COP28 Key Takeaways / We are at a Tipping Point / 75 Years of Human Rights

My book reaches #1 in some best seller categories (thank you!), COP28 negotiations reach a tipping point and the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Dec 10, 2023

Dear Friends and Supporters,

What a week! From on the ground efforts in Kigali to support the first-ever Move Afrika experience, to minute-by-minute analysis of daily COP28 proceedings, Global Citizen’s Global Policy and Advocacy team was here, there and everywhere.

I want to thank those who pre-ordered a copy of my forthcoming book, From Ideas to Impact. It has already been ranked as a #1 best seller in public policy and business entrepreneurship as well as a #1 release in economics. Thank you for your support!

Highlighting Move Afrika

‘Move Afrika: Rwanda,’ a first-of-its-kind international music touring circuit throughout the continent of Africa, was held in Kigali's BK Arena on Dec. 6 to a sold-out audience of 8,000.

The first Move Afrika concert is the launch of a five-year tour schedule aimed at pioneering world-class music and live entertainment across the African continent, in an effort to inject jobs and skills training into local economies.

Move Afrika: Rwanda united artists, activists, and leaders for a once-in-a-lifetime event to drive impact and support for women-owned business, promote health equity, and youth entrepreneurship across the continent. Some highlights by the numbers:

1,000 Rwandans employed as local crew and production staff
70 local singers & dancers performed on Move Afrika: Rwanda stage
20 local artisans made peace baskets repurposed for lighting at the event
35 young people received on-site training
15 filmmakers who joined a marketing and social media masterclass in collaboration with the Rwanda Film Office and Rwanda Development Board

You can read more about the event here.

Climate talk Key Takeaways

COP28 comes at a critical inflection point for the planet. Despite progress made towards lowering the rate at which the world is emitting greenhouse gasses, a November 2023 UN report shows that much progress has to be made to limit warming to 1.5°C. As a reminder, 1.5 degrees is not just a goal, it’s an existential limit with every tenth of degree more causing more suffering and economic loss.

With COP28 taking place in the United Arab Emirates, a nation that has economically benefited from the production and export of fossil fuels, the Global Citizen team carefully tracked and analyzed a historic number of climate financing pledges and other types of commitments, and they will continue to this until the end of COP on Tuesday (or later?). I also covered for forbes.com, 5 key climate solutions gaining traction at COP28.

Some progress to already note:

We observed the historic creation of the Loss and Damage fund on Day 1 of COP, with ~$700M in new pledges. Now the work begins to ensure that the additional pledges are made and delivered in a transparent and timely manner, and the fund is set up quickly and efficiently. Our tracker of all pledges so far is here.
We are absolutely thrilled with the launch of the new task force on international taxation, an effort led by Kenya and France. They were joined by Spain, Antigua & Barbuda and Barbados as leaders on this initiative. You can hear more analysis on this development from my colleague Friederike Röder here.
We were proud to support our long-time partner, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) via a panel discussion on December 1st. A big announcement came from the Netherlands during this forum: an 80% increase to IFAD ahead of the replenishment consultations taking place next week.
It was also great to hear the progress made by the World Bank on debt pause clauses. You may remember that Ajay Banga made this commitment on the Power Our Planet stage in Paris in June, a few days after taking office. While we are excited about this, we must ensure pandemics are soon being included as triggers to these clauses as well, not just tropical storms and earthquakes.
We are encouraged by the growing number of nations that have joined the initiative for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, as Colombia and Palau have joined the call over the last week. Important signal ahead of the final negotiations on the fossil fuel phase out!
As you know, WHO is one of the supporters of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative because of the impact of fossil fuels on air pollution. A recent study showed that every year 8 million people die of air pollution. Therefore a health day at COP was overdue. New guidelines were adopted, some pledges made, but is it enough? Have a look at what our friends at the Pandemic Action Network say.

But work continues and COP28 is far from being over! Please help amplify this letter which I co signed alongside GC’s Europe board chair Sabrina Elba and hundreds of CEOs, scientists and activists, to call on the COP presidency to deliver an outcome aligned with the 1.5 degrees. You can also follow my colleague’s Friederike’s twitter account for the latest updates. Last but not least, please add your voice by signing this global petition here, to recognize the critical role played by environmental defenders in furthering urgent climate action and increasing accountability.

While we are still advocating for a strong outcome of COP28, GC starts planning ahead to COP30 in Belém: Global Citizen signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Brazil’s Pará State to continue protecting the Amazon this week!

Global Solidarity Report in the context of COP28

In light of COP28, I wanted to highlight the Global Solidarity Report, which was published by Global Nation in September of this year. Global Nation is working to develop favorable attitudes to international cooperation to maximize impact in solving humanity’s greatest crises. I build on this approach in my recent piece on building global citizenship.

GC PRIZE NOMINATIONS ARE STILL OPEN: LAST WEEK TO NOMINATE!

The sixth iteration of the Global Citizen Prize will take place in early May 2024. The Global Citizen Prize celebrates the work of incredible grassroots activists around the world and supports their work on the core issues that Global Citizen is focussed on that year. For more information, and to nominate someone, please visit the nomination form Here. Nominations are open until December 15.

Sporting Chance Forum: unlocking the power of sports to mobilize advocacy:

Global Citizen joined the Center for Sports and Human Rights at the Sporting Chance Forum, which took place at the United Nations in Geneva this week. The event brought together athletes, representatives of sports governing bodies and other partners to discuss how not only to improve human rights standards during sports but also to highlight the huge potential of sports and mega-sporting events (think for instance, the next 2024 Olympics in France or the 2026 World cup taking place across North America), to further human rights in hosting countries and cities and to raise awareness and action across sports global fandom. More on this has been covered in as Explainer and my colloeague Ruben was honoured to speak during one of the panels to highlight the potential of partnering and joining advocacy efforts.

75th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This Sunday, December 10th marks 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was established. The UDHR is a landmark document as it was the first attempt to universally protect human rights. It has served as the framework for over seventy human rights treaties at global and regional levels and has been translated to over 500 languages.

To mark this momentous day, Global Citizen was honored to highlight the work of Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on our platform via a short video I recorded. You can also see my piece in Forbes about the subject here.

My Weekend Reading List

As always, if you’re enjoying the weekly newsletter format, and want even more, you can subscribe to my Substack here where I publish reviews, lists and articles on a regular basis.

Til next week,

Mick