COP28: 100 plus musicians, dancers from 18 nations come together for climate action

New Delhi, Nov 26

With 2023 poised to be the hottest year ever recorded and the UN Secretary-General himself seeing and hearing from scientists how ice loss in Antarctica is accelerating in dangerous ways, 100 plus musicians and dancers from 18 countries come together with the message in a song: the global community demands climate action for a better earth.

At the forthcoming two-week UN climate summit or COP28 hosted by the UAE in Dubai, they hope to meet course correction.

Playing For Change has partnered with COP28 to bring together talents and voices from diverse corners of the globe, in the awe-inspiring song, 'Waiting on the World to Change'.

The musical endeavor aims to champion the causes of climate change and inspire individuals, communities, and leaders to take meaningful steps towards a sustainable future.

“The time is now; to unite as a human race. Together we can change the world,” said Mark Johnson, Playing For Change co-founder.

From India, Jas Ahluwalia was featured on tablas.

With just four days to go, some critical insights about COP28 are:

COP28 has the first Global Stocktake. Science tells us -- and nature is showing us -- that we must act with urgency to keep 1.5 within reach. We need to take urgent, aggressive, and ambitious action by 2030 to reduce emissions, build climate resilience, and transform climate finance as a response to the Global Stocktake.

COP28 is an inflection point, not a checkpoint, for climate action. Decisive moments require decisive leadership. COP28 will deliver an urgent call for decisive action to bridge critical gaps by 2030, setting a path to deliver the most ambitious response to the Global Stocktake.

COP28 must set a new pathway by: fast tracking the energy transition, fixing climate finance, operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund, as mandated, impact real lives through action on food, health, and nature, and leave a legacy to reduce emissions everywhere.

And COP28 will harness the momentum that is building. We have seen breakthroughs on loss and damage, with substantial pledges from the EU. We have seen progress on replenishment of the Green Climate Fund and encouraging signs on the $100bn pledge, but we must see much more. We have seen over 85 per cent of the global economy commit to tripling global renewable capacity. And we have seen the world’s biggest economies -- the US and China -- align around methane emission reductions. All of this is positive momentum before COP28 has even begun.