At COP28, an implementation crisis

6 December 2023 | The 1st edition of The Apolitical View by Apolitical CEO and Co-Founder Robyn Scott. Subcribe to the newsletter

I’m Robyn, CEO and Co-Founder of Apolitical. Welcome to the first edition of the Apolitical View, a weekly newsletter written by me, where I’ll share brief reflections from my conversations with government leaders and policymakers, along with insights from our work with governments around the world. This week, I’m writing to you from COP28, which, with its glitzy side parties and huge showing of leaders across all sectors, has a distinctly Davos by Dubai flavour.

“We’ve got an implementation crisis.”

In addition to the growing representation of big business at this COP, three themes stand out to me. The first is impatience and the need for speed: it’s impossible not to be disappointed by the gap between what governments say they need to do and what is actually happening.

The second theme is the expanding breadth of the conversation, as climate change forces a complete rewiring of economies and societies. Health, food systems and protecting nature are all much bigger conversations this year.

The third theme is people and the need for skills. Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of California's Natural Resources Agency, captured it bluntly at an event co-hosted by Apolitical: “We’ve got an implementation crisis.”

This shows in the data. Despite the cross-cutting challenge of climate, in our 2023 Government Green Skills Survey, 65% of public servants told us they have never received any training on the topic.

We’re excited to be part of helping to change this. At our event on “Building Climate Capable Governments”, representatives of 10 government bodies, including Brazil, Canada, the UK and the UAE, made pledges to significantly scale up climate training for their teams. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.

See you again next week,

Robyn Scott

Apolitical CEO & Co-Founder

My recommendations

I’ve been enjoying the personal effectiveness and wellbeing podcast Just One Thing. The host, Dr Michael Mosley, looks at small interventions with outsized benefits — from weight training and breathing through your nose to reheating pasta. My personal favourite exercise hack, developed to stay moderately fit between the dual demands of leading Apolitical and my three kids, is to do squats while I brush my teeth! There’s also an audiobook of Just One Thing, which contains five-minute snippets of the 30 best ideas from the podcast.

Hot off the press, don’t miss the findings of the Apolitical 2023 Government Green Skills Survey. We asked you, our community of more than 200,000 public servants in 160 countries, how equipped you feel to manage the impacts of climate on your jobs. The results make for fascinating reading.

What's in my diary this week

My calendar is mainly all about COP, where the days are so full they feel like weeks. But here’s what I’m looking out for in the coming days.

Wednesday 6 Dec | How to use AI tools in your work in government | We hit a record 2,650 registrations for our final online event of the year. If you miss it live, catch the recording here.

Tuesday 12 Dec | Hosting announcement for COP29 | Squabbling means the host for next year’s climate conference has still not been confirmed. Hopefully, the question will be resolved by the time COP concludes next Tuesday.

Got thoughts, feedback or ideas for what you'd like to see in this newsletter? Send them directly to me or leave a comment below.