Cop28 will have the biggest carbon footprint in the history of the annual climate summit because the UAE has invited record numbers of people, experts have said. 

At least 400,000 people are expected to travel to Dubai for the two week event, organisers said, the biggest attendance on record.

This includes 97,000 official delegates, more than double Cop26 in Glasgow, the previous biggest of the summits.

‘Highest carbon footprint of any COP to date’ 

The Glasgow summit led to emissions equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of around 8,000 British residents, the vast majority of which was the result of transport to the conference.

Richard Black, senior associate from green think tank ECIU, said: “Given the number of people expected here, yes this probably will have the highest carbon footprint of any COP to date.”

He added that the size of that footprint “is absolutely dwarfed by the emission cuts that a deal can produce” and put pressure on the UAE to deliver a good outcome.

“So the ball is really at the feet of the UAE – they’ve chosen to host the biggest COP in history, now they need to make it have the biggest impact of any COP in history.”

Attendance has risen steadily in recent years 

Attendance at the annual summit has risen steadily in recent years, particularly as the presence of corporations and NGOs has grown.

Chris Stark, the CEO of the Climate Change Committee, recently told the Telegraph the conference was “too big” and had become more like a trade fair.

Among this year’s attendees, Rishi Sunak, King Charles, David Cameron and US envoy John Kerry will all travel by private jet.

A spokesman for Cop28 said “Everyone is welcome at COP28 because everyone is needed to deliver climate action.”

UAE has promised to offset emissions from event 

The UAE has promised to offset emissions from the event, but will not provide details of exactly how this will be done until after the conclusion of the summit. There is widespread scepticism about the value of carbon offsets.

A company owned by a member of Dubai’s royal family recently signed a controversial deal to lease parts of Africa equivalent to the size of the UK for forest-based offsets, one of the most contentious methods of offsetting emissions.

In a series of deals between Blue Carbon, a company run by Emirati sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, around 25 million hectares of land in Liberia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia will be leased out. The company plans to sell a number of carbon credits to the UAE itself, according to recent reports.

A Cop28 spokesman said: “COP28 will demonstrate its sustainability ambition by delivering a carbon conscious and sustainable event. We have adopted an avoid, reduce, and replace strategy, and will offset residual emissions using high-integrity carbon credits.”