The 28th edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the Conference of the Parties, kicked off on Thursday, , November 30, 2023, with Ghana joining over 200 countries worldwide to exchange nuanced knowledge and information, foster decisive action, and expedite collective efforts towards addressing climate change.

At the Pre-COP event held in Accra on November 23, 2023, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor, MP, articulated the significance of the event. He emphasized that the conference, scheduled from December 1 to December 12, 2023 ”presents a unique opportunity for us to review the effectiveness of our adaptation and mitigation measures, climate financing, and our country’s Nationally Determined Contributions, with the aim of updating such Nationally Determined Contributions.”.

In essence, the Lands Minister’s statement encapsulates the core purpose of COP28 which is providing a platform for a global stocktake and assessment of progress in implementing actions and policies aimed at addressing the destructive consequences of climate change.

At the heart of the conference will be the implementation of the Paris Agreement, a landmark accord signed in 2015 by nations committing to limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. The discussions and deliberations during COP28 are expected to drive forward the global commitment to combating climate change and achieving the objectives outlined in the Paris Agreement.

A report recently published by UN Climate Change ahead of the COP28 indicates that the world is not on track to limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by the end of this century. While the report recognizes that countries are developing plans for a net-zero future and that there has been a major shift to clean energy, there still remains a great deal of work to be done to attain the objectives of the articles of the Paris Agreement.