The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) had some of the strongest comments in opposition to the final text, which some reports said was gaveled through while Samoa was out of the room.
In a statement immediately following the global stocktake’s passage, AOSIS described it as “incremental and not transformational. We see a litany of loopholes […] It is not enough for us to reference the science and then make agreements that ignore what the science is telling us we need to do.”
Still, Soloviev argued that the failure of the world’s governments to lock in a plan for phasing out fossil fuels only puts more pressure on brands to take immediate climate action.
“We cannot rely on the governments of the world to get done what we need to—that much is clear,” Soloviev said. That leaves it in the hands of corporations, NGOs and data transparency companies like HowGood, he continued.
The greenwashed: Public relations firms swarmed COP
In the lead-up to COP28, PR firms were hard at work on behalf of fossil fuel companies, including the state-funded Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the COP28 president, who was—at the same time—the CEO of ADNOC.
“The fossil fuel industry PR machine has been part of this process for a long time,” said Tom Brookes, CEO of the climate communications firm Global Strategic Communications Council, who’s attended every COP since 2009. “We haven’t seen anything like the scale of PR agency engagement we have this time.”
While less flashy than a brand marketing play at COP and less overtly political than lobbying efforts, PR firms—working on behalf of major corporations including the oil majors—shaped each step of the COP process. They helped shape the president that oversaw this summit from a petrostate, took credit for winning the bid to host COP in the UAE, and have now achieved headlines lauding this year’s deal “historic,” despite any plan to phase out fossil fuel production.
“Fossil fuel companies and their enablers do not have society’s best interests at heart,” Harriet Kingaby, head of ACT Climate Labs and co-chair of the Conscious Advertising Network, said in a statement.