While the world’s climate diplomats huddle over draft decisions to be made at the end of this year’s UN climate summit, governments at COP28 are firing off a flurry of new promises for action. Among the expected pledges at COP28 are a goal to triple renewable energy capacity and initiatives on methane and coal power. These voluntary side deals have proliferated in recent years, even as global temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
Unlike official summit decisions, which must be passed by consensus among the nearly 200 countries, voluntary pledges can be made quickly, and boldly, without the worry of one party objecting. “They go much further than what you can do multilaterally,” said Marc Vanheukelen, a former EU official who led the bloc’s work on an international methane emissions pledge launched at the COP26 climate summit in 2021. Analysis of some of the COP pledges backed by substantial groups of countries or funders suggests they did lead to stronger action to curb climate chang