COP28 has failed to address the issue of human overpopulation.

The international climate change summit is over and, as at all previous conferences, one key topic was missing from the Agenda – the issue of global human overpopulation.

World governments have now assembled almost every year for nearly three decades, with the intention of forming an agreed global response to the planet’s climate emergency. Under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), every country is treaty-bound to ‘avoid dangerous climate change’ and to implement strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.

COP28 came under a great deal of early criticism, when it was announced that it would be hosted by a major fossil fuel producing country, a fact that was blatantly at odds with the conference’s mission. And it became embroiled in further controversy after the BBC learned, through leaked documents, that the United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as COP28 host to discuss potential oil and gas deals with 15 attending nations.

Ultimately an agreement was reached (albeit just intent at this stage), that should signal the ‘beginning of the end’ of the fossil fuel era, driven by deep emissions cuts and scaled-up finance for poorer nations.

But what of the issue of human population growth? The sheer number of people on the planet, predicted to peak at almost 11 billion by 2100, has always been the demand that creates the supply. Will COP29 finally be the conference to include human overpopulation as a key agenda item to be addressed?