How well is Cop 28 going?

How well is the Cop 28 going? It looks like an episode of the Simpsons and in fact may yet end up as such. Allow me to appraise you of events thus far.

Whilst anxious COP delegates wring their hands worrying about greenhouse gas growth, the one thing that has grown exponentially is COP attendance (see chart below)

I am not making this up – there are 97 372 delegates registered to attend this year’s COP, not one of whom is walking there. 

Usually, the guy in charge of COP (Sultan Al-Jaber this year)  makes a parade of pious, environmentally soothing statements except this year the UN chosen COP head runs an oil company so, unsurprisingly, hasn’t made any (this is where Homer would say Doh!) 

The largest delegation (4400) comes from the UAE – because they are all about reducing emissions and in fact, the 4 biggest delegations (UAE, Brazil, China and Nigeria) are all top 10 carbon emitters.  The piece below highlights the issue nicely:

Sultan Al- Jaber (Head of COP28 & CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.) also said a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves”. The comments were “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial”, scientists said, and they were at odds with the position of the UN secretary general, António Guterres.

Uh Oh, looks like the UN thinks Sultan Al-Jaber may have become the Sultan of Jiber Jaber which is kind of embarrassing given they chose him to run this year’s festival of Hot Air for the Environment.   

Eventually I feel COP will be revealed for the nonsense that it is – a 2-week taxpayer funded wheeze, for most attending, to talk about targets that can’t be met with people who have no intention of meeting them. The irony of all this? The best thing the UN could do for the environment is cancel COP, that would provide a tangible and genuine respite for the planet. 

As mentioned previously, I sense the ESG athon may have reached it’s zenith and a retreat from peak pious should have a positive impact on coal stock valuations.