisers, and Press Whisperers) is a must-bookmark.
• 5 Key Climate Terms Glossary: Vox senior journalist Rebecca Leber has published a glossary of five key climate terms, arguing that “the future of the planet hinges on understanding these” in an in-depth, classic Vox-style explainer of “controversial concepts” defining climate action.
• Screw COP28, but also, don’t: If you’re not subscribed to Emily Atkins HEATED climate newsletter already, you’re missing out. Her latest issue, titled ‘COP28 sucks. Pay attention anyway.’, echoes everything we feel about the climate conference. While you may feel despondent about all the backdoor campaigns from the fossil fuel and meat industries, she argues that ignoring COP28 is “a middle finger” to the Global South, which is hoping to get crucial funding for “adaptation, mitigation and reparation”.
• What is COP and why does it matter: Need a refresher on COP and what it’s all about? You can always rely on The Guardian for a good old-fashioned explainer.
• COP28 Food Systems Events Summary: Can’t keep up with the hundreds of climate and food events happening in Dubai? Check out this incredibly well-done super spreadsheet by Oliver Camp from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) that details every single thing going on.
• Vegan eats at COP28: Want to know exactly what’s on the menu for delegates of the official conference (which organizers promised will be 2/3s plant-based)? ProVeg has all the deets.

Lighter Green Fun

Funny stuff, weird stuff, random stuff related to COP you may enjoy.

• The fossil queen Oblivia Coalmine: One of the scariest and funniest things we’ve seen this week, UK pension campaigner Make My Money Matte’s new ad campaign starring Olivia Colman as – wait for it – Oblivia Coalmine, who absolutely nails (drills?) her delivery as she illustrates the link between pension funds and fossil fuel companies – WATCH IT NOW. Also, more satire in climate campaigns please!

• Cool Cover -‘Bad marks’: We’re loving the COP-inspired cover art from the Economist’s latest edition. The climate action ‘report card’ is the visual we all needed to remind us we are failing the test.

Follow all our #COP28 coverage. Like what you’re reading? Share it!