Household Brands Opt for Lower Profile at COP28

Still, with roughly 70,000 people in attendance, there’s potential for agreements on how high-emitting countries should support poorer countries as they face disproportionate climate-related impacts and disasters, and for companies to collaborate on energy transition plans.

“While we recognize the significance of Dubai’s entrenchment in the fossil fuel industry, we also know that this is the sad reality of today’s world,” Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet, told Adweek via email. “To change the reality of our future, we are going to need everyone to be a part of the conversation. Not just those already doing good.”

Opportunity amid the skepticism

Taking a humble approach to brand participation at COP28, sustainability intelligence platform HowGood is bringing carbon labeling to the summit’s venue.

The platform partnered with Majid Al Futtaim, an Emirati holding company that operates French grocer Carrefour in the UAE, and SES-imagotag, a company that makes digital, wi-fi-controlled price tags for retailers, to bring a carbon-conscious convenience store to Expo City, where the formal negotiations will be held.

“The interesting thing about this project is, because it’s at the retail level, it touches every brand that would sell in retail,” Ethan Soloviev, chief innovation officer at HowGood, told Adweek. “Ultimately, it sends a message out to all brands—and to all of their ingredients, suppliers and all of the farmers—that people care about, are looking at, and are making decisions based on, their climate impact, their biodiversity impact, their water impact.”

Soloviev also highlighted the unique potential that the food industry represents when it comes to climate.

“Unlike transportation, unlike building, unlike most of the other parts that make up global emissions, food is the only one that can truly be net positive,” Soloviev said. “Food and agriculture can actually catch carbon in the soil and push back against climate change.”

While that’s not true of most food and agriculture practices currently, it represents the scale of impact that brands can make as they discuss how to reduce emissions and work toward a livable climate over the next 12 days.