This week: Oil bets on more oil; Free corporate climate data tool; Why 1.5 degrees?

Welcome Back. Like nearly 100,000 others, I’ve added to the climate challenge by jetting to Dubai to attend the 28th meeting of the conference of the parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Why do we come? For some it is to negotiate the detailed international climate action, but for many it serves as what Harvard professor and longtime COP attendee Rob Stavins described to me as “Climate Expo 2023”—a chance to meet with officials and industry leaders from around the globe.

COP28 has been clouded by concerns about the heavy involvement of the fossil fuel industry, but still the Davos crowd is gathering in the hopes of reaching a political breakthrough. While it would be stretching it to call Thursday's quick approval of COP28's agenda a breakthrough, it could be applied to the agreement of a structure for the loss-and-damage fund along with more than $250 million in commitments. While that is a fraction of what developing countries want, it is a good start. 

Once the presidents and prime minsters depart, events will proceed on two parallel tracks. In one, technical experts will negotiate the detailed workings of the climate governance system and haggle over the wording of a final communication.

Why it matters

Stavins likens COP to Davos, which some might dismiss as a talking shop. However, the Harvard professor recalled the answer of the chief executive of a global company he asked: Why did he go to Davos? It would take 45 to 60 days to travel around the world to meet with all the other CEOs, heads of state and ministers of finance that he could meet with there in a day and a half. 

Stangis says we have the tech and the innovative mindset to solve the challenge and he wants to “help Apollo be a leading source of capital and expertise to companies committed to advancing the global energy transition.” The firm has more than $600 billion in assets under management and aims to deploy $100 billion of that in clean energy and climate-related opportunities by 2030. You can read a WSJ Pro interview with Stangis or listen to it on the WSJ Special Access podcast.

Key takeaways

The official COP proceedings are likely to focus on the global stocktake showing the world needs to move faster by tripling the renewable energy rollout and doubling investment in energy efficiency, the debate over fossil fuels (phase down or phase out, all fossil fuels or just unabated), and providing more funding for developing countries, to both cut emissions and cope with the loss and damage caused by climate change. Negotiators might also agree to faster methane emissions cuts and some detailed carbon trading rules.

From the Climate Expo, expect a flood of announcements of both new initiatives as well as progress on what has been achieved on the commitments made at prior COPs. 

Tell me what you think: Send me your feedback and suggestions at rochelle.toplensky@wsj.com or reply to any newsletter. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up here.

Businesses working on how to report their sustainability data are focused on the handful of mandatory reporting standards coming from regulators around the globe, but there is another project that might be worth watching—the net zero data public utility, or NZDPU.

It aims to create a free-to-all platform of reliable, comparable corporate climate data across industries and jurisdictions that can be used by governments, civil society, media, investors and other observers. It will initially include a detailed breakdown of emissions in a company’s value chain and its corporate reduction targets.

Nearly 200 nations and business leaders pledged eight years ago to keep Earth from warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius. That goal has proven difficult to meet, writes Eric Niiler.

On Thursday, world leaders and companies will convene in Dubai at the COP28 climate summit where negotiators are pushing big nations to make good on promises to slash industrial emissions to keep the Earth from warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius—about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here’s what to know about the 1.5C goal.

• Why the push to elevate Black men and women into management is losing ground in big companies
• Fertilizer companies are betting on ammonia as a low-carbon fuel
• The newest airline climate solution: Burying sawdust
• The painful economics of the green transition
• Pope Francis, President Biden and Xi Jinping will all miss COP28
• Brookfield’s Origin saga: it is hard to price polluters
• How to motivate more homeowners to invest in energy efficiency 
• Hawaiian Electric refocuses grid plan on wildfire risk
• Panama’s Supreme Court rules against major copper mine
• Environmentalists vs. environmentalists over offshore wind projects

Retailers have reined in inventory ahead of the holiday season as they try to get a better handle on volatile consumer demand.

A law designed to protect patients from surprise medical bills is denting the finances of some healthcare providers, with a few major ones filing for bankruptcy.

Okta's disclosure that a data breach was far larger than previously thought highlights the difficulties companies face with SEC cyber rules set to go live in December.

• COP28 kicks off with climate disaster fund victory (Reuters)
• British comedians translate climate scientists (YouTube)
• The checkbook COP: UAE’s $200 billion bid for climate influence (FT)
• UAE planned to use COP28 climate talks to make oil deals (BBC)
• Dominion Energy's $9.8 billion road map for offshore wind (Greenbiz)
• Wolverines get protection in the lower 48 states (NYT)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business covers environmental, social and governance issues. Send comments to Bureau Chief Rochelle Toplensky at rochelle.toplensky@wsj.com and follow her on X @RToplensky.