WASHINGTON—Experts from the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) will be attending this year’s annual United Nations climate change talks (also referred to as COP28), which are being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from November 30 through December 12. They will join officials from more than 190 nations—as well as representatives of subnational governments, businesses and other nongovernmental organizations—working to ensure all countries are on track to increase their climate ambition to keep the goals of the Paris Agreement in reach, as well as solidify how to operationalize the newly created Loss and Damage Fund.
These talks come during a year of record-breaking heat, and on the heels of a particularly deadly and dangerous spate of extreme weather and climate disasters fueled by climate change and an El Niño event. Additionally, a flurry of scientific reports—from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the Global Stocktake, as well as those forthcoming on the global carbon budget and the emissions gap—paint a picture of how far off track the world is currently from meeting global climate goals, how much more dire such impacts could get if nations fail to take urgent corrective actions to address the climate crisis, and what must be done to make steep, rapid cuts in heat-trapping emissions and transition to clean energy.
While the United States—the world’s largest historical emitter of global warming emissions—has pledged to reduce its emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade, current policies remain insufficient to achieve this goal. Collectively, nations are on track to meet or exceed 2.4 degrees Celsius of warming globally, with current pledges. It is imperative that the countries most responsible for the mounting climate emergency play a leading role in driving further ambition.
Given the latest science, it is vital that nations secure agreement at COP28 on a fast, fair fossil fuel phaseout, including coal, oil and gas. The United States and other rich countries must also provide climate financing for low- and middle-income, climate-vulnerable countries to adapt to climate harms and join in a clean energy transition—a commitment on which wealthy nations have repeatedly fallen short despite a previous pledge to marshal $100 billion per year by 2020. The United States, specifically, is far short of meeting the Biden administration’s pledge to provide $11.4 billion per year by 2024.
At COP28, a meaningful outcome on operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund, including addressing where it will be located and how it will be funded, is equally critical. Unfortunately, conversations on this topic in the lead up to the U.N. climate talks in Dubai have been fruitless thus far largely due to an inflexible posture by the United States and other large emitters. A breakthrough at the fifth Transitional Committee meeting, taking place on November 3 and 4, is crucial. Additionally, COP28 will see the culmination of the first Global Stocktake, when countries are supposed to assess their progress toward meeting the Paris Agreement goals and respond accordingly with greater ambition. In the face of global and national actions that fall short of the pace and ambition required per the latest science, the number of climate litigation cases has grown with state, national and international courts emerging as additional venues for people and communities to seek justice and accountability for climate damages.
UCS experts have extensive experience doing live and taped TV, radio, and print interviews with major national and international media outlets. Please contact UCS Communications Officer Sanjali De Silva if you have questions or would like to arrange interviews with these experts before, during or after the negotiations. She will be attending the U.N. climate talks in person and will be in Dubai from November 28 through December 14.
UCS Experts Attending COP28:
Dr. Rachel Cleetus, the policy director and lead economist for the Climate and Energy Program at UCS Dr. Cleetus works with lawmakers to develop effective and equitable climate and clean energy policies at the state, national and international level. She has been attending the U.N.’s international climate talks and has partnered with the international community on climate and energy policies for more than 16 years. Dr. Cleetus can discuss the overall state of play of the UNFCCC negotiations, Loss and Damage, fossil fuel phaseout, climate finance, the Global Stocktake, the U.S. NDC, pathways to reducing U.S. heat-trapping emissions, U.S. climate and clean energy policies, risks and costs of climate change impacts, relevant climate change reports (including those from the IPCC, IEA and UNEP), and increasing resilience to climate change. She is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and will be attending the U.N. climate talks in Dubai from November 28 through December 14. Click here for Dr. Cleetus’ biography and a list of her peer-reviewed publications. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Johanna Chao Kreilick, the president at UCS Kreilick leads UCS and has more than three decades of experience with social movements, science policy and working to combat climate change. Prior to working at UCS, she served in a leadership role at justice and human rights organizations, including Open Society Foundations, where she founded the Climate Action Initiative, and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University. Kreilick can discuss the need for policies to heed the latest science and be socioeconomically equitable and just. She is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and will be attending the U.N. climate talks in Dubai from November 29 through December 8. Click here for Kreilick’s biography. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Dr. Delta Merner, the lead scientist for the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at UCS Dr. Merner provides scientific evidence to support legal cases that hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate-related damages and deceptive practices. As the lead scientist for the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at UCS, she also connects legal teams with scientists working at the intersection of climate science and law. Dr. Merner can speak to Loss and Damage litigation, the U.N. International Court of Justice advisory opinion process, deception and interference from fossil fuel interests at COP, and climate and source attribution science. She is based in Baltimore, Maryland, and will be attending the U.N. climate talks in Dubai from December 7-14. Click here for Dr. Merner’s biography and a list of her peer-reviewed publications. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Kathy Mulvey, the accountability campaign director for the Climate and Energy Program at UCS Mulvey leads the fossil fuel company accountability campaign at UCS, which guides engagement with corporate targets, builds national and international coalitions, and mobilizes experts and activists to hold companies responsible for deceptive practices and their role in the climate crisis. Mulvey can discuss the need for a fossil fuel phaseout, corporate accountability for major fossil fuel polluters, mounting pressure for Loss and Damage from the rising tide of climate litigation, fossil fuel industry deception and disinformation campaigns, and precedents from the global tobacco treaty for protecting public policy from corporate conflicts of interest at the international and national levels. She works in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and will be attending the U.N. climate talks in Dubai from November 28 through December 6. Click here for Mulvey’s biography. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Other UCS Experts Available in the United States:
Dr. Kristina Dahl, a principal climate scientist at UCS Dr. Dahl designs, executes, and communicates scientific analyses to make climate change more tangible to the public and policymakers. Much of her work focuses on mapping the impact of climate change on people and places. Dr. Dahl can discuss climate impacts such as sea level rise, hurricanes, wildfires and drought; climate change adaptation; recent climate change reports; and practical climate solutions and policies. She is based in San Francisco, California, and can take media requests remotely. Click here for Dr. Dahl’s biography and a list of her peer-reviewed publications. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Dr. Juan Declet-Barreto, a bilingual senior social scientist for climate vulnerability at UCS Dr. Declet-Barreto researches, maps, analyzes, and communicates the inequitable impacts of environmental hazards—particularly those exacerbated by climate change—on human health and livelihood, as well as relevant solutions. In addition to the aforementioned topics, Dr. Declet-Barreto can discuss climate and energy justice in the United States and its territories, the lack of representation for U.S. territories at the U.N. climate talks, and the impact of extreme heat on outdoor workers and those living within urban heat islands. He is based in Washington, D.C., and can take media requests remotely in English or Spanish. Click here for Dr. Declet-Barreto’s biography and a list of his peer-reviewed publications. His latest blogposts can be found here.
Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, the director of climate science and a senior climate scientist at UCS Dr. Ekwurzel researches the influence of major carbon producers on rising global average temperatures, sea levels, and ocean acidification; the effect of global warming on the Arctic; and the costs of climate inaction. She is a co-author of the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment and the book Cooler, Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living. In addition to the aforementioned topics, Dr. Ekwurzel can discuss climate impacts such as sea level rise, hurricanes, wildfires and drought; climate change adaptation; recent climate change reports; protecting cultural heritage sites from worsening climate change impacts; and practical climate solutions. She is based in Washington, D.C., and can take media requests remotely. Click here for Dr. Ekwurzel’s biography and a list of her peer-reviewed publications. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Dr. Rachel Licker, a principal climate scientist at UCS Dr. Licker analyzes new developments in climate science; communicates climate science to policymakers, the public and the media; and works to defend climate science budgets and programs. She previously served as a foreign affairs officer with the U.S. Department of State managing its work with the Global Environment Facility trust fund and was a chapter scientist and contributing author with the IPCC’s Working Group II. In addition to the aforementioned topics, Dr. Licker can discuss international climate finance; the influence of major carbon producers on rising global average temperatures, sea levels, and ocean acidification; climate change impacts; carbon removal; and climate migration. She is based in Madison, Wisconsin, and can take media requests remotely. Click here for Dr. Licker’s biography and a list of her peer-reviewed publications. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Adam Markham, the deputy director of the Climate and Energy Program at UCS Markham has several decades of experience with international climate policy, and currently works with policymakers to spur action to safeguard national parks, protected areas, and natural and cultural heritage sites around the globe from worsening climate change impacts. He is an internationally recognized expert on climate change vulnerability, impacts and resilience strategies at UNESCO World Heritage sites, and also advocates to have cultural heritage preservation included within the UNFCCC framework. He is currently leading an international project to have cultural heritage, including Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge, better represented in Loss and Damage frameworks and financing. Markham is based in Wilton, Connecticut, and can take media requests remotely. Click here for Markham’s biography. His latest blogposts can be found here.
Dr. Shaina Sadai, Hitz climate postdoctoral fellow at UCS Dr. Sadai researches future sea level rise, Antarctic ice sheet instability and climate feedbacks, climate justice, and corporate accountability within the fossil fuel and animal agriculture sectors for climate impacts. In addition, Dr. Sadai can discuss long-term climate and sea level rise projections and their climate justice implications within the context of the Paris Agreement and the Global Methane Pledge. She is based in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and can take media requests remotely. Click here for Dr. Sadai’s biography and a list of her peer-reviewed publications. Her latest blogposts can be found here.
Relevant UCS Analyses and Resources:
- A UCS explainer on Loss and Damage.
- A letter signed by more than 110 business, development, environmental, health, science, faith-based and foreign policy organizations urging the Biden administration to offer an ambitious pledge to the Green Climate Fund.
- “The Fossil Fuels Behind Forest Fires: Quantifying the Contribution of Major Carbon Producers to Increasing Wildfire Risk,” found here (peer-reviewed).
- “Too Hot to Work: Assessing the Threats Climate Change Poses to Outdoor Workers,” found here (peer-reviewed).
- “A Transformative Climate Action Framework: Putting People at the Center of Our Nation’s Clean Energy Transition,” found here.
- “Attributing Ocean Acidification to Major Carbon Producers,” found here (peer-reviewed).
- “Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days,” found here (peer-reviewed).
- “The Science Connecting Extreme Weather to Climate Change,” found here.
- “Underwater: Rising Seas, Chronic Floods, and the Implications for U.S. Coastal Real Estate,” found here.
- “The Rise in Global Atmospheric CO2, Surface Temperature, and Sea Level from Emissions Traced to Major Carbon Producers,” found here (peer-reviewed).
- “When Rising Seas Hit Home: Hard Choices Ahead for Hundreds of U.S. Coastal Communities,” found here (peer-reviewed).
- “World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate,” by UCS, UNESCO and UNEP found here.
- “The Climate Deception Dossiers: Internal Fossil Fuel Industry Memos Reveal Decades of Corporate Disinformation,” found here.