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the DON JONES
INDEX… |
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GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED
12/11/23... 14,905.85
12/4/23... 14,889.78 |
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6/27/13… 15,000.00 |
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(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 12/18/23... 36,247.87; 12/4/23... 36,245.58; 6/27/13… 15,000.00) |
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LESSON for DECEMBER ELEVENTH, 2023 –
“DUBAI’OUS COPS versus the DARK RABBITS!”
Throughout
the week, serial rains quenched the Pacific drought and storms migrating east
finally brought snow to New York City and the rest of the East Coast after six
hundred some days, Don Jones was likely to smile, shiver a little and say
“well, that’s just December being December.”
The
climatologists and statisticians might have a different view... and the
statesmen and stooges of the world sponsored a format for them to have their
say... the 28th annual of the Conference of the Parties (COP, thus
COP28) being held in Dubai, Union of Arab Emirates.
“What is a conference of the parties?” asked and answered the liberal
Guardian, U.K. who kept, are keeping and will continue keeping a running
timeline of the gathering and its proceedings over its thirteen day
lifespan far (the conference began on
November 30th and ends on Tuesday) – the whole of which is attached
as Attachment “A” with a few occasional excerpts yanked out and attached
earlier – such as the explanation by Fiona Harvey, Guardian environment editor, setting out what it
is all about. She writes (Attachment One)...
“For almost three decades, world
governments have met nearly
every year to forge a global response to the
climate emergency. Under
the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), every country is
treaty-bound to “avoid dangerous climate change” and find ways to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way.”
@
warm days, merry knights
Pressure started piling on negotiators at Cop28 after
Europe’s climate monitor, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), on
Wednesday, the sixth, announced that November had become the sixth record-breaking
month in a row for average temperatures.
An “extraordinary” November smashed the previous November heat record,
pushing 2023’s global average temperature to 1.46C warmer than pre-industrial
levels, C3S said, according to AFP.
Thousands
of miles away, thousands of assorted diplomats and journalists and lobbyists,
some scientists, too (including more of those climatologists and
statisticians), were enjoying high-jinks in a desert that did not flood and
fester in mud as Burning Man did back in September, but remained hot and
pleasant, sort or, clear skies and temperatures in the triple digits during the
meat and the middle of the COP28 climatological conference in Abu Dhabie, United Arab Emirates. While much of the MidEast
has deteriorated into a no-fly, no-go zone as a consequence of the Israeli-Gaza
war spilling out over into Lebanon and Syria and now places more distant
including Iraq and Yemen, the delegates and their parasites were soaking up the
sun and fun as if they were vacationers in Vegas or in Palm Spring.
What
was not to like?
Maybe
the entertainment was a little on the stodgy side and non-Islamic libations
hard (but not impossible) to find; the troubles that were engulfing lands to
the near-West of Dubai atroubling and the rhetoric
without reason quite repetitive - but there were amenities: clean sheets,
cooling showers, maybe a mint on the bed.
And there were celebrities aplenty, albeit celebrities of a certain
type... England’s King Charles, America’s Al Gore and plenty of videos and
zooms and skypes from the likes of Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela’s
granddaughter, from Presidents Xi and Joe and
assorted humanitarians, nonprofit honchos and globalists,
Speaking to French state-backed
news agency AFP before embarking on his flight to attend the conference
in Dubai, António
Guterres, the UN secretary general, said this
year’s Cop climate talks should aim for a complete “phase-out” of fossil fuels,
insisting of the 1.5C climate goal: “It is not dead, it’s alive.”
(Attachment Two)
“I think it would be a pity if we
would stay in a vague and noncommittal ‘phase-down’ whose real meaning would
not be obvious for anybody,”
The
Shadow of Sunak – and His Shadows
England’s PM Rishi Sunak was a prominent presence at COP28, as was his
rival... Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK’s
opposition Labour party, joined in Dubai by
shadow energy security and net zero secretary, Ed Miliband, and shadow foreign
secretary, David Lammy. Starmer said he would use the climate summit to emphasise his view that the push to net zero is an economic
opportunity, and to say Labour is the only UK party
with a plan to pragmatically harness the opportunities of the energy
transition.
Politics
being ever with us.
GUK’s Damian Carrington reported that
the arrival of the world’s leaders at today’s conference is adding an extra
challenge for delegates.. . and journalists.
Cops
are always a marathon for delegates, long days and long walks around the huge
sites. But today is an ultra-marathon for the thousands of attendees.
(Attachment “A” December 1st) The short walk from the metro to the
venue was blocked off, a security mounted for the world leaders arriving today.
That meant a trek in the sun to even enter the site. And once in, more
barricades have been erected to cordon off the presidents and prime ministers,
turning 5 minute trots into 30 minute slogs.
On and on came the
counselors, celebrities, creeps and chiefs of state.
Among more “world leaders, royals and possible celebrities”
coming to attend the climate conference at Expo City Dubai were Sunak and his Labour-ish shadows, King Charles (of course, but also
dozens of powerbrokers, popinjays and potentates (but no Pope), Kamala Harris
(in place of President Joe), China’s climate envoy Xie
(with an ‘e’) Zhenhua (in place of President Xi – no
‘e’), Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine (but not Netanyahu)
and... why not!... Bill Gates. (Zawya/Dubai, Attachment Three, November 28th) Their
full list can be found within this Attachment.
Vladimir Putin was a surprise guest... much to the alarm of
Ukrainians present... but he did not speak nor attend private sessions, just
wandered around enjoying the sights and the heat.
COP28’s thirteen
days of climate kicked off a week ago Thursday (see proceedings of the first
four days here)... the week after a prosperous and
promising American Thanksgiving that soured only a little once the warring
foreigners returned to their warring and the great American public returned to
shopping on a Black Friday now stretced out for more
than a month... dawned on Dubai as more than 80,000 people registered for badges to the event,
and more were struggling to get into the venue - pleading to get through
security, warning that they were missing events and meetings in the Blue Zone
where negotiations are held, with waits expected to last up to two hours at the
entrance nearest the metro station.
GUK suggested another way to get into Blue Zone... “enter
via the Green Zone entrance - where there are no queues - and then get into the
Blue Zone that way.” (Attachment “A”, December 2nd)
Those who survived the security checkpoints
were treated to a “call to arms” from Simon Stiell, the executive
secretary of the UN climate convention, the international framework as governs The
Particulars. Stiell warned against
putting “a tick on the box” for establishing a “loss-and-damage” fund for poor
nations and thinking it solved the multi-trillion dollar
problem of financial aid that’s needed to help cut emissions worldwide.
“We need COP to deliver a bullet
train to speed up climate action. We currently have an old caboose chugging
over rickety tracks,” Stiell said.
Commitments to the FUND, according
to the GUK timeline (Attachment “A”, Thursday 12/9), were:
Loss and damage: $726m
Green climate fund: $3.5bn (increasing second replenishment to $12.8bn)
Adaptation fund: $133.6m
Least developed countries fund: $129.3m
Special climate change fund (SCCF): $31m
Renewable energy: $5bn
Cooling: $25.5m
Clean cooking: $30m
Technology: $568m
Methane: $1.2bn
Climate finance: $30bn from UAE, $200m in special drawing rights, and
$32bn from multilateral development banks (MDBs)
Food: $3.1bn
Nature: $2.6bn
Health: $2.7bn
Water: $150m
Gender: $2.8m
Relief, recovery and peace: $1.2bn
This year’s climate conference comes as the crisis enters a new phase –
and shows its full force, harming billions of people, and costing trillions.
Now everyone is on the frontlines. No country is immune. We have to balance outrage with optimism, said the UN’s former climate chief Christiana
Figueres,
a veteran negotiator hailed as the architect of the Paris climate agreement (and, no doubt) a FAT (foe
against Trump).
Sultan (and oily broker) Al Jaber had officially opened the Cop28 climate talks
in Dubai, after receiving the tiny hammer that is the symbol of his
presidency.
“Colleagues, let
history reflect the fact that this is the Presidency that made a bold choice to
proactively engage with oil and gas companies,”
Jaber said. “We had many hard discussions. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy.”
Opening ceremonies and statements
“This is going to be a
festival of distraction, of miracle tech fixes including carbon capture and
storage which will be framed as essential. But this is no substitute for the
full phase out of fossil fuels which must be fast, full, fair and funded; it’s
about these four Fs,” said Romain Ioualalen, global
policy campaign manager at Oil Change International, at CAN’s first daily briefing.
“For almost three decades,”
according to GUK’s Fiona Harvey, “world governments have met nearly every year to
forge a global response to the climate emergency.” Under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC),
every country is treaty-bound to “avoid dangerous climate change” and “find
ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way.”
Unlike
the first days of the disorganised Cop27 in Egypt, there was actually food...mostly vegan... a nod
to the enormous impact meat has on the climate. An avocado, edamame and hummus sandwich was one offering.
It wasn’t cheap, though. A coffee is $6 (£4.75),
more expensive even than most cafes in New York, so delegates
without big budgets are coming prepared with packed lunches and thermoses.
Carnivores
were catered for, too, and meals were halal – eg a chicken sausage roll. But it’s a clear improvement on the
meat feast of Cop24 in Poland, and the beefburger vans of Cop27.
Mariana Paoli, Christian Aid’s
global advocacy lead, said: “This time last year, at the start of Cop27 in
Egypt, the loss and damage fund was not even on the agenda for that meeting. So it’s a testament to the determination of developing
country negotiators that we now already have the fund agreed and established.”
The mob
Even before the
summit closed... in fact, even as it just began, Carbon Brief looked at the provisional figures, and found that a mob of 84,101 people were registered to attend,
3,074 of whom are attending virtually.
The figures are provisional as more people will have
registered than actually attend, but it is close to certain that this will be
the biggest Cop ever in terms of number of participants. The final number or
attendees will be released after the conference.
The UNFCCC, which organises the
summits, has published the full list of participants in spreadsheet format, making them far easier to analyse.
For comparison, Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh last year hosted
just under 50,000 delegates, while Cop1 in Berlin in 1995 only hosted 3,969.
Kamala
Harris,
vice-president of the US who is attending in place of Joe Biden, has told the
conference that the country is investing heavily in adaptation, with a
particular focus on marginalised communities.
Harris
announced a significant $3bn pledge to the Green Climate Fund, but does not
mention that this is subject to approval by Congress, which is divided.
“This is a
pivotal moment. Our action, or worse, our inaction today … will impact the
lives of billions of people for decades to come. So, for as much as we have
accomplished … there is more work to do, and continued progress will not be
without a fight,” Harris said.
“Around the
world, there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress. Leaders who deny
climate science, delay climate action, and spread misinformation. Large
corporations that greenwash their climate inaction and lobby for billions of
dollars in fossil fuel subsidies. It is clear: we must do more.”
The US,
which is the world’s richest country and biggest polluter, has been widely criticised for the relative paltriness of its climate
finance offerings so far as well for Biden’s truancy. In his place, Vice President Harris gave a cheerelader’s oration – upholding America’s industry,
liberty and virtuousity.
“Around the world,” she fingerpointed
(although neither Putin nor Xi nor The Donald were present), “there are those
who seek to slow or stop our progress.
Leaders who deny climate science, delay climate action, and spread
misinformation. Corporations that greenwash climate inaction and lobby
for billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies.
“In the face of their resistance and in the context of this
moment, we must do more.”
And... although she chose not to mention it... pay.
Pope Francis disappointed
the mob when his doctors ordered him to stay home with a
bout of “very acute infectious bronchitis”.
He sent the
Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in his place with a
missive, which Parolin read out.
“I am with
you because now more than ever, the future of us all depends on the present
that we now choose,” he said.
“I am with
you because the destruction of the environment is an offence against God, a sin
that is not only personal but also structural, one that greatly endangers all
human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst and threatens to
unleash a conflict between generations.
“I am with
you because climate change is a global social issue and one intimately related
to the dignity of human life. I am with you to raise the question which we must
answer now: Are we working for a culture of life or a culture of death?
“To all of
you I make this heartfelt appeal: Let us choose life. Let us choose the future.
May we be attentive to the cry of the earth, may we hear the plea of the poor,
may we be sensitive to the hopes of the young and the dreams of children. We
have a grave responsibility: to ensure that they not be denied their future.”
The
Vatican, accordingly, published a full transcript of the speech (Attachment Ten
in last week’s DJI) or it can be found here.
In
a further disappointment, delegates, onlookers and the press (in particular,
the liberal Guardian U.K., more mainstream media like the Independent, Reuters
and the BBC, and the hard-right, climate denying and deriding tabloids) were
themselves denied the presence of Boris Johnson... who probably would have
relished the chance to make an appearance at Cop, but no... “he isn’t going this year, despite
registering and hoping to, because of the timings for the Covid inquiry,” the
GUK timeline reported. “He’s due to
appear next week and is going over his evidence to prepare for what are likely
be some gruelling days of interrogation,” which some
believe will land him in Old Bailey before, even, his brother-from-another-hairpiece
Trump.
GUKstress Helen Horton
opined that Boris would probably much prefer addressing international groups at
Cop, “where he is quite well-respected because of his enthusiastic hosting of Cop26, where pledges for
international finance and halting deforestation were made, and for his public
pronouncements on the climate crisis (which did not always match with his
policy). Johnson, who is still said to partly blame Sunak for his downfall,
would also probably have enjoyed usurping the prime minister’s
appearance,” particularly as Sunak’s standing on climate has arguably
diminished even since last year, what with his net zero rollback, frequent use
of private jets and descriptions of climate experts as “zealots”.
Amidst
war, economic volatility and inequality, it was only fitting that COP28 would
come in from its share of animosity based on racial, cultural and gender
grievances. Small island nations at risk
for disappearance beneath a rising tide clamoured for
attention while indigenous spokespersons lambasted the (mostly) wealthy, white,
Western delegates for their centuries of oppression.
Las week, we reported on Brenna TwoBears, lead coordinator
for the Indigenous Environmental Network in Oregon, who was among Indigenous
environmental experts who kicked off the first day of Cop28. These pledged
their support for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and warned of the
dangers market-based false solutions
posed to Indigenous peoples and the global climate.
Rihab Khalid, a climate social
scientist at the University of Cambridge and interdisciplinary energy
researcher who studies the intersections of gender equity, energy access and spatial
justice told the Guardian a week ago Saturday that: “I’m here because I’m
passionate about gender equity, and I believe we can only achieve this if we
align gender-responsive climate action with women’s sustainable development
across all sectors.”
On
the other hand, COP public relations hawkers published numerous pictures of
attractive female delegates in the indigenos
costumes.
A
violent videograme, produced by COP 28 and its cops
and security forces infers, on the other hand, violence against women. (See below in the marching section)
The gameworld
violence remained only incipient (and official) in the real world as COP
convened. “We have to keep the outrage
really high because we are
so darn late,” said Christiana Figueres, a veteran negotiator hailed as
the architect of the Paris
climate agreement on the opening day of the gathering. (GUK, November 30th, Attachment @) We have to balance outrage with optimism, the UN’s former
climate chief added.
“We are living through climate
collapse in real time,” declared a clearly exasperated Guterres.
WORDY RAPPING HOODS
As the arguments and
appeals started, it soon became obvious that... with the exception of a few outright
climate change deniers and “drill, baby, drill” entrepreneurs (most of whom
were oily)... the lines of demarcation were being
drawn on the narrow semiotics of carbon phaseout
or carbon elimination... leading to
further questions of “when” and “how”.
And also, with the exception of a few outright “back to the caves”
climate extremists, what would power the robots and the vehicles of the eight
million, keep them warm in winter, cool in summer and provide the means of
media distraction.
Twenty-two countries called for a tripling of nuclear energy by 2050 in
order to meet net zero goals. John
Kerry, the US’s climate envoy (Attachment @, see link here, see USA in country summary for Kerry),
defended the statement. Bill McKibben’s campaign group, 350.org pushed back.
The “elimination” (protesters) versus
“phase-out” (OPEC hoodlums and a few government “moderates”) war of words
flared up when U.S. lawmakers and ministers from around the world blasted a letter that
emerged Friday night, warning OPEC member states to resist calls at the COP28
climate summit for a fossil fuel phase-out.
(Axios, December 9th, Attachment @)
The letter
shook up the climate talks in a critical phase, as nations sparred over whether
to include “historic language” in an emerging climate agreement that merely
called for a “phase-out” of fossil fuels.
The
letter, reportedly sent by the OPEC secretary general to all 13 member nations
and 10 members of the larger OPEC+ coalition on Dec. 6, warned of the
possibility of a tipping point toward a COP28 outcome containing language
calling for (at least) a phase-out of fossil fuels.
The letter
has also spurred strong reactions abroad as well. In an interview with Axios, Colombia Environment Minister Susana Muhamad
compared the letter to something "out of a science fiction movie."
"Why
don't they come and speak up here and tell the truth that they want to prevail,
even if the planet goes to, or two-thirds of humanity go to hell," she
told Axios.
@title
Sunday dawned as health
day in hot, polluted Abu Dhabi with various reports and declarations passed on to the Particulars. Kamala and Kerry conatributed...
the right wing New
York reporting that the failed 2004
Presidential candidate also passed a hefty measure of methane to all.
More quietly, tho’ forcefully, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention... the
continent’s main public health body,...said more
funding was needed to tackle health crises in what the unwoke
still call the Dark Continent.
Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa
CDC, said the continent has had 158 disease outbreaks already this year,
following on closely from the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the climate crisis is
a leading cause of them.
“Each outbreak we miss can become
a pandemic – and that is the major concern we have today. We don’t want the
next pandemic to come from Africa due to climate change. This is why we are
pushing for more funding,” he warned.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, compared fossil
fuels to tobacco. “Addressing climate
change necessitates addressing the role
of fossil fuels, much as we cannot address lung cancer without addressing the
impact of tobacco.”
Speaking of things marketed, eaten, smoked or
otherwise consumed, several GUK takeaways (December 1st, Attachment
@) addressed the politics of food overconsumption, ethics, insecurity and
downright absence (as witness the starving civilian children of Gaza).
“Crop
diversity can help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, adapt to
drought and promote healthy diets and sustainable livelihoods. There is no food
security without it but we’re losing diversity from the fields and too many
seed banks are inadequately resourced, ” said Stefan
Schmitz, director of the Crop
Trust.
Industrial agriculture dominated by monocrops,
synthetic fertilisers, deforestation and
conglomerates has devastated naturally occurring crop diversity in the past 60
years or so, and the race is now on to breed drought resistant and more
weather-flexible crops. In the UAE for example, there are wild dates and olive
trees adapted to extreme mountain conditions which could provide a “genetic
treasure trove”, according to the World Wildlife Fund, which is trying to locate and
conserve the heritage seeds for future generations. “Mankind created and has
survived on the basis of crop diversity, it is part of
our cultural heritage and nature. But there’s no sustainability climate funding
available for protecting diversity, it goes to the food industry and 21st
innovations, not traditional solutions,” added Schmitz.
The impact of climate change on food production,
distribution and cost was also brought up... representatives of poorer nations
contending that the in-again, out-again, in-again $3.5B pledge earmarked from
the loss and
damage fund would not (even if restored or increased) be sufficient to save lives
and mandate a healthy planet without immediate (and probably intrusive) government regulation of people’s lifestyles
and diets.
“Stop
ignoring the cow in the room!” protesters shouted as they gathered at the
entrance of the Blue Zone to call for the negotiation of a global plant-based
treaty as a companion to the Paris agreement and to address breaches to five
planetary boundaries.
Hoshimi Sakai from
Plant Based Treaty said: “This is the first Cop where food systems have been
addressed. It has to be a fair and just plant-based food system that not only
takes care of our own health but the planet’s health. This is urgent, everyone
must sign the plant-based treaty and Cop29 must be 100% vegan.”
Immediately
after the announcement that the loss and damage funding arrangements had been
agreed, the United Arab
Emirates, which is hosting the talks, pledged $100m to the fund.
Marchers,
merchers and marbles
During
the testimonies, some of the speakers could not help but introduce tangential,
sometimes important - sometimes peripheral issues into the gathering.
Foremost
among these was, and remains, the MidEast war, with
the vast majority of delegates supporting the Palestinians (including Hamas)
and blaming Israel for civilian deaths which a few even compared to the
Holocaust.
Politico reported that Israeli
president Isaac Herzog spent much of the morning in meetings telling fellow
leaders about “how Hamas blatantly violates the ceasefire agreements,”
according to a post on his X account. “He ended up
skipping a speech he was meant to give during Friday’s parade of world
leaders”
Then, shortly after leaders posed
for a group photo in the Dubai venue on Friday, the Iranian delegation
announced it was walking out. The reason, Iran’s energy minister told his country’s official news agency: The “political, biased and
irrelevant presence of the fake Zionist regime” — referring to Israel.
Abdullah
II bin Al-Hussein, the king of Jordan linked the climate emergency to the war
happening in Gaza. He said:
“As
we speak the Palestinian people are facing an immediate threat to their lives
and well being. Tens of thousands have been injured
or killed in a region already on the frontline of climate change. The massive
destruction of water makes the environmental threats of water scarcity and food
insecurity more severe.”
He
added that people there are living without clean water and with a bare minimum
of food supplies and points out that climate change exacerbates the destructive
nature of war.
The
monarch asked for more aid to be sent to the most vulnerable and pointed out
that Jordan does not contribute significantly to climate breakdown but is
greatly affected, with water scarcity a real threat.
Politico also reported on the shadow cast over
Cop28 by the war in Gaza. Several leaders used their
speeches to draw attention to the conflict, and behind the scenes officials are
having meetings with their counterparts about Gaza.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog told
the Particulars about “how Hamas blatantly violates the ceasefire agreements,”
according to a post on
his X account. He ended up skipping a speech he was meant
to give during Friday’s parade of world leaders. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority
leader, also disappeared from the final speakers’ list after initially being
scheduled to talk just a few slots after Herzog and the Iranians walked out to
protest the “Zionist” slant of COP28 (see country listings and this link).
Interlopers
walked in. “There can be no climate justice on occupied land,” said
Dylan Hamilton, a 19-year-old climate justice and trans rights activist from
Scotland. “The youth stand with Palestine.”
The
briefing ended with an emotional address from Tariq Luthun, a Palestinian
American from Friends of the Earth Palestine, who said denying water to people was a
form of collective punishment that has also been used in the US, for example
the mass water shutoffs for overdue bills in Detroit and the lead contamination
scandal in Flint, Michigan.
“What good is to be found in a green world if the roots
are soaked in blood,” said Luthum.
And,
the day before yesterday, the Associated Press... reporting on pro-Hamas
marches outside the convention hall... also published statements by Joey Shea,
of Human Rights Watch, and photographs of protesters holding images
of jailed activist Mohamed al-Siddiq and Egypt’s jailed leading
pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah.
Reporter John Gambrell (Attachment @, December 9th cited the “shocking
level of censorship” and controls that “bordered on the absurd” as police
redacted the free speech of naïve Westerners who lacked experience in what real dictatorships look and feel like.
British academic Matthew Hedges, who was imprisoned by the United Arab
Emirates for seven months after being accused of spying, has warned visitors
to Cop28 not
to fall into the same trap he did.
He warned attendees to: “take a
clean phone, a new phone with limited access. Do not have social media on your
phone, or if you do, make sure it is a business account, with two-factor
authentication, or something like this, and do the same for the safety,
integrity of your emails.”
On a matter of less danger and
more limited interest... specifically to King Charles and to the Greeks... the
new King’s address (while termed more of the same old-same old by the more
urgent Particulars in its ossuary of clichés and vapid promises) did, at least,
hint that he supported a return to Athens “of the
Parthenon (aka Elgin) marbles
in the wake of this week’s row over the antiquities.”
A
royal observation that may have gone unnoticed but, over in Greece, is causing
waves of excitement in the view of GUK’s Helena Smith. (December first) The Greek media has noted “with a touch of
euphoria” that the British monarch was donning a Greek-motif tie and breast
pocket handkerchief – signalling (or so it has been
interpreted) his support for the marbles.
And
there was plenty of merching and vending inside the
COP while the marching and venting transpired outside. One of the strangest tie-ins to the climate
conference must be the Cop28 Adventures game, which merch was released by Dubai police before the event began. Its summary on Google’s Play Store reads:
“Immerse
yourself in the urgent world of global climate action in Climate Guardians
COP28. As a delegate at the UAE conference, craft policies, solve environmental
challenges, and collaborate with players worldwide. Explore stunning UAE
locations, make impactful decisions, and compete for the highest cooperation
score. Join the movement for a sustainable future today.”
The Guardian will not be downloading the app, and recommends that you do
not either. But if you can’t resist,
check out Attachment @
International and intra-national
politics
The touchy, tetchy president
of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber, drew incoming for his claim that there was “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to
restrict global heating to 1.5C, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate
Reporting revealed during a live online event on 21
November; his “ill-tempered responses to questions at a She Changes Climate event from Mary Robinson, the chair of the Elders group and a
former UN special envoy for climate change,” also included contentions that a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development
“unless you want to take the world back into caves”.
The
comments were “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial”, assorted
scientists (like Prof. Sir David King, chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory
Group and a former UK chief scientific adviser, and Dr Friederike
Otto of Imperial College London, UK) replied, and GUK said that they were “at
odds with the position of the UN secretary general, António Guterres.” Bill Hare, the chief executive of Climate
Analytics, said: “This is an extraordinary, revealing, worrying and belligerent
exchange. ‘Sending us back to caves’ is the oldest of fossil fuel industry
tropes: it’s verging on climate denial.”
“[There
are] massive co-benefits that come with changing to a fossil-free world,” Otto
disagreed.
“Once
again, this is clearly part of a continued effort to undermine the Cop
presidency’s tangible achievements and a misrepresentation of our position and successes
to date,” an anonymous “spokesman” disagreed with the disagreement.
Next
to Jaber, COP28’s staunchest (and derided... at least by GUK) defender was
Britain’s own PM Sunak, who repeatedly defended himself in numerous forums and
interviews. On Friday, he charged that net zero
would only be delivered in a way that “benefits the British people”, adding
that “we have scrapped plans on heat pumps and energy efficiency that would
have cost people thousands of pounds”.
The chief executive of ExxonMobil
has made some eyebrow-raising comments in an interview with the Financial Times, claiming the summit focuses too
much on renewable energy. It is the first time an Exxon chief has attended a
Cop.
The
left-ish Guardian went looking for discouraging
words, and found plenty of them – including statements by Starmer
and by the UN’s former climate chief, who urged
people to “balance outrage and optimism” after a “hellish summer” of extreme
weather. “We have to keep the outrage really high
because we are so darn
late,” said Christiana Figueres, a veteran negotiator hailed as
the architect of the Paris
climate agreement at
the start of the Dubai climate summit
Extinction Rebellion, the climate activist campaign, issued a downbeat assessment of
what the earth could expect from Cop28 as it began, saying we have woken
up to a world that “is as bad, if not worse than we predicted five years ago”,
with 2023 set to be classified the hottest year on record… “we are once
again seeing world leaders fly, on their private jets, to the next conference
of the parties in the United Arab Emirates, a nation built almost entirely on
fossil fuel wealth. Cop28 is led by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, founder and chair
of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). which has
the largest net-zero busting plans in the world.
“Before it has even begun, it is
clear the Cop process has been captured by the fossil fuel economy,” XREX
states, but its rather accommodationist conclusion (rather than, for example,
bombing the meetings) is that: “Yes, Cop28 is not good enough, but it’s all we’ve got.”
The development charity ActionAid
UK
also criticised the UK’s progress on climate action,
saying domestic policies are threatening progress on the global stage by
sending the wrong message to countries elsewhere in the world. Zahra Hdidou, senior climate and resilience
adviser at ActionAid UK, said that, the U.K. “issues licences for over 100 new oil and gas fields, cause immense harm to women and
girls disproportionately affected by climate breakdown (see below) and
UK banks like HSBC and Barclays are “among the largest funders of climate chaos.”But there
were reasons for optimism
that could stop people falling into “a dark rabbit hole”,
she added. “I do make a conscious choice every morning to say: ‘Yes, I know
what all the bad news is’ – that’s easy to get because that just screams at you
from whatever news feed you have – but also, what is positive that is going out
there? What are the disruptive pieces that are real, strong evidence of the
fact that this is changing?
John Beard, a former Exxon
engineer who now campaigns against the industry’s impacts on communities along
the Gulf of Mexico coast, was there for Kerry’s speech and said: “You can’t
talk about decarbonising when you’re recarbonising, it doesn’t make sense. Talk is cheap and
sending your big dog officials here isn’t going to do it, it’s action that will
do it.”
While
Sunak and Starmer rumble in the streets of London
(and, now, Abu Dhabi), on the other shore and side of the partisan divide, a
gang of
Republican lawmakers made the trip from the U.S.A. to Dubai, to push a contrary
anti-cop message – that President Biden is waging a war on American energy and
that China is being let off too easily in emissions cuts.
They found a sympathetic soul in Giorgia Meloni,
Italy’s rightwing prime minister who has long dismissed the need for urgent
action on climate change and called out the human (and K-9 and robot) cops to
crack down hard on protests by environmental and other activists, supporting or
opposing climate change. She spoke of
the need for what she describes as “a technology-neutral approach, free from
radicalism”.
Meloni wrapped up her drill baby drill
discourse by quoting Warren Buffett: “There is someone sitting in the shade
today because someone else planted a tree long ago.” She was probably not referring to UK Labour leader Starmer’s army of
shadow cabineteers... maybe to one of Jaber’s fellow
sheikhs now using the summit to finalize and embark on another escapade of
climatic imperialism.
Speaking
after an EU event on carbon markets alongside Ursula von der Leyen, the Spanish
prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the heads of the World Trade Organization
(WTO), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Zambia’s president, Hakainde Hichilema
said his country lacked expertise on developing carbon projects and needed
international organisations to help.
This year, the rights over vast tracts
of African forest have been sold off in a series of huge carbon offsetting
deals that cover an area of land larger than the UK to a UAE-based firm called
Blue Carbon, with concerns raised about the
previous business dealings of the young Dubai royal behind the agreements.
When
asked about the secretive
Blue Carbon deals on the opening day of Cop 28, Hichilema said they would
benefit local people, striking back at suggestions that a wave of carbon offsetting deals in African
countries by a UAE sheikh, which include his country, are a new “scramble for
Africa”. (GUK, Attachment @,
November 30th).
“It
shouldn’t be [a scramble for Africa’s resources]. When someone comes to our
country and brings an idea around carbon, we say that we don’t understand how
to work through this. That is why we have asked the World Bank, the IMF, the
WTO, the African Development Bank to put the technical capacity together,
learning from what the countries of the north have done,” he said.
The Guardian, looking into Sheikh Dalmook’s business dealings uncovered
numerous shadowy fellows – even an “Italian fugitive!”
@
Sunday
@COP
closes next week
@leaders
A to Z (Attachment
“B”)
But,
again, the happiest... tho’ briefest... manifestation
of Thanksgiving occurred with the rescue of Little Abi. And what will the world give Don Jones for
Christmas?
|
Our
Lesson: December 4th through 10th, 2023 |
|
|
|
Monday, December 4, 2023 Dow:
36,204.44 |
The Israeli-Hamas war escalates outward into all of Gaza, the West
Bank, Lebanon, Yemen (where bad drones attack Israeli-linked shipping and
“good” drones strike Houthi tribesmen, (by proxy) Iran and even (by domestic
or foreign terror), France. Desperate
image spark do-gooders like UNICEF to condemn the war on children; Israel
fights back by showing 8/8 rape videos.
International protests include bombings and murders in Paris, which
now fears for its 2024 Olympics.
Ukraine asks: “What about us?” International protests, but
fewer of them attend the COP28 summet in Abu Dhabi,
mainly because police round up and lock up even peaceful demonstrators. Proceedings noted above. COP28 closes next Tuesday. No closure for the Earth...
volcanoes erupting in Iceland and Indonesia, plain ol’
earthquakes in the Phillippines. Falling crude oil prices are a disaster for
Russia and Iran, a boon to Americans just back from Thanksgiving travels and
ready to venture out again for Christmas and big boxes of Black Friday
merch. Black boxes under stress and
strain as reports flow in about drunken air traffic controllers and mentally
ill pilots as Alaska airlines buys out Hawaian air
and Thanksgiving travelers start booking Christmas flights. |
|
|
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 Dow:
36.124.56 |
Refugees in South Gaza complain that Israel is shelling and strafing
them now, after telling them to move out of the North. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) admit that
killing all the Hamas terrorists is impossible, so they are focusing on the
leadership, still sneaking around in tunnels beneath hospitals, schools and
mosques – which are duly bombed, as are ambulances Israel says have been
commandeered by Hamas. American Republicans continue
to hold up aid to Israel, Ukraina and, now, Taiwan
over demands for a stronger Mexican border policy. (Mining?)
Further delighting Russia, China, NoKo, Iran
and a few others: Sen Tuberville (R-Al) still holding up military promotions. While COP speakers speak,
Phoenix heat deaths now top all of those in previous years and the weather
seems to be driving drivers crazy... a “prom-posal”
prank featuring Hollywood-ish stunts smash
motorcycles and pedestrians in the Sunshine State. As FBI Director Christopher
Wray warns of MidEast partisan rumbles and lone
wolves, pro-Israel, pro-Hamas and pro-fessional
pro-testers protest across American universities and Congress summons
Harvard, Penn and M.I.T. to explain their hands-off First Amendment
blather. Pro-fessor
at UNLV goes on a murder spree while, in Wyoming, a “school resource” officer
beats up an uppity 8 year old black (in Wyoming!)
disabled student, shouting: “No, you don’t win this! It’s all ME! I should take you to jail!” |
|
|
Wednesday, December 6, 2023 Dow: 36,054.43 |
Djonald UnJailed blows off the Alabama debate to
mooch money and chews fat with Sean Hannity, who asks him whether, if
re-elected, he will rule as a dictator.
“Only on Day One,” Trump replies, citing the border and chanting:
“Drill, baby, drill.” (See COP28
responses above and in Attachment “A”.)
He calls the nine eleven rioters “hostages” –
inferring a pardon. For their part, three of his
four remaining challengers (Doug Burgum and his money drop out) tiptoe ‘round
the Trumpster – apparently hoping he’ll invite them
to replace Mike Pence as Veep and then, maybe, die. Nikki calls Saint Ron’s calling her out for
her donors “jealousy”; DeSantis derides Chris Christie’s
faltering polls; Christie retorts that’s because he’s the only candidate who
stands up to Trump and calls Vivek an “obnoxious blowhard”; Ramaswamy infers
that Nikki’s daughter’s TIK TOKKing is a Chinese
plot and assures America that he “has legs.”
The Chinese as can watch... delighted... the debate, on the CW
Channel, ropes in millions of Americans hoping for Garth and Alan and Dolly
and Jellyroll and
President Joe says he probably wouldn’t run if Trump were out
of the race. RIP: Norman Lear, 101...
producer of “All in the Family” and numberous other
successful sitcoms... the tributes pour in.
Also RIP (retiring in peace), fired Speaker K-Mac who’ll spitefully
leave his California seat open for Democrat Newsome to fill. MFP (Merch for profits)
George Santos finds a post-expulsion job, recording videos for givers to gift
to friends or enemies for the holidays – each bearing a personal message from
George. |
|
|
Thursday, December 7 2023 Dow:
36,117.38 |
It’s Pearl Harbor Day. Also Thankful Thursday... thanksgivings that all of the
wars are over there, not over here... not yet. Good news on the military
front, tho’... Sen. Tuberville (R-Al) abandons his
insane scheme to decapitate the American military, sort of, and Congress
quickly promotes over four hundred soldiers into officers (Tommy still holds
up ten four-star promotions as hostage to... something?... can’t he go join
Hamas and there bollix up their Chain of Command to help Israel decapitate
their leadership?). If it’s abortion, he should
be cheering the Texas AyGee who overrides a judge
and orders a woman not to have an abortion, even if it kills her. He also
proposes life sentences for abortion docs.
If it’s the border, the
enemies of America should be cheering as aid for allies at war is redacted
unless President Joe does something about the migrants – not only Mexicans
but Hondurans and Turks and secret agents from Russia and China freezing in
tent cities as they ponder their secret missions. Israel now has a secret plan
to win the war... flood the tunnels under Gaza with seawater and drown them
all. That it will salinate
and destroy agriculture from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, that it will
also probably drown the hostages... details!
Pshaw! Liz Cheney further muddies
2024 and drowns Joe’s re-election by planning to run as an Independent
alongside the Green, the Libertarian, Manchin, Marianne and RFK Junior to
split the vote into tiny and very disgusting little pieces. But bipartisanship does score a small
victory as Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga) and John Kennedy (R-La... not Bobby’s
dead uncle) collude to lower insulin prices. |
|
|
Friday, December 9, 2023 Dow:
36,245.50 |
It’s National Brownie Day (the dessert, not the little girls). It’s also the first full day
of Hanukkah, drawing all the neo-Nazis, Palestinian puppets and space-laster paranoids out into the streets... Doug Emhoff (i.e. Mr. Kamalala) gives a
speech about anti-Semitism at a synagogue... he’s ag’in
it. Surprise! Not ag’in it is
an Iraqi-American ISISoid who shoots up a synagogue
full of children in Albany, NY, is arrested and the authorities are mulling
over whether following his mullah into jihad constitute a hate crime... hate
is so diluted and commonplace these days.
In Atlanta, a woman tries to burn down the Martin Luther King memorial
house. A black woman! Killer haters are in the news
and in the courts... school shooter Ethan Crumbley
gets life without for icing four in Michigan.
He tells the court: “I am a really bad person,” but, at least, does
not blame his parents. The Vegas
school shooter... a professor... carried a hit list but couldn’t stick to it
and started killing people at random – disgruntled because UNLV wouldn’t hire
him due to his espousal of weird conspiracy theories. No motive and no suspect yet in the murder
of a high school cheerleader in Edna, TX, but the suicide/homicide pilot who
tried to crash a jet and kill dozens gets his charges reduced to misdemeanors
and gets out on $50,000 bail/ Hunter Biden hasn’t killed
anyone... yet, not counting his father’s chances of re-election... but his
dirty dealings in China and Ukraine could net him 17 years for not payin the taxes on his loot. He spent it all on clothes, hookers, porn
sites and drugs – making George Santos look like a charity case. Could Don Junior and Eric be next? |
|
|
Saturday, December 9, 2023 Dow:
Closed |
The United States vetoes a U.N. resolution calling for a humanitarian
cease-fire because the fine print is anti-Semitic. Israel thanks America... and then does
institute a short pause to allow civilians in Gaza to run to a few tiny
no-fire zones that may be safe, or not.
As reports of hostage deaths ooze in, families point fingers at the
IDF attacks while Netanyahu blames Hamas. Back in the USA, the Supreme
Court of Texas overturns a lower court ruling overturning the demand that a
woman who claims her foetus is disabled beyond survivavility and her life is in danger to have it anyway
or face a long prison term... maybe the death penalty. The doctors, too. Republicans argue over
whether Djoker UnChained’s
contention that he will be a dictator “for a day” is just a little
ex-Presidential humor or a promise. |
|
|
Sunday, December 10, 2023 Dow: Closed |
Twenty two (later, twenty eight) tornadoes strike the Southeast in a line from Beaurgard, Alabama (destroyed by twisters in 2019) to
Nashville to Kentucky. Six are killed,
many more injured or missing.
Weatherpersons say the storms will cruise on up the east coast to the BosWash corridor, followed by freezing temperatures. All screaming “Pay attention
to ME... look at ME!” partisans at Harvard, Penn and M.I.T. rassle over what
is or is not anti-Semitism or free speech.
Cpward;u Presidents
and Professor apologize for what they say, then apologize for apologizing
while the righteous pro-Jew and pro-Hamas students get their pictures
taken. Elon Musk invites Alex Jones
back onto “X”/ On the Sunday talkshows, anti-Trump Republicans Sarah Isgue and Ramesh (Nat. Review) Ponnuru
say the four remaining challengers should follow the unelectable Chris
Christie in denouncing The Donald. SecState Tony Blinken talks
diplomatically about whether America should invade Yemen and pleads for
release of aid to the failing Ukrainians. And Liz Cheney floats a third (or twelfth)
party Independent/Conservative candidacy which will further split the
electorate and ensure a Trump triumph. |
|
|
A drop in the unemployment
rate overcame a rise in America’s trade deficit to close out the week up a
bit... not quite enough to bring it back to parity with the Don’s debut in
2013, but closer. The Dow, with
inflation finally turning downwards and the Fed planning Christmas parties
instead of rate hikes, kept rising, gladdening the rich but the working class
also finally enjoyed a week where wage increases topped inflation. Foreigners, once again,
behaved like animals... a slur against animals... but instigated no major political,
economic or military terror other than doing what they always do. The debaters debated... on CW!... but Trump
still leads De Santis by 45 points, Haley by 49 and
President Joe by 4 despite unpopular positions on dictatorship, abortion and
his own character. Then again, Haley
had a double digit lead in the latest Wall Street
Journal poll... but will Republican primary voters do the obvious and sane
thing in their caucuses, election and convention? Nah! |
|
|
|
CHART of CATEGORIES
w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000 (REFLECTING…
approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013) Negative/harmful indices
in RED.
See a further explanation of categories here… ECONOMIC INDICES (60%)
|
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|
SOCIAL
INDICES (40%)
|
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|
ACTS of MAN |
12% |
|
|
1207 |
|||||||
|
World Affairs |
3% |
450 |
10/9/23 |
nc |
12/18/23 |
458.37 |
458.37 |
Europe’s most hazardous nuclear site has worsening leak that
could pose risk to public. Peru’s top
court orders former President Alberto Fujimori’s release from prison, defying an international court decision. Long thought to be extinct in Kenya, giant
pangolins are now being helped back from the brink – Chinese gourmets
salivating. French prudes cancel actor
Gerard Depardieu for talking and thinking sexy things. |
|||
|
War and terrorism |
2% |
300 |
12/4/23 |
-0.2% |
12/18/23 |
296.05 |
295.46 |
FBI
director Wray says he sees Blinken red lights as
Arab/Israeli partisanship gets louder and angrier at home. The wars roll on, but apperantly
without American aid held up by Congress – thus, Conquest for Hamas, Putin
and Xi. Shee!ites in Iran blamed for attacks on Jewish
cargo shipping in the Red Sea, Israel does say it’s killed five more Hamasoids - threatens to flood Gaza tunnels and to Hell
with the hostages. But Maximum Leader
Yahya Sinwa apparently escapes. |
|||
|
Politics |
3% |
450 |
12/4/23 |
nc |
12/18/23 |
481.88 |
481.88 |
Former
President Trump declares he will not be a dictator (except on Day One) and
the liberal media gasp. He’s rotating
between four criminal, one civil and many pending court dates, but rising in
the polls and obviously having a very good time. His four primary opponents make fools of
themselves in Alabama, so we must now say “Good night!” to the GOP primary. |
|||
|
Economics |
3% |
450 |
12/4/23 |
+0.7% |
12/18/23 |
433.93 |
436.97 |
TV-con-o’mystics predict sub-flat job growth of 169K but the
stats show 199K, a drop in the unemployment rate, wage gains topping
inflation and the Fed not knowing what
to do. WalMart
yanks ads from Elon’s X; Elon dis-yanks Info Warrior Alex Jones. |
|||
|
Crime |
1% |
150 |
12/4/23 |
-0.3% |
12/18/23 |
244.78 |
244.05 |
American
ambassador to Bolivia accused of being Cuban spy. Bahamian shark eats woman from Boston. Hat thief kills security guard at
Philadelphia Macy’s. Week’s other
murder roundups include Texas terror (six in Austin, four in Dallas and a
cheerleader knifed in Edna. Another
high school girl killed in Facebook Marketplace robbery, Bad Grandma shoots five month old in face, |
|||
|
ACTS of GOD |
(6%) |
|
|
||||||||
|
Environment/Weather |
3% |
450 |
12/4/23 |
-0.3% |
12/18/23 |
395.82 |
394.63 |
Important
stats and speeches at COP28 (see above).
In the US, a coast to coast storm brings
heavy rain in the West, snow to the East (after long snow droghts
up and down the BosWash corridor) and, in between,
tornadoes. |
|||
|
Disasters |
3% |
450 |
12/4/23 |
+0.1% |
12/18/23 |
419.60 |
420.02 |
Christmas
trees said to be in short supplies due to wildfires and drought. Eleven killed in Indonesian volcano. Hot air balloon crashes in Phoenix yard –
but all 9 passengers are saved. |
|||
|
LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX |
(15%) |
|
|||||||||
|
Science, Tech, Educ. |
4% |
600 |
12/4/23 |
-0.2% |
12/18/23 |
636.67 |
635.40 |
New robots
developed to do the Shipping and Packing that Archie Bunker did, back in the
day. The roboticians
say their machines will “supplement” workers, not replace them. Eh? (Maybe the laidoff
can be retrained as air traffic controllers or, if they pass the psych exam,
even pilots?) The U.S. and Europe are trying to regulate artificial intelligence — but the technology is evolving
more rapidly than their policies. |
|||
|
Equality (econ/social) |
4% |
600 |
12/4/23 |
nc |
12/18/23 |
635.55 |
635.55 |
High
school athletes clamour to
be included in NIL (name, image, likeness) merch and get paid. Atlanta woman arrested for trying to burn
down the MLK memorial home. She’s...
uh... black? Yup! |
|||
|
Health |
4% |
600 |
12/4/23 |
+0.4% |
12/18/23 |
472.93 |
474.82 |
Researchers
are testing genetic manipulation solutions to cure sickle cell anemia and
raise prospect of other miracles. TV
docs say Ozempic cures alcoholism as well as obesity. Mandatory med? But not cantaloupes, they’re poison! They also recommend sucking on sour
candy... or something... to fend off panic attacks, not giving small children
magnetic metal balls to choke on and coming from China, just for Christmas,
new plague variant JM1. (They’ve given
up on Greek letters.) |
|||
|
Freedom and Justice |
3% |
450 |
12/4/23 |
+0.3% |
12/18/23 |
471.51 |
472.92 |
Lotsa bad
people headed to courts to face justice – Ethan Crumbly (Michigan school
shooter... his bad parents later), Alex Murdaugh,
Rudy G. and, of course, Donald Trump (giving him an excuse to skip the
debate) and Hunter Biden (who confesses he spent millions in dark money from
Ukraine and China) on drugs, hookers and porn sites. |
|||
|
MISCELLANEOUS and TRANSIENT INDEX |
(7%) |
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Cultural incidents |
3% |
450 |
12/4/23 |
+0.1% |
12/18/23 |
515.72 |
516.24 |
America to
go bowling with Michigan/Alabama for the Roses, Washington and Texas for the
Sugar. Georgia and Florida State,
excluded, complain. Army/Navy game
moved to Boston for 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party –
Army wins. Year end end-Time judgments include
voters Val and Xochi winning trophies for “Dancing
with the Stars”, Lionel Messi named athlete of the year, and the man... er...
woman of the year is – Surprise! – Taylor Swift. Brenda Lee’s 1958 “Rockin’
Around the Christmas Tree” deposes Mariah as Billboard’s Number One. RIP: Norman “All in the Family” Lear,
musician Denny Laine (Sir Paul’s Wings, Moodies),
Fidel Castro’s sister Juanita. R(etire)IP:
Deposed Speaker K-Mac, K.I.S.S. (after their farewell tour). |
|||
|
Misc. incidents |
4% |
450 |
12/4/23 |
+0.1% |
12/18/23 |
497.95 |
498.45 |
Morality-impelled
hackers hack porn sites and the dating app. “23 and Me”, thus perhaps causing
not-so-golden bachelors and -ettes to be hooked up
with lawyers, pangolins and kangaroos.
McDonald’s debuts CosMc coffee shop in
Illinois. Need a spokesman? Cosby’s available. |
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The Don Jones Index for the week of December 4th through December 10th,
2023 was UP 16.07 points
The Don Jones Index
is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and
Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator.
The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well
as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell,
environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna
Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The
Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial
“Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties
promulgating this and/or other such slanders.
Comments,
complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.
2 GUTIERRES
3 ZAWYA
4
5
THEN – FIGUERES
KERRY/MC KIBBEN
AXIOS 12/9
GUK FOOD
A[ GAMBRE;; 12/9
ATTACHMENT ONE – From
A1 From GUKUpdated
at 03.24 EST
So what is a conference of the parties? My colleague
@Attach Fiona Harvey, Guardian environment editor
and a veteran of multiple Cops, has written a handy explainer, setting out what
it is all about. She writes:
“For almost three decades, world
governments have met nearly every year to
forge a global response to the climate emergency. Under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change
(UNFCCC), every country is treaty-bound to “avoid dangerous climate change” and
find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way.
xTh.4
Cop stands for conference of the
parties under the UNFCCC, and the annual meetings have swung between fractious
and soporific, interspersed with moments of high drama and the occasional
triumph (the Paris agreement in 2015)
and disaster (Copenhagen in 2009). This year is the 28th iteration, and promises to be a difficult
follow-up to last year, when developing countries celebrated victory on key issues of climate
finance.
A2 FROM AFP
via GUK Timeline
November 30
Updated at 03.34 EST
Guterres
calls for complete 'phase-out' of fossil fuels
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, has said this year’s Cop climate talks
should aim for a complete “phase-out” of fossil fuels, insisting of the 1.5C
climate goal: “It is not dead, it’s alive.”
Speaking to French state-backed news
agency AFP before embarking on his flight to attend the conference in Dubai,
Guterres said:
Obviously I am
strongly in favour of language that includes (a)
phaseout, even with a
reasonable time framework.
We have the potential, the
technologies and the capacity and the money - because the money is available, it’s
a question of making sure it goes into the right direction- to do what is
necessary, not only to keep the 1.5 degrees alive, but alive and well.
The only thing that is still
lacking is political will.
Scientists are increasingly
warning the goal of restricting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial
levels looks ever more unlikely, an outcome that nations have agreed would be
disastrous for human civilisation.
Since the goal was agreed at the
Paris climate talks in 2015, nations’ actions have fallen far short. Some
countries have called for the final statement of Cop28,
which requires unanimous agreement, to explicitly call for a reduction in
fossil fuel consumption – which would be a historic first.
But Guterres went further, telling
AFP a simple promise to reduce fossil fuels would not be enough. “I think it
would be a pity if we would stay in a vague and noncommittal ‘phase-down’ whose
real meaning would not be obvious for anybody,” he said.
A3 from Zawya
Among the “world leaders, royals
and possible celebrities” coming to attend the climate conference at Expo City
Dubai
Bindu Rai, ZAWYA
November 28, 2023
SUSTAINABILITYENVIRONMENTCLIMATE CHANGEUAECOP 28 DUBAI
As the 28th session of the Conference
of the Parties (COP28) gets underway at Expo City, Dubai from November 30 until
December 12, here’s a look at all the big names confirmed to attend the summit.
CONFIRMED NAMES
King Charles
King Charles will deliver the
opening address at the climate summit on December 1, along with take meetings
with regional leaders, ahead of COP28.
On November 30, King Charles will
attend a reception to launch the inaugural COP28 Business and Philanthropy
Climate Forum. The two-day forum, running in parallel with the World Climate
Action Summit being held at COP28 on December 1 and 2, is being hosted by the
COP28 Presidency in partnership with the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI),
a private sector-led coalition founded by King Charles in 2020 to accelerate the
transition to a more sustainable future.
Rishi Sunak
In September, on the sidelines of
the G20 summit in New Delhi, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed he
would be attending the COP28 summit in Dubai. Sunak told reporters traveling
with him at the time that achieving net zero emissions “if done in the right
way can be very beneficial for jobs,” according to Reuters.
His party has drawn flak in recent
months after the government revised climate targets, which includes moving back
the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years, a weakening of
targets to phase out gas boilers, and not going ahead with a ban on new oil and
gas development in the North Sea.
Narendra Modi
The country’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will travel to Dubai on November 30 and December 1, attending the
World Climate Action Summit (WCAS), which will also see King Charles in
attendance. Modi is expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of
COP28.
Bill Gates
The Microsoft co-founder announced
back in September in a blog post on the Breakthrough Energy website that he
would be attending COP28, writing: “The meeting is an important opportunity to
check on the world’s progress toward the goals for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions that countries adopted back in 2015.”
The Gates-founded Breakthrough
Energy was founded in the same year with the aim to accelerate innovation in
sustainable energy and in other technologies to combat climate change.
The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation is also one of the strategic partners in the Business and
Philanthropy Climate Forum being held at COP28, which will be attended by
British Monarch, King Charles.
Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silv
Popularly known as ‘Lula’ by the
masses who call him the ‘voice of the Amazon’, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Luda da Silv will be
attending COP28, where he will unveil a plan to recover degraded pastures in
Brazil, according to a Reuters report.
The news agency further reported the
country also plans to propose a “huge” fund to pay for the conservation of
tropical forests at the summit, citing the country’s top climate negotiator,
Andre Correa do Lago.
Ding Xuexiang
While Chinese President Xi Jinping
is not expected to attend, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on
Friday, confirming that Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang
will attend the World Climate Summit, from November 30 until December 2.
China’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua,
is also expected.
John Kerry
The US Climate Envoy John Kerry
will also be attending the talks, representing one of the world’s biggest
emitters of greenhouse gasses, the other being China. According to the South
China Morning Post, China and the US will hold a joint summit on methane and
non-carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gases during the UN climate change
conference.
Vanessa Nakate
The 25-year-old climate activist
from Uganda and founder of the Africa-based Rise Up Movement, is also expected
to attend COP28.
Spiritual leaders
Sadhguru, founder and head of the Isha Foundation
Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living foundation
World Evangelical Alliance
General-Secretary Archbishop Dr Thomas Schirrmacher
Official delegates
High Commissioner of the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees Filippo Grandi
Adil Najam, President, WWF
International
United Nations Special Rapporteur
on freedom of religion or belief Nazila Ghanea
PROVISIONAL NAMES
According to the UNFCCC
Provisional List of speakers, those expected to attend the World Climate Action
Summit (WCAS) on December 1 will include:
From the Middle East
Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Bin
Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the UAE
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Crown
Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia
Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, President of
Egypt
King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein,
King of Jordan
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani,
Amir of the State of Qatar
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the
State of Palestine
Rashad Mohammed Ali Al-Alimi, President of Yemen
Other key leaders
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,
President of Türkiye
Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany
Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President of Spain
Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister
of Denmark
Humza Yousaf, Scotland's first
minister
Wavel Ramkalawan,
President of the Republic of Seychelles
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah,
Sultan of Brunei Darussalam
William K. Ruto, President of
Kenya
Emmerson Dambudzo
Mnangagwa, President of Zimbabwe
Samia Suluhu
Hassan, President of United Republic of Tanzania
Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda
Rumoured to attend…
Kamala Harris
According to Bloomberg, US Vice
President Kamala Harris will attend COP28, citing people familiar with the
matter. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also
expected to attend the event that begins on Thursday. Meanwhile, The White
House has also said it is sending a climate adviser Ali Zaidi and clean energy
adviser John Podesta.
Greta Thunberg
While the famous Swedish climate
activist did not participate in COP27 talks at the Red Sea resort town of Sharm
el-Sheikh in Egypt last year, it is being speculated that she could make an
appearance at next week’s event in Dubai.
Hollywood celebrities
Big Hollywood names that have
associated themselves with high-profile climate talks include the Oscar-winning
actor Leonardo DiCaprio, along with Matt Damon, Idris Elba, Ellie Goulding,
George and Amal Clooney, among others. It remains to be seen who the big names
are to be associated at this year’s event.
(Reporting by Bindu Rai, editing
by Daniel Luiz)
ATTACHMENT
ONE – FROM
From 1 to 3 December, the UN News COP28 live updates page featured key players and advocates and enabled
audiences to experience the world's largest climate ...
Twitter Results
ATTACHMENT
FOUR – FROM
ATTACHMENT
FIVE – FROM
ATTACHMENT
SIX – FROM FOX NEWS
COP28 climate conference is
not just the Super Bowl of virtue signaling. It's doing real damage
By Liz Peek Fox News Published December 5, 2023 5:00am EST
US COMMITS TO SHUTTING DOWN ITS COAL PLANTS
DURING COP28
The
Biden White House embraces extreme climate alarmism, and is sending scores of
officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Vice President
Kamala Harris, and Climate Czar John Kerry to COP 28.
They
will wave a white flag on behalf of American voters, eager to surrender one of
our nation’s great geopolitical advantages – cheap, abundant and reliable
fossil fuels – and also tackle, according to the State Department, "issues related
to the nexus of climate and…. gender, global health, subnational diplomacy,
youth and more."
@USE A
GET RID OF VARNEY
EMIRATI-DESIGNATED COP28 LEADER FORCEFULLY
DENIES REPORT UAE WANTED TO SEEK OIL DEALS IN SUMMIT
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi welcomes President Jiden (sic... or a sic joke) for the G-20
summit on Sept. 9, 2023, in New Delhi, India. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) See picture at website.
Voters may decide that Biden’s
climate diktats are one speed bump too many.
Stuart Varney: COP28 climate conference
is descending into farce.
@USE A GET RID OF VARNEY
In her
opening remarks, VP Harris parroted Biden’s conviction that climate change
poses the greatest existential threat to our country and touted what she
described as almost $1 trillion in new spending approved by the Biden White
House for its climate agenda.
EMIRATI-DESIGNATED
COP28 LEADER FORCEFULLY DENIES REPORT UAE WANTED TO SEEK OIL DEALS IN SUMMIT
EMIRATI-DESIGNATED COP28 LEADER FORCEFULLY
DENIES REPORT UAE WANTED TO SEEK OIL DEALS IN SUMMIT
Former
Secretary of State Kerry, meanwhile, committed to closing all U.S. coal-fired
power plants, which today produce 20% of our electricity, and substituting
renewables like solar and wind power.
Kerry’s
pledge ignores the collapse of a number of costly wind projects which have been
abandoned because they are not financially feasible. Just recently Danish
wind-power giant Orsted dumped two wind farms in New
Jersey; other projects in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut have also
been dropped. Wind projects are not just failing in the U.S.; they are also being
shelved in the U.K, the Netherlands and Norway.
That’s not
the only promise Kerry made; he also vowed a sharp crackdown on methane
emissions produced by U.S. oil and gas producers. The Independent Petroleum
Producers of America, which represents small and independent oil companies,
said the new White House rule could cause almost half our country’s U.S.
low-producing wells to be shut down. Those wells account for some 8% of U.S.
oil output and 8% to 10% of natural gas production
Here’s who
did not join the dozens of nations pledging to phase out coal or reduce methane
leaks: China and India.
India, the
world’s third-largest carbon emitter, is burning a record amount of coal, which
provides roughly 75% of their electricity. In recent days, India’s government
announced plans to add 17 gigawatts of coal-based generating capacity over the
next 16 months, described by Reuters as "its fastest pace in recent
years."
Moreover,
the Financial Times reported a week ago that India is looking to triple its
underground coal mining output by 2028, even as the woke bankers at COP28 seek
to squash financing for coal projects.
Why would
India buck international pressures to expand its coal industry? Because the
government of Narenda Modi has put India on a rapid
growth trajectory, and it needs power. India is now the world’s most populous
country and fastest-growing large economy. It is the second-largest coal
producer after China. While making polite noises about climate change, Modi has
stressed the need to provide his country with energy security. Recent
elections, in which his party swept three of four Indian states, show his
priorities remain popular.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi welcomes President Jiden
(sic... or a sic joke) for the G-20 summit on Sept.
9, 2023, in New Delhi, India. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) See picture
at website.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi welcomes President Jiden (sic... or a sic joke) for the G-20 summit on Sept. 9, 2023, in New
Delhi, India. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) See picture at website.
Joining
India in resisting international pressure to cut back coal consumption is
China, which produces more energy-related greenhouse gas emissions than North
America, South America, Central America, Europe and Africa combined. Though
Beijing has made ramping up renewable energy a major goal – China is now
installing as many solar and wind installations as the rest of the world put
together – the country continues to mine and burn coal. As the New York Times
reported recently, Chinese officials have defended the coal-fired plants
"as needed for energy security," echoing Modi. President Xi is
dealing with a struggling economy, and refuses to add more speed bumps.
Enthusiasm
for Biden’s climate agenda – for unpopular electric vehicles and irritating
mandates on ceiling fans, gas stoves and other everyday items – will plummet as
electricity prices continue to rise.
In 2024,
voters may decide that spending a trillion dollars on climate projects that
could well boost Americans’ cost of living is a very bad deal and that allowing
a more gradual transition to clean energy makes more sense.
Voters may
decide that Biden’s climate diktats are one speed bump too many.
X7 ATTACHMENT 7
– FROM
From GUK
Cop28 is a farce rigged to fail, but there are other ways we can try to save
the planet
Inaction and self-interest are built into climate summits. Instead, we
need a voting system that can’t be subverted by fossil fuel producers
By George
Monbiot Sat 9 Dec 2023 03.00 EST
·
Let’s face it: climate
summits are broken. The delegates talk and talk, while Earth systems slide
towards deadly tipping points. Since the
climate negotiations began in 1992 more carbon dioxide from burning fossil
fuels has been released worldwide than in all preceding human history.
This year is likely to set a new emissions record. They are
talking us to oblivion.
Throughout these Conference of the Parties (Cop) summits, fossil fuel
lobbyists have swarmed the corridors and meeting rooms. It’s like allowing
weapons manufacturers to dominate a peace conference. This year, the lobbyists outnumber all but
one of the national delegations. And they’re not the only ones: Cop28 is also
heaving with meat and livestock lobbyists and reps from other planet-trashing
industries. What should be the most important summit on Earth is treated like a
trade fair.
It’s not surprising that the two decisive measures these negotiations
should have delivered at the outset – agreements to leave fossil fuels in the
ground and to end most livestock farming – have never featured in the final outcome of
any Cop summit. Nor should we be astonished that these agreements favour
non-solutions such as carbon capture and storage, whose
sole purpose is to provide an excuse for inaction.
The appointment of Sultan Al Jaber as president of Cop28 could be seen
as this fiasco’s denouement. His day job is chief executive of the United Arab
Emirates’ state oil company, Adnoc. Adnoc is
now planning a massive expansion of its oil and gas operations.
Before the meetings began, Al Jaber was planning to use them as a lobbying opportunity to sell
his company’s products to delegates. In arguing with people calling for more
effective action, he recited classic fossil fuel industry tropes, including
that old favourite: if we were to phase out fossil fuels, we’d go back to living in caves.
Fossil fuels present the real threat to civilisation.
There have been some uninspiring presidents of the international climate summits,
but none so manifestly unsuited to the role.
Perhaps it’s unsurprising that, of 27 summits completed so far,
25 have been abject failures, while two (1997’s Kyoto protocol and the Paris
agreement, in 2015) have been half-successes. If any other process had a 3.7%
success rate, it would be abandoned in favour of something better. But the
world’s governments carry on doing the same thing in the expectation of
different results. You could almost imagine they wanted to fail.
The first and most obvious reform is to shut out the lobbyists. But the
fossil fuel lobby, grotesque as it is, is by no means the only problem with the
way these jamborees are run. The process itself is terminally crocked.
The only global negotiations that are organised like the climate summits
are other environmental summits, such as the UN biodiversity conferences. When
states want something to happen – trade agreements, for example – they use
different methods. The failure of the Cop meetings is baked in. In 1994, Saudi
Arabia, backed by other members of the oil cartel Opec, insisted that all
general decisions must be made by consensus. Because this question
was never resolved, the UN’s rules on decision-making remain in draft form.
The result is that the oil states got what they wanted, by default. What
“consensus” means is that every nation has a veto: 198 delegates can agree to a
measure, but it can be blocked by the 199th. The most lethal interests prevail,
by design. The only way such impasses can be resolved is by a determined
president “gavelling” decisions through: insisting that a consensus has been
reached and hoping no one calls their bluff. It’s not easy to picture Al Jaber
playing this role.
Since this horrible farce began 31 years ago, plenty of people have
proposed reforms. The proposals fall into three categories. One is to improve the way consensus
decisions are made. Well-meaning as these are, they’re futile: you can tweak
the process, but it will remain dysfunctional.
Another approach is to replace consensus decision-making with voting, an
option that remains, in draft form, in the UN rules. The obvious objection is
that a majority would impose decisions on other nations. But this reflects a
narrow conception of what voting could do. There are plenty of ways of ensuring
everyone can be heard, without relying on crude binary choices. One of the most
promising is the Borda count, a decision-making
method first proposed in 1435.
The modified Borda count developed by the de
Borda Institute looks
especially useful. First, the delegates agree on what the principal issues are.
These are then turned into a list of options, on which everyone is asked to
agree (the options could range from the immediate phase-out of fossil fuels to
planetary Armageddon). The options are listed on a ballot paper, and each
delegate is asked to rank them in order of preference. A scoring system awards
points for every ranking. The more options a delegate ranks, the more points
each one is worth to them. This enables complex decisions to be made without
excluding anyone.
The third approach, which could run alongside the second, is to bypass
the Cop process by developing new binding treaties. The professor of
environmental politics Anthony Burke suggests an
approach modelled on the 2017 treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, the
1997 anti-personnel mine ban convention and the 2008 convention on cluster
munitions. In these cases, states and citizens’ groups frustrated with a lack
of progress began building treaties without the participation of the powerful
nations – the US in particular – that sought to resist them. They developed
enough momentum not only to push the treaties through the UN general assembly,
but also to establish new diplomatic norms that made defiance of the treaties
much harder to justify, even for nations that refuse to ratify them.
Burke proposes treaties on deforestation and the elimination of coal,
and a stronger version of the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty that
others have developed. He suggests that if they don’t immediately gain the
support of the general assembly, they can begin as regional treaties,
establishing, for example, deforestation-free zones. He argues that these
treaties should be folded into an overarching greenhouse convention, supported
by an International Climate Agency, modelled on the International Atomic Energy
Agency.
However we do it, we need to break the power of the Earth-devouring
industries before they break us. Otherwise, we will keep watching as yet
another year is wasted, yet another of our last chances scorches and shrivels.
Soon, there will be no years left.
·
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
X8
ATTACHMENT – FROM Fox Business
Stuart Varney: COP28 climate conference is descending
into a farce
John Kerry is watching his life's work go down the tubes, Varney argues
By FOX
Business Staff and Stuart Varney Published December 5, 2023
12:03pm EST
Varney & Co. host Stuart Varney reacts to oil executive Sultan Al
Jaber saying there is no science behind phasing out fossil fuels to limit
global warming.
During his "My Take," Tuesday, "Varney & Co."
host Stuart Varney reacted to COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber's controversial
climate remarks that alarmed Al Gore and King Charles III, sending shockwaves
throughout the meeting.
STUART VARNEY: COP28, the great
climate confab, is descending into a farce, and it's not over yet.
First, we had Sultan Al Jaber, who is hosting the whole thing, saying
there is "no science" behind phasing out fossil fuels to limit global warming.
COP28 IS
NOT JUST THE SUPER BOWL OF VIRTUE SIGNALING. IT'S DOING REAL DAMAGE
Predictably, that caused an uproar.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said, "We must have a total
phase-out."
Al Gore chimed in, claiming the sultan is engaged in "the most
brazen conflict of interest in the history of climate negotiations,"
because he runs a giant oil company planning a huge expansion of oil and gas
production.
King Charles III said fossil fuels threaten the existence of the
planet.
IT'S TIME
FOR AN 'AMERICA FIRST' CLIMATE AGENDA. HERE ARE 3 WAYS REPUBLICANS CAN WIN IN
2024
He really shouldn't be putting the monarchy into politics. His mother,
Queen Elizabeth, would never have done that.
Then came the half-brother of Saudi ruler MBS. Asked about a phase-out,
he said, "Absolutely not."
Yesterday, Al Jaber returned to the podium and angrily denied ever
saying there's 'no science," even though he said it on tape.
White
House refuses to reveal taxpayer cost of Bidens American Climate Corps
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist discusses Biden's
American Climate Corps, the administration's tax increases and the IRS
targeting ticket resellers.
They are now desperately trying to paper over their
differences.
Will the final communiqué call for an orderly and just phase out of
fossil fuels, or accelerating efforts towards phasing out, or not mention
fossil fuels at all?
It's meaningless. They are trying to paper over their failure with
platitudes.
John Kerry is watching his life's work go down the tubes, but claims
victory in the war on coal.
One last point:
If they can't agree on where to hold next year's COP29, by default it
goes to Germany, with none other than Sultan Al Jaber as the president in
charge of the whole thing. Again.
From Wikipedia
Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood
is a Victorian-era serialized gothic horror story variously attributed to James
Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest.
ATTACHMENT NINE – FROM FOX
After
a fast start, COP28 climate talks now in murky middle ...
DUBAI, United Arab
Emirates (AP) — After a first-day blur of rare quick action and agreement,
negotiators at a critical United Nations climate summit Wednesday finished up
their first week in a more familiar place for them: the murky middle where
momentum and roadblocks intertwine.
“Negotiations, as are
often the case, are a mixed picture right now. We see big differences between
individual states in some areas,” German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said,
“but there is a will to make progress.”
Proponents who are
calling for a ground-shifting phase-out of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal
have hope for the first time in years, but also see where it could be
torpedoed. Key issues of financial help for poor nations to decarbonize and how
to adapt to warming need much more work, officials said.
That is in contrast to
the first day when the conference — called COP28 — put into effect a climate
compensation fund — called loss-and-damage — and started seeing its coffers
grow to more than $720 million.
U.N. Climate Secretary
Simon Stiell on Wednesday warned against putting “a tick on the box” for that victory
and think it solves the multi-trillion dollar problem of financial aid that’s
needed to help cut emissions worldwide.
“We need COP to
deliver a bullet train to speed up climate action. We currently have an old
caboose chugging over rickety tracks,” Stiell said.
Adnan Amin, the No. 2
official in the COP presidency official and a veteran United Nations diplomat,
was a bit more optimistic, saying all negotiations have both an up period and
depressing times. This one, he said, is in that time where “there’s still a
buzz. There’s still positivity.”
Discussions have been
focused on the so-called Global Stocktake — a status of where nations are at
with meeting their climate goals to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7
degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times and how they can get
there. On Tuesday, negotiators produced a new draft of the text, but it had so
many possibilities in its 24 pages that it didn’t give too much of a hint of
what will be agreed upon when the session ends next week.
Negotiators for 197
countries are going over the document word by word to see what they can live
with and what they can’t, Amin said: “They have so many demands and needs. But
I think it provides a very good basis for moving forward.”
Cedric Schuster, the chair
of the Association of Small Island States, said failing on the global stocktake
would “make it significantly more difficult to leave this COP saying we can
achieve the 1.5 C limit.” He said major emitters and developed countries need
to take the lead and ramp up efforts to phase out fossil fuels.
“If we fail, the
consequences will be catastrophic,” he said.
While United Nations
officials highlight worries about finance and adaptation, many at the Dubai
conference are focused on language about what to do about fossil fuels. Burning
coal, oil and natural gas are the chief causes of climate change. For the first
time in nearly three decades of talks, the idea of getting rid of all of three
of them is on the agenda and a serious possibility.
But issues about
language, timing and meaning — especially defining terms — are far from
settled. Some are using phase-down as less stringent, along with the term
“unabated” tossed in front of fossil fuels. When asked to define “unabated,”
Stiell said that’s up to negotiators.
“We have seen options
about fossil fuel phase-out in the text. And while it’s historic to have them,
they’re not enough,” said environmental activist Romain Ioualalen of Oil Change
International. He pointed to 106 nations signing a document calling for a
phase-out, which was mentioned by many world leaders when they made speeches in
the first few days.
“The situation we’re
in right now, it was unthinkable just three COPs ago to have these debates on
the phase-out of all fossil fuels,” Ioualalen said. “There’s definitely
momentum in the conversation. There’s definitely opposition, of course. And
that’s that’s to that’s to be expected. But that’s what we need to solve.”
“We’ve never been
closer to an agreement for sure,” he said.
Ioualalen said Saudi
Arabia, Iraq and Turkey seem clearly against fossil fuel phase-out language.
“If there is some
disagreement between ‘phase-out’ and ‘phase-down,’ let’s all agree there should
be no disagreement that oil demand in 2050 has to be a fraction of what it is
today, if not zero,” said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global
Energy Policy at Columbia University. “We are fighting over ‘phase-out’ or
‘phase-down’ while oil demand is rising each year.”
Wednesday’s sessions
were to focus on transport, the second-leading sector for the carbon dioxide
emissions warming the planet, with panels like building out EV charging
infrastructure and decarbonizing urban freight transportation.
Despite rapid growth
of electric vehicles in some countries, oil still accounts for nearly 91% of
the energy used in the transport sector, according to the International Energy
Agency. And it’s a sector that includes hard-to-decarbonize industries like
aviation and shipping, where cutting emissions will require big ramp-ups in
production of sustainable aviation fuel, for airplanes, and alternative fuels
like hydrogen for ships.
Wednesday was a day
for negotiators to talk about moving people around the world in transportation
systems that produce less carbon emissions, yet when United Nations officials
were asked about how much carbon pollution was caused by bringing more than
100,000 people to Dubai, they said they had no figures but that the gathering
was worth it.
John Kerry pledges to slash emissions from AC units
...
Aattachment ten – from Fox Business
@ Get https://www.foxbusiness.com ›
energy › john-kerry-pl...
1 day ago — US Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry made the
commitment at COP28, the annual United Nations climate change summit.
@GET
John Kerry pledges
to slash emissions from AC units, refrigerators to fight climate change
US Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry
made the commitment at COP28, the annual United Nations climate change summit
John Kerry, U.S.
Special Envoy for Climate — having already pledged to close down all United
States coal power plants — has committed to slashing the nation’s emissions
from cooling-related products in the battle against man-made global warming.
Kerry made his latest
announcement at the annual United Nations climate
change summit, known as COP28, where the U.S. allied with more
than 60 other nations in joining the Global Cooling Pledge, the world's
first collective focus on climate-warming emissions from cooling equipment and
appliances.
The pledge commits
countries to reduce their cooling-related emissions by at least 68% by 2050
compared to 2022 levels, along with a suite of other targets including
establishing minimum energy performance standards by 2030.
The pledge targets
emissions from cooling-related appliances such as air conditioning units and refrigerators.
"We want to lay
out a pathway to reduce cooling-related emissions across all sectors but
increase access to sustainable cooling," Kerry told COP28.
Emissions from both
the refrigerants and the energy used in cooling now account for about 7% of
global greenhouse gas emissions and are expected to triple by 2050 as
temperatures continue to rise, according to the Clean Cooling Collaborative
non-profit group.
Kerry and others at
the conference argue that as the planet warms, air-conditioner usage will ramp
up, and therefore, so will emissions. Installed capacity is set
to triple by mid-century, driven by climbing temperatures, growing populations
and rising incomes, according to research released by the United Nations.
"People will buy
a very cheap air conditioner produced somewhere in Asia for 100 bucks and plug
it in," said Jürgen Fischer, president of climate solutions at Danish
multinational Danfoss which specializes in heating and cooling.
"That will load
the energy system a lot, and there will be a collapse. I don't think it's a
good idea to allow these individual plug-ins anymore," he said.
Numerous heat records
were broken earlier this year. For instance, July set an all-time heat
record for the city of Las Vegas, with more than 17 days reaching at least
110 degrees.
Kerry’s announcement
is the latest in a flurry of promises attendees at the conference made over the
last few days as a way of tackling climate change. The
consensus emanating from the conference is that drastic and urgent action is
required to reduce emissions to keep temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees
Celsius. Skeptics point to natural forces like the sun as being the main
driving forces behind climate change.
For instance, last
week at COP28, Kerry committed the United States to not building any new coal plants and phasing out
existing plants.
Kerry also announced a
joint commitment with Romania to triple nuclear energy and reduce methane
emissions to achieve Net Zero, which means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to
as close to zero as possible.
Meanwhile, in New York
City earlier this year, officials proposed outlawing coal and wood-fired ovens
to reduce carbon emissions by 75%.
Jason Isaac, founder
of the American Energy Institute, said that the Biden administration's green
agenda has already driven up prices and increased energy poverty in the U.S.
"Every country
that is decreasing its use of coal is increasing its [energy] cost and that’s
hurting people," Isaac told Fox Business’ Neil Cavuto.
"Last year in the
United States, five million people had their utilities disconnected because
their costs are increasing astronomically."
Reuters contributed to this
report.
ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – FROM JACOBIN
The Biden Administration Is Undermining Global
Carbon-Reduction Efforts
BY RISHIKA PARDIKAR
A new
leaked report suggests the Biden administration is undermining efforts to set
standards for a global carbon market. Coupled with Joe Biden’s absence at the
global climate summit this week, patience with the US's lack of action is
wearing thin.
The United
States and the European Union (EU) are usually close allies at the world’s
annual climate negotiations — but according to internal documents obtained by
the Lever, tensions have arisen between the two blocs in the
run-up to this year’s summit. As world leaders head to Dubai, United Arab
Emirates, this week, the United States is undermining efforts to set stringent
standards for a new global carbon market that would allow polluters to help
fund carbon-reduction efforts to compensate for their emissions.
According
to the November 8 background paper, written by an executive
working group in the Council of the European Union, the United States is backing
a largely unregulated, voluntary system of trading emission offsets, even
though such voluntary schemes have been plagued by questionable climate
benefits, harms to indigenous communities, and outright corruption. The authors
write, “In our view, accepting a standard based on the [voluntary carbon
market] may hinder the independence and trust that compliance carbon markets
need to contribute towards the achievement of international climate goals.”
Experts
say the United States is going this route, rather than backing a more stringent
United Nations (UN)–regulated carbon market favored by the EU and other
stakeholders, because the Biden administration is hoping private sector climate
solutions and corporate responsibility will help gloss over the fact that the
country is continuing to break records for fossil fuel
production and is the biggest laggard in terms of
paying its fair share of finance for the emissions it has wrought on the world.
“The U.S.
government has trouble delivering climate finance and now basically sees
private investment, including [through] carbon markets, as an opportunity to
showcase that they are delivering climate finance,” said Sven Harmeling,
international climate policy coordinator for the nonprofit coalition Climate
Action Network Europe. “But we know that [money via carbon markets] is not
climate finance. Climate finance means public funding.”
For the first
time in his presidency, President Joe Biden will not be attending the annual
climate summit.
In
response to a request for comment, the US delegation to the summit declined to
answer questions on the record.
An Emissions Reduction Strategy “That Risks
Backfiring”
In 1992,
countries around the world signed the UN’s first climate change treaty to
coordinate global action to tackle the climate crisis. In 2015, after two
decades without meaningful action, 195 participating countries signed the Paris
Agreement, further hashing out details of climate action and the necessity to
limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to
limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
At this
year’s annual climate talks from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai, known by
the acronym COP28, negotiations are focused on a handful of core themes like
the clean energy transition, slashing carbon emissions, climate finance from
rich countries to support climate action in poorer countries, and assessing the
progress of global climate action efforts so far. Another key task is to
establish an international carbon market governed by the UN.
In recent
months, the UN’s supervisory body has been
setting guidelines to ensure such an international carbon market “benefits the
environment, host countries, and buyers alike.” Their recommendations are
intended to govern the market and will be discussed at COP28.
Carbon
markets allow companies, individuals, and countries to buy credits associated
with carbon-reduction efforts to compensate for their emissions. For example,
highly polluting companies in the manufacturing sector or the aviation industry
can invest in forest conservation and use the credits from this investment —
with prices set per ton — to offset their emissions. Countries can do this,
too: Switzerland has signed bilateral deals with
Ghana and Vanuatu to purchase carbon credits to meet its international emission
reduction goals.
There are
two types of carbon markets: voluntary markets, in which companies and
organizations negotiate deals, and compliance markets that are government
mandated. California’s cap-and-trade program, a compliance
market framework, sets a limit on industries’ greenhouse gas emissions, but
allows them to trade in case they exceed the limit.
Neither
market is ideally regulated at present (concerns have been raised, for example,
about the efficacy of California’s program). One
overarching worry is that carbon credits are often made through compensatory
carbon-sink projects like reforestation projects that can rob agency from the
people who live there.
But
voluntary markets are considered by many to be
especially inadequate, since they rely on corporate responsibility to
decarbonize their industries.
Existing
standards for the voluntary market are currently designed by self-appointed
bodies like the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market and
the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative.
These standards are “full of loopholes,” said Avantika Goswami, program manager
of climate change projects at India’s Centre for Science and Environment. She
explained that the voluntary carbon market needs “regulation, a public and
independently managed registry, and high scrutiny of projects to determine
integrity and benefit-sharing with communities on the ground.”
A recent investigation by the
Centre for Science and Environment found that voluntary markets in India failed
on two counts: Emission reduction outcomes were either inflated or almost
nonexistent and revenue from the sale of carbon credits wasn’t shared with
local communities. Researchers also found that many of the carbon-offset
projects lacked transparency, and that some community members who were involved
in these projects had no clue what carbon credits were.
Two months
ago, research from University of
California, Berkeley on voluntary markets raised additional concerns about
inflated credit values and the potential marginalization of forest-dependent
communities. Reporting has found that the
voluntary market’s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions
that didn’t exist. Meanwhile, private demand for these voluntary credits
has declined, and the credit price has plummeted.
Despite
its shortcomings, the unregulated carbon market boomed to a value of $2 billion per year in
2021.
Gilles
Dufrasne, policy lead on global carbon markets at Belgium-based nonprofit
research organization Carbon Market Watch, said carbon
credits could be a way for companies to finance climate action beyond their own
production processes, but shouldn’t be a substitute for internal emission
reductions.
“Allowing
loose rules that will incentivize the purchase of carbon credits at any cost is
a strategy that risks backfiring, when companies end up investing a lot of
money in credits that do not deliver real emission reductions, while failing to
decarbonize their own activities.”
Internal Divisions
The new
international carbon market that world leaders are negotiating at COP28 is a
compliance framework with legally mandated limits.
The
finalization of these rules and their full implementation is “imperative for
COP28,” said Trishant Dev, program officer of climate change projects at the
Centre for Science and Environment and the lead author of the study that
exposed loopholes in the way voluntary carbon markets are currently functioning
in India.
But
instead of seeking guardrails for a global carbon market, the United States
seems to be moving in the opposite direction.
According
to the November 8 memo obtained by the Lever, the
Council of the European Union, one of the EU’s two main legislative bodies,
warned that at COP28, the United States was set to advocate for building on
existing voluntary carbon market standards for the international carbon market,
as opposed to establishing a new robust framework with stringent standards.
According
to the authors, the EU Council had concerns that such weaker carbon market
standards could lead to “over-crediting, disadvantaging host countries and
deviating from the pathway necessary to reach the Paris Agreement long-term
goals.” They added that the United States is promoting the usage of carbon
credits without clarifying the accounting rules that could ensure their
integrity and transparency, and “pressing hard for a prompt finalization of the
guidance, without much concerns for quality/robustness but driving a lot of
attention and time to solve their very specific concerns.”
Dufrasne
at Carbon Market Watch said the different approaches on a global carbon market
reflect how the EU has historically been more active on climate action than the
US. According to Dufrasne, the European public is putting more pressure on
companies to act, compared to the American public.
The memo
hints at another potential reason that the United States is pushing for weaker
carbon market regulations: the matter of climate finance, or funding that rich
countries pay to poorer countries to help finance climate action, to account
for the former’s historically high emissions.
In the last
few months, US climate envoy John Kerry, who will be attending the Dubai
summit, has said climate action “takes
trillions and no government that I know of is ready to put trillions into this
on an annual basis.” (Nevermind that billions in US public funding has gone
to support foreign military aid in
Ukraine alone, or that the effects of climate inaction could cost trillions of dollars per
year.) Simultaneously, Kerry has repeatedly emphasized the private sector’s role in the
clean energy transition.
A
voluntary carbon market could, at least in theory, make it easy to channel
money from the American business sector to climate action initiatives by
funding projects like forest conservation or development of renewable energy
capacity. But as research has demonstrated, the voluntary market suffers from
serious integrity and transparency issues.
The
voluntary market is “unregulated, fraudulent, and open to ebbs and flows,” said
Goswami at the Centre for Science and Environment. “Committing [to] this market
as the tool for [an] energy transition, which requires investment in public
goods like renewable energy and transmission infrastructure in developing
countries, is like leaving the clean-energy future of the Global South to the
whims of an unreliable market.”
Goswami added,
“The U.S. cannot let the private sector dictate the scrutiny and oversight in
these markets — it must be determined by the multilateral process [at climate
negotiations like COP28].”
You can
subscribe to David Sirota’s investigative journalism project, the Lever, here.
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Top News
1 day ago — By Valerie Volcovici. DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. state
of New Mexico on Tuesday used the COP28 talks
in Dubai to announce a plan to divert ...
ATTACHMENT @ - FROM the HUFFINGTON POST
Trump Slams John Kerry In Wild
Town Hall, Insisting Climate Change Isn't A Problem
“Our country can be rich again. John Kerry has
to be stopped. He's destroying our country,” Trump told Hannity and the crowd at
the town hall.
“The only global warming we
should be thinking about or worrying about is nuclear global warming,” the
ex-president said as vilified Biden's climate envoy.
By Shruti
Rajkumar Dec 6, 2023, 12:01 AM EST
Former
President Donald Trump didn’t shy away from echoing his adamant denial of
climate change during a town hall Tuesday in Iowa hosted by Sean Hannity.
During the
event in Davenport, Trump slammed John Kerry and the efforts made by the
presidential envoy for climate.
“Our country can be rich again. John Kerry has
to be stopped. He’s destroying our country,” Trump told Hannity and the crowd
at the town hall.
Kerry, a
former senator and secretary of state, announced Tuesday
that the U.S. would collaborate with other governments to speed up the process
of making nuclear fusion a new source of carbon-free energy, which could be
used to power cars and heat and cool homes instead of using fossil fuels, such
as coal, oil and natural gas.
“The only
global warming we should be thinking about or worrying about is nuclear global
warming, not global warming,” Trump said at the town hall, echoing comments he
made earlier this year minimizing the climate crisis.
Trump’s
digs didn’t end there. He added that when Kerry speaks about climate change
around the world, people “treat him with respect,” but then say “what an idiot,
what a jerk” when he leaves.
His
comments arrive amid the United Nations climate summit (COP28) in Dubai, where
the event’s leader, Sultan Al Jaber, came under fire for suggesting that fossil
fuels don’t necessarily need to be phased out, claiming that there is “no
science” behind calls to do so, The New York Times reported.
Kerry pushed back on
his statement and emphasized the need for countries to prioritize efforts to
keep global warming from topping 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
During the
event, Trump took the opportunity to slam the Green New Deal, a framework of
proposals to help mitigate climate change, saying that it would “destroy our
country,” and he emphasized that the U.S. shouldn’t stray away from using oil
as a fuel source, despite climate activists, experts and leaders pointing to
the importance of pivoting away from fossil fuels.
“I am an
environmentalist, but we’re going to destroy our country with this Green New
Deal stuff that doesn’t work just to finish, we have so much wealth and power
under our feet. No other country has it,” Trump said, later making additional
attacks on the manufacturing of electric vehicles.
ATTACHMENT @ - FROM REUTERS
Russia tries to unfreeze gold reserves for
climate funds at COP28
December
9, 20238:51 AM ESTUpdated 6 hours ago
DUBAI, Dec
9 (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday it was looking into whether its frozen
gold reserves, taken after Russia invaded Ukraine, could be used to fund the
climate damage fund to help developing countries.
In what
looked like an attempt to try to fulfil Moscow's aim of doing "everything
possible" to stop the West from seizing its frozen reserves, Russia's
climate envoy said at the COP28
summit the move would help to close the gap between
developed and developing countries in dealing with climate change.
It is
unlikely to be agreed upon. The West froze around half - or more than $300
billion - of Russia's international reserves after Moscow sent its armed forces
into Ukraine in February last year.
Kyiv wants
the proceeds from Russian frozen assets to be used to help rebuild the country
-- something many in the West want to happen but which has been complicated by
legal questions and the move's possible future ramifications.
"We
are ready to announce that Russia is looking into the voluntary contribution of
finance to the loss and damage fund from the frozen national gold reserves held
by international organisations," Ruslan Edelgeriev, Russia's climate representative,
said on the main stage at COP28 in Dubai.
"It
is a step dictated by the need to close the gap between developing and
developed countries."
ATTACHMENT @
FROM Reuters
COP28 clashes over fossil fuel phase-out after
OPEC pushback
By Kate
Abnett, Valerie Volcovici and Yousef
Saba December 9,
20231:09 PM ESTUpdated an hour ago
·
Some members balk at fossil fuel phase-out inclusion
·
Saudi Arabia and Russia push for focus on emissions,
not fuels
·
Nations most affected by climate change demand its
inclusion
DUBAI, Dec
9 (Reuters) - Countries clashed on Saturday over a possible agreement to
phase-out fossil fuels at the COP28
summit in Dubai, jeopardising
attempts to deliver a first-ever commitment to eventually end the use of oil
and gas in 30 years of global warming talks.
Saudi Arabia
and Russia were among several countries insisting that the conference in Dubai
focus only on reducing climate pollution - and not on targeting the fossil
fuels causing it, according to observers in the negotiations.
On the
other side, at least 80 countries including the
United States, the European Union and many poor, climate-vulnerable nations are
demanding that a COP28 deal call clearly for an eventual end to fossil fuel
use.
COP28
President Sultan al-Jaber told nations late on Saturday to speed up their work
to find a final deal, saying there were "still more areas of divergence
than agreement".
"The
window is closing to close the gaps," he told the summit.
OPEC
Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais earlier said in comments read out to the
summit delegates by an official: "We need realistic approaches to tackle
emissions. One that enables economic growth, helps eradicate poverty and
increases resilience at the same time."
Earlier
this week, the oil producer group sent a letter urging its members and
allies to reject any mention of fossil fuels in the final summit deal, warning
that "undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a
tipping point".
It was the
first time OPEC's Secretariat has intervened in the U.N. climate talks with
such a letter, according to Alden Meyer of the E3G climate change think tank.
"It indicates a whiff of panic," he said.
EU climate
commissioner Wopke Hoekstra criticised the letter as "out of whack"
with climate efforts.
"By
many, including by me, that has been seen as out of whack, as unhelpful, as not
in tune with where the world stands in terms of the very dramatic situation of
our climate," he said.
Saudi
Arabia is the top producer in OPEC and the de facto leader of the organization
and Russia is a member of the so-called OPEC+ group.
By
insisting on focusing on emissions rather than fossil fuels, the two countries
appeared to be leaning on the promise of expensive carbon capture technology, which
the U.N. climate science panel says cannot take the place of reducing fossil
fuel use worldwide.
Other
countries including India and China have not explicitly endorsed a fossil fuel
phase-out at COP28, but have backed a popular call for boosting renewable
energy.
China's
top climate envoy, Xie Zhenhue, described this year's climate summit as the
hardest in his career.
"I
have participated in these climate negotiations for 16 years," he told
journalists. "The hardest meeting is this year's. There are so many issues
to settle."
He said
there was little chance the summit would
be called a success if nations could not agree to language on the future of
fossil fuels.
India's
environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, demanded "equity and justice" in any
deal, holding that rich countries should be leading global climate action.
Broader
diplomatic grievances were also aired at the podium on Saturday, clouding the
focus on global warming.
A Russia
representative said in a speech that Moscow
was looking into whether some of the roughly $300 billion in gold reserves
frozen by the West after Russia invaded Ukraine could be used for a climate
damage fund for developing countries.
Meanwhile, China complained about what it
said was unacceptable talk about Taiwan's participation in the talks. And a
Palestinian representative denounced Israel's war in Gaza, saying the conflict
made it difficult to focus on climate change efforts.
'CRITICAL STAGE'
With the
summit's scheduled to end on Tuesday, government ministers from the nearly 200
countries at the Dubai summit have joined in trying to resolve the fossil fuel
impasse.
Climate-vulnerable
countries said a rejection of a fossil fuel mention at COP28 would threaten the entire
world.
"Nothing
puts the prosperity and future of all people on earth, including all of the
citizens of OPEC countries, at greater risk than fossil fuels," said
Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege in a statement.
The
Marshall Islands, which faces inundation from climate-driven sea level rise,
currently chairs the High Ambition Coalition group of nations pushing for
stronger emissions-cutting targets and policies.
To meet
the global goal of holding climate warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius above
preindustrial temperatures, the coalition "is pushing for a phase out of
fossil fuels, which are at the root of this crisis," she said. "1.5
is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels."
The latest
version of the negotiating text, released Friday, shows
countries were still considering a range of options - from agreeing to a
"phase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science", to
phasing out "unabated fossil fuels", to including no mention at all.
Germany's
climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said counties were "moving into the critical
stage of negotiations".
"It
is time for all countries to remember what is at stake," she said. "I
am concerned that not all are constructively engaging."
Asked
about the OPEC letter, COP28 Director General Majid Al Suwaidi avoided the term
"fossil fuels" but said the United Arab Emirates, as president of the
summit, wanted a deal to get the world on track to limit warming to 1.5 C.
"Our
COP president ... clearly wants to see an outcome that is as ambitious as
possible, and we believe we are going to deliver it," he told a news
conference.
Speaking
on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, Samoa's environment minister,
Cedric Schuster, worried that this year's talks were getting bogged down by
disputes.
"We
are extremely concerned about the pace of negotiations given the limited time
we have left here in Dubai," he told the summit from the main stage on
Saturday.
"A
target for renewables cannot be a substitute for a stronger commitment to
fossil fuel phase-out and an end to fossil fuel subsidies," he said.
"COP28 needs to deliver both."
Azerbaijan
looks set to host next year's COP29 climate change summit after winning backing
from other Eastern European nations, unblocking a geopolitical deadlock over
the next global gathering to address climate change.
ATTACHMENT @ - From the Associated Press
Protests at UN climate talks, from Israel-Hamas
war to detainees, see ‘shocking level of censorship’
Takeaways – captions, see photos here
1 of
21 |
Activist
Rahma Zein participates in a demonstration for climate justice and a ceasefire
in the Israel-Hamas war at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9,
2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
2 of
21 |
Joey Shea,
of Human Rights Watch, speaks during a demonstration with images of jailed
activist Mohamed al-Siddiq and Egypt’s jailed leading pro-democracy activist
Alaa Abdel-Fattah at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
3 of
21 |
Activists
participate in a demonstration with the image of jailed activist Mohamed
al-Siddiq at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
4 of
21 |
An
activist holds a sign as they participate in a demonstration with the image of
jailed activist Mohamed al-Siddiq at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday,
Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
5 of
21 |
Activists
are required to cover part of a poster with the image jailed activist Mohamed
al-Siddiq during the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
6 of
21 |
Activists
hold signs during a demonstration for Egypt’s jailed leading pro-democracy
activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah and Mohamed al-Siddiq, jailed activist, at the COP28
U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
7 of
21 |
Activists
hold signs during a demonstration for Egypt’s jailed leading pro-democracy
activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9,
2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
8 of
21 |
Pro-Palestinian
activists wearing keffiyehs stand outside ahead of a session on food security
put on by the Heschel Center for Sustainability, an Israeli organization, at
the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. The session was canceled. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
9 of
21 |
An
activist shows the Earth cooking during a demonstrate for climate justice and a
ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday,
Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
10 of
21 |
Activists
demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the
COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
11 of
21 |
Activists
demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the
COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
12 of
21 |
Activists
participate in a die-in against fossil fuels at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit,
Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
13 of
21 |
Activists
embrace during a demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the
Israel-Hamas war at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
14 of
21 |
Activists
embrace during a demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the
Israel-Hamas war at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
15 of
21 |
Activists
demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the COP28
U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
16 of
21 |
Activists
demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the
COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
17 of
21 |
An
activist demonstrates for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas
war at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
18 of
21 |
Activists
demonstrate for climate justice at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday,
Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
19 of
21 |
Activists demonstrate
for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the COP28 U.N.
Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP
Photo/Peter Dejong)
20 of
21 |
Mitzi
Jonelle Tan, of the Philippines, center, and activists demonstrate for climate
justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the COP28 U.N. Climate
Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq
Maqbool)
21 of
21 |
Activists
demonstrate for climate justice and a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war at the
COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
A@ FROM AXIOS
Young people at COP28 call on world to "do
better" to address climate change
By Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath
Youth from Fridays for Future organization
stage a protest calling to cease fires and end fossil fuels in the conference
venue, Blue Zone during the COP28, UN Climate Change Conference
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Young people at
COP28 in Dubai are calling on the world to "do better" to ensure
their countries — and the planet — are habitable for generations to come.
The big picture: COP28 kicked off its second
week with youth day, injecting energy in what will undoubtedly be the toughest
days so far as negotiators work to hammer out some of the thorniest issues for
the final text of the key Global Stocktake document.
That includes whether it will include specific
language on the "phase out," phase down," or some alternative,
of fossil fuels.
From small — but loud — protests to panel
discussions to sideline conversations, one outcome for many young people at COP
is clear: Negotiators must come to an agreement on ending the use of fossil fuels
to have a better chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to
preindustrial levels.
"We don't have enough time for
discussions. We have to act now," said Grace Malie, a 24-year-old youth
delegate from the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu.
Driving the news: Those discussions in recent
years have increasingly included young voices who bring creative ideas and give
a full picture of what is happening on the ground, those who spoke to Axios
said.
"The actions [we want to see done] are
being implemented by young people, not the leaders, not the men and women in
suits," said 25-year-old Nyombi Morris, a climate and environmental
activist from Uganda.
It was a sentiment echoed by 26-year-old Tamala
Pita from Tuvalu. But Pita, who is attending COP for the second time, said she
also believes the climate summit gives young people the chance to keep the
issues affecting their peers back home part of the conversations.
"Once you're out of the conversation, no
one thinks about it. So that's why we are here," she said.
Ahmed Abdi Osman, a 25-year-old representative
of Somalia's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, agreed.
"As a youth leader, we are here to share
our knowledge, to share our experience to share our insights from other youth
leaders," Osman told Axios after engaging with other youth leaders on a
panel about the role of young people in climate action.
Osman, who is attending his first COP, said
collaboration among leaders — especially young people — is key. Other youth
leaders can share their own experiences, which can help Somalia see "how
[it] can adapt" and "how [it] can mitigate climate change
issues" back home," he said.
The young people Axios spoke to in Dubai
expressed cautious optimism that this year's COP got off to a good start, with
the adoption of a "loss and damage" fund to help some of the world's
most vulnerable nations respond to the devastation caused by climate change.
But they say it's not enough. "There needs
to be better efforts being put in by countries who are emitting the most while
we're at home feeling the most of the effects of climate change. People need to
do better," Pita said.
The effects of climate change are felt acutely
in Tuvalu, the fourth-smallest nation in the world. Most — if not all — of the
country could be submerged underwater by the end of the century under certain
sea level rise scenarios.
"When we're talking about loss and damage,
the central thought of losing our land, it's not something where we can just
get up, pack our things and go," Pita told Axios.
"There's the historical, the traditional
ties that we have to the land. Our culture is very much intertwined into the
land," she added.
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees
preindustrial levels is "not a goal for us, it's a limit. Because once we
exceed that, our lands become uninhabitable ... And then, when we're forced to
move, where can we go, where we can practice the same traditions and
culture?"
a@ from WashPost
Azerbaijan poised to host next year’s global
climate talks
A standstill over the next host shows signs of ending after warring
neighbors Azerbaijan and Armenia struck a deal
By Maxine Joselow December 8, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. EST
DUBAI —
Azerbaijan appears poised to host next year’s global climate summit after
longtime adversary Armenia on Friday agreed to stop blocking its bid.
The
development means another oil-producing country could host the world’s most
important gathering on global warming, a problem caused in large part by fossil
fuels. The United Arab Emirates, the world’s seventh-largest producer,
is currently hosting the U.N. Climate Change Conference,
known as COP28, in Dubai.
As of
Thursday, countries were still locked in an unprecedented standstill over
the host of the next summit, which will be known as COP29. While it is an
Eastern European country’s turn to host,
Russia had threatened to veto any European Union country’s bid. The E.U. has
imposed massive sanctions against Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
At the
same time, warring neighbors Azerbaijan and Armenia had threatened to veto each
other’s bids to host. Every Eastern European country needs to approve the next
host by consensus, meaning any single nation can sink an agreement.
But on
Friday, the standstill showed signs of ending. Ilham Aliyev, the president of
Azerbaijan, and Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia, released
a joint statement saying
they had struck a deal to allow Azerbaijan to preside over COP29.
“As a sign
of good gesture, the Republic of Armenia supports the bid of the Republic of Azerbaijan
to host the 29th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP29) to the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change, by withdrawing its own candidacy,” the
statement said. “The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan do hope
that the other countries within the Eastern European Group will also support
Azerbaijan’s bid to host.”
Azerbaijan’s
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said on Friday that
“Russia has also supported our bid,” according to Reuters.
Armenia
agreed to back Azerbaijan’s COP hosting bid in exchange for membership in the
eastern European group’s COP bureau.
In
addition, Azerbaijan said it would release 32 Armenian soldiers, while Armenia
said it would release two Azerbaijani detainees. The two countries have been in
conflict for decades, particularly over the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but
inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians.
“I find it
positive that there is a joint statement between two countries with very tense
relations, to say the least,” Wopke Hoekstra, the European commissioner for
climate action, said at a Friday news conference at COP28. “So at the very
least, as a confidence-building measure, I think this is very good news. We
think, as the European Union, we’ve engaged a lot with these countries in the
recent past. There is a historic chance to bring peace closer than it is
today.”
More from COP28
Rich
countries promised poor nations billions for climate change. They aren...
If
Azerbaijan is officially named the host of COP29, the country will face steep
challenges in corralling nearly 200 nations to forge a deal on slowing Earth’s
dangerous warming. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who also heads the UAE’s
state-owned oil company, has had to navigate deep divisions over whether to
phase out fossil fuels, among other things.
Climate scientists
agree that reducing fossil fuel production and use will be necessary to meet
the goal of the Paris agreement: limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius
(2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times. But negotiators from Saudi
Arabia and other oil-rich nations have sought to block language on a fossil
fuel phaseout in any final agreement.
Still, Al
Jaber said Friday that he was “quite positive, hopeful and optimistic” that the
summit could bring a “paradigm shift centered around and based on the science.”
X FROM the WASHINGTON POST
X@ FROM A.P. NEWS
BY JON GAMBRELL Updated 9:04 AM EST,
December 9, 2023
DUBAI,
United Arab Emirates (AP) — Activists designated Saturday a day of protest at
the COP28 summit in Dubai. But the rules of the game in the tightly controlled
United Arab Emirates meant sharp restrictions on what demonstrators could say,
where they could walk and what their signs could portray.
At times,
the controls bordered on the absurd.
A small
group of demonstrators protesting the detention of activists — one from Egypt
and two from the UAE — were not allowed to hold up signs bearing their names. A
late afternoon demonstration of around 500 people, the largest seen at the
climate conference, couldn’t go beyond the United Nations-governed Blue Zone in
this autocratic nation. And their calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas
war in the Gaza Strip couldn’t actually name the country involved.
“It is a
shocking level of censorship in a space that had been guaranteed to have basic
freedoms protected like freedom of expression, assembly and association,” Joey
Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch focused on the Emirates, told The
Associated Press after their restricted demonstration.
Pro-Palestinian protesters said they were told
demonstrators could not say “from the river to the sea,” a slogan previously
prohibited by the U.N. over the days of COP28.
In the aftermath of a brutal Hamas attack on Israel in
October and subsequent bombing and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, that
phrase has been used by pro-Palestinian rallies to call for single state on the
land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Some Jews hear a clear demand for Israel’s
destruction in the call.
Still,
protestor Dylan Hamilton of Scotland said it remained important for
demonstrators to cry out their grievances, even if they sounded like a
cacophony of concerns ranging from climate change, the war or Indigenous
rights.
“It’s
essential to remind negotiators what they are negotiating about,” Hamilton
said. “It’s trying to remind people to care about people you’ll never meet.”
Just
before the demonstration about the activists, organized by Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch, protesters had to fold over signs bearing
the names of the detainees — even after they already had crossed out messages
about them. The order came roughly 10 minutes before the protest was due to
start from the U.N., which said it could not guarantee the security of the
demonstration, Shea said.
While
speaking during the protest, Shea also had to avoid naming the Emirates and
Egypt as part of the U.N.'s rules.
“The
absurdity of what happened at this action today speaks volumes,” she said.
The
Emirati government, in response to questions from the AP about the detainees
protest, said it “does not comment on individual cases following judicial
sentences.”
“In the
spirit of inclusivity, peaceful assemblies in designated areas have been and
continue to be welcomed,” the statement said. “We remain dedicated to fostering
dialogue and understanding as we work together at COP28 to deliver impactful
solutions for accelerating climate action.”
Demonstrators
carried signs bearing the image of Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor and Egyptian
pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah.
Mansoor,
the recipient of the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
in 2015, repeatedly drew the ire of authorities in the United Arab Emirates,
calling for a free press and democratic freedoms in this autocratic federation
of seven sheikhdoms. He had been targeted with Israeli spyware on his
iPhone in 2016 likely deployed by the Emirati government
ahead of his 2017 arrest and sentencing to 10 years in prison over
his activism.
Abdel-Fattah,
who rose to prominence during the 2011 pro-democracy Arab Spring uprisings,
became a central focus of demonstrators during last year’s COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt,
as he had stopped eating and drinking water to protest his detention. He has
spent most of the past decade in prison because of his criticism of Egypt’s
rulers.
Since
2013, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s government has cracked down on
dissidents and critics, jailing thousands, virtually banning protests and monitoring
social media. El-Sissi has not released Abdel-Fattah despite him receiving British citizenship while imprisoned and
interventions on his behalf from world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden.
Demonstrators
also held up the image of Mohamed al-Siddiq, another Emirati detained as part
of the crackdown. Emiratis in white thobes walked or rode past the protest in
carts, looking on in curiosity. The protests had been scheduled to take place
days earlier, but negotiations with U.N. officials dragged on — likely due to
the sensitivity of even mentioning the detainees’ names in the country.
Meanwhile
Saturday, protesters briefly staged a sit-in at OPEC’s stand over a leaked letter reportedly
calling on cartel member states to reject any attempt to include a phase-down
of fossil fuels in any text at the summit.
“It’s like
having, you know, a convention on fighting the tobacco industry and having the
tobacco industry present in a negotiation. That is not okay,” campaigner
Nicholas Haeringer said. “It’s like having a fox in the henhouse. And to be
honest with you guys, I think at some point we will run out of analogies before
these guys run out of oil.”
a@
FROM AXIOS
Exclusive: Dem senators, ministers bash OPEC
letter rattling COP28 summit
By Andrew Freedman
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. lawmakers
and ministers from around the world blasted a letter that emerged Friday night,
warning OPEC member states to resist calls at the COP28 climate summit for a
fossil fuel phase-out.
Why it matters: The letter has shaken up the
climate talks in a critical phase, as nations spar over whether to include
historic language in an emerging climate agreement that calls for a phase-out
of fossil fuels.
In an exclusive interview with Axios, Democratic
senators pushed back against the power of the fossil fuel industry.
"OPEC's letter is outrageous. OPEC wants to talk about emissions, but not
the source of the emissions," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who is visiting
COP28 as part of a congressional delegation.
• "It
would be like the tobacco industry saying you can talk about lung cancer, but
you can't talk about cigarettes. It's outrageous, it's preposterous," he
told Axios.
• "The
extent to which they had the nerve to write such a preposterous letter, just
shows you how much in denial they still are."
The big picture: The letter, reportedly sent by
the OPEC secretary general to all 13 member nations and 10 members of the
larger OPEC+ coalition on Dec. 6, warned of the possibility of a tipping point
toward a COP28 outcome containing language calling for a phase-out of fossil
fuels.
• Studies
show the burning of fossil fuels has already heated the climate to a dangerous degree,
with devastating consequences including extreme weather events and sea level
rise.
• "We
live in an environment in the United States Senate in which the fossil fuel
industry essentially has a veto on what public elected officials do with
regards to pollution," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), about the
fossil fuel industry overall.
• "So
it should come as no surprise that want to exercise some form of a veto
here," he said. "They've got that kind of habit of feeling that they
own that kind of clout and democratic policies and outcomes don't apply to
them."
What they're saying: The letter has spurred
strong reactions abroad as well. In an interview with Axios, Colombia
Environment Minister Susana Muhamad compared the letter to something "out
of a science fiction movie."
• "Why
don't they come and speak up here and tell the truth that they want to prevail,
even if the planet goes to, or two-thirds of humanity go to hell," she
told Axios.
• Ministers
from the Marshall Islands and other countries also criticized the OPEC move.
• OPEC
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What's next: Negotiators are expected to go
through the night Saturday local time to debate the text of portions of a draft
Dubai agreement.
X@
FROM the New York Post
Loud
fart sound erupts during John Kerry’s speech at climate panel
By Joe Tacopino
Published Dec. 4, 2023, 11:51 p.m. ET
MORE ON:JOHN
KERRY
·
Windbag
John Kerry’s flatulence was the perfect ‘keynote’ for UN climate confab
·
Biden admin commits to
shutting down coal plants in push for green agenda
·
SEC abets latest climate cheat
by Dems: The Green New Deal is a shuck!
·
As Trump’s troubles grow, so
does impersonator’s bookings: ‘People miss him’
John Kerry might need to cut back on his own emissions.
The Biden administration’s climate envoy was discussing US policy on
coal power plants at the Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Sunday when
Kerry may have unleashed a burst of wind energy.
The former secretary of state was speaking next to Becky Anderson,
managing editor of CNN Abu Dhabi, and Fatih Birol, executive director of the International
Energy Agency, when a Bronx cheer suddenly erupted midsentence.
“There shouldn’t be any more coal-fired power plants permitted anywhere
in the world,” Kerry began before launching into an anti-coal diatribe.
“I find myself getting more and more militant because I do not
understand how adults who are in a position of responsibility can be avoiding
responsibility for taking away those things that are killing people on a daily
basis…”
Before Kerry can complete his thought, the crude sound of passing gas
can be heard over the microphone. The crowd breaks into applause, apparently
oblivious to the crude theatrics.
CNN’s Anderson — sitting to Kerry’s right and within striking distance
of a potential bodily function — quickly jerks her head aside and inconspicuously
places her hand to her mouth, possibly in the event of any stench permeating
the climate panel.
Birol, the energy executive, simply nods his head in rapt contemplation.
“And the reality is that the climate crisis and the health crisis are one
and the same,” Kerry continues, unabated.
The former secretary of state was speaking next to Becky Anderson,
managing editor of CNN Abu Dhabi, and Fatih Birol, executive director of the
International Energy Agency, when a Bronx cheer suddenly erupted midsentence.
Larry O’Connor of Townhall Media said Kerry’s alleged flatulence was an
embarrassment to the US.
“The biggest problem is, during this entire exchange, representing us,
the United States of America, he ripped a fart out,” O’Connor said. “He let loose
with flatulence on an international stage.”
1017
What do you think? Post a comment.
The pundit said the evidence was overwhelming and Kerry must answer for
his actions.
“He should lose his job immediately,” he said. “John Kerry farted.”
ATTACHMENT
@ FROM TIME
COP28 Is a Business Bonanza. Should It Be?
DECEMBER
8, 2023 4:11 PM EST
The
question from Jesper Brodin—CEO of the Ingka Group, IKEA's parent company—for
Germany’s deputy climate envoy was fairly simple: “How can we support you?”
Speaking in a discussion at COP28 I
moderated in the first days of this year’s climate talks in Dubai, Brodin
wanted to know how businesses could aid the negotiators pushing for an
agreement to phase out fossil fuels.
The answer
from Norbert Gorissen, Germany’s deputy special envoy for climate action, tells
us a lot about the role of the private sector at COP28, and the role of
business in the climate movement more broadly. Policymakers hear a range of
private sector views, he said, creating a “competition of various voices” to be
considered the true representative of the corporate world. “We need a
better-consolidated, strong voice from the private sector on a global level,”
he said. In other words, the business voice is fragmented by different
viewpoints; speaking in unison would yield greater results.
The COP28
presidency has placed the private sector at its center unlike the organizers of
any previous U.N. climate talks. In doing so, it is forcing COP participants to
grapple with the thorny question of just how corporations can or should fit
into the annual conference.
For some
longtime COP observers, this is a well-timed innovation. To meet our emissions
targets, they say, the climate talks need to move beyond negotiation halls to
catalyze the real economy. And indeed, some companies come to COP having earned
true green credentials, not only by decarbonizing their businesses but also by
supporting government policy to push others to do the same.
For
others, the business presence—including some of the biggest emitters—represents
a cheapening of the process. There are certainly some companies that come with
little to show—and no intention of pushing for helpful government policy. This
is a distraction from the main task at hand, some observers argue, namely
brokering an agreement to wind down fossil fuels.
Keeping
track of all of this remains a difficult task. And, no matter what happens in
the final days of COP28, additional work remains to be done to figure out the
best way to incorporate the private sector into U.N.-led climate conversations.
Read more: The COP28 Outcomes Business Leaders
Are Watching For
From their beginnings nearly 30 years ago, U.N.
climate conferences were meant to center around countries. It is the
United Nations, after all. And, while some business
representation has existed from early on, corporate officials were largely
meant to stay on the margins. But the presence of companies at the conferences
has grown rapidly in the eight years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.
The landmark deal set a voluntary framework by which governments are meant to
create increasingly ambitious climate policy, but in many large economies
success depends to a significant degree on activating the private sector. And
so the officials running the last several climate negotiations have
increasingly incorporated businesses into the run-of-show—and big companies
have eagerly embraced the invitation.
It should
come as no surprise that organizers of this year’s conference in Dubai doubled
down. The city has become a global business and financial hub by catering to
the private sector. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Emirati founding
father credited with launching Dubai on its breakneck development trajectory,
summed up his philosophy with a quippy ode to business: “What’s good for the
merchants is good for Dubai.” Meanwhile, the COP presidency held by oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber has
described his approach as a “business mindset” from the time he was appointed.
The result
has been a slew of initiatives, partnerships, and deals launched during the
conference. The U.A.E., for example, launched a $30 billion climate fund with
top financial services companies to invest in clean technology, with a
commitment to set aside some of that funding to flow to the Global South. And
an alliance of oil and gas firms committed to end routine flaring and come
close to eliminating methane emissions by the end of the decade.
And then
there are the behind-the-scenes discussions: having private sector players at
COP alongside government and civil society allows for the stakeholders to sort
through challenges that would be difficult in a virtual context. “We’ve been
seeing for a while now more and more businesses involved at COP,” says Nat
Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an
environmental policy think tank. “What I’ve seen here is that those
conversations are really oriented toward implementing solutions.”
Supporters
of Al Jaber’s approach say he has used his convening power and long-running
stature among companies and financiers to create the necessary climate for
these deals and tough conversations. Opponents say that both voluntary
commitments and dealmaking, however necessary, don’t need to be done on the
ground at COP—that it’s a distraction from the urgent need to get the policies
right. “The time has long since passed when the world can be satisfied with
voluntary pledges that are self monitored, with bright shiny objects designed
to distract the world from the main task at hand,” Al Gore told me on
Dec. 5.
Some
companies are keen to engage in the policy conversation. The We Mean Business
Coalition organized a letter calling for the phaseout of fossil fuels ahead of
the conference with more than 200 signatories, including large companies like
IKEA and AstraZenca. At the same time, there are more than 2,400 delegates at
the conference affiliated with the fossil fuel industry. As Gorissen said, it
can be hard to discern who really represents the broader business community.
Ultimately,
most executives here say they have little stake in the result of the negotiations
that come out of the conference. This is perhaps unsurprising. The language is
for the most part non-binding and directed at countries. And most companies,
even those working hard to decarbonize their own operations, generally stay
away from climate policy debates unless they have an immediate effect on their
bottom line. A study published
last month looking at 300 large companies by the watchdog group Influence Map
found that 58% of those studied are at risk of “net zero greenwash” because
they don’t lobby in alignment with the net zero target that they say they are
pursuing.
The
primary focus, executives say, is to meet counterparts, do deals, and show
their commitment to the climate issue. That last point has drawn particular
criticism from many here who say that using COP to prove green credentials is
an opportunity that should only be open to companies who have proven their
climate chops, perhaps by meeting criteria set out last year by
a U.N. working group convened to study the topic.
This
debate is tricky. How do you demand seriousness without requiring perfection?
And is COP even the best place to engage in those conversations? The debate won’t
be settled in the next few days. Indeed, we should only expect it to grow as
climate change becomes increasingly relevant for companies.
a@ From France24
‘Stunned’: OPEC urges members
to block action on fossil fuels at COP28
French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said Saturday she was
"stunned" after the oil cartel OPEC urged its members to thwart any
deal targeting fossil fuels at the COP28 conference.
Issued
on: 09/12/2023 - 10:37Modified: 09/12/2023 - 15:52
By:FRANCE
24
"I am
stunned by these statements from OPEC,” declared French Energy Minister
Agnès Pannier-Runacher. And I am angry," she said from the UN climate
conference in Dubai, adding that "OPEC+'s position endangers the most
vulnerable countries and the poorest populations who are the first victims of
this situation".
Pannier-Runacher
said she was "counting on the presidency of the COP not to be influenced
by these declarations, and to reach an agreement which affirms a clear
objective of phasing out fossil fuels".
OPEC
Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais sent a letter to the group's 13 members and
10 Russian-led allies this week after negotiators at talks in Dubai released a
draft deal that included calls for a phase-out of fossil fuels.
In the
letter sent Wednesday, Ghais urged the group to "proactively reject
any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than
emissions".
The letter
urged OPEC+ members and allies to reject any mention of fossil fuels in the
final summit deal, warning that "undue and disproportionate pressure
against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point".
‘First’ OPEC intervention in UN climate talks
The letter
has drawn anger from activists and the High Ambition Coalition, a broad group
of nations ranging from Barbados to France, Kenya and
Pacific island states.
Spain's
Ecology Transition Minister Teresa Ribera called the move
"disgusting".
It was the
first time OPEC's secretariat has intervened in the UN climate talks with such
a letter, Alden Meyer, an analyst at the E3G think-tank, told Reuters. "It
indicates a whiff of panic," he said.
Saudi
Arabia is the top producer in OPEC and the de facto leader of the organisation,
and Russia is a member of the OPEC+ group.
By
insisting on focusing on emissions rather than fossil fuels, the two countries
appeared to be leaning on the promise of expensive carbon capture technology,
which the UN climate science panel says cannot take the place of reducing
fossil fuel use worldwide.
‘So many issues to settle’
Other
countries including India and China have not explicitly endorsed a fossil fuel
phase-out at COP28, but have backed a popular call for boosting renewable
energy.
China's
top climate envoy, Xie Zhenhue, described this year's climate summit as the
hardest in his career.
"I
have participated in these climate negotiations for 16 years," he told
journalists. "The hardest meeting is this year's. There are so many issues
to settle."
He said
there was little chance the summit would be called a success if nations could
not agree to language on the future of fossil fuels.
India's
environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, demanded "equity and justice"
in any deal, holding that rich countries should be leading global climate
action.
Broader
diplomatic grievances were also aired at the podium on Saturday, clouding the
focus on global warming.
A Russian
representative said in a speech that Moscow was looking into whether some of
the roughly $300 billion in gold reserves frozen by the West after Russia
invaded Ukraine could be used for a climate damage fund for developing
countries.
Meanwhile,
China complained about what it said was unacceptable talk about Taiwan's
participation in the talks. And a Palestinian representative denounced Israel's
war in Gaza, saying the conflict made it difficult to focus on climate change
efforts.
(FRANCE 24
with AFP and REUTERS)
@a From NPR
GOATS AND SODA
'I
dare not be quiet': What climate activist Ndelika Mandela learned from her
granddad
DECEMBER 8, 202311:44 AM ET
Ndileka
Mandela, the eldest of Nelson Mandela's grandchildren, during her Zoom
interview with NPR. A climate activist, she had spoken at COP28 earlier in the
week, the climate summit, and returned home to Johannesburg to mark the 10th
anniversary of her grandfather's passing.
Screenshot by NPR
This week marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of Nelson Mandela.
His activism against apartheid sent him to prison for 27 years. After that
system of racial segregation came to an end and Mandela was released, he went
on to become president of South Africa.
Today, he is survived by 17 grandchildren. The eldest is 58-year-old
Ndileka Mandela, a former ICU nurse leads the Thembekile Mandela Foundation,
which focuses on health, education and youth development in South Africa's
rural villages.
This week, she traveled to Dubai for the U.N. climate conference COP28
to participate in a panel entitled "Strategies in Climate Financing; Empowering
Sustainable Development in Africa." She called for
an end to "climate apartheid" — a term she's using to jar people into
action to help countries in the Global South who she says are unfairly burdened
with the impacts of a changing planet. But she says it's also a phrase that
implies there's a way out of the morass — just as apartheid was overcome in
South Africa.
The following interview was edited for length and clarity.
Say more about climate apartheid. What does it mean?
During apartheid, the South African government used their power and
privilege so that the economy benefited a minority group, the white people, at
the expense of the majority — the people of color.
Today, the richest countries are the biggest polluters of our climate.
They benefit financially. About half the world's population lives on less than
$7 per day. Most of these four billion people live in the Global South and
they're the ones who are most impacted by climate change. The Global North
discriminates against the Global South, and we bear the consequences.
For instance, in Africa, we've had floods in Tanzania. Six people have
died at the last count. We had hundreds of people die last year when we had floods
in South Africa.
So you're describing a situation where the Global North has created most
of the greenhouse gasses contributing to climate change. But it's the Global
South that's feeling its impacts disproportionately, despite having contributed
relatively little to causing climate change.
Yes, that is correct.
Of course, countries in the Global North are also experiencing climate
impacts with flooding and droughts and sea level rise.
Certainly they will be impacted. This is a global crisis. You can't run
away from the catastrophic effects of climate change. However, the Global North
has more financial capacity to mitigate some of those things where the Global
South doesn't.
But instead of criticizing or pointing fingers at each other, let us
find solutions to mitigate climate change globally.
I mean, climate change is upon us. It's not waiting on who's to blame.
It doesn't care who caused it.
But the term "climate apartheid" does seem to point the finger
at the Global North. So in the spirit of coming up with solutions, why use this
label?
It jars people to act.
Similarly, at the height of gender-based violence in South Africa, a
phrase was used among those involved with the #MeToo movement — "men are
trash."
It did not mean that all men are trash. But it jarred people.
Terminology like this can draw sharp attention to a topic that is a crisis.
The phrase "climate apartheid" is not about blame. I believe
it will help us sit around the table and come up with solutions.
What sorts of solutions do you envision?
For instance, at COP28, they've pledged a loss and damage fund of
hundreds of billions of dollars. This money is a step in the right direction.
It's still not enough, but it's a start.
In addition to the financing, the Global South needs expertise, advice
and a road map to develop and use renewable energy. We want to become less
reliant on the things that cause climate change like coal and oil.
What qualities did you learn from your parents, and how have you
leveraged them in your battle against climate apartheid?
From my mother, I learned how to be content with what I have, how to
stay in my lane and mind my own business.
My dad died when I was four. But my grandfather took on the role of my
father in every way. With him, we were not his grandchildren.
From him, I learned that you need to be cognizant of the suffering of
other people. You can't be an island. That's why climate change bothers me so
much. I've somehow managed to stay insulated from the worst effects of climate
change, but my fellow neighbors in other cities and other rural areas are
suffering.
That's why I dare not keep quiet. If my grandfather had kept quiet about
the injustices committed against our people, we wouldn't be where we are today.
He and his comrades catapulted us into a democratic South Africa.
Are you surprised that there is "climate apartheid," or is
this just the way the world works, unfortunately?
I'm not surprised. The rich always suppress the not so fortunate. It's
sad to watch it happen.
But we have got to change it because it doesn't serve humanity when the
haves suppress the have-nots.
When there's enough wealth to go around, there's no need for the
developing world and the Global South to have abject poverty and unemployment.
As intractable and oppressive as apartheid was, ultimately, it went
away. A new system replaced it. When you use the words "climate
apartheid," perhaps you're also invoking this idea that we don't have to
live like this, that there could be a different way, and that it too may one
day go away.
Absolutely. There's absolutely a different way.
At some point, we didn't think that we would win the war against
apartheid, but we did. It was almost a century-old regime that we were able to
dismantle.
There was the Berlin Wall. I'm sure the people of Germany at some point
didn't believe that the wall would fall. But it did fall because of the
concerted effort of people not giving up.
So we need to have that same spirit now. We will win against climate
apartheid as well.
Why are you confident that we will win?
I believe that with concerted effort and a lot of hope and positive
energy, we can achieve a lot.
Just take my grandfather. This is a man that was incarcerated for life
on Robben Island. And yet, the hope that he and his comrades had that they
would be released one day was inside them from the moment they were imprisoned.
When my father died in 1969, seven years into my grandfather's
incarceration, he wrote letters to various people. The letters that really
resonated with me were those he wrote to his other children, telling them that
he looks forward to the day that he will be released and be able to hug them.
They never lost hope. They never lost that positivity.
What we forget as humanity is that the words that we use have energy and
power. If you state things in a positive manner, the universe will always
conspire to assist.
Alternatively, we will be dead in the water if we don't have hope. We'll
all be decimated.
So I believe that we need to have that hope that our forebears had to
dismantle the shackle of climate apartheid.
What do you think your grandfather would have said about climate
injustice?
In the Eastern Cape, there used to be trees and birds. And Granddad used
to lament how he misses those days when the bees were plentiful, when they
would go and get honey, which is organic, instead of just sugar.
So I know that he would have put his shoulder on the spoke to talk about
what needs to be done to turn the tide on climate change. He would have met
with people of influence and those with expertise.
I have no doubt that he would have been fighting right beside me.
Is there anything from your upbringing that gives you strength?
In the African context, especially in my Xhosa culture, we have the
basic principle of "ubuntu" — that is, "I am
because we are." It means that I am who I am not only because of my
individual efforts, but because of a collective effort. It stresses the
importance of sharing what we have as a community with groups who are less
fortunate.
However, we now live in a world that is completely selfish. It's me, me,
me... not the greater good of other people.
If we can go back to the basics of ubuntu, I think we can
turn the tide against what we see today. No person is independent. We
inherently need other people.
Is your last name a blessing or a curse?
It's a double-edged sword.
Oftentimes, my family and I get measured against my grandfather. For
some people, my grandfather was a sellout because he should have done this or
that, forgetting that all leaders lead within a certain context.
And at times, it's a blessing because of the credibility and legacy that
he built. That's one reason why we're having this interview. When I speak,
people listen. When I sit in front of certain leaders asking for assistance for
my foundation, they assist me, whereas another person would battle to get that
traction.
Are you doing anything to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of your
grandfather's passing?
My grandfather used to host Christmas parties where he had Christmas
gifts. And there would be a big feast. When he started doing that, most of the
children in the neighboring village had never had Christmas presents before.
But at some point, people from all over the country wanted to come. And
when they opened the gate, people rushed forward and there was a stampede. It
became uncontrollable. They had to stop having the parties.
So yesterday [Tuesday, Dec. 5, the day of Mandela's death anniversary]
we revived that practice where we chose children from the villages that had an
impact on his life. There were rides, a jumping castle, quad bikes and also
gifts and cakes for Christmas.
That's how I commemorated him.
X@ From CNN
India’s urban population is exploding. That
could have huge consequences for the planet
Analysis
by Diksha Madhok, CNN Updated 1:07
PM EST, Thu December 7, 2023
New
DelhiCNN —
Over half a
century ago, India’s then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi talked about the
staggering challenge for developing nations: to
industrialize without harming the environment.
“On the
one hand the rich look askance at our continuing poverty — on the other, they warn
us against their own methods,” she told
a United Nations event in Stockholm in 1972, the first global conference to
make the environment a major issue.
“We do not
wish to impoverish the environment any further and yet we cannot for a moment
forget the grim poverty of large numbers of people,” she added.
Enter your email to sign up for the Stress, but less newsletter.
Her words
have never been more relevant. The tension between economic growth and
environmental protection is at the heart of global discussions about how to
tackle the ever accelerating climate crisis.
Addressing
the opening session of the COP28 climate talks in
Dubai on Friday, India’s current prime minister, Narendra Modi, said all
developing countries must be given “a fair share in the global carbon budget” — the amount of planet-warming carbon pollution the world can emit and still avoid climate catastrophe.
Even
though Earth is now heating up to dangerous levels,
many governments around the world persist with viewing coal, oil and gas as
sources of economic development, energy security and geopolitical power, the UN
said this year.
As a
result, the world’s fossil
fuel production in 2030 is set to be more than twice the amount needed to limit
the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,
the goal of the Paris climate agreement, a recent UN Environment Programme
report found.
One of the
major contributors to that disastrous overshoot will be India, which is burning
ever greater amounts of coal and oil as it tries to meet the needs of its 1.4
billion people. It plans to double domestic coal production by 2030.
But even
as the world’s most populous
nation clings to coal with one
hand, there are some signs that it is attempting to chart a more sustainable
course with the other.
01:20 -
Source: CNN
India has made
“significant investments and set ambitious targets for renewable energy,” the
UNEP report said, noting
that the world’s fastest growing major economy has earmarked over $4 billion
toward energy transition in this year’s national budget.
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Bottom of Form
Other
global agencies have also noted India’s growing ambitions in the pursuit of
green energy. The Paris-based International Energy Agency said in a report in
October that the country was “moving into a dynamic new phase in its energy
development marked by a long-term net zero emissions ambition.”
In 2021,
Modi pledged India would achieve net zero emissions by 2070, which
is still a couple of decades later than developed economies.
Transforming
India’s energy sector, like most things in the country, is going to be chaotic
and muddled, but it will have far-reaching implications for the global energy
market and the race to limit global warming.
“India’s
net zero by 2070 target, if met in full and on time along with all respective
national targets, will take the world to 1.7 degree Celsius global average
surface temperature rise by 2100,” said Siddharth Singh, energy investment
analyst at the IEA.
Getting there need not come at the cost of growth. Already there are “early
signs of a gradually loosening link between economic development and carbon
emissions,” said Singh.
If the
country is able to meet its pledges, its carbon emissions will fall by over 40%
by 2050, even as its GDP quadruples over this period, IEA said in its report.
Modern India is yet to be built
India is
the world’s third-largest energy consuming country, although its energy use
and emissions per person are
less than half the world average, IEA data shows.
That could
change rapidly. Thanks to rising incomes, energy demand has doubled since 2000,
with 80% of demand still being met by coal, oil and solid biomass. Over the
next three decades, the South Asian nation will see the largest energy demand
growth of any country in the world, the IEA said.
That
superlative isn’t surprising as the country is expected to achieve some
impressive economic milestones. The world’s fifth largest economy is
comfortably placed to grow at an annual rate of at least 6% in the coming few
years, analysts say,
and may become only the third country with annual GDP of $10 trillion by 2035.
And as it
develops and modernizes, its urban population is going to shoot up, leading to
a massive rise in the construction of homes, offices, shops and other
buildings.
“India
adds the equivalent of a London to its urban population every year for the next
30 years,” said Singh.
The Modi
government is also trying to boost domestic manufacturing and that has
unleashed a building boom, with everything from roads and bridges to ports and
railways springing up around the country.
This infrastructure
bonanza will lead to a surge in demand for coal and steel, which are huge
sources of carbon emissions.
Electricity
demand is also expected to skyrocket in the coming years because of factors
ranging from improved standards of living to climate change. The latter has
been fueling deadly heatwaves across
India, and as a result, air conditioner ownership is set to see a sharp spike
in the coming years.
By 2050,
India’s total electricity demand from residential air conditioners is set to
exceed the total energy consumption in the whole of Africa today, the IEA said
this year.
Coal
accounts for almost 70% of the country’s
electricity generation and is not likely to change in
the near future.
The future
role of fossil fuels is one of the most controversial issues nations
are grappling with at COP28. While some are pushing for a “phase-out,” others
are calling for the weaker language of a “phase-down.”
India has
said that the former option is not feasible at the moment. “We cannot phase out
fossil fuels unless we have nuclear or until [energy] storage becomes viable,”
India’s power minister R.K. Singh said last week,
just days after he had said that the country won’t be rushed into reducing its
use of coal.
“We are
not going to do this … we are not going to compromise on availability of power
for our growth, even if it requires that we add coal-based capacity,” the
minister said in November.
Giant green goals
Still, the
fact that India is developing at this point in history gives it a unique
opportunity not to repeat the climate sins of wealthier nations.
The
country was a reluctant signatory to
the Paris climate accord in 2015, when more than 190 countries pledged to limit
the precipitous rise in global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius
above pre-industrial levels, with a preferred goal of 1.5 degrees.
Those
pledges haven’t yet been delivered. The world is careening toward nearly 3 degrees of global warming,
even if current climate policies are met, the United Nations has warned.
The Modi
government has set ambitious goals.
It has
promised that renewable energy will fulfil 50% of India’s energy requirements
by the end of this decade. The government also set a target of 500 GW of
non-fossil fuel electricity generating capacity by that period — up from
about 173 GW last year.
India has
launched an incentive program to
boost domestic manufacturing in critical sectors including solar modules and
advanced chemistry cell batteries. If the program works, it could see India
establish itself as a “reliable exporter” of solar modules, the IEA said in its
2023 report.
“The country
already has the world’s fourth largest combined capacity for wind and solar PV
electricity generation, and will be the third largest by next year,” Singh
said. “In the context of its development journey, India’s clean energy targets
are indeed impressive.”
If Asia’s
third largest economy is able to meet its pledges, it would also offer a new
roadmap to growth, one that allows developing countries to get rich and go
green at the same time.
Green billionaires
Major
conglomerates are keen to seize the green opportunity.
India’s
richest men, including Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, are investing billions
into clean energy, even though they made their empire on the backs of fossil
fuels.
“There has
probably never been a better time than now for India to grow more sustainably,”
said Tim Buckley director of Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance.
That’s
because of two main reasons: the world is seeing unprecedented levels of
investment in clean technologies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and
solar energy is getting significantly cheaper, he explained.
But there
is still a big funding gap. The IEA has said that energy investments need to
nearly triple by the end of this decade for India to be on a trajectory to meet
its zero emission targets. The Modi government wants rich nations to do more when
it comes to climate financing.
The
developed world agreed more
than a decade ago to transfer at least $100 billion a
year to developing countries to help both with their green transitions and
efforts to adapt to the climate crisis. That pledge was reaffirmed in the 2015
Paris Agreement, but the target has never been met.
In his
speech to COP on Friday, Modi warned that “thinking only about one’s self
interest will only lead the world into darkness.”
Hopefully,
that message will be heard by India’s vast bureaucracy as well.
“We just
need more departmental action and urgency filtering down with respect to the
excellent renewables ambition of Modi,” said Buckley. “India needs to make sure
there’s an alignment of the implementation so that those really ambitious
targets are going to be met”
ATTACHMENT @ – FROM the BBC
GOOD NEWS
on CLIMATE CHANGE
By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent at COP28 in Dubai 7th December
2023, 09:18 EST
It's easy
to feel overwhelmed by bad news about climate change. Even for those of us used
to covering it every day as journalists, it can sometimes seem relentless.
Of course
we are right to worry. This year will be the warmest twelve months in 125,000
years, scientists say, as its impacts hit home in every corner of the Earth.
But as
delegates try to reach a deal at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, there are
some real reasons to be optimistic too. Here's a look at some of them:
1 - The secret solar revolution
On streets
and in estates all over the UK, there's a silent solar insurgency going on.
Every
month this year around 17,000 houses added solar panels right across Britain.
Even in
parts of the UK not known for their sunny days, homeowners are sticking the
silicon to their roofs; about 8% of homes on the Isle of Angelsey in north
Wales are now powered by solar, in Aberdeenshire, it's close to 6%.
Driving
this boom is cost - solar is not just the cheapest form of electricity now,
according to some it is the cheapest in history.
It's not
just people putting up panels in an orderly way, according to Jenny Chase, a
solar expert from Bloomberg NEF, we're seeing a growing amount of "balcony
solar" as well.
On this
street in Walthamstow, around 15 homes have added solar in the past year
"You
literally just put your solar module somewhere maybe on your balcony, maybe in
your garden, and that can cover your house's instantaneous demand when it's
sunny," she told BBC News.
"It doesn't
go into the grid, it doesn't store it, you don't need to register it. It's just
shaving a little bit off your power use."
The world
is following suit. China has installed more solar this year than the US has in
the past three decades.
There's
now real hope that power from the Sun will be the key to a safer Planet Earth.
More on the COP28 climate
summit
·
What is COP28 and why is it so
important?
·
Sultan al-Jaber: a quick guide to the
COP president
·
Four ways climate change worsens
extreme weather
·
Really simple guide to climate change
2 - The EV that pays for itself
The right
time to buy an electric car must rank as one of the most popular dinner
conversations across the UK.
Sales are
generally booming, with some 18% of new vehicles sold around the world in 2023
powered by batteries.
EVs may
soon be able to push energy to the national grid and your home when needed
But high
costs and worries about the range of an electric vehicle are real deterrents at
present.
However
new technology is in the process of changing that perception and possibly
making EVs more cost effective.
The idea
is called Vehicle2Grid,
or V2G and it's essentially the kit needed to send and receive power from your
car to your house and on to the national grid.
The idea is
that if you can charge the car when energy is cheap, you can sell it back to
the grid when it's more expensive and turn a profit.
With cars
spending 95% of their time parked up, they are perfectly suited to the role of
buying and selling energy, like little four wheeled market traders.
This is
critically important for the national grid which is in the process of adding
more and more renewables like wind and solar, and needs somewhere to send that
power when it's too windy or sunny.
And
imagine if you were charging your car with energy from your own solar panels -
you could sell this free energy to the grid for a decent margin, trials have shown.
3 - Betting on big batteries
All across
the UK, large scale battery farms are springing up at amazing speed - this one
I visited in Buckinghamshire was completed in just 10 months.
It can
power 300,000 homes for up to two hours and is one of the biggest in Europe.
Prices for
storage on this scale continue to tumble, and experts estimate that by the end
of this decade there will be enough batteries in place to power 18 million
homes across the UK. That's an astonishing rate of growth.
According
to experts, batteries are the key link in the chain that will makes net zero
achievable for electricity production.
"If
you didn't have storage, you could only have a certain amount of renewable
energy," Peter Kavanagh, chief executive of Harmony Energy, told BBC News.
His company is installing large scale batteries across the UK and Europe.
"When
you add storage into the mix, it makes it a lot easier to get to a
majority of renewable energy. So we can
go much further to reach net zero and it makes a 100% renewables grid
technically possible."
4 - Here comes the judge
Clarity
from the courts is another reason to be cheerful about climate change.
A number
of major climate cases go before the judges in the next 12 months.
Judges at
the International Court of Justice will decide on a critical case brought by
Pacific nation Vanuatu on climate change
Whatever
way they rule, it will spell out exactly where the law stands on what's legal
and who's responsible for rising temperatures.
One of the
biggest climate suits in history is taking place in the US, where Oregon's
Multnomah County is making a $52bn damages claim against a range of oil and gas
producers for causing a massive heatwave back in 2021.
If they
win this case, it will have huge legal and financial implications, potentially
leading to dozens more lawsuits against fossil fuel producers, similar to the
court struggles that big tobacco endured in the past.
One of the
lawyers in the case is Jeffrey Simon, who's well known for winning a big money
opioid civil suit in Texas.
He says
that the courts are emerging as the most powerful lever for climate action, by
hitting fossil fuel producers in their pockets.
"Getting
the defendants to reduce their emissions is not within the reach of the civil
justice system in the US, but holding them accountable for the harm they've
caused, and the misrepresentations they've made, which has slowed adaptation to
those problems, is definitely within their power," he told BBC News.
5 - "When hope and history rhyme…"
My fifth
reason to be cheerful about climate is history.
Looking at
this challenge from a historical perspective really shows how much progress has
been made in an incredibly short period of time.
Just eight
years ago, when the Paris climate agreement was signed, this remarkable
document didn't contain any mention of coal, oil and gas, which are the biggest
sources of planet warming gases.
Now as
negotiators from all over the world meet in Dubai for COP28, there's a real hope that
the parties will agree to finally end the use of these fuels in
some shape or form this century.
This would
consign to history the root cause of climate change and give the world a
fighting chance of defeating our biggest collective threat.
ATTACHMENT @ - From Bloomberg
Dubai’s Gilded COP28 Summit
Changes Climate Talks Forever
· Monster UAE
meeting is ‘peak COP’ with over 100,000 attendees
· Lavish
hospitality stokes fears of distracting negotiationsBy John Ainger
December
6, 2023 at 9:00 PM EST
Dubai, home of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, has
applied the same logic of size and opulence to its hosting of the United Nations climate summit —
an event with one key goal: to put the world back on track to keeping global
warming below 1.5C.
Over 100,000 country negotiators, lobbyists and activists have descended
on the conference’s Blue Zone in Dubai’s Expo City, the hub where the meat of
climate talks are taking place. It’s an expanse that covers an area roughly the
size of New York’s Central Park. An open-air dome in the center of the venue
could hold the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
There’s nearly three times as many attendees as during COP26 in Glasgow,
which forged a landmark deal to phase down unabated coal, and around four times
more than the 2015 summit that birthed the Paris Agreement, which set the goal
of trying to keep global warming below 2C, and ideally 1.5C. Around 400,000
people, mostly local residents, are taking part in activities around the
conference.
Read More: What Is COP28 and Why Is It Important?
The summit’s gold-gilded enormity has given rise to fears that a
successful outcome for the climate could prove a desert mirage. Negotiators say
that impromptu bilateral meetings with other countries in corridors — often the
location where key deals are really struck — are impossible due to the size of
the venue. Golf buggies are provided to ferry high-level delegates to important
meetings.
“The growth is getting a bit unmanageable,” said Kate Levick, associate
director, sustainable finance at E3G, who attended her first COP in 2005 with
oil giant BP Plc. “Catching someone in a corridor and speaking to face-to-face,
there’s really no alternative to that.”
Far from a staid business conference, this summit at times has an almost
five-star holiday vibe. Hospitality includes the serving of dates during
plenary meetings, and an extensive array of refreshments provided around the
clock. The Al-Waha theater invites participants to a 360-degree, Las
Vegas-esque immersive screening of whales and endangered dugongs (of which the
UAE is home to the second largest wild population globally) in-between
sessions.
Read More: A Flawed Green City of the Future Holds a Secret to
Taming Heat
Country delegates have received lavish treatment. Ministers are offered
car envoys to speed past Dubai’s notoriously dense traffic. Where food and
water were sometimes in short supply late in the day at other COPs, there’s
been no such issue here.
The COP28 organizers have tried to provide an environment and atmosphere
that is conducive to providing a result, according to Majid Al-Suwaidi, a
former climate negotiator for the United Arab Emirates and director general of
COP28. “But there’s a responsibility on negotiators to deliver an outcome.”
“The stakes are that much higher,” he said in an interview. “That is
reflecting this large scale of a COP.”
The conference has seen a record number of fossil fuel participants,
over 2,000 — equivalent to being the third biggest country delegation — a move
seen as welcome by some in order to bring the heaviest emitters on board with
climate action, but slammed by activists as one of the most overt attempts of
the phenomenon known as greenwashing. Climate protests have been confined to
the UN-administered Blue Zone, as it’s banned on the streets of the UAE.
Environmental
activists demonstrate at the venue on Dec. 5.Photographer: Karim
Sahib/AFP/Getty Images
Still, the number of people in attendance shows how much climate has
risen up the agenda, even against a backdrop of wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and
surging inflation. Concerns over the emissions impact of hosting a summit of
this size — with businessmen flying in on private jets — are overblown given
they still make up a small fraction of transport’s 25% contribution to global
emissions, according to Maruxa Cardama, secretary general of the SLOCAT low
carbon transport non-profit.
“We need to look at what it is that we gain from having these kind of
gatherings,” she said. “What it allows us as NGOs is putting a bit of pressure
and accountability on these processes.”
The growth of participation and money involved in hosting it are leading
some to herald the summit as “peak COP” — simply through the fact that a
dwindling number of countries will be able to host a summit of this scale. Last
year’s conference in the Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, which was
less than half the size, saw its infrastructure creek under the sheer mass of
people.
Read More: Russian Billionaire Uses COP to Push Revival of
Woolly Mammoths
The Green Zone — a free-to-enter space for countries and companies to
tout their climate credentials is vast. Saudi Arabia and China hawk their wares
here, with a giant inflatable panda looming over an outdoor food court.
Strangers squeeze next to each other on the back of yellow golf buggies
transporting weary conference-goers between hubs, which otherwise would be a
half-hour walk apart. Employees of Masdar, a renewables firm whose chair is
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, have buggies reserved specifically for
them.
COP29 — which still hasn’t found a host due to disagreements with the EU
and Russia — could by default be held in the German city of Bonn, the home of
the UNFCCC, but they have politely declined to host due to its immense size,
according to people familiar with the matter. There are also concerns over the
impact COP30 will have when it’s located in the Brazilian city of Belem, in the
country’s Amazon rainforest.
“We wouldn’t be able to host an event with 100,000 people in Canada,”
said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s climate minister, who’s delegation is
holding a step count competition. “There’s no venue where we can do that.”
As talks move into their final few days, the $57 billion of financial pledges
— more than half of which are from the UAE — and success over the agenda and a
loss and damage fund are now in the rear view mirror. The nitty-gritty of
negotiations now begin and a key decision over whether countries will commit to
phasing out fossil fuels will be the main barometer by which COP28 will be
judged. That will prove whether the bombast of this year’s summit facilitated a
deal, or proved a mere distraction.
The UAE is “an incredible host,” said Jacob Werksman, the European
Union’s chief climate negotiator. But “the eyes of the world are on this
country and the fact that it has built its wealth and all this generosity on
the basis of oil and gas fossil fuel production.”
(Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg
News, is also UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. His
foundation Bloomberg Philanthropies provides support to the UNFCCC, the agency
that oversees COP.)
— With assistance from Natasha White, Jennifer A Dlouhy, Malaika
Kanaaneh Tapper, and Ewa Krukowska
TO a2 ABOVE @
a@ FROM
WHITEHOUSE.GOV
DECEMBER 02, 2023
Remarks by Vice President Harris Delivering the U.S. Statement
at COP28
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good
afternoon. It is my honor to be with the distinguished leaders who are
here today.
Two years ago, President Joe Biden
stood onstage at COP26 and made a declaration of ambition: The United States of
America will once again be a global leader in the fight against the climate
crisis.
Since then, the United States has
turned ambition into action. President Biden and I made the largest
climate investment in the history of our country and, some have said, the
world: roughly a trillion dollars over the next 10 years.
As a result, today, across the
United States, we are building and expanding hundreds of solar panel, wind
turbine, electric vehicle, and battery manufacturing plants; we are laying
thousands of miles of high-voltage transmission lines to deliver clean energy to
every corner of our nation; and we are lowering emissions not only in energy
and transportation but in industry, agriculture, buildings, and construction.
We are also investing in
resilience and adaptation to restore our coastlines, wetlands, and forests and
to make communities more resilient to climate-driven extreme weather.
We have also placed equity at the center
of all of our work, investing in marginalized communities, which are often
hardest hit by extreme weather and bear a disproportionate burden from fossil
fuel pollution.
Globally, the United States is a
leader in the effort to expand international climate finance. This year
alone, we have increased our contributions to over $9.5 billion, which puts us
on track to reach President Biden’s ambitious $11 billion goal by 2024.
Today, I am also proud to announce
a new $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund, which helps developing
countries invest in resilience, clean energy, and nature-based solutions.
Today, we are demonstrating
through action how the world can and must meet this crisis.
This is a pivotal moment.
Our action collectively or, worse, our inaction will impact billions of people
for decades to come.
For as much as we have
accomplished, there is still so much more work to do. And continued
progress will not be possible without a fight.
Around the world, there are those
who seek to slow or stop our progress. Leaders who deny climate science,
delay climate action, and spread misinformation. Corporations that
greenwash climate inaction and lobby for billions of dollars in fossil fuel
subsidies.
In the face of their resistance
and in the context of this moment, we must do more.
In order to keep our critical 1.5
degree-Celsius goal within reach, we must have the ambition to meet this
moment, to accelerate our ongoing work, increase our investments, and lead with
courage and conviction.
Even given the challenges we face,
I am optimistic. With ambition and bold action, I know we will build a
cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous world for this generation and for
generations to come.
Thank you. (Applause.)
a@ FROM Google Play Store and the
Dubai Police, via the Guardian U.K.
a@ FROM
the Google Play Store, and Dubai Police via GUK
One of the strangest tie-ins to the climate conference must be the Cop28
Adventures game, which was released by Dubai police before
the event began.
Its summary on Google’s Play Store reads:
Immerse yourself in the urgent world of global climate action in Climate
Guardians COP28. As a delegate at the UAE conference, craft policies, solve
environmental challenges, and collaborate with players worldwide. Explore
stunning UAE locations, make impactful decisions, and compete for the highest
cooperation score. Join the movement for a sustainable future today
The Guardian will not be downloading the app, and recommends that you do
not either. Matthew Hedges, a British academic who was detained in the UAE in
2018, warned on Thursday,
“Don’t be naive like I was” when it comes to digital security and the UAE.
For this reason we cannot provide a review of the game, but see the GUK
and Play Store websites for some screenshots provided on the app page:
The game is credited to Dubai police, whose previous Play Store game offerings include:
·
My Rights and Duties (“learn about your rights in a fun and simple way”)
·
My Child My Friend (“aims to enhance communication and
friendship between parents and their offspring”)
·
Stay Safe (“educating the public in all its categories
of positive behaviours that must be adhered to and some negative behaviours
that must be avoided”)
The new Cop28 game
lets users “explore stunning UAE locations, make impactful decisions, and
compete for the highest cooperation score.”
It also appears to have drone racing. It is not for the Guardian to
speculate whether the whole Cop process could be made more productive with the
addition of drone racing, but it does not appear to have been explored by the
organisers and may be worth a shot.
a@ FROM THE GUARDIAN, U.K
People must balance outrage and optimism after a “hellish summer” of
extreme weather, the UN’s former climate chief has urged
By Ajit Narinjan, the Guardian’s
Europe environment correspondent, November 30th
“We have to keep the outrage
really high because we are
so darn late,” said Christiana Figueres, a veteran negotiator hailed as
the architect of the Paris
climate agreement.
She pointed to the weak policies that governments have set in order
to cut planet-heating pollution and the $7tn with which they directly and indirectly
subsidise fossil fuels.
But there were reasons for optimism that could stop people
falling into “a dark rabbit hole”, she added. “I do make a conscious
choice every morning to say: ‘Yes, I know what all the bad news is’ – that’s
easy to get because that just screams at you from whatever news feed you have –
but also, what is positive that is going out there? What are the disruptive
pieces that are real, strong evidence of the fact that this is changing?”
Speaking to a small group of
reporters on Monday, Figueres highlighted the plummeting cost of renewable
energy and the growth of electric cars as two areas where positive changes were
happening faster and faster.
xTh.3We have to balance outrage with
optimism, says UN’s former climate chief
a@ FROM THE GUARDIAN, U.K
22 countries
call for tripling of nuclear by 2050
December 2m 2023
Twenty-two countries have called for a tripling of nuclear
energy by 2050 in order to meet net zero goals.
John Kerry, the US’s climate
envoy, defended the statement. “We are not making the argument to anybody that
this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy
source,” he said.
“But we know because the science
and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can’t get to net zero
2050 without some nuclear. These are just scientific realities. No politics
involved in this, no ideology involved in this.”
Bill McKibben’s campaign group
350.org were less enthusiastic. Masayoshi Iyoda, a Japan campaigner at the group,
said: “There is no space for dangerous nuclear power to accelerate the
decarbonization needed to achieve the Paris climate goal … it is nothing more
than a dangerous distraction.
“The attempt of a ‘nuclear
renaissance’ led by nuclear industries’ lobbyists since the 2000s has never
been successful - it is simply too costly, too risky, too undemocratic, and too
time-consuming. We already have cheaper, safer, democratic, and faster
solutions to the climate crisis, and they are renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
Twenty-two countries have called for a tripling of nuclear
energy by 2050 in order to meet net zero goals. John Kerry, the US’s climate envoy, defended
the statement. The signatories to the declaration were: Bulgaria, Canada, Czech
Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, Hungary, Japan, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco,
Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden,
Ukraine, United Arab Emirates,
the United Kingdom and the United States.
ATTACHMENT @ (FOOD, BAD COP)
04.53
EST
A
new declaration on
transforming food systems has been agreed, the first Cop resolution
which directly tackles the relationship between what we eat and the changing
climate.
Some
reaction to the new declaration on food that my colleague Nina Lakhani reported
on earlier.
Tom
Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute for Environment and
Development, said:
“This
agreement is a tentative first step in addressing one of the thorniest problems
of the climate crisis – our
broken food systems. They are responsible for so many greenhouse gas emissions,
from cutting down forests and clearing land for animal feed, to the emissions
of cattle themselves. It’s staggering there has been no obligation to
include this sector in emissions reductions plans for so long.
“Government
subsidies have long supported the polluting effects of large scale agriculture,
acting as a hidden brake on climate action. These payments should be redirected
in a way that means people and nature can thrive.” @burger taxes? Cannibalism?
Patty
Fong, from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, said:
“The
declaration doesn’t set out how governments will tackle food emissions, and
makes no reference to fossil fuels, despite food systems accounting for at
least 15% of fossil fuels burned each year –equivalent to the emissions of all
EU countries and Russia combined. This is a glaring omission.
“However,
the commitment to integrate food and farming into domestic climate action plans
is welcome and long overdue. Over 70% of countries’ nationally determined
contributions lack adequate action on food systems – updating them is where
there is real potential to tackle emissions and unlock climate finance.
“Our
more than two dozen philanthropic members and other partners around the world
are working to catalyse
much-needed food system transformation that can help to phase out dependency on
polluting fossil fuels in the sector while improving health, community
wellbeing, and biodiversity.”
More
from Nina Lakhani on the new food declaration
While
far from perfect, the groundbreaking declaration was widely welcomed by
small-scale and Indigenous farmers – who produce a third of the world’s food –
as well as right to food campaigners, consumer associations and small business
groups.
“The
destruction of nature and climate change threatens food security, rural
livelihoods and nutrition, but our food systems also cause a third of global
emissions and are a primary driver of wildlife loss. It’s about time the Cops
put them on the main menu,” said Hilal Elver, a former UN special rapporteur on the right to food. “Food
and agriculture must be at the heart of new climate plans and funding if we are
to meet the Paris agreement and have enough nutritious food for everyone.”
Esther
Penunia, secretary-general of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable
Development, a regional alliance representing 13 million family farmers, said:
“The declaration is a major milestone on the road towards a more resilient and
sustainable food system. Governments
need to work with family farmers networks to ensure these promises are
translated into the concrete policies and funding needed to support small-scale producers
and promote a shift to more diverse and nature friendly farming, which
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed to safeguard food
security.”
Other
commitments include a pledge to accelerate and scale science and evidence-based
innovations – including local and Indigenous knowledge – which increase
sustainable agriculture, promote ecosystem resilience and improve livelihoods,
including for rural communities, smallholders, family farmers and other
producers.
It’s
been a long time coming but finally, world leaders seem to be catching on to
the fact that achieving the long-term goals of the Paris agreement will be
impossible without transforming
agriculture and food systems. Progress on this is a key area to watch,
especially given the power and influence of the meat, dairy and industrialized
farming conglomerates.
Updated
at 05.22 EST
12h
ago
04.50
EST
Nina
Lakhani
World leaders have signed a declaration
on transforming food systems – the first ever Cop resolution which directly tackles
the symbiotic relationship between what we eat and the changing climate.
The resolution recognises that “unprecedented adverse climate impacts are
increasingly threatening the resilience of agriculture and food systems as well
as the ability of many, especially the most vulnerable, to produce and access
food in the face of mounting hunger, malnutrition, and economic stresses … [we
recognise] the profound potential of agriculture and food systems to drive
powerful and innovative responses to climate change and to unlock shared
prosperity for all.”
The
100+ countries to sign the declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient
food systems and climate action have committed to including food and land use
in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation
plans by Cop30 in 2025.
Globally,
food systems account for about one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, with
the vast majority coming from industrialised farming, particularly livestock
and fertilisers. The climate crisis is already impacting agriculture and food
security, as extreme weather events like floods, droughts, heatwaves and
wildfires – and slow-onset impacts like sea level rise and desertification –
fuel high prices and food shortages in countries across the world. @bad cop, no donuts
@a
Updated at
09.57 EST
By Patrick
Greenfield
The role that
carbon markets will play in helping countries meet their Paris commitments is
up for discussion at Cop28, and a series of forest deals made by a little-known member of Dubai’s
ruling royal family is causing controversy.
Rights to an area of land larger than the size of
the UK have been sold off to UAE-based firm Blue Carbon, which is chaired by
Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum. So far, the exploratory deals cover a fifth of
Zimbabwe, 10% of Liberia, 10% of Zambia and 8% of Tanzania, amounting to a
total area the size of the UK.
In October, Blue Carbon signed its
latest deal for “millions” of hectares of forest in Kenya. The company said it
was also working on an agreement with Pakistan. More deals are expected in the
coming months. Critics have called them a new “scramble for Africa”. But, when asked
about the secretive Blue Carbon deals, Zambia’s president, Hakainde Hichilema
said they would “benefit local people.”
Blue Carbon
is not alone. Today, Tanzania
National Parks - which cares for famous parks like the Serengeti and
Kilimanjaro - announced it has signed a deal to turn six protected areas into a
1.8m hectare carbon project, which would make it one of the largest in the
world.
The Guardian
has looked into the Sheikh’s business
dealings, with concerns raised about his involvement selling Russian’s
Sputnik V vaccine, acting as a dealmaker with Ghana, Guyana, Lebanon and
Pakistan at lucrative premiums in 2021. One of the listed Blue Carbon advisors is an Italian
fugitive.
@ more for Sunday
ATTACHMENT
“A” – FROM the GUARDIAN U.K.
TIMELINES...
DECEMBER 4TH through DECEMBER 10TH
SUNDAY DECEMBER 10TH @X
SUNDAY
‘Come with solutions’: Cop28 president
calls for compromise in final meetings
Sultan Al Jaber urges
nations to be flexible as talks reach impasse over whether to phase out or
phase down fossil fuels
Fiona Harvey, Nina Lakhani and Patrick Greenfield in Dubai
Sun 10 Dec 2023 10.01 EST
Ministers and
negotiators must come to the vital final meetings of Cop28 without prepared
statements, without rigid red lines, and be prepared to compromise, the
president of the UN climate summit has said.
Sultan Al Jaber, whose
position is now pivotal to the talks as they enter their final days, on Sunday
convened a majlis of all countries, a
meeting in the traditional form of an elders’ conference in the United Arab Emirates.
The climate talks have
reached an impasse over whether to phase out or phase down fossil fuels, with
just a day and a half of official negotiating time left before the
fortnight-long summit is scheduled to conclude on Tuesday morning.
“I want everyone to
come prepared with solutions,” said Al Jaber, who has faced criticism over his
other role as head of the UAE national oil company, Adnoc.
“I want everyone to come ready to be flexible and to accept compromise. I told
everyone not to come with any prepared statements, and no prescribed positions.
I really want everyone to rise above self-interests and to start thinking of
the common good.”
But there is some
optimism coming from the discussions. Catherine Abreu, the executive director
of Destination Zero, said: “In eight years of attending climate talks, I have
never felt more that we were talking about what really matters. Hearing
ministers from all around the world talk straight about the realities of
phasing out fossil fuels is something I could not have imagined happening in
this process even two years ago.
“What’s clear after
this Majlis dialogue at Cop28 is that
there is overwhelming consensus that phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up
renewable energy is absolutely necessary to hold to the promise of the Paris
Agreement and keep the hope of 1.5 alive. It is also clear that the task ahead
is enormous, and will require courage and conviction. Rich countries need to
provide the financial and technological support to make it happen, and equity
demands that those with greater responsibility move first.”
The question of the
future of fossil fuels is the main sticking point, but not the only one.
Developing countries are also angry that their calls for help with adapting to
the effects of the climate crisis have not been answered by rich countries at
the talks. Adaptation finance refers to the funds needed to improve the
infrastructure of poor countries, for instance to set up early warning systems
of storms or other extreme weather events, or stronger bridges that do not wash
away in floods, or help to grow mangrove swamps to protect coastlines.
Any “balanced package”
coming out of the talks will need to contain far greater reassurances on
adaptation funding – poor countries have long sought a doubling of the finance
available – than has currently been tabled.
Harjeet
Singh, head of global political strategy at the Climate Action Network, a
coalition of almost 2,000 climate groups, expressed concerns at the draft text
on adaptation, arguing that although “the finance gap is highlighted, and
developed countries are urged to double finance from 2019 levels by 2025 … the
text doesn’t reflect the urgency or mention the latest UN adaptation gap report
which said finance for adaptation needed to reach $194-366bn (£155-290bn) a
year”. He said he was also worried there could be more delay to setting
specific measurable targets for global adaptation, which is key if the summit
is to be meaningful.
Al Jaber reassured
developing countries that their voices were being heard. “We will not neglect
any issue, we will not neglect or undermine or underestimate any of the views
or the national circumstances of any region or any country,” he said.
The Guardian
understands that Al Jaber held meetings on Sunday with all the major groups of
developing countries, including the Alliance of Small Island States, who are
pushing hard for an unequivocal phase-out of fossil fuels, the Basic countries,
the least developed countries and others.
On fossil fuels, the
possibility of agreeing a full phase-out of fossil fuels is still on the table,
but is under fierce attack from Saudi Arabia and some other oil-producing
countries. However, China appears to have shifted position from blocking such a commitment
to seeking a compromise.
Before the talks
began, Al Jaber said he was cooperating closely with Saudi Arabia, a neighbour and close regional ally of UAE, to try to get a
deal. He reported then that the country was engaging “constructively, with
positivity”.
In the final days,
countries are relying on Al Jaber to broker a “balanced package” that addresses
fossil fuels, keeps the vital goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C above
pre-industrial levels within reach, and meets the financial needs of the
developing world.
He called on all
countries to step up. “We have a unique opportunity,
it is our opportunity to deliver an outcome that is based on the science lead
by the science and equipped by the science that keeps 1.5C within reach. And
that will help transform economies for generations to come,” he said.
He added: “Failure, or
lack of progress, or watering down my ambition is not an option. What we’re
after is the common good.”
Diego Pacheco, chief
spokesperson for the Like-Minded Group of Developing Countries that includes
China and India alongside oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Bolivia and
Syria, said that for any agreement to be reached on a fossil fuel phase-out or
phase-down, developed countries would need to take the lead in providing
financial assistance to the poor.
Mary Robinson, chair
of campaign group The Elders and former president of Ireland, asked for all
countries to show true leadership, as Cop28 reached its critical final days.
“Those at the negotiating table at Cop28 are steering the course of our shared
future [but] the science tells us we are in grave danger of bequeathing our
children a completely unliveable world,” said
Robinson.
“The nations thwarting
progress are those with the greatest stakes in fossil fuels but also the most
plentiful resources to act. Saudi Arabia and allies are holding talks hostage.
However it is not the only country hindering progress:
the USA, China, the EU and India have been happy to hide in the shadows cast.”
SATURDAY DECEMBER 9TH @X
Cop28: China ‘would like to see agreement to substitute renewables for fossil
fuels’
But country’s
climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, would not say whether it would support phase-out
wording in climate deal
Fiona Harvey in
Dubai
Sat 9 Dec 2023 12.23 EST
·
·
·
China would
like to see nations agree to substitute renewable energy for fossil fuels, the
country’s chief climate official has said, as nations wrangled over the weekend
on the wording of a deal on the climate crisis.
Xie Zhenhua,
China’s climate envoy, would not be explicit on whether China supported or
opposed a phase-out of fossil fuels, which more than 100 governments are
pushing for at crucial climate talks, the Cop28 UN summit.
But he did
indicate that he and his delegation were engaging positively to try to find a
compromise on the contentious issue, which has become the focal point of the fortnight-long
negotiations, now reaching their final stages in Dubai and
scheduled to end on Tuesday.
Azerbaijan chosen to host Cop29 after fraught
negotiations
He gave an
indication of what China sees as a possible compromise, by referring to a joint statement made with John Kerry, the US climate
envoy, at a meeting in Sunnylands, California, in November.
“We had this language which said that both China and the US will massively
promote renewable energy deployment and use it to gradually and orderly
substitute oil, gas and coal power generation, so that we can reduce greenhouse
gas emissions,” Xie said through an interpreter at a small press conference
attended by the Guardian on Saturday evening.
He added:
“I’ve also heard another option for the language [in a Cop28 agreement]
that is to gradually reduce the of
fossil energy in the global energy mix.”
But he said:
“Of course, there are also some other options. I will not list them all, and we
will not prejudge the final outcome. But I think we will all work together to
try to find a language that accommodates the needs of all parties and also
reflect the big trends of transition and innovation. I think this is also in
line with the requirements of the Paris agreement.”
China is the
world’s biggest emitter and the second biggest economy, and is highly dependent
on coal. Other delegations have told the Guardian that China has been blocking
discussions of a phase-out of fossil fuels.
Xie also said oil-producing countries could face particular issues.
“I’ve already talked with the minister of one oil-producing country. And he
said to me 80% to 90% of his country’s income depends on oil production. So if
we phase out all the fossil energy, including oil, how will their country
survive or develop?” he asked.
“This process
of transition. It is a process. We have to understand each other, support each
other and cooperate with each other to jointly find a best solution that
resolves the issue and is acceptable to all. I think that is the best way out,”
he said.
Xie’s words
may signal a softening in China’s position or a willingness to seek compromise,
though there is no guarantee that the country would agree to any form of
wording on fossil fuels in the final text. At the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in 2021,
the final agreement included a commitment to phase out coal until the very last
moments, when China and India decided to raise an objection leading to a
watering-down of the language to a “phase-down” instead.
Xie said
China was reducing its dependence on coal. He said: “China has already
announced that during the 14th five-year plan period, that is from 2021 to
2025, China will strictly control the increase of coal production.
And also then during the 15th five-year plan period, that is after 2025, China
will gradually reduce coal production.
“We have also
been developing renewable energy very robustly and, as I said, the installed
capacity of renewable energy has already surpassed that of coal power in China.
So, this is very fast development of renewables.”
But he added
that further development was needed. “The actual power generated by renewables
is not growing as fast as the installed capacity because we still face
technical bottlenecks, difficulties like large-scale energy storage, smart
grids and virtual power plants. So I believe if we get all these technical
difficulties reserved, China’s renewable energy will develop even faster and
better in the future.”
Xie, a
long-serving official who is one of the key figures at the annual conference of
the parties to the UN framework convention on climate change, parent treaty to
the Paris agreement, enjoys a warm relationship with Kerry. At Cop28, the back
of the US offices is situated strategically close to the entrance to China’s
offices, facilitating occasional “impromptu” meetings between the two.
Two developed
country negotiators told the Guardian that Xie’s words confirmed that China was
actively engaging on fossil fuels. “It would be nice to see Opec countries also
engaging in this manner,” said one.
Cop28:
China ‘would like to see agreement to substitute renewables for fossil fuels’
But country’s climate envoy, Xie
Zhenhua, would not say whether it would support phase-out wording in climate
deal
Published:12:23 PM
Cop28: China ‘would like to see
agreement to substitute renewables for fossil fuels’
·
Cop28:
petrostate Azerbaijan to host next UN climate summit in 2024 – as it happened
Published:10:33 AM
Cop28: petrostate Azerbaijan to host
next UN climate summit in 2024 – as it happened
·
Azerbaijan
chosen to host Cop29 after fraught negotiations
Published:10:01 AM
Azerbaijan chosen to host Cop29 after
fraught negotiations
COP28 - GUK TIMELINE business agenda
We really
could triple renewables by 2030, but it won’t be a breeze
Published:8:00 AM
o
Cop28
failing on climate adaptation finance so far, African group warns
Published:6:50 AM
o
Failure
to agree fossil fuel phase-out at Cop28 ‘will push world into climate
breakdown’
Published:6:15 AM
o
Middle-class
fear of green policies fuels rise of far right,
Colombia’s Petro warns
Published:4:00 AM
o
Cop28
is a farce rigged to fail, but there are other ways we can try to save the
planet
George Monbiot
Published:3:00 AM
Why is the phase-out of fossil fuels the biggest flashpoint at
Cop28?
Published:12:00 AM
FRIDAY DECEMBER 8TH @X
@From GUK
Big meat
and dairy lobbyists turn out in record numbers at Cop28
Published:11:00 PM
Chris
Bowen backs ‘a big step forward’ on phasing out fossil fuels at Cop28
Published:9:24 PM
The
Guardian view on Cop28: a phase-out of fossil fuels is the only decision that
makes sense
Published:1:30 PM95
Opec
rails against fossil fuel phase-out at Cop28 in leaked letters
Published:12:52 PM
Published:11:24 AM
o
‘This may
be our last chance’: Cop28 talks enter final phase
Published:8:26 AM
‘This may be our last chance’: Cop28
talks enter final phase
Seascape:
the state of our oceans
Published:8:00 AM
o
At least
475 carbon-capture lobbyists attending Cop28
Published:7:33 AM
At least 475 carbon-capture lobbyists
attending Cop28
What
happens if the 1.5C target for global heating is missed?
Published:6:00 AM
Cop28
diary: video games, solar-powered yachts and colossal fossils
Published:4:19 AM
THURSDAY DECEMBER 7TH @X
@From GUK
Canada’s
fossil fuel firms will need to cut emissions by at least 35% by 2030
Justin Trudeau’s government plans to
limit emissions through a national cap-and-trade system, a policy first
proposed in 2021
Published:3:24 PM
Canada’s fossil fuel firms will need
to cut emissions by at least 35% by 2030
Seascape:
the state of our oceans
‘Unprecedented
mass coral bleaching’ expected in 2024, says expert
Published:2:00 PM
‘Unprecedented mass coral bleaching’
expected in 2024, says expert
Mining
billionaire Andrew Forrest in scathing attack on oil and gas industry
Published:10:15 AM
Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest in
scathing attack on oil and gas industry
·
o
Cop28:
highlights and lowlights so far
Published:9:55 AM
Cop28: highlights and lowlights so
far
o Cop28
protests – in pictures
Gallery
Published:9:33 AM
o
Australia
commits $150m to climate finance for vulnerable Pacific countries
Published:9:00 AM
Australia commits $150m to climate
finance for vulnerable Pacific countries
o
We need
power to prescribe climate policy, IPCC scientists say
Published:8:00 AM
We need power to prescribe climate
policy, IPCC scientists say
o
Visualised: how all
of G20 is missing climate goals — but some nations are closer than others
Published:3:43 AM
Visualised: how all of G20 is missing climate
goals — but some nations are closer than others
o
All the
drama from the first week of Cop28 – podcast
Podcast
Published:2:31 AM
All the drama from the first week of
Cop28 – podcast
·
·
Carbon
pricing would raise trillions needed to tackle climate crisis, says IMF
·
Cop28:
petrostate Azerbaijan to host next UN climate summit in 2024 – as it happened
3h ago
·
Azerbaijan
chosen to host Cop29 after fraught negotiations
4h ago
·
Cop28 failing
on climate adaptation finance so far, African group warns
7h ago
·
Failure to
agree fossil fuel phase-out at Cop28 ‘will push world into climate breakdown’
7h ago
·
Cop28 is a
farce rigged to fail, but there are other ways we can try to save the planet
11h ago
·
Big meat
and dairy lobbyists turn out in record numbers at Cop28
15h ago
·
Opec rails against
fossil fuel phase-out at Cop28 in leaked letters
1d ago
·
At least
475 carbon-capture lobbyists attending Cop28
1d ago
·
What happens
if the 1.5C target for global heating is missed?
1d ago
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 6TH @X
From 13h ago
10.35 EST
Summary
That’s it for the Cop28 live blog for today, and tomorrow we are having
a break from blogging as there’s a rest day for negotiations. See you Friday – but of course keep checking the Guardian website in
the meantime as we still have lots of great stories coming.
7h ago
Here’s a roundup of what happened today.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, arrived in the UAE, to the alarm
of the Ukrainian delegation.
Countries negotiating at Cop28 must not fall into the trap of
point-scoring and “lowest common denominator politics”, Simon Stiell, the UN’s
climate chief, said.
Leading climate scientists insisted “the link between climate science
and fossil fuel phase-out is unequivocal”, in response to Sultan Al Jaber’s
claim there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of coal, oil and gas is
needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C.
The UK delegation was accused of avoiding press scrutiny after holding
no press conferences in a highly unusual move.
Europe’s climate monitor,
the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), announced that November had become
the sixth record-breaking month in a row for average temperatures.
Updated at 10.38 EST
10.13 EST
Ukranians alarmed by Putin's arrival in UAE
Oliver Milman
Ukraine, much last at last year’s Cop in Egypt, has used this occasion
to try to rally support for its cause and to highlight some of the ecological
damage caused by Russia’s invasion. John Kerry, the US climate envoy, toured
the Ukraine pavilion to see examples of this damage himself this morning.
The Ukrainians feel a little forgotten, however, amid global attention
that has switched to the war in Gaza and they are extremely alarmed by the
arrival of Vladimir Putin’s arrival in the United Arab Emirates during Cop28.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and UAE president, Sheikh Mohamed
bin Zayed Al Nahyan, attend a welcoming ceremony ahead of their talks in Abu
Dhabi.
Putin arrived in nearby
Abu Dhabi earlier today and was enthusiastically greeted by Sheikh Abdullah bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s foreign minister, and a flypast of
jets that trailed the colours of Russia’s flag in smoke behind them.
Ukrainian scientists at Cop28 said there would have to be some sort of
protest in the unlikely event Putin made an appearance at the climate summit
itself. The Russian
president is able to visit the UAE in a stress-free manner because the country
does not recognise the international criminal court, which has an arrest warrant
out for Putin.
Updated at 10.38 EST
8h ago
09.59 EST
Fiona Harvey
A word on the mitigation work programme. This is, like many pieces of
Cop jargon, confusing and misleading for people in the real world.
The first thing to remember is that in climate Cops and climate
parlance, mitigation always always refers to greenhouse gas emissions. It means
reducing emissions, or curbing their future growth. They use the term
mitigation to describe this because some countries take on pledges to actually
reduce their emissions, and some (poorer developing countries) only to stop
them going up by as much as they could. Mitigation covers both.
Mitigation in a Cop or climate context never ever means mitigating the
impacts of the climate crisis, such as building shelters against extreme
weather. Anything to do with the impacts of the climate crisis is covered by
the term adaptation.
Unfortunately many people get confused by this and use mitigation when
they mean adaptation.
So – back to the mitigation
work programme. It refers to attempts by countries to reduce or curb the future
growth of their emissions. And some people have raised concerns that the
negotiations on this important aspect of the Paris agreement is not progressing
fast enough.
However, several countries I spoke to do not these concerns. They point out that the
Global Stocktake (GST) is also largely concerned with the future direction of
emissions, and ways to reduce them. Some decisions within the mitigation work
programme are therefore effectively dependent on what is agreed in the global
stocktake, and so are unlikely to be completed before the GST – which is, now
that loss and damage is settled, the key focus of these talks.
Adaptation,
meanwhile, has its own issues. Discussions on a global goal on adaptation are
also under way, and developing countries want at least a doubling of the
finance that is devoted to adaptation. They point out that poor countries
already spend a large slice of their budgets – that could be better spent on
health or education – having to fix the problems caused by extreme weather, and
this is unsustainable and setting their development back by years. Those
discussions are a vital concern to the developing world, which is hoping for
faster progress on this strand in the coming days.
04.48 EST
Cop28: UN climate chief warns nations not to ‘fall into the trap of
point-scoring’ – as it happened
Simon Stiell says’ ‘we need highest ambition, not point scoring or
lowest common denominator politics’. This live blog is closed
Don't fall into the trap of point-scoring, says UN climate chief
Countries negotiating at Cop28 must not fall into the trap of
point-scoring and “lowest common denominator politics”, Simon Stiell, the UN’s
climate chief, has said.
Stiell, who is executive secretary of the UN framework convention on
climate change, the structure under the auspices of which the climate summit is
held, spoke at a press conference in Dubai as Cop28 reached its midpoint. He
said:
All governments must give
their negotiators clear marching orders. We need highest ambition, not point
scoring or lowest common denominator politics.
We have a starting text on the table … but it’s a grab bag of wishlists and heavy on posturing.
The key now is to sort the wheat from the chaff.
There are many options that are on the table right now which speak to
the phasing out of fossil fuels. It is for parties to unpick that, but come up
with a very clear statement that signals the terminal decline of the fossil
fuel era as we know it.
Updated at 09.42 EST
Updated 7h ago
7h ago
Summary
7h ago
Ukranians alarmed by Putin's arrival in UAE
10h ago
Urban design in the spotlight
13h ago
Don't fall into the trap of point-scoring, says UN climate chief
14h ago
Is the UK avoiding press scrutiny at Cop28?
15h ago
2023 will be the hottest year on record, says European climate monitor
16h ago
Fossil fuel phase-out, politics and ‘pie-in-the sky thinking’
Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate participates in a demonstration
against fossil fuels.
Helena Horton and Damien Gayle
Wed 6 Dec 2023 10.38 EST
7h ago
Updated at 10.06 EST
8h ago
09.49 EST
Nina Lakhani
Licypriya Kangujam, a 12-year-old Indian climate justice activist and
special envoy of Timor-Leste here at Cop28, is unimpressed at the UAE Cop
president’s oil and gas links.
I am pretty disappointed that Cop is hosted by a fossil fuel leader. We are here representing the
voices of millions of vulnerable people and children, but now that it has
become a fossil fuel summit now we can do nothing about it. But we will
keep raising our voices, because we need a just phase out of all fossil fuels,
oil, coal and gas, to renewable and clean energies as soon as possible if we
want to save our planet.
Updated at 10.00 EST
8h ago
09.31 EST
I’ve just been sent some figures by the Cop presidency, breaking down
all the funding pledges made so far at the summit.
Breakdown of financial pledges and contributions so far:
@ update next listing
Loss and damage: $726m
Green climate fund: $3.5bn (increasing second replenishment to $12.8bn)
Adaptation fund: $133.6m
Least developed countries fund: $129.3m
Special climate change fund (SCCF): $31m
Renewable energy: $5bn
Cooling: $25.5m
Clean cooking: $30m
Technology: $568m
Methane: $1.2bn
Climate finance: $30bn from UAE, $200m in special drawing rights, and $32bn
from multilateral development banks (MDBs)
Food: $3.1bn
Nature: $2.6bn
Health: $2.7bn
Water: $150m
Gender: $2.8m
Relief, recovery and peace: $1.2bn
Updated at 09.41 EST
8h ago
09.13 EST
8h ago
09.13 EST
“Stop ignoring the cow in the room!” protesters have shouted as they
gathered at the entrance of the Blue Zone to call for the negotiation of a
global plant-based treaty as a companion to the Paris agreement and to address
breaches to five planetary boundaries.
Hoshimi Sakai from
Plant Based Treaty said: “This is the first Cop where food systems have been
addressed. It has to be a fair and just plant-based food system that not only
takes care of our own health but the planet’s health. This is urgent, everyone
must sign the plant-based treaty and CopP29 must be 100% vegan.”
Updated at 09.27 EST
9h ago
09.00 EST
Oliver Milman
It is now “crunch time” in these climate talks, according to John
Kerry, who has urged other countries to raise their ambition in Dubai. “Come
on, it’s time to get serious,” the US climate envoy said in a press conference,
after reeling off a litany of recent climate disasters. “It’s time for adults
to behave like adults and get the job done.”
Kerry said the US has had a “pretty damn good week” at Cop28 so far,
highlighting its actions to curb methane pollution, its pledge to build no new
coal plants and to triple renewable energy. But he conceded the second week
will be trickier, admitting to some differences with China, such as over its
ongoing coal consumption.
The general tone from Kerry about the Dubai gathering was upbeat,
however. “I feel a different energy here, I feel a different sense of mission
and urgency,” he said.
Not even another Donald Trump presidency would derail the transition to
green energy, he said. Of course, even without Trump in charge the US is
setting records in oil and gas production this year, something Kerry didn’t
mention.
“People will measure who steps up and who doesn’t,” Kerry said of the
negotiations. “We will get to a global low-carbon, no carbon economy, we will
get there. The only question is will we get there in time to avoid the worst
consequences of this crisis as we were warned by the 2018 IPCC report.”
9h ago
08.47 EST
Vladimir Putin has arrived in the United Arab Emirates and they have
certainly received him in style.
The Russian president aims to discuss Gaza and Ukraine, as well as oil
production, with the UAE president. This is a rare international visit for
Putin, who rarely leaves Russia after the international criminal court (ICC)
issued him an arrest warrant. Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia recognise this
ruling.
Updated at 08.59 EST
9h ago
08.21 EST
Greenpeace Nordic just held a press conference at Cop28 along with
climate legal advocates to discuss their court case against the state of
Norway.
The organisations argued that the recent approvals of three oilfields
violate the country’s constitution and international human rights commitments
because of a ruling by Norway’s supreme court that the Norwegian state must
assess the global climate effects of new oil- and gasfields before their
approval.
Klimentina Radkova, a climate and energy adviser and legal campaigner
at Greenpeace Nordic, said: “It is quite frustrating to sit in a courtroom and
listen to the Norwegian state justify new oil and gas expansion once again,
while reiterating how ‘dark’ the presented climate science is in the next
breath. It’s high time to put actions behind words. The decision is now in the
judge’s hands and we are very optimistic about the results.”
The Norwegian government in turn did not contest the effects of the
climate crisis but argued that Norwegian oil and gas would have a positive net
effect on the climate. This is a position many oil-producing governments have
made including UK ministers who wrongly claim north sea oil and gas is greener
than other fossil fuels on the market.
Nikki Reisch, the climate and energy programme director at the US-based
Center for International Environmental Law (Cile), said: “This case in Norway
is part of a rising tide of litigation around the world challenging decisions
to expand fossil fuels amidst mounting climate chaos. Oil and gas producers and
financiers should take heed: wherever they seek to open up new fields, legal
challenges are sure to follow. Whether countries agree to a full, fast, fair
and funded phaseout of all fossil fuels at Cop28 or not, they will continue to
face what science requires and justice demands in court.”
Updated at 08.37 EST
9h ago
08.08 EST
Nina Lakhani
I want to submit our youngest contender so far for the fashion blog, 13-year-old
fashion guru and future climate leader Lova Renée from Madagascar. So inspiring
and she was so unbelievably excited to meet her climate hero Vanessa Nakate at
the Unicef event this morning.
10h ago
07.49 EST
We have a new exclusive story which may be yet another reason Sunak
beat a swift exit from Cop and UK ministers have been avoiding journalists. Bad
climate news for the UK government just keeps coming out.
Ministers have been accused of “misleading the public” after documents
obtained by Ends Report and the Guardian revealed they ignored their officials’
advice when scrapping key air quality regulations.
On 31 December, two key air quality regulations will drop off the
statute book under the Retained EU Law (REUL) Act.
The rules being revoked are regulations 9 and 10 of the National
Emission Ceiling (NEC) regulations, which set legally binding emission
reduction commitments for five key air pollutants.
Regulation 9 requires the secretary of state to prepare a national air
pollution control programme (NAPCP) to limit pollutants in accordance with
national emission reduction commitments. Regulation 10 requires that before
preparing or significantly revising the NAPCP, the secretary of state must
consult the public.
In July 2023, the then environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, reassured
the OEP that in revoking the regulations “there [will be] no reduction in the
level of environmental protection”, and emphasised that the government “uses
expert advice when making provisions that relate to the environment”.
However, it can be revealed that ministers knew this was not the case.
Read below to find out more.
UK ministers ‘misled public’ when scrapping air quality regulations
Read more
10h ago
07.37 EST
Meanwhile, my colleague Patrick Greenfield is enjoying one of the
performances on show at the conference.
10h ago
07.27 EST
Urban design in the spotlight
I just got a press release from the Cop28 leadership about a “ministerial
meeting on urbanisation and climate change”, where “government ministers,
regional leaders, financial institutions and non-government stakeholders were
urged to support the ‘Joint Outcome Statement on Urbanization and Climate
Change’.”
It focuses on how cities should be designed in a climate-friendly way,
and which shields residents from the worsening impacts of climate breakdown –
such as droughts, heatwaves and floods.
The statement, supported by 40 housing and development ministers, sets
out a 10-point plan to “boost the inclusion of cities in the decision-making
process on climate change, drive multilevel climate action and accelerate the
deployment of urban climate finance so that cities are prepared and supported
to respond to the climate crisis”.
The Cop28 presidency said that as many as 90% of cities are threatened
by rising sea levels and storms, and that they tend to be hotter than rural
areas – their residents face temperatures on average 10C higher .
“Cop28 is a paradigm shift to action. We are empowering and supporting
cities on the frontlines of climate change to seize the initiative,” said Dr
Sultan Al Jaber, the Cop28 president.
“We have brought over 450 mayors and governors to Cop28 and their
hyperlocal knowledge is crucial in informing our global solutions. When we talk
about inclusivity this is what we mean, we need all voices at the table. I
thank and commend those involved for their leadership,” added Jaber. “Each city
has individual needs and solutions but fundamentally this is a global problem,
which this statement shows. I thank and commend those involved for their
leadership.”
Dubai (UAE) is one such city which is facing skyrocketing temperatures.
While its wealthier inhabitants can enjoy cool air conditioning and even an
indoor ski slope to shield from the dizzying heat, its poorer workers are not
so lucky.
A recent investigation found migrant workers in Dubai were working in dangerously hot
temperatures to get conference facilities ready for world leaders at Cop.
“Of course, I get headaches and feel dizzy. Everyone in this heat does.
This weather isn’t for humans, I think,” one worker said.
Another added: “Last week, I thought I would die every second we were
outside … but we have to get paid.”
Migrant workers toil in perilous heat to prepare for Cop28 climate
talks in UAE
Read more
Updated at 07.49 EST
10h ago
07.13 EST
New polling could give an answer to Fiona Harvey’s question about why the
UK government is avoiding press scrutiny at Cop (08.24).
The polling conducted by WeThink found 47% of people saying the UK
government was doing poorly [on climate] and only 17% saying it was doing well;
28% said neither and 8% didn’t know.
Rishi Sunak’s much-criticised performance at Cop is unlikely to have
improved the government’s standing on this issue.
Sunak accused of retreating from global climate leadership at Cop28
Read more
11h ago
06.55 EST
Vladimir Putin, as my colleague Damien pointed out earlier today, is
due to visit Cop28.
He’s not likely to get a warm reception. Some Polish activists have
already got together to protest against his attendance. Dominika Lasota, a
climate activis, said: “Fuck you. Your power is coming to an end. Fossil fuel
dictators out.”
Updated at 07.22 EST
11h ago
06.37 EST
Lots of reports are coming out to focus minds during Cop28, and it is
clear from today’s findings from the UK’s National Audit Office that we are
very unprepared for the costs of climate breakdown.
The report, out today, found the country is not adequately prepared for
climate disasters including severe droughts and floods.
Climate campaigners said the UK government was “like a boiling frog”
and “oblivious” to extreme weather.
Four extreme weather events including droughts, surface water flooding,
storms and high temperatures (including heatwaves) were assessed by the
independent public spending watchdog to determine how prepared the country is.
Storms, floods and heatwaves can cause deaths, while droughts can have
devastating effects on agriculture and there are concerns that supplies of running
water in certain areas of the country could run out for periods in the future.
Read more below.
UK government is not prepared for climate disasters, says spending
watchdog
Read more
Updated at 07.24 EST
11h ago
06.24 EST
Fiona Harvey
Wopke Hoekstra, the EU climate commissioner and former oil man, who
replaced the Cop titan Frans Timmermans just weeks before Cop28, came out
strongly on the attack against his former sector in this first press conference
on Wednesday afternoon.
He was uncompromising on his demand for a full phase-out of fossil
fuels with urgency. He was leaving no room for doubt.
“Let me be very explicit,” the
former Shell employee told journalists. “We need to phase out all fossil fuels.
It is that simple. And not because I say so – because scientists tell us that
that is the goal that that we should live up to.”
He did, however, then make one caveat, for hard-to-abate sectors (he
didn’t single any out but it usually means steel, cement, chemicals and perhaps
aviation).
He continued: “Having said that, we do have acknowledged that where we
are now in the era now today. There are some sectors that are very hard to
abate.”
Carbon capture and storage was not the panacea, he added. “It does not
mean that companies or countries can get away with CCS-ing themselves out of
the problem. There is no magic solution. There is no alternative for phasing
out fossil fuels. As fast as we can and as broadly as we get.”
Updated at 07.25 EST
11h ago
06.06 EST
Hello! Helena Horton here, I’m an environment reporter for the Guardian
and will be blogging Cop28 for the rest of the day.
I really enjoyed this Q&A from Carbon Brief about all the wording being
quibbled over in the draft text. If you aren’t sure why it matters whether we
phase down or phase out fossil fuels, or the more complex matter of abated
versus unabated, it’s a great refresher.
It’s interesting, to me at least, that there is no real definition for
“unabated”, so it could be arguable for a fossil fuel plant to capture a small
percentage of its emissions and claim that this counts as “abated” emissions.
Dr Alaa Al Khourdajie, a
research fellow at Imperial College London, says these disagreements
highlighted the need to be “transparent and crystal clear about what abated
fossil fuels means”.
He told Carbon Brief:
“In the absence of such a clear set of criteria, any capture rate – for
example, 50-60% – of carbon emissions could be casually considered abated. This
cannot be left ambiguous. Looking at the findings of the technical assessment
of the first ‘global stocktake’ discussions, the term unabated is used very
heavily in the findings.
“But there is a lack of clarity about what counts as unabated and what
counts as abated, largely due to the absence of such agreed definitions in the
underlying literature at the time of those negotiations.”
12h ago
05.53 EST
The conflict in Gaza has loomed large over this year’s Cop28 climate
talks in Dubai. While delegates have discussed plans to tackle climate change,
on the sidelines activists have tried to draw attention to the slaughter of
people in the territory.
But while many climate justice groups have quickly pivoted to campaign
around Gaza, in some countries the issue is far more contested, and prominent
figures in climate activism, in particular Greta Thunberg, have been criticised
for espousing the Palestinian cause.
A team of reporters from the Guardian’s environment desk (including me)
put together this story on the emerging controversy.
When Greta Thunberg posted a photo of herself holding a “stand with Gaza”
sign on Instagram in October, the backlash in Israel and Germany came hard and
fast.
An Israeli Defense Forces
(IDF) spokesperson initially told Politico that “whoever identifies with Greta
in any way in the future, in my view, is a terror supporter”, although
later retracted his comments. The official X account of Israel said: “Hamas
doesn’t use sustainable materials for their rockets” and told Thunberg to speak
up for its victims. The Israeli education ministry said it would strike any
reference to the Swedish climate activist from its curriculum.
In Germany, politicians and pundits across the political spectrum
demanded that the national branch of Fridays for Future, the student protest
movement that Thunberg started in 2018, distance itself from her views. The
group put out a statement underlining its support for Israel’s right to exist
and, in the weeks that followed, explicitly distanced itself from social media
posts made by the international group. Germany’s leading news magazine Der
Spiegel ran a lengthy article with personal comments on Thunberg’s childhood
character and appearance under the headline: “Has Greta Thunberg betrayed the
climate movement?”
The violence in Israel and Gaza since 7 October has become an
unexpected flashpoint for climate activists in rich countries. As world leaders
meet for the Cop28 summit in Dubai, the loose collection of movements, many of
which have built their support around inclusivity and global justice, are
divided on whether or how to take a stand on the conflict.
‘No climate justice without peace’: Gaza becomes flashpoint for climate
activists
Read more
Updated at 06.10 EST
12h ago
05.32 EST
Medical students have staged a protest outside the main meeting rooms
at Cop28.
Holding banners reading “protect health, end fossil fuels” and “climate
crisis = health crisis”, they mimed giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the
Earth.
The protest was organised by members of the International Federation of
Medical Students Associations.
Members of the International Federation of Medical Students
Associations give the globe cardiac massage.
Members of the International Federation of Medical Students
Associations give the globe cardiac massage. Photograph: Thaier
Al-Sudani/Reuters
Leading
climate scientists have insisted “the link between climate science and fossil
fuel phase-out is unequivocal”,
in response to Sultan Al Jaber’s claim there is “no science” indicating that a
phase-out of coal, oil and gas is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C.
The Guardian on Sunday revealed the comments by
the Cop28 president, which have overshadowed the climate talks as delegates
negotiated the future of the planet and the fossil fuel economy. They have led
to widespread condemnation.
An open letter published by the Club of
Rome on Wednesday and signed by about 75 scientists
said:
For all intents and purposes,
moving towards the phase-out of fossil fuel combustion is necessary to keep the
1.5C goal of the Paris Agreement within reach.
The letter is an unambiguous statement
by some of the world’s leading climate scientists. They say that carbon dioxide
removal technologies will also be necessary to reach net zero emissions by
2050.
Scenarios consistent with this
goal require a complete phase-out of coal by 2050 and rapid phase-down of oil
and gas (halved every decade). After 2050 the world needs to rapidly move into
net negative emissions, particularly after a number of decades of 1.5C
overshoot.
·
·
Updated at 04.18 EST
Good times! The guitarist Nile
Rodgers has made an appearance with activists at Cop28.
Rodgers is co-founder of the We
Are Family Foundation, which staged a joint #Education4Earth event with Earth
Day at Cop28’s Blue Zone.
·
Updated at 03.39 EST
Is the UK
avoiding press scrutiny at Cop28?
Fiona Harvey
It’s hard to avoid the impression
that the UK government is hiding from scrutiny at Cop28.
Several ministers have been in attendance, but we have passed the halfway point
and not one has held a press conference or any form of press meeting, with UK
press or with international media.
Graham Stuart, climate minister;
Andrew Mitchell, minister for overseas development; Richard Benyon, a minister
with both FCDO and Defra; David Cameron, foreign secretary – journalists tried
in vain to get any of them to hold any form of press briefing at which they
could be questioned.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak,
held a small Q&A with only lobby journalists, most of whom have no
experience of Cops, during his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance at Cop, when
he spent less time here than he did on the plane.
Ministers are clearly taking their
avoidant lead from Sunak, and doubtless they will claim their diaries are full
with meeting international counterparts.
But don’t let anyone pretend that
this kind of hiding away is normal. Every other democracy here with ministers
attending is briefing their press extensively, and often international media
too, some on a daily or almost daily basis, and likely to grow more frequent.
This is 17th Cop I’ve attended as
a journalist and I can state categorically that this failure to engage with the
press by the UK government is not only unusual, it is unprecedented.
Even last year, under the same
prime minister, with his equal unconcern for climate issues and the UK’s
standing at Cops, ministers met the press – Grant Shapps, Graham Stuart,
Thérèse Coffey and ministers from Treasury and transport all held extensive
press meetings with ample opportunities to ask questions.
This Cop is being held in a
country that lacks what we would regard as a free press, and is attended by
scores of countries that lack a functioning democracy or where the press is
gagged. One of the key themes of this conference is accountability – that’s at
the heart of the global stocktake.
As a democracy – arguably one of
the world’s oldest – the UK should be leading by example, standing up for the
accountability and transparency of governments. Why won’t our ministers do what
other democracies regard as basic? What are they afraid of?
This is a government that appears
to have nothing to say in public about the climate crisis and the UK’s role in
tackling it, and to want to evade scrutiny for the UK’s actions.
·
·
As negotiators wrangle over
whether to agree a “phase-out” or a “phase-down” of fossil fuels, Vanessa
Nakate, the Ugandan climate activist, this morning made a strident call for the
ending of the extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas.
Until new fossil fuel projects are
eliminated, and the burning of fossil fuels is ended, promises to help deal
with the loss and damage caused by the climate crisis “will sadly mean little”,
Nakate said.
She said:
If we want to be real about helping
people who are living in vulnerable communities we need to address not just the
symptoms of the climate crisis but also the root cause, and that is the burning
of fossil fuels.
The first thing we should do to
reduce loss and damage is to stop digging up and burning new coal, oil and gas.
All of the flashy announcements about promised funding and scaling renewables
and tree planting will sadly mean little if countries continue to expand fossil
fuel development.
The success of Cop28 will not
depend on speeches on big stages. The success of Cop28 will not depend upon
piling new fancy promises on top of old broken promises. The success of Cop28
will depend upon whether or not leaders have the courage to call for for a just
and equitable phase out of all fossil fuels, without excuses and exceptions.
Then and only then will our
leaders have a chance to take care of the people on the front lines.
·
·
2023 will be
the hottest year on record, says European climate monitor.
Pressure is piling on negotiators at Cop28 after
Europe’s climate monitor, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), on
Wednesday announced that November had
become the sixth record-breaking month in a row for average temperatures.
An “extraordinary” November smashed the previous November heat record,
pushing 2023’s global average temperature to 1.46C warmer than pre-industrial
levels, C3S said, according to AFP.
The announcement confirms that
2023 will be the hottest year on record, taking the title from 2016.
November also contained two days
that were 2C warmer than pre-industrial levels. Not one such day had ever
before been recorded.
Samantha Burgess, deputy head of
C3S, said 2023 has “now had six record-breaking months and two record-breaking
seasons”.
“The extraordinary global November
temperatures, including two days warmer than 2C above pre-industrial (levels),
mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history,” she said.
Scientists say data from ice
cores, tree rings and other sources suggest this year could be the warmest in
more than 100,000 years.
·
·
Updated at 02.17 EST
Vladimir
Putin will
visit the United Arab Emirates on
Tuesday, but seems unlikely to visit the Dubai Expo City site of the Cop28
climate talks.
The Russian president, who is
subject to an arrest warrant from the international criminal court over his
country’s invasion of Ukraine, is expected to meet the Emirati leader, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi.
He is then expected to travel on
to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with the country’s ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman.
Putin is also scheduled to meet
the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, on Thursday for what his aide, Yury
Ushakov, has described as “a rather lengthy conversation”, according to Tass,
the Russian state-run news agency.
Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE has
signed the ICC founding treaty, meaning they don’t face any obligation to
detain Putin. The ICC’s warrant accuses him of the abductions of children from
Ukraine.
The Associated Press, the US-based
news agency, said Putin’s discussions were likely to focus on oil production.
·
·
Updated at 01.48 EST
Fossil fuel
phase-out, politics and ‘pie-in-the sky thinking’
Damian Carrington
The biggest argument at Cop28 is
the competing claims that a “phase-out” of fossil fuels is necessary to keep
global heating within 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels, or that a
“phase-down” is acceptable, a debate amplified by the Guardian’s revelation of
Sultan Al Jaber’s recorded comment that there was “no science” behind the
former.
As Leo Roberts at E3G told me, the
competing claims can result from the “translation of science into politics”.
This post from Ben Caldecott,
the director of Oxford University’s Sustainable Finance Group, is insightful
and scathing, and takes a swipe at Oxford’s Prof Myles Allen, an eminent
climate scientist but the only one I know to have backed Al Jaber in the “no
science” furore. Allen said Al Jaber’s comment was “perfectly accurate”.
Caldecott said: “If we can scrub
from the atmosphere all the carbon emitted by future fossil fuel consumption,
plus all the carbon emitted after we almost certainly overshoot a 1.5C degree
carbon budget, then yes, [Sultan Al Jaber] and my very distinguished Oxford
colleague Prof Allen are right: no fossil fuel phase-out is needed to achieve
the aims of the Paris Agreement.”
“But mere analysts of economic,
financial and political systems (like me) tend to think that this is
pie-in-the sky thinking and nowhere near possible. Further, it is being used to justify
continued avoidable fossil fuel use.
“The fossil fuel lobby often making these
arguments have no actual plan to scrub carbon at such
scales so quickly. It would be almost impossible to do so and would cost vast
sums even if it were possible – much more than decarbonisation and without the
co-benefits of cleaner, safer and more productive societies.”
“And yes, we obviously do need to
scale safe and permanent carbon disposal (part and parcel of net zero), but
that is never going to happen at the scale needed to offset like-for-like
currently avoidable fossil fuel emissions. The finite techno-economic capacity
we have to develop the means to scrub carbon needs to be focused on
hard-to-abate emissions and then bringing us back to safe levels after we
(probably) overshoot 1.5C, not sustaining existing fossil fuel interests.”
The Energy and Climate
Intelligence Unit’s Cop28 newsletter,
also addressed the issue:
“Some climate scientists have
explained in tortuous detail how his comments could, technically, be right,
whilst others have pointed to the IPCC’s clarity around the principal driver of
80% of the problem of climate change: the burning of fossil fuels.
“So unless we have $1tn a year to
spare to pay to ramp up carbon capture and storage (CCS) from its 45m tonnes a
year capacity now, to 32bn tonnes a year, it appears the obvious focus for Cop
(sorry Darren from Exxon)
may need to be phase-out of fossil fuels and ramp up of the renewables
alternatives.”
The $1tn a year figure comes
from new research, also
from Oxford: “A high CCS pathway to net zero emissions in 2050 is expected to
cost at least $30tn more than a low CCS pathway – roughly $1tn per year.”
As co-author Richard Black puts it:
“That is at least $120 per year for every man, woman and child on the planet
that we would be spending unnecessarily.”
·
·
Updated at 04.57 EST
Ajit Niranjan
As day six begins of talks in
Dubai’s Expo City, more sobering scientific news should focus minds there on
achieving a result.
A new report warns the Earth is on
the verge of crossing five catastrophic climate tipping points as a result of
carbon pollutions in the atmosphere, with three more in sight in the 2030s if
the world heats more than 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels, reports
Ajit Niranjan, the Guardian’s European environment correspondent.
“Tipping points in the Earth
system pose threats of a magnitude never faced by humanity,” said Tim Lenton,
from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute. “They can trigger
devastating domino effects, including the loss of whole ecosystems and capacity
to grow staple crops, with societal impacts including mass displacement,
political instability and financial collapse.”
The tipping points at risk include
the collapse of big ice sheets in Greenland and
the West Antarctic, the widespread thawing of permafrost, the death of coral
reefs in warm waters, and the collapse of atmospheric circulation in the North
Atlantic.
Unlike other changes to the
climate such as hotter heatwaves and heavier rainfall, these systems do not
slowly shift in line with greenhouse gas emissions but can instead flip from
one state to an entirely different one. When a climatic system tips – sometimes
with a sudden shock – it may permanently alter the way the planet works.
Earth on verge of five catastrophic
climate tipping points, scientists warn
The theme for today is multilevel
action, urbanisation and built environment, and transport.
Meanwhile yesterday the main
talking points at the conference included:
·
Widespread
outrage at the news that a
record number of fossil fuel lobbyists have been given access to Cop28
·
The news that
agriculture and food systems had been left off the latest draft of the
negotiating text on the global stocktake
·
Mary Robinson
making her first comment since
the row over the Cop28 president’s controversial response to her questions on
the need for a fossil fuel phase-out, revealed by the Guardian.
$700m
pledged to loss and damage fund at Cop28 covers less than 0.2% needed
Published:11:00 AM
$700m pledged to loss and damage fund
at Cop28 covers less than 0.2% needed
·
Cop28: UN
climate chief warns nations not to ‘fall into the trap of point-scoring’ – as
it happened
Published:10:38 AM
Cop28: UN climate chief warns nations
not to ‘fall into the trap of point-scoring’ – as it happened
·
Mary
Robinson reiterates call for rapid phase-out of fossil fuels
Published:10:03 AM
Mary Robinson reiterates call for
rapid phase-out of fossil fuels
Diyora Shadijanova
·
o
Young
people’s plea to Cop28: ‘World leaders owe it to future generations’
Published:8:00 AM
Young people’s plea to Cop28: ‘World
leaders owe it to future generations’
o
Climate
funding must be faster and easier, says deputy PM of flood-hit Somalia
Published:7:20 AM
Climate funding must be faster and
easier, says deputy PM of flood-hit Somalia
o
Cop28’s
pipe dream: inside the 8 December Guardian Weekly
Published:4:00 AM
Cop28’s pipe dream: inside the 8
December Guardian Weekly
·
Earth on
verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn
Published:7:10 PM
Earth on verge of five catastrophic
climate tipping points, scientists warn
·
------------eas – now focus turns to local subsidies
Published:6:09 PM
Australia ends finance for fossil
fuel expansion overseas – now focus turns to local subsidies
·
UK likely
to miss Paris climate targets by wide margin, analysis shows
Published:11:00 AM
UK likely to miss Paris climate
targets by wide margin, analysis shows
·
Cop28:
anger after record number of fossil fuel lobbyists given access to summit – as
it happened
Published:10:32 AM
Cop28: anger after record number of
fossil fuel lobbyists given access to summit – as it happened
·
o
Jim
Chalmers open to clean energy investment reforms pushed by super funds
Published:3:00 AM
Jim Chalmers open to clean energy
investment reforms pushed by super funds
o
Record
number of fossil fuel lobbyists get access to Cop28 climate talks
Published:12:00 AM
Record number of fossil fuel
lobbyists get access to Cop28 climate talks
o
Global
carbon emissions from fossil fuels to hit record high
Published:12:00 AM
Global carbon emissions from fossil
fuels to hit record high
o
‘A matter
of survival’: India’s unstoppable need for air conditioners
Published:12:00 AM
TUESDAY DECEMBER 5TH @X
@BEGIN
Cop 28
Al Jaber says
comments claiming there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil
fuels were ‘misinterpreted’ – Cop28 as it happened
Cop28
president and oil chief says phase-down and phase-out of fossil fuels is
essential and says his comments were misrepresented
Cop28
president says there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil
fuels
Updated 2d ago
2d ago
Summary
2d ago
Scientists
urge public to take collective action to stop climate breakdown
2d ago
Keir Starmer:
Sunak has broken UK political consensus on climate change
2d ago
Al Jaber says
that science has guided his strategy as Cop28 president
2d ago
Summary so
far
2d ago
Al Jaber says
comments claiming there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil
fuels were 'misinterpreted'
3d ago
Al Jaber
tries to reset his image after Guardian scoop
3d ago
Cop28 head
put on spot over Al Jaber comments
3d ago
Small island
states say they will hold Al Jaber to account on phase-out
3d ago
Most of the
world does not have fossil fuel phase out plan - report
3d ago
Al Gore:
phase out would be one of ‘most significant events in history of humanity'
3d ago
Mia Mottley:
'extreme weather records are tumbling, and our finance systems cannot cope'
3d ago
Health
agreement reached - but no mention of fossil fuels
3d ago
Opening
summary
Cop28
president Sultan Al Jaber.
00:02:30
Cop28
president says 'no science' to phasing out fossil fuels remarks 'misrepresented'
– video
Sandra
Laville (now) Helena Horton (earlier)
Mon 4 Dec
2023 10.40 EST
From 2d ago
05.39 EST
Al Jaber says
comments claiming there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil
fuels were 'misinterpreted'
The Cop28 president
and oil chief gave an extraordinary response to a question from a reporter from
the Sydney Morning Herald who directly addressed the Guardian report. He
claimed he had been misrepresented and gave an impassioned defence of his
background and belief in the science.
Al Jaber said
he had “incredible respect for Mary Robinson” after he was accused of being
arrogant towards the former Irish president when he said there was no
scientific need to phase out fossil fuels, adding: “I was very honoured to receive
her invitation to speak in a discussion around climate and gender.”
Then he came
on to the media reports of his comments (which are in this blog on camera at
08.57):
“Let’s just
clarify where I stand on the science … I honestly think there is some confusion
out there and misrepresentation. Let me first introduce myself to you. I’m an
engineer by background. It’s the science and my respect for the science and my
conviction for the science and the passion for the science that have allowed me
to progress in my career.”
Said he has
supplemented this with “business and economic skills” to progress in his
career.
He added:“The
phase-down and the phase-out of fossil fuels … is essential. It needs to be
orderly, fair, just and responsible.”
Al Jaber
accused those who reported his comments on phasing out fossil fuels of
“undermining” his message: “Allow me to say that I am quite surprised at the
constant attempt to undermine this message.”
Updated at
05.46 EST
2d ago
10.39 EST
Summary
Wrapping up
another day of Cop28 in Dubai, the main event was Sultan Al Jaber, the summit
president, calling a surprise press conference.
He called the
presser after the Guardian reported he had said a phase-out of fossil fuels
would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back
into caves”.
Al Jaber gave
a fierce defence of himself, claiming his comments had been “misinterpreted”.
He defended his record, and said he believes in the science and that Cop28 has
been very successful so far.
All eyes will
now be on Al Jaber over the coming days to see if he can fulfil his pledge that
an “unprecedented outcome” to keep alive hopes of limiting global temperature
rises to 1.5C, is within reach.
In other
developments:
Water Aid called
for rich countries to do more to meet this year’s target of $300m for the
climate adaptation fund.
More than
1000 climate scientists called for mass collective action to avert climate
breakdown.
Representatives
of small island states said they would continue to demand a phaseout of fossil
fuels – and hold Sultan Al Jaber to account for this.
Updated at
10.51 EST
2d ago
10.01 EST
Scientists
urge public to take collective action to stop climate breakdown
Damien Gayle
Damien Gayle
Nearly 1500 scientists, who include authors of
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports on the climate crisis, have
signed an open letter calling on the public to take collective action to avert
climate breakdown.
“We are terrified,” they warn. “We need you.”
“Wherever you
are, become a climate advocate or activist,” the letter, published on Monday by
Scientist Rebellion
says.
They
published the letter as delegates of world leaders at COP28 in Dubai have yet
to come to any agreement on the idea that fossil fuels should be either “phased
out” or “phased down” as the UN climate conference continues. Remarkably no COP
has ever managed to produce a global agreement on either a phase out or down of
fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel lobbyists are in force at the
conference, and the
chair Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the UAE national oil company, Adnoc,
is under fire over comments revealed in The Guardian claiming there is no
science behind demands for a phase out of fossil fuels.
In
frustration at the lack of action by Governments, the scientists are calling
for a large-scale mobilisation of society to tackle the entrenched power of the
fossil fuel industry, its lobbyists and politicians.
2d ago
09.47 EST
Nina Lakhani
Our dedicated
fashion followers may have noticed some colour coordination among the civil
society participants, particularly the veteran climate justice advocates. Sunday was white for human
rights and solidarity with Palestine, today yellow for climate finance, which
might explain why this morning’s protest features special guest Pickachu.
This was no last minute wardrobe planning – turns out the climate justice
movement has a daily colour code, an idea borrowed from the feminist movement.
“The colours are
underlining the boldness but also joy of our feminists’ demands for a just and
livable future that was joined this year by civil society and Indigenous
peoples in solidarity. It goes back to 2015 when feminists in the UN space for
SDGs came up with it for the first time”, said Pat Bohland, from the Women and Gender Constituency
Facilitative Committee.
Tuesday is orange for phase out fossil fuels and
Wednesday is blue for loss and damage.
Updated at
09.55 EST
2d ago
09.01 EST
Water Aid has condemned the failure of richer
countries to meet pledges of money for the climate adaptation fund. Only $155m
has been raised for the climate adaptation fund this year, a huge shortfall
from the target the fund set itself for this year of $300m.
Claire Seaward, global campaigns director for
WaterAid said: “We’re
hugely disappointed that by the end of the finance day, we’ve not seen rich
countries respond with the urgent adaptation financing required.
“Rich
governments must double the public adaptation commitments … Until we see
significantly more funding flowing down to vulnerable communities, we will keep
demanding more urgent action.”
Updated at
09.23 EST
2d ago
07.54 EST
Keir Starmer:
Sunak has broken UK political consensus on climate change
Fiona Harvey
Fiona Harvey
The UK will
come back strongly to the world stage to “lead from the front” in tackling the
climate crisis under a Labour government, UK opposition leader Keir Starmer has
pledged, after meeting world leaders at the Cop28 summit in Dubai.
“There’s an
overwhelming feeling here among world leaders that they want to see the UK back
playing a leading role,” he told the Guardian at the UN climate talks. “That’s
why our statement of intent that under a Labour government we will be back
playing a leading role has been really well received.
“And when we
say leading on this, we mean leading by the power of example.”
He also
accused prime minister Rishi Sunak of breaking the UK’s longstanding
cross-party consensus on the climate crisis. “We want to restore that cross-party consensus, but the
way we will do it is by leading from the front,” said Starmer. “Those that want
to be with us on this journey are very welcome. And I know there are leading
lights in other political parties who would welcome an incoming Labour
government leading from the front.”
@whatever happened to Jeremy corbin?
Read more
below.
UK would be a
climate leader again under Labour, vows Starmer
Read more
2d ago
07.43 EST
Coventry University’s vice-chancellor has spoken on how
young people can make a real difference at Cop28.
Professor
John Latham CBE spoke at an event designed to promote actions and solutions
through education. It was attended by students and higher education
representatives from across the world.
Prof Latham
said: “Cop28 is a remarkable milestone and I believe that the climate
conversation is not only for politicians, academics or policy specialists; it
is for everyone because it concerns everyone.”
Updated at
07.47 EST
2d ago
07.33 EST
Patrick
Greenfield
Patrick
Greenfield
Fatou Ndoye
is a Senegalese climate expert who coordinates mangrove (not mango) restoration in the west African country. She oversees a
network of more than 30,000 fisherwomen in Senegal that are worth 900m euros to
the economy and vital to the nation’s food supply.
Ndoye was the
2016 winner of the Gender Just Climate solutions awards. Previous winners are
invited to Cops to provide input on negotiations and
Ndoye is a
strong entry in our best-dressed series for Cop28.
2d ago
07.22 EST
Al Jaber says
that science has guided his strategy as Cop28 president
Damian
Carrington
The president of Cop28 has been forced into a fierce
defence of his respect for climate science, following the Guardian’s revelation
of his comment that there was “no science out there, or no scenario out there,
that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C”.
At a hastily
arranged press conference at the summit in Dubai, Sultan Al Jaber, who is also
CEO of the UAE’s state oil company, Adnoc, said: “I respect the science in
everything I do. I have repeatedly said that it is the science that has guided
the principles or strategy as Cop28 president.”
“We have
always built everything, every step of the way, on the science, on the facts,”
he said.
Al Jaber made
the controversial comments in ill-tempered responses to former UN climate envoy
Mary Robinson during an online event on 21 November. During the exchange, he
also said: “Show me the
roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable
socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.”
Updated at
11.13 EST
2d ago
06.35 EST
Despite being at war with Russia, Ukraine has
signed a deal at Cop28 with Danish renewable energy company Vestas to supply
turbines to build in the country.
They agreed to build 64 wind turbines (of 6 MW each) with a total
capacity of 384 MW. The first stage of the windfarm with a capacity of 114 MW
was commissioned in the spring of 2023. Combined, the first and second phases
of DTEK Tyligulska windfarm will have a capacity of around 500 MW (83 wind
turbines).
900,000
households worth of electricity will be generated annually by the plant, and
estimates suggest the project will save 1.7m tons of Co2.
The country has found onshore wind turbines to be
a resilient form of energy during the war and is attempting to expand its capacity so
the country can be reliably powered during the conflict.
Meanwhile, only two onshore wind turbines were
built in England last year and no new projects have been planned.
2d ago
06.15 EST
Nina Lakhani
As Al Jaber
defends his position on the main stage at Cop, my colleague Nina Lakhani finds
that away from the headlines there are lively discussions on other ideas.
We do try and
make time for folks off the beaten Cop path, and today’s side event on crop diversity
– an issue close to my heart – was a good reminder on why traditional knowledge
and solutions need to be given more attention and resources.
“Crop
diversity can help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, adapt to
drought and promote healthy diets and sustainable livelihoods. There is no food
security without it but we’re losing diversity from the fields and too many
seed banks are inadequately resourced, ” said Stefan Schmitz, director of the Crop Trust.
Industrial agriculture dominated by monocrops,
synthetic fertilisers, deforestation and conglomerates has devastated naturally
occurring crop diversity in the past 60 years or so, and the race is now on to
breed drought resistant and more weather-flexible crops. In the UAE for example,
there are wild dates and olive trees adapted to extreme mountain conditions
which could provide a “genetic treasure trove”, according to the World Wildlife
Fund, which is
trying to locate and conserve the heritage seeds for future generations.
“Mankind created and has survived on the basis of crop diversity, it is part of
our cultural heritage and nature. But there’s no sustainability climate funding
available for protecting diversity, it goes to the food industry and 21st
innovations, not traditional solutions,” added Schmitz.
Updated at
06.38 EST
2d ago
05.55 EST
Summary so
far
What a busy
day so far at Cop28. Obviously the main story was the surprise press conference
held by Sultan Al Jaber, who was giving a response to Damian Carrington’s scoop
on his comments questioning the science between fossil fuel phase-out.
I am handing
over to my colleague Sandra Laville but before I do so, I’ll run you through
the highlights. Stay tuned as this story continues to unfold – it will likely
remain an explosive day at the summit.
Sultan Al Jaber, the Cop28 president, called a
shock press conference after the Guardian reported he said a phase-out of
fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take
the world back into caves”.
In the conference he
claimed this comments were “misinterpreted” and defended his record,
said he believes in the science and that Cop28 has been very successful so far.
He seemed genuinely rattled and kept repeating that he believes in the science.
Damian, who broke the story, had a front row seat.
Cop director general, the ambassador Majid Al
Suwaidi, also had to defend Al Jaber’s remarks, and implied that those who
reported them were “undermining” the conference.
Representatives
of small island states said they will continue to demand for a phaseout of
fossil fuels – and hold Sultan Al Jaber to account for this.
Barbados’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, gave a
press conference regarding international financial systems, where she said: “We
are living in the age of superlatives. Temperature and extreme weather records
are tumbling, and our finance systems cannot cope”.
In an
exclusive interview with the Guardian, former US vice-president Al Gore said an
agreement by countries to phase out fossil fuels would be “one of the most
significant events in the history of humanity”. He added that it is “absurd” to
put a fossil fuel company CEO in charge of Cop28.
A new report
by CARE International UK found that women’s rights organisations are being shut
out of climate finance.
Updated at
06.00 EST
2d ago
05.39 EST
Al Jaber says
comments claiming there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil
fuels were 'misinterpreted'
The Cop28
president and oil chief gave an extraordinary response to a question from a
reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald who directly addressed the Guardian
report. He claimed he had been misrepresented and gave an impassioned defence
of his background and belief in the science.
Al Jaber said
he had “incredible respect for Mary Robinson” after he was accused of being
arrogant towards the former Irish president when he said there was no
scientific need to phase out fossil fuels, adding: “I was very honoured to
receive her invitation to speak in a discussion around climate and gender.”
Then he came
on to the media reports of his comments (which are in this blog on camera at
08.57):
“Let’s just
clarify where I stand on the science … I honestly think there is some confusion
out there and misrepresentation. Let me first introduce myself to you. I’m an engineer by background.
It’s the science and my respect for the science and my conviction for the
science and the passion for the science that have allowed me to progress in my
career.”
Said he has
supplemented this with “business and economic skills” to progress in his
career.
He added:“The
phase-down and the phase-out of fossil fuels … is essential. It needs to be
orderly, fair, just and responsible.”
Al Jaber
accused those who reported his comments on phasing out fossil fuels of
“undermining” his message: “Allow me to say that I am quite surprised at the
constant attempt to undermine this message.”
Updated at
05.46 EST
3d ago
05.31 EST
Al Jaber is
continuing his press conference, defending his record as Cop28 president after
it was called into question following his questioning of the science behind
phasing out fossil fuels.
He said his
Cop had so far been very successful, pointing out the “breakthrough agreement
on loss and damage” he said he has been “repeatedly saying” that he “made a promise”
to make it happen and start filling an “empty bank account”. Of the loss and
damage agreement he said:
“Again,
that’s the first time in any Cop, on day one, that such a decision gets
appointed. This is historic, these are success stories, no one can deny those.”
He also said
that the conference has “tackled methane” for the first time and he has made it
one of his “top priorities”.
The Cop28
president has also drawn attention to the tens of billions pledged by countries
in the first four days of the summit.
Al Jaber said
he has a “genuine and sincere intent to take that responsibility and attempt to
translate all this great progress into real actions”.
Updated at
05.44 EST
3d ago
05.23 EST
Al Jaber tries
to reset his image after Guardian scoop
Sultan Al
Jaber is holding a surprise press conference right now following Damian
Carrington’s scoop on his comments which have rocked the summit.
Sultan al-Jaber
Sultan al-Jaber Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP
He has
insisted that he respects the science after he said that a phaseout of fossil
fuels was not scientifically necessary to to reach a cut of 1.5C.
“Let’s
remember why we are all here. We are all here because we made a very clear call
to action and we’ve been very upfront about it and we said clearly and
repeatedly that the UAE takes this task with humility, responsibility and we
fully understand the urgency behind this matter.
“We are here
because we very much believe and respect the science. 43% of global emissions
must be reduced by 2030.”
He added that
“everything has been focused around and centred around the science”, repeating
he has been “crystal clear on that”.
3d ago
05.07 EST
There’s a row
in France brewing over nuclear energy. The country has managed to vastly
decarbonise its energy system due to 70% of it coming from nuclear power
stations. France has in recent decades, after the 1973 oil crisis, had a strong
focus on energy security, mostly based around its nuclear capacity.
President Emmanuel Macron at Cop28 has hailed the
signing of a declaration to triple nuclear energy by 2050 and recognise “the
key role of nuclear energy in achieving global net-zero greenhouse gas
emissions/carbon neutrality by or around mid-century”.
“Nuclear energy is back,” he said as he celebrated the decision by
22 countries to sign the pledge, including the United States, the United
Kingdom, South Korea, Hungary, and the Netherlands.
Emmanuel
Macron addresses Cop28
Emmanuel
Macron addresses Cop28 Photograph: Radek Pietruszka/EPA
He added that
“we need the World Bank, international financial institutions [and] multilateral
development banks to include nuclear energy into their energy-lending
policies”.
However, left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon
said: “notwithstanding the specific dangers of nuclear power, the idea [of an
international declaration] is ridiculous […] and worthy of someone more
concerned with the future of the nuclear industry than with saving humanity”.
Greenpeace
France has also complained, and said Macron has a “pro-nuclear obsession” which
“masks his lack of seriousness when it comes to climate action”.
Updated at
05.22 EST
3d ago
04.48 EST
Nina Lakhani
There’s a
palpable uptick in anger among civil society delegates today, amid growing
impatience at the fossil fuel industry’s influence over the climate talks. “We
are tired of explaining again and again why the fossil fuel industry should not
be here, of why these talks continue to fail to deliver from frontline
communities. We are over it,” said Rachel Rose Jackson, from Kick Big Polluters Out,
the global campaign group which is busy analysing the oil and gas lobbyists at
Cop28. We’ll be reporting more on that tomorrow.
Climate
activists at Cop28
Climate
activists at Cop28 Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters
At the
Climate Action Network’s daily briefing, Dr David Boyd, UN special rapporteur for human rights and
the environment, laid out the obligations countries face under international
law to take climate action. “Let’s be crystal clear, the climate crisis
is a human rights crisis, and it’s having a profound impact on the right to
life, health, water, the right to a clean, healthy sustainable environment and
the rights of the child - for billions of people across the world. Wealthy high
emitting countries have an obligation to phase out fossil fuels and provide
sufficient finance for mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage. And while it
would be nice to have human rights in the [Cop] text, these legal obligations
exist whether or not they are retired in these documents.”
Boyd supports a carbon tax, which at $30 a ton
would raise a tidy sum of a trillion or so annually.
And lastly,
as the negotiations get serious now that the leaders have gone, Lili Fuhr,
director of the legal groups CIEL’s fossil economy program, warned that the
global stocktake (GST) risks becoming “bloated and meaningless”. “The US, the
very worst climate wrecker, has plans for massive oil and gas expansion and
wants to talk about unabated emissions, which is part of the festival of false
solutions the fossil fuel industry is promoting here. A GST decision without clear
guidance on fossil fuel phase out will be a massive distraction and wasted
opportunity. Time is running out.”
3d ago
04.29 EST
ActionAid UK has sent in a comment from their
senior climate and resilience advisor Zahra Hdidou. She said the loss and damage
funding comments so far at the summit failed to take into account the vital role women play in
mitigating the effect of climate breakdown in their communities.
“Every day we
see the trauma and
destruction climate changes wreaks on women and girls. In nearly every
country where we work, we hear stories of girls pushed to drop out of school or
forced to marry early to help families manage the financial stress.
“But this is
not the only story we hear. Whether in drought-stricken East Africa or in the
aftermath of cyclones in South Asia, women are defying the victim narrative and keeping their communities
safe through community responses to climate disasters.
“At Cop there
is always a complete disconnect between lofty rhetoric and the crucial role
that women play in protecting, helping to recover, and rebuild from climate
shocks. Yet it was disappointing to see so many male leaders take to the stage
to pledge loss and damage funding that failed to recognise the vital role women
play in helping their communities stay resilient against climate shocks.
“We are
urging the international community to recognise the transformative power of
women’s responses to climate disaster and rapidly scale up funding now.”
3d ago
04.11 EST
After the
comments by Sultan Al Jaber, the president of Cop28, which seemed to undermine
those who are pushing for a phase out of fossil fuels, many people seem to have
lost faith in the process.
But progress is still taking place
at the summit, the Grantham Institute’s Bob Ward has said, and people should
not lose heart, as depressing as the remarks may have been.
3d ago
03.57 EST
Here is a
video of the discussion in which Al Jaber made the controversial comments
regarding phasing out oil and gas.
Cop28
president refuses to commit to phasing out fossil fuels – video
00:07:39
Cop28
president refuses to commit to phasing out fossil fuels – video
3d ago
03.49 EST
Cop28 head
put on spot over Al Jaber comments
Damian
Carrington
Damian
Carrington
At the Cop28 presidency press conference this
morning, ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, who is director general of the summit,
did not initially want to answer questions about Cop28 president Sultan Al
Jaber’s comments that “there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that
says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C”. The
comments, revealed by the Guardian, have caused uproar among many in Dubai.
But reporters crowded around him as
he left, and he said:
“There are those out there who are consistently trying
to undermine our presidency from day one. The Cop presidency has been very
clear that 1.5C is the North Star. [Al Jaber] has also been very clear about
how fossil fuels are on the agenda.
“What he was talking about was, of course, net
zero 2050. It’s very
clear in all of the scientific reports that fossil fuels are going to be part
of that mix. And he’s spoken very clearly that he thinks the phase down of
fossil fuels is inevitable. He is the CEO [of UAE state oil company Adnoc],
he’s the person who understands the science, he understands the industry. In
that conversation, what he was asking simply was, how do we do this?”
“There are
many things that are happening here at Cop that you are not reporting about,
and you’re focused on this one thing. But Cops are about everything, it’s about
the whole package and we’ve said from the very beginning that energy is the
number one pillar, so we’re not hiding away from it. I think that our Cop
president is doing a great job.”
More than 100
countries have called for a phase out, not phase down, of fossil fuels. Many
scientists have also rejected Al Jaber’s claims, pointing to IPCC and IEA
scenarios. They have also rejected his claim that a phase-out of fossil fuels
would not allow “sustainable socio-economic development, unless you want to
take the world back into caves”. Adnoc has the world’s biggest net-zero busting
plans for increasing oil and gas production, according to independent analysis.
Updated at
04.01 EST
3d ago
03.40 EST
Young people
have been protesting against Sultan Al Jaber’s comments, proclaiming that
contrary to what the Cop28 president said, the science is clear that oil and
gas needs to be phased out to meet the 1.5 degree goal.
Updated at
04.01 EST
3d ago
03.25 EST
Small island
states say they will hold Al Jaber to account on phase-out
Oliver Milman
Representatives
of small island states here at Cop28 have said they will continue to demand for
a phaseout of fossil fuels – and hold Sultan Al Jaber to account for this.
At a press
conference for the Alliance
of Small Island States (Aosis) this morning, the representatives
repeatedly made clear that fossil fuels must be ditched in order to remain
within 1.5C of global heating – a particularly vital goal for low-lying,
developing island countries.
Tina Stege, climate envoy of the Marshall Islands,
pointed out that Al Jaber, the president of Cop28 who has come under fire for
his comments that there is “no science” to a fossil fuel phase-out in keeping to this
temperature limit, has called 1.5C the “north star” of the negotiations.
“We will hold him to that,” said Stege. “If
1.5C is the north star, in practice what that means is a phase out of fossil
fuels, that is what the science has said. It’s where we start and where we end.
From my perspective, we will be looking to the presidency for his leadership to
deliver on what he has said.”
“Across the
board there is an understanding that 1.5C is what is needed for all of us to
stay alive,” Stege added. “What that means is we need to address the root cause
of the problem, which is the burning of fossil fuels. Unless we do so we will
blow past 1.5C...We can’t pretend there are other pathways to achieve 1.5C when
so many lives are at stake.”
Asked by the
Guardian whether the small island nations still have confidence in Al Jaber’s
leadership of the Cop process, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, Samoa’s
environment minister and chair of Aosis, pointed to the pragmatic realities of
the ongoing diplomacy.
“We still
have a week left,” Schuster said. “We would like to continue our work. We have
our goals. We will prefer to continue to stand up for what we believe in.”
Updated at
03.37 EST
3d ago
03.11 EST
A timely new
report is out today. While the CEO of ExxonMobil was complaining this weekend
that Cop28 does not focus enough on carbon capture and storage, research shows that a high Carbon
Capture and Storage (CCS) pathway to net zero emissions in 2050 is expected to
cost at least $30 trillion more than a low CCS pathway - roughly $1 trillion
per year.
Oil and gas
companies hope that CCS can keep their operations going for longer and at a
larger scale, but the scientific community has cast doubts on whether it can be
used at scale, beyond the heavy industries it is very difficult to decarbonise.
CCS is set to
feature prominently at the summit this week, with major oil and gas producing
countries expected to unveil d carbon
storage goals.
The analysis
from the Smith School at
the University of Oxford has found rolling out CCS throughout the
economy, rather than just in a handful of essential sectors, makes little sense
from a financial perspective.
“Relying on
mass deployment of CCS to facilitate high ongoing use of fossil fuels would
cost society around a trillion dollars extra each year – it would be highly
economically damaging,” says Dr
Rupert Way, Honorary Research Associate at the Oxford Smith School.
3d ago
02.58 EST
Nina Lakhani
The United Arab Emirates’ vast fossil fuel
production is contributing to dangerously high air pollution levels, creating health
risks for its people and migrant workers in addition to heating the planet, according
to a report by Human Rights Watch.
HRW analysis
of data from 30 government ground monitoring stations in September 2023 found
that average levels of PM2.5 (very small toxic particles that can penetrate
deep into the lungs and easily enter the bloodstream) were almost three times
the daily recommended levels under the World Health Organization’s air quality
guidelines.
@Tu.1
An estimated 1,872 people a year die from outdoor
air pollution in the UAE, where migrants account for 88% of the population and
virtually all outdoor workers, who face the highest risks. The sky has been
hazy with pollution on most days since thousands of delegates descended on
Dubai for Cop28, with daily air quality readings up to five times above the
WHO’s air quality recommendations.
Read more
below.
3d ago
02.46 EST
John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate was
just asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme in the UK what he thinks of Damian
Carrington’s scoop that Sultan Al Jaber said there was ‘no science’ behind
demands for phase-out of fossil fuels.
He was very
diplomatic in his response and appeared to give the oil chief and Cop28
president the benefit of the doubt.
“Well I think
what he was saying … is the science itself does not prescribe a particular
approach, it doesn’t say you have to do this or you have to do that,” Kerry
explained.
“What you
have to do is clearly reduce the emissions. They have made it clear we need a
43% minimum reduction in emissions by 2030, and we need net zero 2050 in order
to meet the goal of keeping 1.5. We’ve got all kinds of ways of getting there.
Renewables are the one technology we really know we can deploy today and it has
the impact we need.”
He then spent
some time talking about the US climate goals and that they are signed up to
phase out fossil fuels.
“We are not
only signed up to that, president Biden on behalf of the US voted to join the
g7 where we said we must phase out unabated fossil fuel. We have to do that yes
otherwise you cannot reach net zero by 2050. What we are trying to figure out
is how we can capture those emissions, or reduce those emissions, or not make
those emissions in the first place.
“I think the
only question here is not whether or not you are going to reduce emissions,
it’s what means are you going to use to go at this to provide the energy you
want for your country but also keeping faith with the reduction of the
emissions that are creating the climate crisis.”
Updated at
02.58 EST
3d ago
02.36 EST
Women’s
rights organisations are being shut out of climate finance, a new report by CARE International UK has
found.
Launched to
coincide with Finance and Gender Day, the study shows that women’s rights organisations received
less than 0.2% of UK bilateral climate finance in 2022. Even though the impacts
of climate breakdown are linked to gender inequality, less than 1% of UK
bilateral climate finance targeted gender equality specifically last year.
Perhaps it is
no coincidence that only
38% of registered delegates at Cop28 are women, an increase of 1% compared to
Cop27 - historically negotiations have been very male-dominated,
allowing gender inequality to be sidelined. Of the 133 world leaders attending COP28, just 15 were
women.
Stephanie Akrumah, a climate activist and Director
of the Centre for Green Growth, a Ghana based NGO, said:
“Women and girls should be at the centre of
tackling the climate crisis but instead, our voices are silenced and we are
ignored when funding is distributed. Conscious and unconscious barriers holding
women back must be demolished.
We are losing our lives and livelihoods due to climate change caused by rich
countries and corporations. It is time for Rishi Sunak and other world leaders
to listen and support women and girls.”
Here is some
further reading on gender and climate.
The eco
gender gap: why is saving the planet seen as women’s work?
Gender equality
goals under threat in climate crisis-hit countries, says UN
Climate
breakdown ‘is increasing violence against women’
3d ago
02.23 EST
@Tu.3
Our leader
column today calls for a “green Marshall plan” to phase out fossil fuels for
good.
It says that
it is “crazy” that governments plan to produce more than double the amount of
fossil fuels in 2030 that is consistent with a “safe” global temperature rise
of 1.5C.
Indeed, the 2015
Paris agreement does not mention fossil fuels as responsible for global
heating, so countries can both sign up to meet 1.5C while rolling out new oil
and gas exploration contracts.
It points out
that although Colombia’s
economy is dependent on fossil fuels, which account for about half of its
exports, its president has committed to stop the expansion of coal, oil and gas
exploitation. If they can do it, why can’t we?
The Guardian
view on a non-proliferation treaty: fossil fuels are weapons of mass destruction
3d ago
02.08 EST
New Zealand has won an award at Cop28.
Unfortunately it is not one to be proud of. Each day, the Climate Action
Network is branding one country the “fossil of the day” – an award for the most
bone-headed and regressive climate action.
Yesterday, it
was given to New Zealand because of the newly-formed government’s choice to
overturn the existing world-leading ban on new oil and gas exploration.
Christopher Luxon, the new prime minister, has vowed to open the country’s vast
ocean to more oil and gas exploration, rowing back on his predecessor Jacinda
Ardern’s 2018 ban.
Climate
Action Network says:
“Does climate
change minister Simon Watts not hear the climate alarm bells ringing? He may
underestimate the devastating climate consequences of this decision but we, and
their Pacific island neighbours in Palau, who slammed his intentions as
‘TRAGIC’, certainly do not.
“Minister Watts may be new to his role but we
remember the decade-long campaign led by Indigenous Māori communities who
succeeded in achieving a ban on oil and gas exploration in New Zealand’s
oceans. Not only does Watts and the rest of the New Zealand government want to
remove the country’s legacy of climate leadership but they also seek to
redefine legislative interpretation of the country’s founding treaty with
Māori communities, to reassess Treaty-based policies, and to roll back
official use of Māori language – undoing the progress made between
Māori and government relationships.”
Updated at
02.10 EST
3d ago
02.02 EST
Most of the
world does not have fossil fuel phase out plan - report
A new report
has found that global net zero targets are at risk because the majority of
countries have not set proper targets to stop using fossil fuels.
@Tu.4
Net Zero Tracker has today released the stark data
showing the chasm between global net zero targets and the action needed to make
them happen. It has found that net zero targets cover 88% of global GHG
emissions, but only 7% of those emissions are covered by any kind of national
commitment to phase-out exploration, production or use of coal, oil or gas. In
total, 13% have pledged a full phase-out of any fossil fuel.
The report
says that 94% of oil-producing countries have not set an oil exploration
phase-out pledge, with a similar number (95%) failing to commit to phase-out
gas exploration.
The lack of
plans is encouraging the expansion of fossil fuels, the study finds.
Natasha Lutz,
co-data lead, net zero tracker (University of Oxford), said:
“Phasing-out
fossil fuels is a key element of realising credible pathways to net-zero. A
lack of commitment at the country level leaves the door open for fossil fuel
expansion and is inconsistent with achieving the temperature goals set out by
the Paris Agreement.
“This
proliferation of net-zero ambition without the commitment towards fossil-fuel
phase-out highlights the need for entities to determine how these targets will
be achieved. A pledge without a plan for implementation is at risk of becoming
a bumper-sticker; broadcasted but never taken seriously.”
Updated at
02.08 EST
3d ago
01.48 EST
Al Gore:
phase out would be one of ‘most significant events in history of humanity'
Oliver Milman
In an
exclusive interview with the Guardian, former US vice-president Al Gore has
said an agreement by countries to phase out fossil fuels would be “one of the
most significant events in the history of humanity”. He added that it is
“absurd” to put a fossil fuel company CEO in charge of Cop28.
It would be a
“welcome surprise” if world leaders agreed at the climate talks to call for an
end to fossil fuels, but such a declaration would have “enormous impact” upon
the world, Gore said at the gathering in the United Arab Emirates.
“If there
were a decision here to surprise the world to say ‘OK we get it now, we’ve made
enough money, we will get on with what needs to be done to give young people a
sense of hope again and stop as much as suffering as possible and start the
phase-out of fossil fuels’, it would be one of the most significant events in
the history of humanity,” the former US vice-president said.
Agreement to phase
out fossil fuels would be huge for humanity, says Gore
Updated at
02.03 EST
3d ago
01.39 EST
Sultan Al Jaber
may not think a phase out of fossil fuels is necessary, but Pikachu certainly
disagrees. My colleague Damian Carrington sends in this snap of an eye-catching
protest for the ‘finance day’ of the summit.
Pikachu at
Cop28 conference in Dubai Photograph: Damian Carrington/The Guardian
3d ago
01.38 EST
Mia Mottley:
'extreme weather records are tumbling, and our finance systems cannot cope'
The Prime Minister of Barbados and
one of the world’s foremost negotiators on loss and damage, Mia Mottley, has
kicked off finance day at Cop with a press conference.
She said: “We are living in the age of
superlatives. Temperature and extreme weather records are tumbling, and our
finance systems cannot cope”. (dupe)
It may have
surprised some that Mottley was so gracious and polite to Sultan Al Jaber after
his comments yesterday, thanking him for his work on the summit. But she is a
diplomat, and that is her role.
She said:
Adaptation,
mitigation, loss and damage. Those have been the three areas that we have been focused
on for the last few years. This has probably been the most progress we’ve seen
in the last twelve months on finance but we’re not where we need to be at, so
first of all I want to give thanks and I really do want to give thanks to Dr
Sultan for his leadership and determination that we should leave Dubai with
progress even if we are not at the final destination.
Mottley also
said that the oil and gas sector has to be at the table when it comes to
negotiating on decarbonisation, as do banks and the finance sector.
Updated at
02.02 EST
3d ago
01.30 EST
Health
agreement reached - but no mention of fossil fuels
Nina Lakhani
Tu.5
Yesterday, 123
countries signed the first ever Declaration on Climate and Health which
included galvanising finance for climate and health solutions, and a commitment
to incorporate health targets in their national climate plans.
The UAE
announced an “aggregated” funding commitment of $1 billion towards the
implementation of health-focused climate activities, money which comes from
agencies including the Green Climate Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the
Rockefeller Foundation. But, and it’s a big but, it’s unclear how much of this
money is new money, and it’s also unclear whether it will take the form of
grants or yet more debt for vulnerable nations.
And while the
declaration acknowledged that reducing climate health impacts will require
emission reductions, there is not a single mention of fossil fuels – which is a
bit like having an alcoholism prevention plan without mentioning alcohol.
Updated at
02.02 EST
3d ago
01.25 EST
@Tu.6
Opening
summary
Good morning!
This is Helena Horton, bringing you coverage from the fifth day of the UN’s
Cop28 climate summit.
It’s likely
to be an interesting day as the fallout from my colleague Damian Carrington’s
scoop continues. Many experts viewed it as a ‘mask-off’ moment when Cop28
president Sultan Al Jaber told a meeting that there was “no science” behind
demands for a phase-out of fossil fuels. Scientists have reacted strongly to
the news, calling it “astonishing” and “farcical”.
Today’s official themes are finance, trade, gender
equality and accountability, so expect reports and news focused on those
themes, as well as on the wider negotiations.
In the
meantime, here are some of yesterday’s key events:
Sultan Al
Jaber, the UAE president of the Cop28 climate talks, told a meeting that there
was no science showing a phase-out of fossil fuels was necessary to limit
global heating to 1.5C (2.7F) above preindustrial levels. The Guardian and the
Centre for Climate Reporting revealed Al Jaber’s comments.
Protesters at
the conference called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Indigenous groups
condemned the murder of an activist in Peru.
The UK prime
minister, Rishi Sunak, faced criticism over his climate policies and fleeting
visit as leader of the opposition Keir Starmer stayed in Dubai to meet world
leaders.
·
Cop28
$700m pledged
to loss and damage fund at Cop28 covers less than 0.2% needed
6h ago
·
Cop28
Cop28: UN
climate chief warns nations not to ‘fall into the trap of point-scoring’ – as
it happened
Simon Stiell
says’ ‘we need highest ambition, not point scoring or lowest common denominator
politics’
7h ago
·
Cop28
Mary Robinson
reiterates call for rapid phase-out of fossil fuels
Former
Ireland leader issues firm response in row over comments made to her by Cop28
president
7h ago
·
Global
development
Climate funding
must be faster and easier, says deputy PM of flood-hit Somalia
10h ago
·
Germany
German heat
pump rollout at risk as government suspends climate subsidies
·
Environment
Earth on
verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn
·
Cop28
Australia
ends finance for fossil fuel expansion overseas – now focus turns to local
subsidies
·
Green
politics
UK likely
to miss Paris climate targets by wide margin, analysis shows
·
Cop28
Cop28: anger after record number of fossil
fuel lobbyists given access to summit – as it happened
·
Environmental
activism
‘No climate
justice without peace’: Gaza
becomes flashpoint for climate activists
Cop28 Peanut Gallery
Hide
After Cop28,
know this: Sunak and his rightwing allies around the world have no interest in
saving our planet
Diyora
Shadijanova
8h ago
·
Fossil fuels
Mary Robinson
reiterates call for rapid phase-out
7h ago
·
Young
people’s plea to Cop28
'World
leaders owe it to future generations’
9h ago
·
Exclusive
UK likely
to miss Paris climate targets by wide margin, analysis shows
Hide
Martin Rowson
on the Cop28 summit – cartoon
The Cop28
president told a shocking lie about fossil fuels – and he’s wrong about climate
economics too
Geoffrey Lean
Warning: the
UK government’s hydrogen plan isn’t green at all, it’s another oil industry
swindle
Kevin
Anderson and Simon Oldridge
The Roman
forts near Hadrian’s Wall are full of historical riches – and the climate
crisis is destroying them
Richard Hobbs
o
My generation
can’t wait any longer for climate action – and Europe could hold the key
Alexander
Hurst
Young people’s plea to
Cop28: ‘World leaders owe it to future generations’
Children at
the UN climate summit urge governments to commit to policies that put their
needs first
Nina
Lakhani in Dubai
Wed 6 Dec 2023 08.00 EST
·
·
·
Children from some of the countries most
affected by the climate crisis have made an impassioned call for political
leaders to stop gambling with their futures, and commit to finances and
policies that put the world’s 2.2 billion children first.
“Last year I
went to Cop27 to talk about what could happen with climate change, this year
I’m here to talk about climate collapse,” said Revan Ahmed, 13, from Tripoli in
Libya, where thousands of people were killed and displaced after Storm Daniel
caused unprecedented flooding in September.
“We dream of
a future with clean water, a future where food security is a reality and we get
to go to school without worrying about floods or high heats. The world leaders
owe it to future generations,” said Ahmed, at a press conference organised by
Unicef.
Revan Ahmed:
‘This year I’m here to talk about climate collapse.’ Photograph: Nina
Lakhani
Extreme
weather internally displaced at least 43
million children in the past six years, the equivalent of
20,000 children being forced to abandon their homes and school every day. This
is probably a major undercount, and a billion children are at “extremely high
risk” of the effects of the climate crisis, according to Unicef.
“Every year
of my life there has been a Cop, and every year world leaders have failed to
acknowledge the special needs and vulnerabilities of children in the climate
crisis,” said Vanessa Nakate, the 27-year-old Ugandan climate justice advocate
and Unicef goodwill ambassador who opened the event.
There has
never been an official Cop decision focused on climate and children, and less
than 3% of international climate finance
since 2006 has been spent on supporting children.
Francisco
Vera, 14, from Colombia, called out the hypocrisy of rich countries failing to
fund climate action. “All the money being invested on the war on Gaza but they
say there isn’t money to fight climate change. What is happening to our
humanity? If we want climate justice, we have to end war,” said Vera.
Lova Renee: ‘We
are paying the price for something we didn’t do.’ Photograph: Nina Lakhani
A report
by the UN Child Rights Committee published in August
said children have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,
and governments must take urgent action including the phase-out of fossil fuels
and transition to renewables to guarantee this.
“The climate
has changed and we are paying the price for something we didn’t do, and that is
not fair,” said Lova Renee, 13, from Madagascar. “We’re here to call on world
leaders to make decisions at Cop that have a real impact on children’s lives.”
MONDAY DECEMBER 4TH @X
From the Guardian U.K.
Agreement to phase out fossil fuels would be huge for humanity, says Gore
Exclusive:
former US vice-president and climate activist says phase-out can be only
measure of success for Cop28 @Dupe
Oliver Milman in
Dubai
Mon 4 Dec 2023 00.00 EST
·
·
·
An agreement by countries to phase out fossil
fuels would be “one of the most significant events in the history of humanity”,
according to Al Gore, amid wrangling by
governments at Cop28.
It would be a “welcome surprise” if world leaders
agreed at the climate talks to call for an end to fossil fuels, but such a
declaration would have “enormous impact” upon the world, Gore told the Guardian
at the gathering in the United Arab Emirates.
“If there
were a decision here to surprise the world to say ‘OK we get it now, we’ve made enough money, we will
get on with what needs to be done to give young people a sense of hope again
and stop as much as suffering as possible and start the phase-out of fossil
fuels’, it would be one of the most significant events in the history of
humanity,” the former US vice-president said.
Gore, now a
prominent advocate for action on the climate crisis, welcomed the establishment of a loss and damage fund for
developing countries worst hit by heatwaves, droughts, floods and other
disasters but added the amount of money committed to it by rich countries is a
“pittance” and that the crucial element at the Dubai gathering would be an
agreement to wind down fossil fuels.
“There is only one measure of success for Cop28:
will it include a commitment to phase out fossil fuels or not,” he said. “If it does include
such a commitment it will be a smashing success; if it does not it will be a
failure.”
More than
half of the 200 countries that are represented at Cop28 have signalled they
would support agreement language that mentions a phase-out of fossil fuels.
John Kerry, the US climate envoy, has said it is “hard for anybody to
understand” why the primary cause of the climate crisis would be allowed to
continue, while António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, urged leaders on
Friday to unambiguously back the end of oil, coal and gas. “Not reduce. Not
abate. Phase out,” Guterres said.
However, the
consensus format of these UN summits means that countries have to all assent to
the text of an agreement and it is understood that countries such as Russia,
China and Saudi Arabia are uncomfortable with a compact that would call time on
fossil fuels.
Oil companies, many posting record profits, are
planning large expansions in drilling, including Adnoc, the national oil
company of the UAE which is headed by Sultan Al Jaber, who is also
president of Cop28. Al Jaber has strenuously denied allegations
that he is using the climate summit as a way to further oil and gas deals for
Adnoc.
Gore,
however, said that Adnoc is “one
of the dirtiest companies, it’s one of the least responsible companies”
and that the appointment of Al Jaber to head Cop28 has been damaging.
“They made a
mistake, let’s be honest, in angling to put a fossil fuel company CEO in charge
of this Cop28,” he said. “I mean it’s absurd. It’s totally ridiculous.”
·
Cop28 president forced into defence of fossil
fuel phase-out claims
7h ago
·
Al Jaber says comments claiming there is ‘no
science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels were ‘misinterpreted’ –
Cop28 as it happened
6h ago
·
Cop28
president says there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil
fuels
1d ago
·
Cop28! No prizes for guessing how it is
turning out
16h ago
·
The Guardian view on a non-proliferation
treaty: fossil fuels are weapons of mass destruction
1d ago
·
Rishi Sunak accused of hypocrisy after backing
phase-out of fossil fuels at Cop28
2d ago
·
Cop28 officials fail to clarify if protesters
are safe to protest in Dubai
1d ago
·
Greenhouse gas emissions soar – with China, US
and India most at fault
2d ago
·
A knife-edge quest: Lord of the Rings resonates
at Cop28 climate summit
@OLDER
@BEGIN (REVERSE DATES?)
TIMELINE
from dji.231204
X31
THURSDAY
FROM
guardian
X31FROM
GUK
THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 30TH @Q
Cop28: key funding deal to help poorer nations cope with impact of climate
crisis agreed – as it happened
This live blog is now closed, you
can read more on this story here
Updated 3h ago
·
Loss and damage fund agreed on first day of Cop28
·
UAE pledges $100m to loss and damage fund
·
Loss and damage funding arrangement agreed
·
Sultan Al Jaber officially opens the Cop28 climate summit
·
India's foreign minister insists coal 'would remain' its main source of
energy
·
Delegates hope for early win on loss and damage fund
·
·
·
Guterres calls for complete 'phase-out' of fossil fuels
Thu 30 Nov 2023 11.20 EST
·
·
·
Show key events only
Loss and
damage fund agreed on first day of Cop28
It was an action-packed opening day in Dubai as
the Cop28 conference kicked off, and the world leaders don’t even arrive until
tomorrow.
·
The big news
of the day was that countries reached agreement on setting up a loss and damage fund to
help countries deal with the impacts of climate breakdown, something that had
long been a sticking point in negotiations
·
The
UAE immediately pledged $100m to the fund, and was followed
by contributions from the EU, led by Germany, the UK, the US and Japan, though
the US in particular were criticised for their relatively modest pledge
·
The World Meteorological Organization
said that 2023 would be the hottest year ever recorded. UN
secretary-general António Guterres responded to the news by saying “We are living through climate collapse
in real time”
·
A
representative of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said coal is, and will continue to be, an important
part of India’s energy needs
We’ll be back again tomorrow for
day two, when the focus will be on world leaders’ speeches and the official
opening of the conference, led by the UK’s King Charles III.
·
·
Updated at 11.58 EST
The Guardian will be hosting a
livestreamed event on Tuesday discussing the extent to which fossil fuel
companies are able and willing to transition into renewables.
It will feature the Guardian’s
environment editor, Damian Carrington, who will
chair a panel including Tessa Khan, founder and executive director of
Uplift; Christiana Figueres, the former
UNFCCC chief; and Mike Coffin of Carbon
Tracker.
More details can be found here:
Cop28: Can fossil fuel companies
transition to clean energy?
Jim Skea, the new chair of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has given an interview to the Financial Times (£€$)
about carbon capture and storage.
Skea is optimistic about the
technological side of things, saying that the key elements have all been
technically proven but that the main barriers to its widespread use lie in the
economics and business models.
It’s one of these large-scale
technologies which probably will not happen unless you really get the right
kind of policy framing to enable it to come forward. It won’t happen just
because the private sector chooses to do it. And also because, if you put
carbon dioxide in the ground, it frankly is of no value to any human on earth,
sitting under the ground. So somebody has to pay to put it there.
Carbon capture and storage is expected to be a key point of debate
during the conference, with major fossil fuel producers insistent that any
agreement to phase out fossil fuels includes the word “unabated” – ie, the
burning of them without the capture of the resultant emissions.
Skea says he is moderately
optimistic due to the pace of progress:
There are things happening today –
if you had told me 10, 20 years ago what would happen with renewable energy, I
would have fallen off my chair. We have made enormous progress in some areas.
But it’s worthwhile saying that we still have the difficult bit to do.
·
·
A new paper from the Climate Social Science Network examines
the role of Saudi Arabia in obstructing progress at climate talks over the past
few decades.
The key quote the authors highlight is:
What
sets Saudi Arabia apart from most other countries is that it sees its national
interest as best served by obstructing intergovernmental efforts to tackle
climate change
The report finds that the fossil
resource rich country has spent years undermining climate science, and that its
intransigence has provided a useful shield for other countries to hide behind.
The authors warn that the latest
tactics used by the Saudis focus on the promotion of carbon capture and
storage, as well as atmospheric carbon removal. These technologies are still in
their infancy and scientists believe it will be a while until they are viable
at scale, and some say they may not ever play a significant part in climate
mitigation.
The report finds that although
Saudi Arabia has set a target of net zero emissions by 2060,
the country’s teams have opposed
mentions of ‘net zero’, ‘strong emission reductions’, ‘strong, rapid, and
sustained reductions of CO2 and non-CO2 emissions’ and ‘deep reduction’
The authors suggest one process that could be adopted to prevent Saudi
Arabia blocking progress would be to move away from the need for consensus in
the talks, and instead require a supermajority of 7/8ths of parties. They say
this “would capture overwhelming support across the globe, while sidelining a
tiny minority of obstructers.
Unanimity is not required, nor is it compatible with climate action at the
level required.”
·
·
Former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon
and Mozambican politician Graça Machel, both members of the Elders group of
former statespeople, have written in the Guardian today urging world leaders
not to squander the opportunities of Cop28.
The Glasgow pact agreed at Cop26
called for a doubling of finance to support developing countries in adapting to
the impacts of climate change and building resilience. Developed countries must
fulfil this commitment. Countries must also adopt an ambitious framework for
the Global Goal on Adaptation to guide action and investment on adaptation. We
urge leaders to seize the moment and send an unequivocal message that we need
urgent, meaningful investments in order to fortify people, economies and ecosystems
against the escalating threats of the climate crisis.
Crucially, the framework must
include robust, quantifiable targets so that we can all track progress over
time, and must include means of implementation – finance, capacity building and
technology transfer – to support the delivery of the framework, so that it
doesn’t become become another hollow promise that is never kept.
Read the full piece here:
To the world leaders at Cop28 we say:
do not squander this chance to get back on track
·
·
The pope, who had been expected to attend the conference and speak on
Saturday, cancelled his visit due to illness but sent the conference a message
from his sickbed.
“May participants in Cop28 be
strategists who focus on the common good and the future of their children, rather
than the vested interests of certain countries or businesses,” he posted on X
(formerly Twitter).
“May they demonstrate the nobility of politics and not its shame.”
The Vatican said the pope still
hoped to participate in the conference in some form, but did not say how.
·
·
Updated at 10.32 EST
Fifi Peters of CNBC Africa asks how the levels of donations to the loss
and damage fund were determined, pointing out the low level of commitment by
the US, and the absence of any pledges from other major emitters such as China
and India.
Stiell says the response to the
calls for funding has been unprecedented, and says pledging will continue over
the next two days during the leaders’ summit, as he expects many countries will
want to save their announcements for their moment in the spotlight on stage.
He says he is encouraged by the
pledges so far and that he thinks it bodes well for the next steps of the
process.
·
·
Updated at 10.43 EST
Sophie Mokoena of the South African Broadcasting Corporation asks what hurdles they foresee coming
up in negotiations concerning the global stocktake – the annual reckoning of
how much progress each country is making towards its climate targets.
Stiell concedes there is a
“massive gap” between where we are and where we need to be.
“There are differing views on how
prescriptive or non-prescriptive the global stocktake should be, so that will
be one area of debate.”
Stiell says there will also be
debate over how forward-looking or backward-looking the stocktake should be.
This is a reference to the debate over how much historical responsibility for
emissions should be considered as part of pledges versus current and future
emissions.
·
·
Updated at 10.42 EST
Time for questions from the press.
Ivan Couronne of AFP asks how much movement Al Jaber had seen from parties on
what they were willing to offer.
Al Jaber responds by saying he
told stakeholders a month ago that he wants an unprecedented outcome for this
conference. He says their ambition is for “the maximum, highest ambition
possible” and that they would leave no stone unturned.
“Compromise is going to be
essential. It is going to be a catalyst and an enabler.”
He vows that we will see “full
transparency and full inclusion” from the UAE.
·
·
Updated at 10.43 EST
He passes on to Hana Alhashimi, the UAE’s chief
climate negotiator. She says the UAE’s negotiating team is two-thirds female,
and two-thirds youth, from a range of diverse backgrounds.
She says that there were more than
160 items on the agenda, and expresses gratitude to everyone involved for getting
that approved in order that they could begin negotiations in a timely fashion.
There had been fears that a lack of agreement on the agenda could hinder and
delay negotiations.
·
·
Updated at 10.43 EST
Next is Majid al-Suwaidi, the Cop28 director-general,
who lays out the programme for the next couple of days, during which world
leaders and their representatives will descend on the conference.
He also talks up the UAE’s hosting
plans, vowing that it will be “completely inclusive”.
“We have no time for polarisation and argument; it is time
for partnerships, solidarity and action.”
·
·
Updated at 10.08 EST
Al Jaber continues, saying the loss and damage fund has had
$420m pledged to it in the first few hours.
He singles out Germany, the UK,
the EU, the US and Japan for their pledges.
He thanks the delegates for their
attendance, and vows to work “hand in hand with everyone” to deliver “real
action and results”.
·
·
It is now the turn of the Cop28 president,
Sultan Al Jaber, who welcomes the delegates.
“I’m sure that most of you feel what I actually feel. I came into this
task with a full understanding of what it takes to manage this process. I took
this task with humility and with a deeep sense of responsibility and a great
sense of urgency. That’s why we have approached this task in a completely
different and unconventional way.
“The extraordinary effort that has been put into this task, it is
paying off. Why so, and
how so? The fact that we have been able to achieve such a significant milestone
on the first day of this Cop is unprecedented. This is historic. The fact that
we were able to get the agenda voted and agreed on without any delay, for those
that have been involved in previous Cops, this is just unprecedented.
“The fact we have been able to
deliver what was promised in Sharm el-Sheikh. The fact that we have been able
to operationalise and pass the threshold that had been associated with the
establishment of this fund
[ie the creation of a loss and damage funding facility] is a historic,
unprecedented achievement.
“I feel excited, determined, and
I’m sure most of you feel the positivity, the optimistic environment and
ambience that we are all experiencing here at this very place. I have been to
12 Cops before. Each one had its own unique proposition. I must say though,
never ever did I feel this level of excitement, and this level of enthusiasm
among all sincere and genuine parties involved in this discussion.
“Now the real work begins. I am
determined to demonstrate that this Cop is a different Cop, and this president
is a different presidency. We are laser-focused on keeping [the Paris agreement
target of limiting emissions to] 1.5C [above preindustrial levels] within
reach.”
·
·
Updated at 10.07 EST
@Th1.old
The conference has finally begun,
an hour and 45 minutes late. Moderator
Alexander Saier apologises for the delay and introduces the panel, which
includes the Cop28 president, Sultan Al Jaber, and the UNFCCC chief, Simon Stiell,
who praises the loss and damage funding deal agreed earlier and thanks the
Cop27 hosts Egypt for their work over the past year.
“This is 30 years’ worth of
discussion which concluded in Sharm el-Sheikh last year, which concluded with
the agreement to establish this funding arrangement.”
But, Stiell explains, over the
past year countries have had to work out how to actually set up the fund.
“Today’s news gives the Cop28
climate conference a
running start … we must keep our eyes on the prize and every second counts.” Lord of the Cliches!
“We still have a lot of work ahead
of us. Loss and damage is just one of the negotiating tracks, but the spirit in
which parties have engaged as we ended the pre-sessional week, where
negotiators were engaging and engaging constructively … what is consistent is
that willingness to start these negotiations with a constructive and engaged
outlook. So we need to work and build on what we have seen today as we work
through the 12 or 13 days that are ahead of us.”
·
·
Updated at 10.07 EST
We’re still waiting, so here’s
another of the best dressed conference attendees.
An early frontrunner in this year’s fashion stakes is
Briseida Iglesias, a Guna indigenous leader from Panama, sage of the
songs and other spiritual practices of the Gunadule people.
She is the founder of Bundorgan
Women’s Network, a front line organisation for the revitalisation of ancestral
farming and medicine practices. She is also an expert on the traditional
textiles worn by Guna women as symbol of protection, cultural resistance and
connection with mother Earth.
The conference is still being delayed
– 80 minutes overdue now – but we are assured “they are on their way and will
be here very soon”.
When asked what “very soon” meant,
the Cop28 spokesman replied “10 to 15 minutes” – the
same response he gave an hour ago – which was met with laughter in the hall.
·
·
@Th2.old
British academic Matthew Hedges, who was imprisoned by the United Arab Emirates
for seven months after being accused of spying, has warned visitors to Cop28 not
to fall into the same trap he did.
He warned attendees to: “take a
clean phone, a new phone with limited access. Do not have social media on your
phone, or if you do, make sure it is a business account, with two-factor
authentication, or something like this, and do the same for the safety,
integrity of your emails.”
He also said attendees should be
particularly careful not to inadvertently put their contacts at risk:
“It isn’t just you, it’s anyone
you are connecting with, because there are laws which restrict and criminalise
working with international organisations that could be perceived to be critical
of the government.”
Dan
Sabbagh has the
full story here:
‘Don’t be naive like I was’: UK
academic advises Cop28 attenders to stay safe
Nina Lakhani
It’s all about fossil fuels. That
was the key message from the Climate
Action Network, the world’s largest coalition of climate NGOs, who used
their first daily briefing to echo calls from António Guterres demanding an
agreement on phasing out oil, gas and coal.
“This is going to be a festival of distraction, of miracle tech fixes
including carbon capture and storage which will be framed as essential. But
this is no substitute for the full phase out of fossil fuels which must be
fast, full, fair and funded; it’s about these four Fs,” said Romain Ioualalen,
global policy campaign manager at Oil Change International, at CAN’s first
daily briefing.
It’s hard to stay optimistic
that Cop28 can achieve the decisive action needed to
tackle the climate emergency, given the host’s intimate relationship with oil
and gas, but giving up will play into the fossil fuel industry’s hands, warned Teresa Anderson, ActionAid
International’s global climate justice lead. “We cannot stop believing, we cannot give up. We
have to get an outcome on fossil fuel phaseout.”
·
·
Long queues have been reported by
attendees at the conference. Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute
tweeted that he had been waiting an hour for registration.
It is still far less chaotic than the
scenes in Glasgow two years ago, where thousands of people were kept outside for hours,
and the notoriously queue-plagued Cop15 in Copenhagen
in 2009. Those in the queues will also be glad that Dubai is significantly
warmer than those venues.
·
·
Nina Lakhani
While we wait for the press
conference to start – now 45 minutes overdue – here’s another entry to the best dressed competition in
the form of Grace Louis, 23, from the Toposa tribe in South Sudan, where
drought and floods are severely affeecting communities.
Grace is a Cop first timer and is
in Dubai representing the Pan African Climate Justice
Alliance.
·
The US – which is both the world’s
wealthiest country and its biggest polluter – is coming in for some criticism
for its relatively paltry
contribution to the loss and damage fund.
Mohamed
Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, said: “The initial funding pledges are
clearly inadequate and will be a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the
need they are to address. In particular, the amount announced by the US is embarrassing for
president Biden and John Kerry. It just shows how this must be just the start.
“Although rules have been agreed
regarding how the fund will operate there are no hard deadlines, no targets and
countries are not obligated to pay into it, despite the whole point being for rich, high polluting nations to
support vulnerable communities who have suffered from climate impacts.
“The US and other rich countries
wanted the fund to be hosted by the World Bank. This has been agreed, but on an
interim basis, and only as long as it operates in a transparent and easy to
access way, something the World Bank is not known for. If it proves unfit for
the task, we will need to set up a separate entity to do the job.
“The most pressing issue now is to
get money flowing into the
fund and to the people that need it. The pledged funds must not just be
repackaged commitments. We
need new money, in the form of grants, not loans, otherwise it will just pile
more debt onto some of the poorest countries in the world, defeating the point
of a fund designed to improve lives.”
·
·
Updated at 09.58 EST
Nina Lakhani
@Th3.old
Some key points on the loss and
damage funding agreement:
·
The World Bank will be the interim host for a
period of four years, and the fund
will have an independent secretariat with developed and developing countries
represented
·
It’s been
agreed that the fund will
have “at least’ $100bn a year by 2030, with developing countries saying that
actual needs are already closer to $400bn annually. Loss and damage for climate breakdown
cost about $1.5tn in 2022, according to one recent study.
·
Payments into
the fund will be voluntary, with developed countries “invited”, not obliged, to
contribute
·
All
developing countries will be eligible to directly access resources from the
fund, with a minimum percentage allocation to the least developed countries and
small island developing states.
·
·
The press conference scheduled for
5pm local time (1pm GMT) has still not begun, and attendees have been told it
is likely to be another 10 to 15 minutes. Restless delegates can be seen pacing
the floors of the conference centre.
The conference – when it does
begin – can be watched here on the official UNFCCC feed:
The term “loss and damage” has
been debated and fought over fiercely since it was first used by the UN in the Bali Action Plan of
2007. If you’re wondering what exactly it refers to, my colleague Nina
Lakhani has
written a handy guide to what it is and why the entire Cop process hinges on it
here:
Why loss and damage funds are key to
climate justice for developing countries at Cop28
·
·
More
reactions are coming in to the the agreement on the operationalisation of the
loss and damage fund.
Ghiwa Nakat, executive
director of Greenpeace
MENA, said: “For communities suffering from climate-related loss and damage
every contribution matters. This is the kind of leadership we expect
from the host country and we urge other countries to follow suit. Rich
developed countries must step up with major contributions to the new fund, and
polluting industries must also be made to pay. If the Cop presidency can build
on this with a consensus agreement
on a just phasing out of fossil fuels, Cop28 will
indeed be an historic event.”
Mariana Paoli, Christian Aid’s global advocacy lead, said: “This time last year, at
the start of Cop27 in Egypt, the loss and damage fund was not even on the
agenda for that meeting. So it’s a testament to the determination of developing
country negotiators that we now already have the fund agreed and established.
“The fact
that the World Bank is to be the interim host of the fund is a worry for
developing countries. It needs to be closely scrutinised to ensure vulnerable
communities are able to get easy and direct access to funds and the whole
operation is run with far more transparency than the World Bank normally
operates on. These were the conditions agreed by countries and if they are not
kept to, a separate arrangement will be needed.
“It’s now
vital we see the fund filled. People who have contributed the least to the climate crisis are already
suffering climate losses and damages. The longer they are forced to wait for
financial support to cover these costs, the greater the injustice. At
Cop28 we need to see significant new and additional pledges of money to the
loss and damage fund, and not just repackaged climate finance that has already
been committed.”
Fanny Petitbon, head of advocacy for Care France, said: “Today is a landmark day
for climate justice, but clearly not the end of the fight. We hope the
agreement will result in rapid delivery of support for communities on the
frontlines of the climate crisis. However, it has many shortcomings. It enables
historical emitters to evade their responsibility. It also fails to establish
the scale of finance needed and ensure that the fund is anchored in human
rights principles.
“The loss and
damage fund must not remain an empty promise. We urgently call on all
governments who are most responsible for the climate emergency and have the
capacity to contribute to announce significant pledges in the form of grants.
Historical emitters must lead the way. Financial commitments must not be about
robbing Peter to pay Paul: funding must be new and additional.”
·
·
The US has announced $17.5m for the loss and
damage fund, $4.5m for the Pacific Resilience Facility which is focused on the
island nations in that ocean, and $2.5m for the Santiago Network, which
provides technical support for countries affected by climate breakdown.
Japan has
also pledged $10m for the main loss and damage fund.
These
significant pledges, which already amount to about $300m, will increase the
pressure on other wealthy nations to contribute to the fund.
·
·
The funding
is starting to roll in. Germany has also announced it will put $100m towards
the loss and damage fund, and the UK has announced £60m ($75m), made up of £40
for the fund and £20m for funding arrangements.
Kate Hampton
of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation welcomed the UAE’s pledge: “Dr
Sultan has managed what no previous Cop president has and got a big decision
agreed on day one. Their $100m is a bold move of south-south solidarity. This
is exciting leadership.”
UAE pledges $100m to loss and damage fund
Immediately
after the announcement that the loss and damage funding arrangements had been
agreed, the United Arab
Emirates, which is hosting the talks, pledged $100m to the fund.
·
·
Loss and damage funding arrangement agreed
Countries
have just agreed on the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund to help
poorer countries deal with the impacts of climate breakdown.
The news drew
a standing ovation from delegates.
The creation
of the fund has long been a stumbling block at climate talks, and the agreement
on the first day of the conference has been tentatively welcomed by many
delegates, although it will not be officially rubberstamped until the close of the conference.
Some early
reaction:
“The loss and
damage fund will be a lifeline to people in their darkest hour, enabling
families to rebuild their homes after disaster strikes, support farmers when
their crops are wiped out and relocate those that become permanently displaced
by rising seas. This outcome was hard-fought but is a clear step forward.
“The success of
this fund will depend on the speed and scale at which funds start flowing to
people in need. We call on world leaders to announce substantial contributions
at Cop28 – not only to cover start-up costs but also to fill the fund itself. People in vulnerable countries
will face up to $580bn in climate-related damages in 2030 v. handouts of millions and this number will only
continue to grow.”
– Ani
Dasgupta, President & CEO, World Resources Institute
“Amid the
historic decision to operationalise the Loss and Damage Fund within a year of
its establishment, addressing underlying concerns becomes critical. On one
hand, rich countries have pushed for the World Bank to host this fund under the
guise of ensuring a speedy response. Conversely, they have attempted to dilute their financial obligations
and resisted defining a clear finance mobilisation scale.
“The
responsibility now lies with affluent nations to meet their financial
obligations in a manner proportionate to their role in the climate crisis,
which has been primarily driven by decades of unrestrained fossil fuel
consumption and a lack of adequate climate finance delivered to the global
south.”
- Harjeet
Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network
International
·
·
Nina Lakhani
Climate justice advocates have condemned the
atrocities in Gaza and called for a permanent ceasefire, in the first
Palestinian solidarity event of Cop28.
“As human beings, we cannot ignore the absolutely
horrendous situation in Gaza.
But it is also not a coincidence that the same countries allowing and supporting Israel are the
same ones blocking progress on climate action,” said Lidy Nacpil, director of
the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development and convener of the
Cop28 Coalition. “As the whole world gathers here, it is our responsibility to
talk about what is happening in Palestine.”
The UNFCCC
cut off the livestream as Asad Rehman, director of the UK-based organisation
War on Want, called for a permanent ceasefire and accountability.
“The
Palestinian struggle is woven into every struggle for justice including climate
justice,” he said. “We want an end to ethnic cleansing, an end to the genocide,
an end to war crimes. We want a free Palestine.”
The
livestream was resumed after the organisers and attendees made a lot of noise.
More than
15,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have died since 7 October. Israel’s
bombardment of the Gaza strip since Hamas’s cross-border attack has led to
widespread food and water shortages, as well as the destruction of agricultural
land and water infrastructure. More than 95% of the water in Gaza is unfit for
consumption, while water salinisation and treatment plants have been shut down
due to fuel shortages imposed by Israel, and in some cases partially destroyed
by the bombardment.
@Th.old.5 “As
Indigenous people of the world, we are heartbroken to see the genocide and
ecoside in Palestine,” said Mesiah Burciaga-Hameed, who read out a statement on
behalf of the Indigenous people’s caucus. “There is no climate justice without
human rights.”
“There can be no climate justice on occupied
land,” said Dylan Hamilton, a 19-year-old climate justice and trans rights
activist from Scotland. “The youth stand with Palestine.”
The briefing
ended with an emotional address from Tariq Luthun, a Palestinian American from Friends of the Earth
Palestine, who said denying
water to people was a form of collective punishment that has also been used in
the US, for example the mass water shutoffs for overdue bills in Detroit and
the lead contamination scandal in Flint, Michigan.
“What good is to be found in a green world if the
roots are soaked in blood,”
said Luthum. “I reject the notion that some people have to suffer so that
others can prosper.”
The event
ended with calls of “Viva viva Palestina”.
·
·
Updated at
09.57 EST
By Patrick
Greenfield
The role that
carbon markets will play in helping countries meet their Paris commitments is
up for discussion at Cop28, and a series of forest deals made by a little-known member of Dubai’s
ruling royal family is causing controversy.
Rights to an area of land larger than the size of
the UK have been sold off to UAE-based firm Blue Carbon, which is chaired by
Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum. So far, the exploratory deals cover a fifth of
Zimbabwe, 10% of Liberia, 10% of Zambia and 8% of Tanzania, amounting to a
total area the size of the UK.
In October,
Blue Carbon signed its latest deal for “millions” of hectares of forest in
Kenya. The company said it was also working on an agreement with Pakistan. More
deals are expected in the coming months. Critics have called them a new “scramble for Africa”.
Blue Carbon
is not alone. Today, Tanzania
National Parks - which cares for famous parks like the Serengeti and
Kilimanjaro - announced it has signed a deal to turn six protected areas into a
1.8m hectare carbon project, which would make it one of the largest in the
world.
The Guardian
has looked into the Sheikh’s business dealings, with concerns raised about his
involvement selling Russian’s Sputnik V vaccine, acting as a dealmaker with
Ghana, Guyana, Lebanon and Pakistan at lucrative premiums in 2021. One of the listed Blue Carbon
advisors is an Italian fugitive.
Read more
here:
Who is the UAE sheikh behind deals to
manage vast areas of African forest?
·
·
This is Alan Evans
now taking over from Damien Gayle for the rest of the day. You can reach me at
alan.evans@theguardian.com, or on X (formerly Twitter) at @itsalanevans.
Our
reporters Damian Carrington and Nina
Lakhani have
sent updates on the food situation on the ground:
If climate
summits march, like armies, on their stomachs then Cop28 looks in good shape.
Unlike the
first days of the disorganised Cop27 in Egypt, there is actually food. It’s
mostly vegan too, a nod to the enormous impact meat has on the climate. An avocado, edamame and hummus
sandwich was one offering.
It’s not all cheap, though. A coffee is $6
(£4.75), more expensive even than most cafes in New York, so delegates without big budgets are coming prepared with
packed lunches and thermoses.
Carnivores
are catered for though, and it’s halal – eg a chicken sausage roll. But it’s a clear improvement on the
meat feast of Cop24 in Poland, and the beefburger vans of Cop27.
·
·
Updated at
09.57 EST
Nina Lakhani
Fossil fuels have
turned Indigenous communities into sacrifice zones, endangering their land,
water and air and fuelling displacement, one of Cop28’s first briefings has
been told.
Brenna
TwoBears, lead coordinator for the Indigenous Environmental Network in Oregon,
was among Indigenous environmental experts who kicked off the first day of
Cop28. They pledged their support for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
and warned of the dangers market-based false solutions posed to Indigenous
peoples and the global climate.
TwoBears
said:
Indigenous
people support the equitable phase out of coal, oil and gas without loopholes
used to justify delays and false solutions and tech fixes that allow the fossil
fuel regime to continue and grow, and which do not address the climate crisis…
this must be accompanied by the fast track adoption of clean energy, a just
transition in which no community or country is left behind.
Momentum has
been building behind the proposal for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty,
with support from Indigenous organisations and communities facing some of the
gravest threats from extreme weather events and slow-onset climate impacts,
such as sea level rise and
melting glaciers.
Eight nations – Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, the
Solomon Islands, Niue, Antigua and Barbuda, and Timor-Leste – have also thrown
their weight behind the idea.
Eriel Deranger, executive director of Indigenous
Climate Action who is from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, an Arctic
community where Canada exploits tar sands, said:
Carbon
trading depends on the continued growth of emissions that will create more sacrifice zones. We
cannot achieve a just transition without centring climate solutions on
Indigenous and human rights.
Aletha Adu
Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK’s opposition Labour party, will have a series of meetings
over two days with heads of states, business leaders and being hosted for an
international investors roundtable on Friday at the Cop28 climate summit.
Starmer will be joined in Dubai by shadow energy security and net zero
secretary, Ed Miliband, and shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy.
He will use the climate summit to emphasise his view that the push to net zero
is an economic opportunity, and to say Labour is the only UK party with a plan
to pragmatically harness the opportunities of the energy transition.
Starmer aims to draw a dividing line with the Conservative government, noting
that prime minister Rishi Sunak was shamed into going to Cop27 and has used the
year since to double down on his failures, turning off businesses and
investors, failing to cut energy bills and make the UK energy secure. He will
aim to get across that the Tories are more interested in sowing political
division than facing the biggest challenges of the world.
During his visit to the summit, Starmer will set out some of the planks of an international climate strategy
under a Labour government. Earlier this year, Starmer pledged to “throw
everything” at net zero
and the overhaul of the UK’s energy system and industries, promising new jobs
in “the race of our lifetime” to a low-carbon future.
·
·
Updated at 07.25 EST
Damian Carrington
“We are living through climate collapse in real time,” UN secretary-general António Guterres has told Cop28 delegates
in Dubai, writes Guardian environment editor Damian Carrington.
He spoke at the launch of
the World Meteorological
Organization’s stark State of the Climate report, which said
2023 will be the hottest year ever recorded.
“This year has seen communities
around the world pounded by fires, floods, and searing temperature – and the
impact is devastating,” Guterres said. “Record global heating should send
shivers down the spines of world leaders. And it should trigger them to act.”
The WMO report, timed to inform
the negotiations at Cop28, said climate records had been shattered in 2023,
leaving “a trail of devastation and despair”.
Data up to the end of October
showed 2023 was about 1.4C (2.5F) above pre-industrial levels, driven by the
continued rise in carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and by the return
of the El Niño climate pattern. The latter is likely to make
2024 another record year, and bring the internationally agreed limit of 1.5C
(2.7F) ever nearer.
‘Climate collapse in real time’: UN
head António Guterres urges Cop28 to act
·
·
@Th.old.1Sultan
Al Jaber officially opens the Cop28 climate summit
Sultan
Al Jaber has
officially opened the Cop28 climate talks in Dubai,
after receiving the tiny hammer that is the symbol of his presidency.
Reuters has filed the first report
of his opening remarks to delegates, based on a text circulated to journalists.
The news agency quotes Al Jaber as saying there were “strong views about the
idea of including language on fossil fuels and renewables in the negotiated
text ... I ask you to work together.”
“Colleagues, let history reflect the fact that this is the Presidency
that made a bold choice to proactively engage with oil
and gas companies,” Jaber said. “We had many hard discussions. Let me
tell you, it wasn’t easy.”
Al Jaber noted that many national
oil companies had adopted net-zero targets for 2050. “I am grateful that they
have stepped up to join this game-changing journey,” Jaber said. “But, I must
say, it is not enough, and I know that they can do more.”
While Sultan Al Jaber says some
oil companies have set net zero targets for 2050, those only cover the emissions from producing the
oil and gas.
No companies have committed to
cutting production of the
polluting fuels themselves, which is what scientists are clear is
needed.
Indeed, the fossil fuel industry
plans to produce double the amount of oil, gas and coal than
could be burned while keeping under internationally agreed limits for global
heating. And the company with the biggest net-zero busting plans is Adnoc, the UAE’s
state oil giant, whose CEO is Al Jaber himself.
·
The tiny hammer has been presented
to Sultan Al Jaber, officially
transferring to him the presidency of the Cop process.
·
·
Updated at 05.38 EST
India's foreign
minister insists coal 'would remain' its main source of energy
Even as the Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, prepares to travel to the Cop28 summit,
a top official in his government insisted coal will remain India’s main source
of energy for years to come.
“Coal is, and would, remain an important part of India’s energy
needs,” Vinay Mohan Kwatra, India’s foreign secretary, told reporters ahead of Modi’s trip
to Dubai.
India currently depends on coal
for almost three-quarters of its electricity generation and is adding 17
gigawatts of coal-based power generation capacity at its fastest pace in recent
years to meet a record increase in power demand.
There is hope this year’s climate
talks will include efforts to secure a global agreement on the phase-out of
fossil fuels, of which coal is the dirtiest and most carbon intensive. India
and China have been opposing attempts to block construction of new coal-fired
power stations, according to Reuters.
Kwatra said India expects a clear
roadmap on climate financing at Cop28 and has always been upfront about its
support for a “loss-and-damage” fund aimed at helping countries recover from
environmental degradation caused by industrial development.
“Loss and damage fund will be of
great benefit to developing countries,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
·
·
Updated at 05.38 EST
Nina Lakhani
Delegates are just beginning to
find their way around the Cop28 climate
talks venue this morning. My environment desk colleague Nina
Lakhani is
there and sent this dispatch on what it looks like around Expo City in Abu
Dhabi.
It’s day one and the sprawling
Expo venue is beginning to fill up with delegates, diplomats and activists from
more than 180 countries, and among them are serious fashionistas bringing some
style to the tense and formal negotiations.
Forget fashion week, the climate summit is both the place to see
international clothing trends – and get to know the traditional dress of
countries, communities and Indigenous territories that you’ve never visited.
From beaded hijabs, silk saris and brilliant white dishdashas to Mayan
huipiles, Amazonian headdresses, and west African Ankara wax fabrics, getting
to hang out with people from every corner of the planet is one of the
highlights of Cop.
Worst dressed group? The media, without doubt, though some of our
colleagues from Africa, Latin America and Asia make a lot more effort than us comfort seekers.
English may be the main
negotiating language, wait in line for coffee or the bathroom, and you’ll hear a
glorious array of languages and dialects. It’s outside the formal negotiations
that the power of collaboration and grassroots community building comes into
its own. There’s a lot not to like about Cop but the diversity and relationship building is a beautiful
thing.
Updated at 04.33 EST
Greenpeace has a message for African
leaders heading to Cop28 today: “Stop False Solutions”.
·
Delegates
hope for early win on loss and damage fund
Delegates at Cop28 are
hoping to achieve an early victory on a disaster fund on Thursday before the
summit turns its attention to more contentious areas, such as the future of
fossil fuels, Reuters is reporting.
The news agency says diplomats are
hoping a draft deal on a loss and damage fund can be approved quickly at the
start of the climate talks. The United Arab Emirates’ Cop28 presidency has
already published a proposal for such a fund.
Once an agreement is reached, rich
countries can begin pledging money. Nations including Germany, Denmark and the
Netherlands are expected to announce contributions over the next few days,
European diplomats told Reuters.
“Everyone with the ability to pay should contribute,” said the EU
climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, who said he wanted to “broaden the donor
base beyond the usual suspects, simply because that reflects the reality of
2023.”
With governments preparing for
long, tough negotiations on whether to agree to phase out coal, oil and gas,
the main sources of carbon emissions, it is hoped an early win on loss and
damage will pave the way for further compromises later on.
·
·
Updated at 04.13 EST
@Th.old.2
Extinction Rebellion, the climate activist
campaign, has issued a downbeat assessment of what we can expect from Cop28.
Some five years after they began
their campaign for action on climate breakdown with their “declaration of
rebellion” outside the UK parliament, XR says we have woken up to a world that
“is as bad, if not worse than we predicted five years ago”, with 2023 set to be
classified the hottest year on record.
In this context … we are once
again seeing world leaders fly, on their private jets, to the next conference
of the parties (Cop) on climate, Cop28. The conference will take place in Dubai
in the United Arab Emirates, a nation built almost entirely on fossil fuel
wealth. Cop28 is led by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, founder and chair of Abu
Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). which has the largest net-zero busting
plans in the world.
Before it has even begun, it is
clear the Cop process has been captured by the fossil fuel economy. We are
unlikely to see the rapid, just and equitable phaseout of all fossil fuels
coming out of this process.
And yet XR says it will not simply
ignore the talks at Cop, and it has issued calls for a number of outcomes it
wants to see, including the honouring of climate finance grants, the urgent
establishment of a loss and damage fund, debt cancellation and a fast, fair
process.
To ignore Cop is to display our
minority world arrogance and play into the hands of the system we are trying to
fix. Those in power have designed Cop to their advantage — of course they want
us to ignore it. Many majority world countries have no choice but to work with
the United Nations (UN) because it is the only space that comes close to global
democracy in which their voices have a presence.
The G77 will be there, and in Brazil,
President Lula is calling for an Amazon Cop in 2030; many movements come to Cop
trying to push for justice.
So XRUK’s position is: Yes, Cop28 is not good enough, but it’s all we’ve got.
·
·
Updated at 03.49 EST
UK schools
union says it is 'deeply concerned' at impact of climate crisis on pupils and
education workers
The trade union representing the leaders of schools in the England,
Wales and Northern Ireland has said it is “deeply concerned” at climate crisis
and the impact it is having on pupils, education workers and communities across
the world.
As part of a submission to
the Cop28 climate talks by UK trade unions, the
National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) called for governments “to
prioritise their actions before it is too late”, pointing out that extreme
climate events are disrupting the education of nearly 40 million children a
year worldwide.
Helena Macormac, the NAHT’s
international secretary, said:
It is vital that decisive and
substantial collective international actions are taken as a matter of urgency –
the future of our children and young people is at stake.
The UK government has said that
tackling climate change and biodiversity loss is its number one international
priority, yet the lack of investment and sustained joined up policy on this
area would lead us to believe that this is not the case. Climate change is
already having detrimental effect to education working conditions in the UK,
with decades of state neglect of school buildings and classrooms not fit for
purpose in extreme weather events. We are also already seeing an increase in
‘climate refugees’ and displaced pupils impacting on school communities.
It is vital that the pupil voice is
heard within the climate crisis debate, and that they are able to access
climate education – it is they that will pioneer the necessary solutions to the
climate crisis. Governments must realise the integral role that pupils, school
leaders and education providers play in tackling climate change, and work to
deliver a ‘just transition’ for the future.
ActionAid UK
criticises UK's climate action progress, saying it is sending wrong message to
other countries
Rishi
Sunak, the UK
prime minister, will be flying in to Dubai for
the start of the Cop28 summit as he tries to burnish his credentials as an
international statesman.
But over the past few months, the UK government has issued
more than 100 new licences for oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea.
The development charity ActionAid UK has criticised the UK’s progress on
climate action, saying domestic policies are threatening progress on the global
stage by sending the wrong message to countries elsewhere in the world.
In a statement send to the
Guardian, Zahra Hdidou,
senior climate and resilience adviser at ActionAid UK, said:
As Rishi Sunak lands in Dubai, we
are deeply concerned by the message the UK government is sending to countries
in the global south affected by its alarming inaction on climate change. Ahead
of the Cop summit this week, the UK claims that it is more ambitious on climate
than any other major economy, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
As it issues licences for over 100
new oil and gas fields and fails to provide a proper roadmap on how it will
deliver £11.6bn in loss and damage finance to climate-stricken countries, the UK’s decisions today will
continue to cause environmental catastrophe well into the future and cause
immense harm to women and girls disproportionately affected by climate
breakdown.
Attention should also be paid to
the role that the UK’s finance sector, one of the world’s most important, plays
in financing fossil fuel projects, Hiddou said:
The UK is also the heart of the
global financial sector, which our recent research found has poured hundreds
of billions of pounds into fossil fuels and agribusinesses since the Paris
agreement. With UK banks like HSBC and Barclays among the largest funders of
climate chaos, it also has a responsibility to regulate the sector, ensuring
that money stops flowing towards climate-wrecking industries.
Instead of accelerating investments into fossil fuels and continuing
its harmful, polluting legacy, it should show strong leadership in Dubai and
commit to phasing out fossil fuels entirely.
·
·
Updated at 03.45 EST
The UN
Development Programme has
published a video explainer on the issues at play at this year’s Cop climate
summit. Take a look if you need a quick and easily absorbed rundown of what
delegates will be discussing over the next fortnight.
·
·
The United Arab Emirates, one of
the world’s foremost fossil fuel producing nations, was always going to be an
interesting choice for the Cop28 climate talks. Highlighting the
apparent contradiction is a tweet from one attendee showing this incongruous
sight from her hotel room window.
By Ajit Niranjan
People must balance outrage and optimism after a “hellish summer” of
extreme weather, the UN’s former climate chief has urged at the start of
the Cop28 climate summit, writes Ajit Narinjan, the Guardian’s
Europe environment correspondent.
“We have to keep the outrage
really high because we are
so darn late,” said Christiana Figueres, a veteran negotiator hailed as
the architect of the Paris
climate agreement.
She pointed to the weak policies that governments have set in order
to cut planet-heating pollution and the $7tn with which they directly and indirectly
subsidise fossil fuels.
But there were reasons for optimism that could stop people
falling into “a dark rabbit hole”, she added. “I do make a conscious
choice every morning to say: ‘Yes, I know what all the bad news is’ – that’s
easy to get because that just screams at you from whatever news feed you have –
but also, what is positive that is going out there? What are the disruptive
pieces that are real, strong evidence of the fact that this is changing?”
Speaking to a small group of
reporters on Monday, Figueres highlighted the plummeting cost of renewable
energy and the growth of electric cars as two areas where positive changes were
happening faster and faster.
xTh.3We have to balance outrage with
optimism, says UN’s former climate chief
·
·
Updated at 03.44 EST
Dawn has broken over the Cop28
climate talks in Dubai. Here are the first few pictures appearing on the
news wires of the scene there this morning as the conference gets under way.
Updated at 03.35 EST
Damian Carrington @whole address as attachent
Simon Stiell, the
executive secretary of the UN climate convention, the international framework which
governs Cop28, has given a call to arms to all nations as the
summit begins:
This year’s climate conference comes as the crisis enters a new phase –
and shows its full force, harming billions of people, and costing trillions.
Now everyone is on the frontlines. No country is immune. xTh.3
Yet most governments are still
taking baby steps, when bold strides are urgently needed. So, the problem is
clear: business-as-usual is breaking our planet. At the Cop28 climate
conference, leaders must get to work fixing it.
It’s great that over 160 world
leaders are coming, but Cop28
cannot be just a photo-op. Leaders must deliver in Dubai – the message
is clear.
They must agree to triple renewable
energy this decade, and double energy efficiency. And Cop28 must show a clear
agreement to leave fossil fuel dependency behind. Only renewable energy offers
safe, affordable, secure energy, as well as far more jobs, stronger economic
growth, less pollution and better health for people in every country.
Developing nations – who did least to cause the crisis – have been
starved of climate justice and resilience for too long. Last year’s Cop in
Egypt delivered an historic loss & damage fund. This year’s cop in the UAE
must put meat on the bone of this fund. That means putting real money on the
table. Table scraps won’t cut it.
In a fractured world, climate action
is a chance to unite around a common cause: survival, justice, prosperity. In
short – Divisions will
destroy us. But solutions can save us. It’s time for us all to get to
work.
·
·
Updated at 03.34 EST
Guterres
calls for complete 'phase-out' of fossil fuels
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, has said this year’s Cop climate talks
should aim for a complete “phase-out” of fossil fuels, insisting of the 1.5C
climate goal: “It is not dead, it’s alive.”
Speaking to French state-backed
news agency AFP before embarking on his flight to attend the conference
in Dubai, Guterres said:
Obviously I am strongly in favour of language that includes (a)
phaseout, even with a
reasonable time framework.
We have the potential, the
technologies and the capacity and the money - because the money is available,
it’s a question of making sure it goes into the right direction- to do what is
necessary, not only to keep the 1.5 degrees alive, but alive and well.
The only thing that is still
lacking is political will.
Scientists are increasingly
warning the goal of restricting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial
levels looks ever more unlikely, an outcome that nations have agreed would be
disastrous for human civilisation.
Since the goal was agreed at the
Paris climate talks in 2015, nations’ actions have fallen far short. Some
countries have called for the final statement of Cop28,
which requires unanimous agreement, to explicitly call for a reduction in
fossil fuel consumption – which would be a historic first.
But Guterres went further, telling
AFP a simple promise to reduce fossil fuels would not be enough. “I think it
would be a pity if we would stay in a vague and noncommittal ‘phase-down’ whose
real meaning would not be obvious for anybody,” he said.
·
@end
attachment
·
Updated at 03.26 EST
So what is a conference of the parties? My colleague
@Attach Fiona Harvey, Guardian environment editor
and a veteran of multiple Cops, has written a handy explainer, setting out what
it is all about. She writes:
“For almost three decades, world
governments have met nearly every year to
forge a global response to the climate emergency. Under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change
(UNFCCC), every country is treaty-bound to “avoid dangerous climate change” and
find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way.
xTh.4
Cop stands for conference of the
parties under the UNFCCC, and the annual meetings have swung between fractious
and soporific, interspersed with moments of high drama and the occasional
triumph (the Paris agreement in 2015)
and disaster (Copenhagen in 2009). This year is the 28th iteration, and promises to be a difficult
follow-up to last year, when developing countries celebrated victory on key issues of climate
finance.
For more answers to your
Cop28-related questions, including “Why do we need a Cop anyway?”, read more by
clicking the link below.
What is Cop28 and why does it matter?
Open and insert@
·
·
Updated at 03.24 EST
Good morning! This is Damien Gayle,
on the very first day of the 28th conference of parties
climate change summit, or Cop28.
The Guardian will be live-blogging
the negotiations throughout, as always, and we look forward to your
contributions: please email me on damien.gayle@theguardian.com with
thoughts and suggestions. Alan Evans (alan.evans@theguardian.com)
will be taking over the blog later on.
Today, the first day of the
conference, will be focused around the opening ceremony. Joe Biden and Xi
Jinping will not be attending but other world leaders will be arriving today,
including Rishi Sunak.
Negotiators are hoping to make
strong progress this Cop, and Sultan Al Jaber, the president-designate of the
summit, has told my colleague Fiona Harvey that an “unprecedented
outcome” that would keep alive hopes of limiting global temperature rises to
1.5C is within reach.
But it is all still to play for. The US’s veteran climate
negotiator, John Kerry, speaking to journalists in Dubai yesterday, said:
“I feel confident that we will make progress [at Cop28]. The question is: how
much progress?”
X@FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 1ST @q
@
Cop28
Cop28:
Rishi Sunak says ‘climate politics is close to breaking point’ – as it happened
Updated 6h ago
6h
ago
End-of-day
summary
7h
ago
Starmer accuses Sunak of ‘retreating’
from climate leadership at Cop28
8h
ago
Rishi Sunak: 'climate politics is close
to breaking point'
9h
ago
‘Planetary
emergency’: droughts, the deadliest of disasters
9h
ago
Brazil's Lula: 'it is not possible to
face climate change without combating inequality'
10h
ago
Ursula
von der Leyen calls for world to follow EU with carbon pricing
10h
ago
Leaders
speeches begin with pleas on Palestine and Pacific islands
10h
ago
Summary
13h
ago
King's climate warnings 'meaningless'
unless UK government acts, say climate action groups
13h
ago
King Charles tells Cop28 summit 'our
own survivability will be imperilled' unless we
'restore nature's economy'
15h
ago
Rishi
Sunak, King Charles and other world leaders fly in to Cop28
King
Charles III and Rishi Sunak
Fri
1 Dec 2023 10.08 EST
From
8h ago
08.44
EST
Rishi
Sunak: 'climate politics is close to breaking point'
Sunak
has declared to Cop that he has watered down UK climate policies, potentially
embarrassing the country on the world stage.
As
other world leaders ask for more action to be taken on the climate emergency,
the prime minister continued his environment rhetoric – which has been condemned as damaging by
environment charities. It will pt them out of business, like sf rent
“Climate
politics is close to breaking point”, he said, adding that “the costs of
inaction are intolerable but we have choices in how we act”.
Sunak
said that net zero would only be delivered in a way that “benefits the British
people”, adding that “we have scrapped plans on heat pumps and energy
efficiency that would have cost people thousands of pounds”.
He
also highlighted his new nature plan, which has been panned by critics.
Despite
this, he did tell other countries that “the mounting science and evidence of
climate related disasters prove we are not moving fast enough”, and added that
“everyone can do more”.
He
called on major emitters to cut faster and said “the UK is leading the charge”.
Updated
at 09.58 EST
6h
ago
10.08
EST
End-of-day
summary
We
are wrapping up the blog. Here is a refresh of a very busy day at the summit:
Keir
Starmer, the UK opposition leader, has accused Rishi Sunak of “shrinking and
retreating” from showcasing leadership on the global stage at Cop28 and over
the climate crisis. Starmer added he he’d had a “lot of engagement” and many
requests for bilateral meetings, “more requests than we can possible handle”.
He added: “The prime minister said this morning we will be judged by our
grandchildren not on what we said but what we did and what we didn’t do. And
therefore, for the prime minister to reduce this down in the way that he does,
the smallness of his politics is becoming a feature of his politics. We saw it
with the Greek prime minister. We saw it with some of the lines that he was
putting out about ‘eco zealots’ as he got on the plane to come here. This is
not something to shrink from, not something to retreat from.”
Sunak
declared to attenders of the summit that he had watered down climate policy in
the UK, drawing anger from politicians and climate experts who said he had
“misread the room”.
World
leaders, particularly those from developing countries at the forefront of the
climate crisis, called on large economies and emitters to take urgent action to
reduce emissions and fund loss and damage.
A UN report found that droughts were a
global emergency causing widespread famine, and that they were a silent, often
ignored, killer.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva, said it was not possible to tackle the climate crisis without also
tackling inequality. He spoke of climate suffering in the Amazon, which was
experiencing one of the “most tragic droughts in its history”, while cyclones in
the south of Brazil had left a trail of “destruction and death”.
Greek
people were excited that King Charles wore a Greek-motif tie and pocket square
during his address to the conference – signalling – or so it has been
interpreted – his support for the return to Athens of the Parthenon marbles
after a row over the antiquities this week.
Speaking
of the monarch, his speech was certainly more well-received than Sunak’s.
Charles said alarming tipping points were being reached and that it was greatly
worrying that the world was so far off track in tackling the climate crisis. “Unless we rapidly repair and
restore nature’s economy based on harmony and balance, which is our ultimate sustainer,
our own economy and survivability will be imperilled,” he added.
Updated
at 10.28 EST
7h
ago
09.59
EST
The
leaders’ speeches are over and I am pretty certain Rishi Sunak is the only one to have used it as an
opportunity to boast about domestic climate policy rollback. A less tone-deaf
leader may have focused on the positive actions Britain has taken, and urge
other countries to follow suit, rather than doubling down on our regressions.
In my personal view, it is quite embarrassing and sets a bad example for other
countries to follow. Why should poorer countries, which are bearing the brunt
of our emissions that are causing extreme weather events, invest in
decarbonising when the British prime minister will address Cop of all places to
trumpet a retreat from net zero policies? It is a dangerous move to talk about
the so-called costs of decarbonisation at a summit where each country is being
asked to do its utmost to prevent climate catastrophe.
Below
is a summary I wrote in September about Sunak’s net zero rollback to remind you
of the policies we are referring to.
UK
net zero policies: what has Sunak scrapped and what do changes mean?
Read
more
Updated
at 10.32 EST
7h
ago
09.42
EST
Starmer
accuses Sunak of ‘retreating’ from climate leadership at Cop28
Aletha
Adu
Keir
Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of “shrinking and retreating” from showcasing
leadership on the global stage at Cop28 and over the climate crisis.
This
comes after Sunak’s tetchy press conference during which he boasted about UK
plans to water down climate action.
Starmer made his comments on the first
day of the Cop28 summit, which he attended with the shadow foreign secretary,
David Lammy, and the shadow net zero secretary, Ed Miliband.
Starmer
said he has had a “lot of engagement” and many requests for bilateral meetings,
“more requests than we can possible handle.”
He
added: “The prime minister
said this morning we will be judged by our grandchildren not on what we said,
but what we did and what we didn’t do.
“And therefore, for the prime minister
to reduce this down in the way that he does, the smallness of his politics is
becoming a feature of his politics. We saw it with the Greek prime minister. We
saw it with some of the lines that he was putting out about ‘eco zealots’ as he
got on the plane to come here. This is not something to shrink from, not
something to retreat from.”
Starmer
accuses Sunak of ‘retreating’ from climate leadership at Cop28
Read
more
Updated
at 09.51 EST
7h
ago
09.34
EST
Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow energy
secretary, was not very impressed by Sunak’s remarks to the media in which he
reiterated his plans to water down the UK’s domestic climate commitments.
He
described Sunak’s stance on the crisis as a “failure”, explaining: “That was a
complacent performance from a prime minister in denial about the energy bills
crisis at home, and the weakening of the United Kingdom’s standing abroad in
his time in office.
“Working people are paying the price
for Rishi Sunak’s climate failure, in the form of higher bills, and in the
awful costs this leaves our children and grandchildren.
His approach, criticised today by a former Tory prime minister, is undermining
Britain’s energy security.
“Only
Labour can deliver the climate leadership that Britain needs, to cut energy
bills for families, make the UK energy independent, and protect the planet.”
Updated
at 10.36 EST
7h
ago
09.30
EST
UK
prime minister Rishi Sunak is on stage at the world leader’s speeches. He said “climate science shows we are
off track” and that credibility is being undermined by “climate politics”. This
phrase appears to mean, judging by his press conference earlier, criticising
him for his net zero rollback.
Sunak
criticised the divide between “lofty rhetoric on stages like this” and what
happened on the ground. He pointed out that the UK had “decarbonised faster
than any other major economy”.
The
prime minister again boasted on the world stage that he was “taking a new
approach” to net zero and watering down commitments.
He
outlined the £1.6bn fund announced today, which will include loss and damage
funding as well as support for forests, and said the UK was a leading green
finance centre.
Sunak
added: “I believe we can deliver here in Dubai but we’ve got to work together.”
The
UK PM will not be around to work on the climate negotiations, however, as he is
soon due to board his private jet and return to the UK after spending only
eight hours in Dubai.
He
also said “the debate is too divided”, which may surprise the climate experts
he has repeatedly labelled as “zealots” in recent days.
Updated
at 10.36 EST
7h
ago
09.23
EST
Bibi
van der Zee
Here
are some further extracts from the leaders’ speeches:
The
prime minister of Japan,
Fumio Kishida, welcomed the summit’s plans to conclude the first ever
global stocktake but the world is not yet on pathway to 1.5C. He outlined the
country’s financial and energy transition plans, including a goal to make
renewable energy its main source of power – Japan is apparently the world’s third largest market for
solar power.
Abiy Ahmed, president of Ethiopia, said
his country had planted 32.5bn seedlings and was turning a desert into a
biodiverse paradise. He said his country is planting climate resilient plants,
and produced 6m hectares of wheat in one year. He said “this has relieved us
from decades of import dependency” and that they had for the first time become
a wheat exporter.
Pedro Sánchez, president of Spain, said
we need to have a “polluter pays” principle, where
polluters pay for the destruction they cause.
It
was pretty difficult for the Dutch
prime minister, Mark Rutte, to commit to anything very significant as he has
already stepped down as prime minister and his appearance follows a divisive
and angry election in the tiny but wealthy country. He contented himself with
an exhortation to action, particularly on behalf of the young people
around the world, and an acknowledgment that the decarbonisation in the
Netherlands has been tricky. “It is a painstaking process but it can be done.”
It remains to be seen what the
government that succeeds him – still taking shape after the far-right politician
Geert Wilders won an unprecedented percentage of the vote – will want to do on
this topic.
Updated
at 09.54 EST
7h
ago
09.13
EST
Unsurprisingly,
climate experts are not impressed by Sunak’s decision to use Cop as an excuse
to boast about the UK’s back sliding on climate goals.
Tessa Khan, executive director at
Uplift, an organisation campaigning for a fossil fuel free UK said:
“The prime minister has completely misread the room. While the head of the UN
implores countries to urgently phase out fossil fuels, the UK is one of just a handful of
wealthy nations that is continuing to greenlight major new oilfields.
“Rishi
Sunak’s disinterest in tackling the climate crisis plays badly with voters at
home, but to play dumb at Cop and ignore the UK’s role in literally adding fuel
to the fire, for example by approving the massive Rosebank oilfield, is diplomatically
embarrassing.”
Updated
at 09.54 EST
8h
ago
09.02
EST
Bibi
van der Zee
Here
are some more updates from the world leaders.
Nikos Christodoulides, president of
Cyprus, told the summit that his country was experiencing the effects of
climate change – wildfires, floods, and extreme heatwaves which have destroyed
large parts of their forests and had a devastating effect on livelihoods.
The eastern Mediterranean and Middle East climate change initiative was working
on a coordinated response across the region. “Let us come together to build
resilient and green businesses and communities of the future.”
Vahagn Khachaturyan, president of
Armenia, said it was clear we cannot continue down the route of using
predominantly hydrocarbons for energy. He said we need to “phase down” fossil
fuels – he didn’t say he wanted to phase them out.
Emmanuel Macron,
president of France, went well over his allotted time, delivering a long and
comprehensive analysis of the many changes that need to be made to
international structures so that action on climate change can be optimised. His
speech focused on routes
to decarbonisation around the world and pointed out the dysfunction of the
investment systems that run them. He called for a complete U-turn on the
subject of coal, with the G7
countries must set the example and commit to putting an end to coal.
“France will close all plants by 2027,” he promised and the richest countries
must help developing countries to phase out coal. @India?
He
said the world must also stop subsidising new coal power plants and must change
rules when it comes to private financing: “The private sector has no
disincentive, and our investment systems are dysfunctional.”
He
wanted to see the World
Trade Organization redraw its trade rules to allow countries to
subsidise green industries and place a tariff on coal.
Updated
at 09.56 EST
8h
ago
08.52
EST
Asked
by the Telegraph about the leaders of the world’s two largest emitters, China and US not
attending the Cop, UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, focused on the UK’s
emissions.
“The UK accounts for less than 1% of
global emissions. We have to acknowledge in reality that what we do isn’t going
to be the difference in terms of our emissions.” @excuse
However,
many argue that the UK needs to lead by example as a wealthy, developed country
which has historically been one of the world’s largest emitters.
Sunak
reiterated net zero needs to be “pragmatic and proportionate” because “we only
account for less than 1% of emissions”.
Asked
about his meeting with Tony Blair, Sunak said “it was nice to see Tony Blair”.
Asked
by Politico why he is spending more time on a private jet than at Cop, which he
is only going to be at for a matter of hours, he said it is not about the amount of time
spent but the impact made.
He
said he had very useful meetings with people about a “very significant reform
of the global financial system that needs to happen”.
Sunak
said: “I feel very good that it’s been a very productive day.”
Updated
at 09.57 EST
8h
ago
08.48
EST
Now
some questions to Sunak from journalists. He was asked by the BBC if he was
saying the UK has “already done its bit” and the onus was on other more
emitting countries.
He
replied that the UK has more ambitious targets than other countries, adding:
“We are on track to deliver all these targets, we have carbon budgets that we
have met and we are on track to meet the next one as well. With all the
announcements I made earlier, we are still on track to meet these carbon
targets.”
Sky
asked him whether other world leaders had raised concerns about the net zero
rollback. Sunak says: “Hand on heart, 100% no. Not a single leader I have
spoken to today has, because our
targets are more ambitious than theirs.”
He
added that other countries
are “hugely appreciative” of his work and the UK.
Defending
himself, he added: “I shift a date to be in line with almost every other
country and it’s treated like it’s a rather extreme measure.”
Updated
at 09.57 EST
8h
ago
08.44
EST
Rishi
Sunak: 'climate politics is close to breaking point'
Sunak
has declared to Cop that he has watered down UK climate policies, potentially
embarrassing the country on the world stage.
As
other world leaders ask for more action to be taken on the climate emergency,
the prime minister continued his environment rhetoric – which has been
condemned as damaging by environment charities.
“Climate
politics is close to breaking point”, he said, adding that “the costs of
inaction are intolerable but we have choices in how we act”.
Sunak said that net zero would only be
delivered in a way that “benefits the British people”, adding that “we have
scrapped plans on heat pumps and energy efficiency that would have cost people
thousands of pounds”.
He also highlighted his new nature
plan, which has been panned by critics.
Despite
this, he did tell other countries that “the mounting science and evidence of
climate related disasters prove we are not moving fast enough”, and added that
“everyone can do more”.
He
called on major emitters to cut faster and said “the UK is leading the charge”.
8h
ago
08.11
EST
Here
are some more highlights from the leaders’ speeches, by Bibi van der Zee and I.
Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan,
president of the Seychelles, said he was disheartened that so
many financial commitments on climate change were yet to be fulfilled despite
the urgency of the crisis.
“Small island developing states are on
the frontline of climate change,” he told the summit.
They urgently need money to deal with the coastal erosion they are seeing. “We
made history by operationalising the loss and damage fund on the first day of
this Cop … It is vital that this fund is equitable and genuinely helpful.” The
Seychelles is an environmental champion which already protects 32% of its
marine land, but it is categorised as a high-income country, and Ramkalawan is
extremely concerned that this will affect their ability to access LAD funding.
Turkey’s
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
was another leader who made comparisons
between the war in Gaza and the climate crisis. He said: “Turkey has
stood by peace during all these crises and works towards finding solutions on
the basis of equity. We approach the issue of climate change from the same
perspective.” He pointed
out that Turkey is the second in Europe and ninth in the world for hydro
energy. He said despite the devastating earthquake in February they are
managing to keep on track for their goals and are “healing the wounds” of the
disaster while building “climate and environment friendly” structures.
Zuzana Čaputová, president of
Slovakia, asked the summit: “How much more do we want to harm future
generations?” Her country’s emissions have peaked already, and are 55% lower
than they were in 1980. They plan to use 5% of GDP from public sources to
decarbonise their country and by the end of this year will stop using coal to generate electricity.
Updated
at 08.27 EST
@
began compiling leaders by country in copleaders
9h
ago
07.55
EST
Patrick
Greenfield
Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s environment
minister, has said the loss and damage fund should help rebuild trust between
the global north and south after years of tense negotiations.
Earlier today, Canada committed
US$11.8m to the new fund, which will be housed within the World Bank. Guilbeault also said
his country was happy to support language on reducing fossil fuels that was
consistent with Canada’s 2050 carbon neutrality target.
“It is significant. For 30 years, we
made absolutely no progress on loss and damage. We went from nothing about a
year ago to a fund and countries pledging money today. I think for the global
south, this is a very significant issue. Between that and the $100bn dollar
goal, I think these are very important elements that will help restore trust.
Trust is the fuel of this process. I think it bodes well for the next two
weeks,” he said.
“It’s not a recognition that we are willing to
take on liability from the results of climate change. But as large emitters, we
have a role to play. We have a greater role to play in supporting the global
south.”
When
asked whether Canada supports language to phase out all fossil fuels, a key
point of contention at the Cop28 summit, Guilbeault said his country was open to different forms
of language in the final text and underscored that fossil fuel
production would have to drop.
“We
support language that’s aligned with our commitment to be carbon neutral by
2050. Whether you want to call it phasing out unabated fossil fuels or say it in a different way.
Some people would like us to say we want to phase out all fossil fuels but even the IPCC and the
IEA still say in a 2050 carbon neutral world that we will still be using fossil
fuels,” he said.
“I
don’t know how realistic it is to say we will phase them all out but what’s
important is that we radically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. And for
those that we are using, we
need to capture and sequester the emissions. We don’t have a choice. But
we need to see significant emission reduction from the oil and gas centre. We
can’t do that through abatement technology. There is going to be a reduction in
production,” he said.
Updated
at 08.59 EST
9h
ago
07.50
EST
Veteran
climate reporter Roger Harrabin, who used to work for the BBC and is now
freelance – sometimes writing for the Guardian – points out that only political
journalists, not environmental specialists, have been allowed into an event
with Rishi Sunak. Harrabin
says he was “kicked out”.
We
have a brilliant reporter in there and will bring you the news from his press
conference, but it is true that this government often hides from scrutiny and
one of the ways it does that is by barring specialist (critical@) reporters
from its briefings.
Our
environment editor, Fiona Harvey, has also reported troubles in accessing press
conferences at the summit.
Updated
at 08.32 EST
9h
ago
07.45
EST
The
leader’s speeches continue. Here are some updates from myself and one of my
editors, Bibi van der Zee, who is also listening in.
Santiago Peña, president of Paraguay,
said: “In my country of Paraguay all energy is clean and renewable. Yes you
heard that, it is all clean and renewable.”
He’s right – the Itaipu Dam, located on
the Paraná River, is one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world
and generates about 95% of Paraguay’s electricity, all of which comes from
renewable sources.
He
also pointed out that 44% of their land surface is forest, and asked China to allow Taiwan to
be included in the Cop process – the small country is currently barred at the
instruction of the Chinese government.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of
Kazakhstan, has pledged to join the global methane pledge. He says there is
extraordinary potential for wind and solar in his country – a key oil exporter
- and also points out that Kazakhstan is poised to become a major source of
rare earth minerals. Tokayev is planning to convene a regional climate summit
in 2024 under UN auspices.
President of Serbia, Aleksandar
Vučić, said that temperatures in his country have increased by 1.8C
already. Serbians experienced uncomfortable “tropical nights” over 20C degrees
celcius for the first time this October, which he
said was “unprecedented for the region”.
Abdul Latif Rashid, president of Iraq,
drew on the history of the region, pointing out that his predecessors in
Mesopotamia, 4,500 years ago, drew up the first agreement for sharing water
resources, and warned the summit that the famous rivers of Iraq were now under
threat from drought linked to climate change. “The drought
in the south of Iraq, the record level temperatures, desertification, and sand
storms have led to economic challenges that resulted in a larger level of
poverty and internal displacement.” He urged the gulf countries to act as a
unified bloc, and condemned
the aggressive attack on Gaza.
Updated
at 08.43 EST
9h
ago
07.36
EST
‘Planetary
emergency’: droughts, the deadliest of disasters
Damian
Carrington
Droughts supercharged
by global heating are “an unprecedented emergency on a planetary scale”,
according to a UN report released on Friday at Cop28, leading to food shortages
and famine.
While
other climate impacts such as heatwaves, wildfires and floods often hit the
headlines, droughts are often silent disasters, the report said, and “the
massive impacts of human-induced droughts are only starting to unfold”.
The report is from the UN Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which is an international agreement on good
land stewardship. It says “few if any hazards claim more lives, causes more
economic loss and affects more sectors of societies than drought”.
Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD executive
secretary, said: “Unlike other disasters, droughts happen silently, often going
unnoticed and failing to provoke an immediate public and political response.
This silent devastation perpetuates a cycle of neglect, leaving affected
populations to bear the burden in isolation.”
“With
the frequency and severity of drought events increasing, as reservoir levels
dwindle and crop yields decline, as we continue to lose biological diversity
and famines spread, transformational change is needed,” he said.
Extreme
droughts that have wrecked the lives of millions of people in Syria, Iraq and
Iran since 2020 would not have happened without human-caused global heating, a
recent study found. The
climate crisis also made the record drought across the northern hemisphere in
summer 2022 at least 20 times more likely, scientists have calculated. Without
human-caused global heating, the event would have been expected only once every
four centuries.
“Several
countries already experience climate-change-induced famine,” said the UNCD report. “Forced
migration surges globally; violent water conflicts are on the rise; the ecological base that enables
all life on Earth is eroding more quickly than at any time in known human
history.”
The
report cited a string of
scientific findings:
120
million people are people expected to experience extreme drought even if global
temperatures are restricted to 1.5C. Current policies are on track for 3C of
heating, meaning extreme drought for 170 million people
In
China, 15-20% of the population face more frequent moderate-to-severe droughts
this century
1.2
million people in the Central American dry corridor are in need of food aid
after five years of drought, heatwaves and unpredictable rainfall the drought
in the La Plata basin of Brazil and Argentina in 2022 was the worst in 78
years, reducing crop production and affecting global markets
The
report notes that those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are
most exposed: 85% of those affected by droughts live in low- or middle-income
countries.
The
report said better farming techniques, such as drought-resistant crops,
efficient irrigation methods, no-till farming, can reduce the impact of drought
on farmers’ crops and incomes. The International Drought Resilience Alliance, which was launched at
Cop27, by the leaders of Spain and Senegal at Cop27, is creating political
momentum and mobilising money and technology for a drought-resilient future and
now has 34 member nations.
Updated
at 08.47 EST
9h
ago
07.27
EST
Brazil's Lula: 'it is not possible to
face climate change without combating inequality'
Jonathan
Watts
The
President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said his country was leading by
example: “We have adjusted our climate goals, which are now more ambitious than
those of many developed countries. We have drastically reduced deforestation in
the Amazon and will bring it to zero by 2030,” he said.
Lula,
as he is best known, called for developed countries to invest more to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and to support developing nations who are suffering from climate
impacts.
“The planet is fed up with unfulfilled
climate agreements. Governments cannot escape their responsibilities.
No country will solve its problems alone. We are all obliged to act together
beyond our borders”, he argued.
He told delegates that the trillions of
dollars spent on weapons should be used against hunger, inequality and climate
change: “The world has naturalised unacceptable disparities in income, gender
and race and that it is not possible to face climate change without combating
inequality.”
He
spoke of climate suffering in the Amazon, which is experiencing one of the
“most tragic droughts in its history” while cyclones in the south of Brazil
have left a trail “of destruction and death”.
Although his energy minister announced
yesterday that Brazil will align more closely with the world’s biggest oil
syndicate, Opec, Lula said it was necessary to “work for an economy less
dependent on fossil fuels.”
As
an aside, we have reported on this inequality in our series The Great Carbon
Divide.
Updated
at 08.51 EST
9h
ago
07.10
EST
Helena
Smith
Helena
Smith
A
royal observation that may have gone unnoticed but over in Greece is causing
waves of excitement.
King
Charles’s address has been well received in Athens and not only for his
dramatic call for climate action to save the planet for future generations. The
Greek media has noted with a touch of euphoria that the British monarch was
donning a Greek-motif tie and breast pocket handkerchief – signalling (or so it
has been interpreted) his support for the return to Athens of the Parthenon marbles in the wake of
this week’s row over the antiquities.
King
Charles III makes his opening address at the World Climate Action Summit at
Cop28 in Dubai
Charles,
who regularly holidays in Greece, the country of his father’s birth, has
frequently spoken of his great love and passion for all things Hellenic. The
king cannot publicly take a stance in the centuries-long row over whether the 2,500-year-old
sculptures are better exhibited in the Duveen gallery of the British Museum or
the Parthenon gallery of the Acropolis Museum beneath the fifth-century
BC temple but in this instance his sartorial choice, say Greeks, appears a
little more than symbolic.
Updated
at 08.49 EST
9h
ago
07.06
EST
World
leaders are using their Cop speeches to push other political points.
Gitanas Nausėda, president of Lithuania,
said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has committed “ecocide” in his war
against Ukraine and should not be about to get away with it.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president of
Zimbabwe, said “economic sanctions placed on our country are hindering climate
action”. He demanded the lifting of what he described as the “heinous
sanctions”. These sanctions were put in place by the US, UK and EU in 2022
because of human rights violations such as murdering protesters, and not
respecting democracy and the rule of law.
Updated
at 08.50 EST
10h
ago
06.54
EST
Ursula von der Leyen calls for world to
follow EU with carbon pricing
Ursula
von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, had a focus on “loss and
damage” in her speech. She said:
At
this Cop we will set a decisive step forward to protect the most vulnerable
citizens worldwide. They suffer loss and damage and we will stand by their
side.
She
added: “Global emissions must peak by 2025, we must phase out fossil fuels and
we must reduce methane emissions”
Von
der Leyen said the EU would contribute to the new loss and damage fund, and
that they’ve pledged more than £270m so far. “We must get the fund up and
running and we must do it fast,” she added.
In terms of private finance, she said:
“We need to reform the international financial system, we need more carbon
pricing.”
Updated
at 06.58 EST
10h
ago
06.49
EST
William
Ruto, the president of Kenya, said that his region was already facing the
horrific effects of climate breakdown.
“In
eastern Africa, catastrophic flooding has followed the most severe drought the
region has seen in over 40 years,” he said, adding that studies indicated
droughts were now more than 100 times more likely in parts of Africa than in
the pre-industrial era.
The
extreme weather this year has “seized lives and destroyed communities” as well
as destroying infrastructure and supply chains.
He
added that the world needs to invest in green energy and other infrastructure
in Africa. “A tendency to ignore Africa’s developmental and industrial needs …
is no longer a tenable position. Turning Africa into a green powerhouse is not
just essential for the continent, it is also vital for global
industrialisation, decarbonisation.”
10h
ago
06.37
EST
David Cameron, the recently appointed
UK foreign secretary (and former prime minister) seems to be enjoying himself
at Cop, shaking hands and beaming his way around the conference centre.
Our environment editor, Fiona Harvey, is, as we write, sitting just behind him
at a press conference and we will find out from her what he has to say very
soon. For now, enjoy these pictures of a very happy Cameron. He seems delighted to be out of
his shed and back on the world stage.
Updated
at 07.04 EST
10h
ago
06.32
EST
Nina
Lakhani
It’s
now been confirmed that more
than 130 prime ministers and presidents today signed the Cop28 UAE Declaration
on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action – the
first of its kind commitment to adapt and “transform” food systems as part of
broader climate action. But, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable
Food Systems (Ipes-Food), an independent, expert panel on sustainable food
systems, points out that the declaration contains no legally binding
commitments. And there are no targets or clear steps to tackle key
climate-related issues such as the crazy amount of food waste in some
countries, the overconsumption of industrially produced meat and processed
foods, and the food industry’s huge fossil fuel footprint.
Lim Li Ching, co-chair of Ipes-Food
and senior researcher for Third World Network said: “It’s encouraging to see
that food systems are finally taking their place at the heart of climate
negotiations and at the highest levels of government. We cannot meet our global
climate goals without urgent action to transform the industrial food system,
which is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and 15% of
fossil fuel use. But while this is an essential first step, the language
remains very vague – and specific actions and measurable targets are
conspicuously missing.”
Updated
at 07.10 EST
10h
ago
06.21
EST
Patrick
Greenfield
Zambia’s president, Hakainde Hichilema,
has hit back at suggestions that a wave of carbon offsetting deals in African
countries by a UAE sheikh, which include his country, are a new “scramble for
Africa”.
Speaking
after an EU event on carbon markets alongside Ursula von der Leyen, the Spanish
prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the heads of the World Trade Organization
(WTO), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Hichilema said his
country lacked expertise on developing carbon projects and needed international
organisations to help.
This year, the rights over vast tracts
of African forest have been sold off in a series of huge carbon offsetting
deals that cover an area of land larger than the UK to a UAE-based firm called
Blue Carbon, with concerns raised about the previous business dealings of the
young Dubai royal behind the agreements.
When
asked about the secretive
Blue Carbon deals, Hichilema said they would benefit local people.
“It
shouldn’t be [a scramble for Africa’s resources]. When someone comes to our
country and brings an idea around carbon, we say that we don’t understand how
to work through this. That is why we have asked the World Bank, the IMF, the
WTO, the African Development Bank to put the technical capacity together,
learning from what the countries of the north have done,” he said.
In
a speech that lacked specifics, Ursula von der Leyen has said carbon markets
and taxation were important for global decarbonisation, including voluntary
carbon markets which have been beset by accusations of poor quality by
scientific research and journalistic investigations.
The
new World Bank president,
Ajay Banga, said his organisations would soon be presenting high-quality
forestry projects in three countries that, he hoped, would help assuage
concerns about lack of environmental integrity in forest carbon projects.
Updated
at 07.21 EST
10h
ago
06.14
EST
Leaders
speeches begin with pleas on Palestine and Pacific islands @F.1
Hello,
Helena Horton here, an environment reporter here at the Guardian and I’ll be
blogging throughout the rest of the day. The leaders have started speaking.
Here are a few highlights.
We
are starting with some monarchs – the UK’s King Charles spoke earlier.
Abdullah
II bin Al-Hussein, the king of Jordan linked the climate emergency to the war
happening in Gaza. He said:
“As
we speak the Palestinian people are facing an immediate threat to their lives
and well being. Tens of thousands have been injured or killed in a region
already on the frontline of climate change. The massive destruction of water
makes the environmental threats of water scarcity and food insecurity more
severe.”
He
added that people there are living without clean water and with a bare minimum
of food supplies and points out that climate change exacerbates the destructive
nature of war.
The
monarch asked for more aid to be sent to the most vulnerable and pointed out that
Jordan does not contribute significantly to climate breakdown but is greatly
affected, with water scarcity a real threat.
Tupou
VI, the King of Tonga said it was “painful” for small developing island states
to see that Cop28 “may not be the milestone moment we were all hoping for” and
that progress on the Paris agreement had been far too slow.
Every
year, we hear anguished pleas from those representing small island states who
are literally sinking under the water due to climate breakdown. Unsurprisingly
they have felt ignored as large, wealthy countries continue to belch out fossil
fuels. Tupou said that over 50,000 Pacific island people were displaced every
year as their homes are lost as a result of climate breakdown. He told the
conference: “We are ocean people, the ocean is our lifeblood, it feeds us, is
our mode of transportation and is a deep part of our culture.”
Updated
at 06.24 EST
11h
ago
06.03
EST
Summary
It
has been a busy morning with big name politicians from around the globe
arriving for day two of Cop28.
King Charles addressed delegates telling them
“I pray with all my heart that Cop28 will be [a] critical turning point towards
genuine transformational action.”
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, arrived
for a flying visit but his decision to push ahead with new oil and gas drilling
in the North Sea and rowing back on key climate measures has not got down well.
A new declaration on transforming food systems has been agreed,
the first Cop resolution which directly tackles the relationship between what
we eat and the changing climate. (see
below)
Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, was due to arrive with a cadre of
administration officials, including Tony Blinken, the US secretary of state,
and Michael Regan, administrator of the EPA.
My
colleague Helena Horton is taking over the blog now as leaders begin their
addresses to conference
Updated
at 06.27 EST
11h
ago
05.50
EST attachment – merge with 2 below
A
new declaration on
transforming food systems has been agreed, the first Cop resolution
which directly tackles the relationship between what we eat and the changing
climate.
Some
reaction to the new declaration on food that my colleague Nina Lakhani reported
on earlier.
Tom
Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute for Environment and
Development, said:
“This
agreement is a tentative first step in addressing one of the thorniest problems
of the climate crisis – our
broken food systems. They are responsible for so many greenhouse gas emissions,
from cutting down forests and clearing land for animal feed, to the emissions
of cattle themselves. It’s staggering there has been no obligation to
include this sector in emissions reductions plans for so long.
“Government
subsidies have long supported the polluting effects of large scale agriculture,
acting as a hidden brake on climate action. These payments should be redirected
in a way that means people and nature can thrive.” @burger taxes? Cannibalism?
Patty
Fong, from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, said:
“The
declaration doesn’t set out how governments will tackle food emissions, and
makes no reference to fossil fuels, despite food systems accounting for at
least 15% of fossil fuels burned each year –equivalent to the emissions of all
EU countries and Russia combined. This is a glaring omission.
“However,
the commitment to integrate food and farming into domestic climate action plans
is welcome and long overdue. Over 70% of countries’ nationally determined
contributions lack adequate action on food systems – updating them is where
there is real potential to tackle emissions and unlock climate finance.
“Our
more than two dozen philanthropic members and other partners around the world
are working to catalyse
much-needed food system transformation that can help to phase out dependency on
polluting fossil fuels in the sector while improving health, community
wellbeing, and biodiversity.”
Updated
at 06.28 EST
12h
ago
05.04
EST @gender
A
quick analysis shows that while
women and girls bear the brunt of the climate crisis, only 15 out of the 133
world leaders participating in this year’s Cop28 are women.
Last
year, seven out of the 110 world leaders attending Cop27 were women. So
although there has been a welcome increase since last year, at 11%, women are
still significantly underrepresented.
Helen Pankhurst, senior adviser on
gender equality at Care International UK said: “Yet again, the red carpet is
being rolled out for male leaders at Cop and men dominate among the senior
negotiators. How are we going to achieve a fair outcome in climate
negotiations with such inequity at the top? Women and girls are the most
affected by climate change, yet they are silenced. Invisible. This must
change.”
Updated
at 05.19 EST
12h
ago ATTACHMENT @ (FOOD, BAD COP)
04.53
EST
More
from Nina Lakhani on the new food declaration
While
far from perfect, the groundbreaking declaration was widely welcomed by
small-scale and Indigenous farmers – who produce a third of the world’s food –
as well as right to food campaigners, consumer associations and small business
groups.
“The
destruction of nature and climate change threatens food security, rural
livelihoods and nutrition, but our food systems also cause a third of global emissions
and are a primary driver of wildlife loss. It’s about time the Cops put them on
the main menu,” said Hilal
Elver, a former UN special rapporteur on the right to food. “Food and
agriculture must be at the heart of new climate plans and funding if we are to
meet the Paris agreement and have enough nutritious food for everyone.”
Esther
Penunia, secretary-general of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable
Development, a regional alliance representing 13 million family farmers, said:
“The declaration is a major milestone on the road towards a more resilient and
sustainable food system. Governments
need to work with family farmers networks to ensure these promises are
translated into the concrete policies and funding needed to support small-scale producers
and promote a shift to more diverse and nature friendly farming, which
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is needed to safeguard food
security.”
Other
commitments include a pledge to accelerate and scale science and evidence-based
innovations – including local and Indigenous knowledge – which increase
sustainable agriculture, promote ecosystem resilience and improve livelihoods,
including for rural communities, smallholders, family farmers and other
producers.
It’s
been a long time coming but finally, world leaders seem to be catching on to
the fact that achieving the long-term goals of the Paris agreement will be
impossible without transforming
agriculture and food systems. Progress on this is a key area to watch,
especially given the power and influence of the meat, dairy and industrialized
farming conglomerates.
Updated
at 05.22 EST
12h
ago
04.50
EST
Nina
Lakhani
World leaders have signed a declaration
on transforming food systems – the first ever Cop resolution which directly
tackles the symbiotic relationship between what we eat and the changing
climate. The resolution recognises that “unprecedented adverse climate
impacts are increasingly threatening the resilience of agriculture and food
systems as well as the ability of many, especially the most vulnerable, to
produce and access food in the face of mounting hunger, malnutrition, and
economic stresses … [we recognise] the profound potential of agriculture and
food systems to drive powerful and innovative responses to climate change and
to unlock d prosperity for all.”
The
100+ countries to sign the declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient
food systems and climate action have committed to including food and land use
in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation
plans by Cop30 in 2025.
Globally,
food systems account for about one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, with
the vast majority coming from industrialised farming, particularly livestock
and fertilisers. The climate crisis is already impacting agriculture and food
security, as extreme weather events like floods, droughts, heatwaves and
wildfires – and slow-onset impacts like sea level rise and desertification –
fuel high prices and food shortages in countries across the world. @bad cop, no donuts
12h
ago
04.43
EST
As
the Cop28 conference continues, a new study underlines the growing severity of
the fossil fuel driven climate emergency.
Research
by the short-term climate prediction team at the Institute of Atmospheric
Physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, finds that after the warmest
summer on record we could be heading for a similarly abnormal winter.
Published
in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, the study predicts the
“imminent maturity of a moderate to strong eastern Pacific El Niño” during the
northern hemisphere winter, creating more record-breaking temperatures in the
coming months. It notes that large parts of Asia and most parts of the Americas
are likely to experience an exceptionally warm winter – and gives a 95% chance
that the global average surface temperature for the 2023-24 winter will set a
new historical record.
Updated
at 05.27 EST
12h
ago
04.33
EST
Oliver
Milman
Oliver
Milman
Kamala
Harris, the US vice-president, arrives in Dubai today with a cadre of
administration officials, including Tony Blinken, the US secretary of state,
and Michael Regan, administrator of the EPA.
Harris
will “highlight the administration’s historic achievements” in combating the
climate crisis when she addresses Cop28 tomorrow, according to a US state
department official. A new US rule limiting methane emissions is expected to be
unveiled tomorrow, to chime with the visit.
Other
developments have been less flattering for the Americans, however. Joe Biden
himself is skipping Cop28 (he took part in the essential business of lighting
the White House Christmas tree yesterday) and his administration is auctioning
off large tracts of public land for oil and gas drilling during the summit.
At
Cop, the pledge made by the US, the world’s leading economy, to the loss and
damage fund was just $17.5m (£13.8m), a figure described as “embarrassing” by
climate campaigners. A group of Republican lawmakers are making the trip to
Dubai, meanwhile, where they will push a contrary message – that Biden is
waging a war on American energy and that China is being let off too easily in
emissions cuts.
Updated
at 05.28 EST
12h
ago
04.11
EST
Helena
Horton
Helena
Horton
One
may think former prime minister Boris Johnson would have relished the chance to
make an appearance at Cop. Last year he was widely credited with forcing Rishi
Sunak, who had just become prime minister, into going by announcing his
appearance. You’ll remember Sunak banned the king from going and planned on
skipping it himself, before U-turning.
However, friends of Johnson tell us he
isn’t going this year, despite registering and hoping to, because of the
timings for the Covid inquiry. He’s due to appear next week and is going over
his evidence to prepare for what are likely be some gruelling days of
interrogation.
He
would probably much prefer addressing international groups at Cop, where he is
quite well-respected because of his enthusiastic hosting of Cop26, where pledges for international
finance and halting deforestation were made, and for his public pronouncements
on the climate crisis (which did not always match with his policy). Johnson,
who is still said to partly blame Sunak for his downfall, would also probably
have enjoyed usurping the prime minister’s appearance, particularly as
Sunak’s standing on climate has arguably diminished even since last year, what
with his net zero rollback, frequent use of private jets and descriptions of
climate experts as “zealots”.
12h
ago
04.08
EST
My
colleague Damian Carrington is picking up more frustration with the UK’s stance
on climate action under Sunak.
A
British veteran of UN climate talks has told me: “It doesn’t matter what Sunak
says today.” He said the delegates at Cop28 told him they have seen what the
prime minister has done at home: pushed new oil and gas licences and delayed
measures on electric cars and home heating. “We used to be a climate leader. Now we are going backwards.”
13h
ago
04.05
EST to attach?@
Nina
Lakhani
It’s a big day for food and agriculture
at Cop28, with the first ever major statement by world leaders on food and
climate expected this afternoon, with more than a hundred countries expected to
commit to transforming their food and agricultural systems. The fact that it’s
taken so long for a Cop commitment on food is remarkable given that
industrialized agriculture and food systems are both a cause and casualty of
global heating – and could also play a major role in mitigation.
Like
everything at Cop, the expected commitment seems to have been watered down a
fair bit, but overall small scale farmers, Indigenous groups and right to food
campaigners seem quite positive about what’s to come. Stay tuned for more
details.
Updated
at 04.25 EST
13h
ago
04.03
EST
Downing
Street has also been forced to defend the decision for Sunak, King Charles and
the foreign secretary, David Cameron, to all fly to the climate conference on
three separate private jets.
A
No 10 spokesperson said: “It is in line with the government’s position that we
are not anti-flying. We do not seek to restrict the public from doing so and
it’s important the UK has strong attendance at Cop28 given we continue to be a
world leader in tackling climate change.”
Updated
at 04.26 EST
13h
ago
03.55
EST
King's
climate warnings 'meaningless' unless UK government acts, say climate action
groups
Reaction
to King Charles’s speech is already coming in and it is mainly taking aim at
Rishi Sunak’s record on climate.
Izzie
McIntosh, from Global Justice Now said: “King Charles’s dire warnings are meaningless unless the
UK government backs them up with actions. Instead, Rishi Sunak has been rolling
back net zero plans, expanding North Sea oil and gas, and is now fiddling the
figures on climate finance. Rich polluting countries saying the right
thing while doing the wrong thing has become all too familiar over 30 years of
climate summits – the only difference this time is that in Charles and Rishi
it’s a deceitful double act.”
Zahra
Hdidou, from ActionAid UK said:
“We
welcome King Charles’s keynote speech at Cop and his continued dedication
towards climate action … The irony should not be lost that the king is flanked
at the summit by two men who remain committed to climate wrecking policies. On
one side we have a prime minister who has gone on record as saying he wants to
“max out” North Sea oil and gas – and stands accused by former colleagues as
being ‘uninterested’ in environmental policies. And on the other side, the king
is joined by a foreign secretary who swiftly abandoned his own promise to lead
the greenest government on record just three years after being elected in
2010.”
Updated
at 05.21 EST
13h
ago
03.44
EST attach @text?
King
Charles said the world was facing a dark choice and asks how dangerous are we
prepared to make it for future generations.
He
said humans were carrying out a vast, frightening experiment, changing every
ecological condition, all at once, at a pace that far outstrips nature’s
ability to cope.
The
conference was an unmissable opportunity to keep common hope alive, he said. “I
can only urge you to meet it with ambition, imagination, and a true sense of
the emergency we face.”
He
said delegates should remember what the indigenous world view taught us “that
we are all connected. Not only as human beings, but with all living things and
all that sustains life … The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the
Earth.”
Updated
at 03.54 EST
13h
ago
03.35
EST
King
Charles tells Cop28 summit 'our own survivability will be imperilled' unless we
'restore nature's economy'
King
Charles is addressing the conference now. He says he was touched to be asked to
speak at the opening of COP21 in Paris, which culminated in the landmark Paris
Agreement, and adds “I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be another
critical turning point towards genuine transformational action at a time when,
already, as scientists have been warning for so long, we are seeing alarming
tipping points being
reached.”
He
says we are seeing alarming tipping points being reached and that is greatly
worried that we are so far off track in efforts to address the climate crisis.
“Unless
we rapidly repair and restore nature’s economy, based on harmony and balance,
which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability will be
imperilled.”
Updated
at 03.43 EST
13h
ago
03.32
EST
Damian
Carrington
Damian
Carrington
The prominent climate scientist, Dr
Friederike Otto, at Imperial College London, has a
simple message for Cop28.
“Climate
change is already destroying lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems around the
world. Until we radically cut carbon emissions, extreme weather events will
become more frequent and intense. That means there is a human rights imperative
to phasing out fossil fuels.
“Despite
their carefully crafted, green-washed talking points, fossil fuel companies
will not save the world. Since 2021, we’ve known that no new gas and oilfields
could be developed if the world is to keep warming to 1.5C. But fossil fuel companies
continue to expand their operations, ignoring the suffering of millions of
people around the world, so they can make more money.”
“Climate
negotiations need to be highly sceptical of the influence and involvement of
big oil.”
Cop28
is being run Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of an oil company planning a huge
expansion in production. He says his background is an advantage in bringing
everyone to the climate table.
Previous5 of 5
My
colleague Nina Lakhani has
more on yesterday’s loss and damage agreement.
As the second
day gets under way, the president of the G77 plus China group – the bloc of 135
developing countries which played a key role in yesterday’s historic resolution
on operationalising the loss and damage fund – said the decision sent a clear
political message.
“It was a
milestone in terms of creating a positive mood for the very, very complex
process on the GST [global stock take] that we had ahead of us now. But the
fund needs to be filled up. The pledges announced were a welcome sign, but they
were just pledges and must materialise as soon as possible. And we expect much,
much more because of the impact of loss and damage in developing countries,”
said ambassador Pedro Pedroso of Cuba.
Yesterday’s
pledges by UAE, Germany, the UK and Japan amounted to almost $439m for the
start-up loss and damage fund – not nothing but a drop in the ocean compared
with the $400bn a year of climate related irreversible losses being incurred.
Further
pledges are likely as world leaders take to the stage today and tomorrow, but
some countries have an inglorious track record on repacking existing funding
commitments into new pledges – and a move towards providing loans rather than
grants. “We have seen a lot of recycling of money by developed countries like
the UK outrageously changing its methodology on climate finance. We’re not
naive and we’ll keep a check on that.”
Future loss
and damage will depend on the success of climate mitigation and climate
adaptation measures, which all depend on the global stocktake and climate
finance negotiations under way.
“Mitigation,
adaptation, supporting technology and capacity building are all interconnected
with each other – and loss and damage. In the context of the GST, there has to
be the recognition that the means of implementation is the single most
important cross-cutting factor that will enable developing countries to
transition justly to another development model. So we will be watching the
negotiations on the GST very closely,” said Pedroso.
·
·
Updated at
03.31 EST
From my
colleague Damian Carrington.
Bad news for
Rishi Sunak as he arrives in Dubai today: the UK’s own North Sea regulator has
concluded the new annual oil and gas licensing rounds Sunak is
forcing are unnecessary. The North Sea Transition Authority, which is charged
with maximising oil and gas extraction, said a mandatory annual process was not
needed and undermined its independence. This was the “unanimous view” of the
NSTA board, as the Financial Times reported.
Tessa Khan, at campaign group Uplift, said the
NSTA minutes showed the government “pressed ahead with a policy that will do
significant damage to the UK’s reputation and efforts to tackle climate change
globally, despite
being told by the body in charge of licensing that it is completely
unnecessary”. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, who, like Sunak, is
attending Cop28, has ruled out new licences if elected, and
called Sunak’s move a “gimmick”.
Sunak’s
announcement was widely criticised and runs counter to the International Energy
Agency’s statements that all new fossil fuel projects are incompatible with net
zero goals, and the consensus of scientists that most oil and gas reserves must
stay in the ground to restrict global heating to 1.5C.
My colleague
Patrick Greenfield reports that the loss and damage commitments – money being
pledged to poorer countries to help them deal with the costs of the climate
crisis – are continuing today after yesterday’s landmark agreement. Canada has
committed $60m to the fund, environment minister Steven Guilbeault announced outside
his country’s pavilion.
That brings
the initial size of the fund to US$489m. €225m ($245m) has already been
committed by the EU, including US$100m from Germany. There is also £60m ($75m)
from the UK, $24.5m from the US and $10m from Japan.
·
·
A little more
from my colleague Aletha Adu on what Sunak said when he landed in UAE this
morning.
Asked who he
meant when he said he was “not in hock to ideological zealots” over climate
change, the UK prime minister told broadcasters in Dubai: “Perhaps the people
protesting outside my house recently. “But there are people who think we should
get to net zero without any regard to the cost on ordinary families. I don’t
think that’s right. “I think we’ve got to be cognisant of the impact of this on
ordinary families up and down the country.”
Sunak
declined to single out China when asked which countries need to do more to
tackle climate change, and heaped praise on Cop28 host the United
Arab Emirates.
Pressed on
whether Beijing should do more, the prime minister told reporters in Dubai:
“Everyone collectively needs to do more to make sure that we do reduce
emissions sufficiently.”
Quizzed on
scepticism over a major oil producer hosting the summit, he said: “I actually
commend the UAE for their leadership. “They’ve been particularly strong on the
issue of climate finance.”
The UK has “a
great story to tell” at the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, Sunak has said.
Challenged over whether his rollback of climate ambition at home makes it
harder to push other countries to do more, the prime minister told
broadcasters: “We have got an incredible track record in decarbonising in the
UK, faster than any other major economy. We should be really proud of that.
“And I’ll be proud of that record at my meetings later today.”
He said other
countries were “deeply appreciative” of the support that they were receiving
from the UK to help them with the transition.
·
·
Updated at
02.44 EST
Sultan Al
Jaber, the UAE president of Cop28,
is addressing the conference now urging delegates to be flexible and to work
together during the negotiations. He says it is essential global south
countries do not have to chose between development and climate action. “let
this be the Cop when we deliver on our promises [of financial support to the
those in the global south]” he told delegates.
He says the
next two weeks will not be easy, adding everyone understands the gravity of the
situation now they need to accelerate progress and push a “positive can do
attitude.”
“Let’s delivery some good news to
the world.”
·
·
While we are
waiting for day 2 of Cop28 to
get going this is good read on what it is all about and why it matters from my
colleague Fiona Harvey
What is Cop28 and why does it matter?
·
My colleague Damian
Carrington reports that the arrival of the world’s leaders at today’s
conference is adding an extra challenge for delegates.. . and journalists.
Cops are
always a marathon for delegates, long days and long walks around the huge
sites. But today is an ultra-marathon for the thousands of attendees. The short
walk from the metro to the venue was blocked off, a security mounted for the
world leaders arriving today. That meant a trek in the sun to even enter the
site. And once in, more barricades have been erected to cordon off the
presidents and prime ministers, turning 5 minute trots into 30 minute slogs.
·
Updated at
01.48 EST
Rishi Sunak, King Charles and other world
leaders fly in to Cop28
World leaders
and assorted dignitaries are due to fly in to Cop28 today including UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles. My colleague Alehta
Adu is with
the prime minister and says he has just touched down.
King Charles,
a long time campaigner on climate issues, is due to give a “call to arms” in
his opening statement to the conference. Sunak on the other hand will have his
work cut out defending a series of policy moves – including a decision to push
ahead with new oil and gas licences in the north sea – that have been widely
condemned by climate experts and campaigners.
·
Updated at
02.28 EST
Good morning.
This is Matthew Taylor, on the second day of the Conference of Parties 28th
climate change summit, or Cop28.
Today will
see the formal opening ceremony, where the world’s leaders will be addressing
the conference. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is flying in from the UK, as is the
leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer.
Yesterday saw
significant developments at the conference as a deal on a fund for loss and
damage was finally done after many years of discussion; we lost count of the
number of people who called it historic.
A quick
summary of yesterday’s events with the loss and damage fund to help countries
deal with the impacts of climate breakdown the big news of the day;
·
The UAE immediately pledged $100m to the fund, and was followed
by contributions from the EU, led by Germany, the UK, the US and Japan, though
the US in particular were criticised for their relatively modest pledge
·
The
World Meteorological Organization said that 2023 would be the hottest year ever
recorded. UN secretary-general António Guterres responded to the news by saying “We are living
through climate collapse in real time”
·
A
representative of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said coal is, and will continue to be, an important
part of India’s energy needs
Let’s see
what today brings.
SATURDAY,
DECEMBER 2ND @q
·
Day 3: a push for more renewable
energy and nuclear power, and some movement away from fossil fuels
·
US announces crackdown on 'super
pollutant' methane
·
UN's top doctor compares burning
fossil fuels to smoking cigarettes
·
US powers past coal, Australia relies
on ‘drug dealer’ defence
·
Colombia joins fossil fuel
non-proliferation treaty
·
Pope: are we working for a culture of
life or a culture of death?
·
·
Mia Mottley:
"Turn down the methane"
·
22 countries call for tripling of
nuclear by 2050
·
Sat 2 Dec 2023 10.32 EST
·
US announces crackdown on 'super pollutant'
methane
Carbon
dioxide is the big climate villain but its lesser-known cousin methane is also
a powerful planet-heating pollutant.
The US has
announced a major crackdown on methane emissions as part of a new effort to
curb a “super pollutant” that is turbocharging the climate crisis, my
colleagues Oliver Milman, Damian Carrington and Fiona Harvey report from Dubai.
The new rules
are the centrepiece of global announcements to cut methane emissions at Cop28.
The US estimates they will cut methane emissions from its vast oil and gas
industry by 80% from levels that would be expected without the rule – a total
of 58m tonnes by 2038.
US outlines measures to cut methane emissions by 80%
in next 15 years
·
·
Updated at
09.35 EST
Day 3: a push
for more renewable energy and nuclear power, and some movement away from fossil
fuels
That’s all for today – tune back
in tomorrow for a health-themed day. Here are the key takeaways from the third
day of Cop28:
·
At
least 117 governments have agreed to
triple the world’s capacity of renewable energy by 2030 and double the rate of
energy efficiency improvements.
·
The
US was one of several countries to join an alliance to phase out power plants that burn coal and
has announced rules to cut its methane emissions.
·
Fifty
oil and gas companies have signed a “decarbonisation charter” that analysts have
criticised for ignoring the emissions spewed when customers burn the fuels.
·
Twenty-two
countries have pledged to triple nuclear capacity by
2050.
·
Colombia,
a major fossil fuel producer, has formally joined an alliance of nations calling
for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to prevent the “omnicide of planet
Earth”.
ATTACHMENT “A” @
Far from the suits and jargon of
the climate summit – but still tightly linked – the fight for environmental
justice continues in a very different form.
The authorities in Honduras have
issued an arrest warrant for the alleged mastermind in the case of Berta
Cáceres, the murdered Indigenous environmental leader, writes my
colleague Nina Lakhani.
Cáceres was shot in her home by
hired hitmen in March 2016 in retaliation for leading a grassroots campaign to
stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on a river
considered sacred by the Lenca people. Cáceres was assassinated less than a
year after being awarded the prestigious Goldman prize for environmental
defenders.
Latin America is the most
dangerous region in the world for those defending rivers, land and other
natural resources against corporate greed, pollution, and extractive industries
like mining and energy projects. Honduras, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia are
among the most deadly countries in Latin America, and Indigenous people in
particular are on the frontlines of fighting environmental destruction and the
climate crisis.
Earlier this week, Quinto Inuma
Alvarado, an environmental defender and Indigenous leader, was shot dead by
hooded men in response to his work defending his land from illegal logging and
drug trafficking in the San Martín region of Peru. He had spent years working
to achieve collective titling for his community, which would allow them to
effectively protect their land and forests of the Peruvian Amazon.
Indigenous environmental defenders
like Caceres and Quinto risk their lives to protect the environment and address
the climate crisis, yet they lack “adequate protection and are excluded from
decision making”, according to a Global Witness report from 2022.
Indigenous delegates at Cop often
struggle to get a seat at the negotiating table, and have long complained that
their traditional knowledge and sustainable solutions are not taken seriously.
Read more on the Cáceres case
here:
Honduras: arrest warrant issued over murder of
activist Berta Cáceres
Updated at 10.24 EST
The climate campaigner Mohamed
Adow has called for a focus on the negotiations at Cop28 rather
than the announcements that surround it.
The flurry of announcements was
largely to be welcomed, said
Adow, who runs the climate thinktank Power Shift Africa, but that “the
talks are why we are here.”
Journalists are not allowed in the
negotiating rooms where diplomats hash out agreements under the eye of the UN.
Much of the media coverage instead centres around commitments that governments
and companies make outside of the formal negotiating process.
“Getting an agreed fossil fuel
phase-out date remains the biggest step countries need to take here in Dubai over
the remaining days of the summit,” said Adow. “We need a fair, fast, full and
funded fossil phase-out.”
·
·
Updated at 09.37 EST
US announces
crackdown on 'super pollutant' methane
Carbon dioxide is the big climate
villain but its lesser-known cousin methane is also a powerful planet-heating
pollutant.
The US has announced a major
crackdown on methane emissions as part of a new effort to curb a “super
pollutant” that is turbocharging the climate crisis, my colleagues Oliver
Milman, Damian Carrington and Fiona Harvey report from Dubai.
The new rules are the centrepiece of
global announcements to cut methane emissions at Cop28.
The US estimates they will cut methane emissions from its vast oil and gas
industry by 80% from levels that would be expected without the rule – a total
of 58m tonnes by 2038.
US outlines measures to cut methane emissions by 80%
in next 15 years
·
·
Updated at 09.35 EST
Analysts have praised a “crucial” commitment
from 118 governments to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity and double
the rate of energy efficiency improvements by the end of the decade.
According to the clean energy thinktank Ember,
the two actions alone can deliver 85% of the fossil fuel reductions needed by
2030 to keep the planet from heating 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures –
if governments deliver on them.
Dave Jones, an analyst at Ember, said: “Together, these would unlock
deep economy-wide fossil fuel reductions and ensure that oil, coal and gas
demand not only peak this decade but see a meaningful fall. This statement is not a
substitute for a global agreement, but it does pave the way for a historic
opportunity to include this in the final text.”
·
·
Updated at 09.35 EST
Helena Horton
The chief executive of ExxonMobil
has made some eyebrow-raising comments in an interview with the Financial Times,
claiming the summit focuses too much on renewable energy. It is the first time
an Exxon chief has attended a Cop.
Darren Woods has complained that
talks at Cop28 have not prioritised hydrogen, biofuels and carbon capture. These
are technologies favoured by the oil and gas industry as they allow for fossil
fuels and their associated infrastructure to be used for longer during the
green transition.
He told the newspaper: “The
transition is not limited to just wind, solar and EVs. Carbon capture is going
to play a role. We’re good at that. We know how to do it, we can contribute.
Hydrogen will play a role. Biofuels will play a role.”
The oil and gas industry is hoping
that governments will invest in carbon capture and storage to nullify emissions
from fossil fuel plants. However, the technology’s effectiveness is disputed
and scientists are sceptical of its role outside of heavy industries that have
few alternatives.
Some have also criticised the
presence of oil and gas industry executives at the conference, arguing the
point of their attendance is to delay action and greenwash their operations.
Woods also told the FT that the
talks “put way too much emphasis on getting rid of fossil fuels, oil and gas,
and not . . . on dealing with the emissions associated with
them”, adding there would be “continued demand” for oil and gas.
The Guardian this year revealed the oil company
privately “predicted global warming correctly and skilfully” only to then spend
decades publicly rubbishing such science in order to protect its core business.
·
·
Updated at 09.34 EST
Sunday @q
Tomorrow will be health day
at Cop28, with various reports and declarations expected. Among them, the Africa Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention, the continent’s main public health body, said more
funding was needed to tackle health crises in Africa.
Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, said the continent has had 158
disease outbreaks already this year, following on closely from the Covid-19
pandemic, and that the climate crisis is a leading cause of them.
“Each outbreak we miss can become a pandemic – and that is the major concern
we have today. We don’t want the next pandemic to come from Africa due to
climate change. This is why we are pushing for more funding,” he said.
“When we had Covid, we discovered
that Africa was abandoned. We saw we were not independent. Africa begged the
world to get even masks and gloves.”
Isabel
Choat has the
full story:
We need resources to fight health impacts of climate
crisis, Africans tell Cop28
·
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak
jetted home from Dubai last night after spending just eight hours in Dubai,
but his energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, remains at the summit and today will
announce plans to protect global rainforests and cut methane emissions.
She will tell the summit that the
UK is to commit more than £85 million in funding for climate initiatives and
will sign new clean energy agreements with international partners, including
Brazil, the US and countries across Europe.
Part of the funding includes up to
£35 million to protect the Amazon rainforest through Brazil’s dedicated Amazon
fund, agreed on Friday, on top of £80m announced by Sunak earlier this year.
Coutinho said: “The UK is a world
leader in the drive to net zero, so it is vital we support our international
allies like Brazil in meeting their climate ambitions.
“That’s why we have pledged up to
£35 million to help stop deforestation in the Amazon, making the UK one of the
largest contributors to the Amazon fund.
“We will also partner with Brazil at Cop28 and
draw on our combined strengths to develop alternative fuels like hydrogen,
advance green technologies and drive global action to cut emissions.”
·
·
Updated at 07.51 EST
By Jonathan Watts
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
has roared into Cop28 with a mega-delegation of more than 2,000 people and
grand ambitions to address inequality and protect the world’s tropical forests.
Lula, as he is known, said his
country was leading by example: “We have adjusted our climate goals, which are
now more ambitious than those of many developed countries. We have drastically
reduced deforestation in the Amazon and will bring it to zero by 2030,” he
said.
But any pretensions he might have
had to broader climate leadership on cutting fossil fuels were weakened on
Thursday when his energy minister, Alexandre Silveira, chose the opening of the
planet’s biggest environmental conference as the moment to announce that Brazil plans
to align itself more closely with the world’s biggest oil cartel, Opec.
Brazilian climate campaigners said
the timing and symbolism were horrendous and a sign of the divisions within a
country that has made huge strides to reduce deforestation of the Amazon, even
as it has ploughed ahead with oil exploration in ecologically sensitive areas.
“This statement is a scandal.
Celebrating entry into the oil club in the middle of a climate conference is as
if the minister of mines and energy were disavowing President Lula’s own
environmental speech,” said Marcio Astrini, the executive secretary of the
Brazilian Climate Observatory. “With ministers like this, the president doesn’t
need enemies.”
Lula’s bid to style himself climate leader at Cop28
undermined by Opec move
·
·
Climate campaigners have praised
the Czech Republic’s decision to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which
leaves only a handful of European countries including Poland and Bulgaria
outside the group.
Alexandru Mustață, campaigner at Beyond
Fossil Fuels, said: “The Czech Republic stood alongside Germany and Poland as
one of the three big coal laggards in the EU. Today’s announcement shows that
like most European nations, it is looking to a future beyond coal that is more
secure, more economic, and above all: more sustainable.”
The country has committed to quit
coal by 2033 but has been slower to invest in renewable energy than many of its
neighbours. To keep the planet heating 1.5C, the International Energy Agency
has called on rich countries to stop burning coal to make electricity by 2030,
and for the rest of the world to follow suit by 2040.
·
·
UN's top
doctor compares burning fossil fuels to smoking cigarettes
Patrick Greenfield
Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director
general of the World Health Organization, has compared fossil fuels to tobacco
while speaking at an event in support of a fossil fuel non-proliferation
treaty.
“During my visit to Tuvalu in
2019, I had the privilege of meeting a remarkable young boy named Falu,” he
said. “He d with me the conversations he
had with his friends about the potential sinking of Tuvalu and the uncertain
future. Some of his friends contemplated leaving in case it sinks. They were
specific: seeking refuge in Fiji. While others express their willingness to
stay, these are 10 or 11 year old children saying this.
“Falu’s words deeply affected me,
serving as a poignant reminder of the challenges children face in the Pacific.
They worry about the survival of their island home due to the emissions
produced by distant nations. This reality hangs on their shoulders.
“Addressing climate change
necessitates addressing the role of fossil fuels, much as we cannot address
lung cancer without addressing the impact of tobacco.
“Without addressing 75% of
emissions, achieving [the target of remaining with 1.5C (2.7F) of preindustrial
levels] doesn’t happen. It will not happen. Debating the same issue – which is
obvious – and fighting this issue over and over means we just stay in the same
place. This has to stop. The science is there, the evidence is clear. We know
the problem and we know the solution. The solution is also clear.
“In full support for a fossil fuel
non-proliferation treaty, the WHO stands with you. I will continue to champion
you.
“The objectives outlined in the
proposed treaty are clear, evidence based and equitable. We had a duty to
address the homes of children like Falu. Please, let’s allow them to be
children.”
·
·
Updated at 07.02 EST
By Patrick Greenfield
Kausea Natano, prime minister of
Tuvalu, has been speaking at an event calling for the creation of a fossil fuels non-proliferation treaty.
Tuvalu was among a group of Pacific island states who launched the initiative earlier this year.
The treaty is akin to similar initiatives on reducing nuclear arsenals and
landmines.
He told the event: “Every year,
our countries travel for days to travel for Cop. We spent the majority of the
year preparing for these negotiations.
“Climate change is the single
greatest threat to humanity. Yet, every year, we find ourselves debating the
same issues and fighting the same battles. The science is clear: In order to
keep 1.5C alive, we must take urgent action to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
The pacific sits in the front line of climate change with worsening climate
damage.
“Today, on behalf of the people of
Tuvalu, I come to deliver a simple message to save our people from the
devastating impacts of climate change. This Cop28 must
produce a decision that addresses the root cause of emission. It must include
clear language of phasing out fossil fuels. We no longer have time to sit by
while our islands sink, while our forests burn and while our people suffer.
“The Paris agreement establishes
the regime of nationally determined contributions,
allowing countries to chart their own path forward. We cannot lower emissions
if keep growing the problem. At present, the phase out of fossil fuels is
largely unmanaged. We must take steps to ensure a just and credible transition.
“Many think this is to be an
impossible task. That it is either too ambitious or too late but let me remind
you of the achievement we have already accomplished. The choice of either being
ambitious or realistic is a false choice; we must choose to be both.”
·
·
Updated at 06.50 EST
Hello, this is Ajit Niranjan
taking over from Alan Evans for the day. You can reach me at
ajit.niranjan@theguardian.com, or on X (formerly Twitter) at @NiranjanAjit.
Whether you’re on the ground or following from afar, please get in touch!
Activists have called on rich countries to put 5% of their military budgets
into climate finance, my colleague Dharna Noor writes.
By diverting just 5% of global
military budgets, the world could raise $110.4bn for climate finance – more
than enough to meet a repeatedly broken annual climate finance target of
$100bn, according to the Transnational Institute, an international research and
advocacy group.
“Money is being spent on
militarisation rather than on climate action,” said Nick Buxton, a
researcher with the Transnational Institute, “though the climate crisis is the
biggest [common] security threat that we face today.”
The world’s militaries produce at
least 5.5% of greenhouse gas emissions – more than the total footprint of Japan
– according to one 2022 estimate. But no country is
required to provide data on military emissions thanks to successful lobbying by
the US at the Kyoto conference in 1997. Leaders removed the exemption in 2015
but made reporting military emissions optional.
Tomorrow there will be a special-themed day on “relief, recovery, and
peace” SUNDAY at
the conference, the first time climate-fuelled conflict has ever been on an
international climate conference agenda.
Read more here:
Divert military spending to fund climate aid,
activists urge Cop28
·
Updated at 06.48 EST
Turkmenistan joined the Global Methane
Pledge today, an important move for the world’s fourth largest methane emitter.
The pledge requires a leak reduction of 30% by 2030. The potent greenhouse gas
is responsible for a third of the global heating driving the climate crisis
today.
The Guardian revealed
Turkmenistan’s “mind boggling” methane emissions in
May, a development sources said was instrumental in pushing the country to act.
The country’s super-emitting leaks are seen as some of the easiest to fix by
repairing ageing gas infrastructure.
The world
leaders’ speeches have finally concluded 45 minutes late after many speakers
significantly overran their three-minute allowance, resulting in increasingly
insistent beeping noises until they depart the stage. Nobody had to be hauled
off stage by Sultan Al Jaber with a shepherd’s hook, but it may be a method
worth considering for future Cop hosts.
Another very
strong candidate for Cop28’s best-dressed is an indigenous woman from South
America. Sonia Astuhuaman Pardave is from the Coordinadora Andina de
Organizaciones Indígenas.
She is a
Yachak Warmi, an Andean Medicine woman who cares for and protects the
Pachamama: Mother Earth.
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, prime minister of Fiji, has given a powerful
speech talking about the large number of natural disasters that have befallen
the island nation in the past few years.
“It is clear
that we are at a breaking point not only for the Pacific, but for humanity … we
need a just transition that ensures global emissions peak before 2025.”
He has
welcomed the new loss and damage fund, but said it should be more focused on
small island states in the Pacific.
He ended with
a plea to his fellow delegates: “Please cooperate for our survival, for our
identity.”
·
·
Updated at
05.46 EST
Kamala Harris, vice-president
of the US who is attending in place of Joe Biden, has told the conference that
the country is investing heavily in adaptation, with a particular focus on
marginalised communities.
Harris
announced a significant $3bn pledge to the Green Climate Fund, but does not
mention that this is subject to approval by Congress, which is divided.
“This is a
pivotal moment. Our action, or worse, our inaction today … will impact the
lives of billions of people for decades to come. So, for as much as we have accomplished
… there is more work to do, and continued progress will not be without a
fight,” Harris said.
“Around the
world, there are those who seek to slow or stop our progress. Leaders who deny
climate science, delay climate action, and spread misinformation. Large
corporations that greenwash their climate inaction and lobby for billions of
dollars in fossil fuel subsidies. It is clear: we must do more.”
The US, which
is the world’s richest country and biggest polluter, has been widely criticised
for the relative paltriness of its climate finance offerings so far.
·
·
Updated at
05.40 EST
US powers past coal, Australia relies on ‘drug
dealer’ defence
By Damian
Carrington
The US joined
the Powering Past Coal Alliance today by committing to close all its
coal-fired power plants, in a move hailed at Cop28 as “huge news” that puts
pressure on the world’s biggest burner of coal, China.
Coal is the
dirtiest fossil fuel – about 40% of fossil fuel emissions – and its phase-out
is essential to fighting the climate crisis. The US has the world’s third
biggest fleet of coal-burning power stations. The deadline set by the US for
ending coal appears to be 2035, five years after the 2030 date seen as
compatible with keeping global heating below 1.5C.
The Czech
Republic and Kosovo, both heavily reliant on coal, also joined the PPCA today.
The alliance now has more than 50 nations as members, including 35 out of the
43 countries in the OECD, a club of rich countries.
Leo Roberts,
at the E3G thinktank, said: “The US is a huge coal consumer. So this is hugely
symbolic, not just in terms of emissions, but also in terms of the US stepping
up on the international stage.”
“This puts a
huge amount of pressure on the other OECD countries to make Paris-aligned coal
exit commitments, particularly Japan, Australia and South Korea,” he said: “This
is also putting direct pressure on China, which has over half of the world’s
coal and nearly 75% of the world’s new coal project pipeline. I think that’s an
intentional tactic by the countries who have stood up.”
Bill Hare, at
Climate Analytics, said: “Australia still is a very coal-intensive country and
still is approving new mines to export coal. It is essentially using the
drug-dealer defence, saying that other countries are demanding the coal.”
“Expanding
coal production runs completely counter to what the global scientific community
and the International Energy Agency is saying,” he said. “So I’m still very
concerned about the Australian position.”
Evan Gach, from
the Kiko Network, an NGO in Japan, said: “It’s disappointing to not see Japan
on the PPCA list, but maybe not a surprise. Japan has over 170 existing coal
units, and there’s no plan or roadmap to phase these out. Japan is committed to
extending the life of fossil fuels for as long as they can profit from it.”
Solar and
wind energy is the cheapest electricity in the world today, and often even
cheaper than simply continuing to buy the fuel for coal-fired power stations.
Vivian Sunwoo Lee, from the Solutions for our Climate group in Korea, said: “If
Korea doesn’t want to fall behind the major economies, it will also need to
phase out coal.”
A new
diplomatic initiative, led by France and called the Coal Transition
Accelerator, was also announced today. It will focus on ending private finance
for coal, supporting communities that have previously relied upon the fuel and
accelerating the development of clean energy in those regions.
Roberts said:
“Most coal projects are in the global south and none of them make any sense on
economic grounds. They’re also a terrible idea for development and for the
climate. So ending private finance for those will be extremely important.”
·
·
Updated at
05.36 EST
Colombia joins fossil fuel non-proliferation
treaty
A significant
development today as Colombia has announced it is to join the fossil fuel
non-proliferation treaty.
It is the
10th country to join the group, but only the second member that is a fossil
fuel producer, following Timor-Leste, which joined earlier this year. Colombia
has significant reserves of coal, gas and oil.
“While it is
the use of fossil fuels that causes emissions, there is no direct mention of
fossil fuels in the Paris agreement or subsequent agreements. What is
frightening is that governments plan to increase the frontier of fossil fuel
exploitation. Colombia believes we need a plan to phase out fossil fuels,” said
Susana Muhamad, the country’s environment minister.
My
colleague Patrick Greenfield has the
full story here:
Colombia joins international alliance calling for
treaty to end use of fossil fuels
·
·
Nina Lakhani
Another
well-dressed delegate spotted in Dubai. Rihab Khalid is a climate social
scientist and current research fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, and
a Cop first-timer.
She is an
interdisciplinary energy researcher who studies the intersections of gender
equity, energy access and spatial justice.
“I’m here
because I’m passionate about gender equity, and I believe we can only achieve
this if we align gender-responsive climate action with women’s sustainable
development across all sectors,” she told the Guardian.
·
·
Updated at
04.47 EST
One of the
strangest tie-ins to the climate conference must be the Cop28 Adventures game,
which was released by Dubai police before
the event began.
Its summary
on Google’s Play Store reads:
Immerse yourself
in the urgent world of global climate action in Climate Guardians COP28. As a
delegate at the UAE conference, craft policies, solve environmental challenges,
and collaborate with players worldwide. Explore stunning UAE locations, make
impactful decisions, and compete for the highest cooperation score. Join the
movement for a sustainable future today
The Guardian
will not be downloading the app, and recommends that you do not either. Matthew
Hedges, a British academic who was detained in the UAE in 2018, warned on Thursday, “Don’t be naive
like I was” when it comes to digital security and the UAE.
For this
reason we cannot provide a review of the game, but here are some screenshots
provided on the app page:
The game is
credited to Dubai police, whose previous Play Store game offerings include:
·
My Rights and
Duties (“learn about your rights in a fun and simple way”)
·
My
Child My Friend (“aims to enhance communication and friendship between parents
and their offspring”)
·
Stay
Safe (“educating the public in all its categories of positive behaviours that
must be adhered to and some negative behaviours that must be avoided”)
The new Cop28 game
lets users “explore stunning UAE locations, make impactful decisions, and
compete for the highest cooperation score.”
It also
appears to have drone racing. It is not for the Guardian to speculate whether
the whole Cop process could be made more productive with the addition of drone
racing, but it does not appear to have been explored by the organisers and may
be worth a shot.
·
Updated at
04.45 EST
Pope: are we working for a culture of life or
a culture of death?
Pope Francis had
been lined up to open today’s speeches, but was forced to stay home with a bout
of “very acute infectious bronchitis”.
He sent the
Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in his place with a
missive, which Parolin read out.
“I am with you
because now more than ever, the future of us all depends on the present that we
now choose,” he said.
“I am with
you because the destruction of the environment is an offence against God, a sin
that is not only personal but also structural, one that greatly endangers all
human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst and threatens to
unleash a conflict between generations.
“I am with
you because climate change is a global social issue and one intimately related
to the dignity of human life. I am with you to raise the question which we must
answer now: Are we working for a culture of life or a culture of death?
“To all of
you I make this heartfelt appeal: Let us choose life. Let us choose the future.
May we be attentive to the cry of the earth, may we hear the plea of the poor,
may we be sensitive to the hopes of the young and the dreams of children. We
have a grave responsibility: to ensure that they not be denied their future.”
The Vatican
has published a full transcript of the speech which can be found here.
·
Updated at
04.03 EST
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s
rightwing prime minister, speaks of the need for what she describes as “a
technology-neutral approach, free from radicalism”.
Meloni has
long dismissed the need for urgent action on climate change and has cracked
down hard on protests by environmental and other activists, which this statement
seems to be a reference to.
Italy has,
however, pledged €100m to the new loss and damage fund, one of the largest
offerings yet. Meloni also pledged to invest money in Africa, but “not as
charity”, saying it would be in partnerships “among equals”.
“We’re all
aware that many of the efforts we make today will likely have visible results
long after we have left positions of power … we are doing it anyway, not for us
but those who come after us,” she says.
Meloni wraps
up by quoting Warren Buffett: “There is someone sitting in the shade today
because someone else planted a tree long ago.”
·
Biggest Cop
ever
For the first time at a Cop the
UNFCCC, which organises the summits, has published
the full list of participants in spreadsheet format,
making them far easier to analyse.
Carbon Brief have looked at the provisional figures,
and found that 84,101 people
are registered to attend, 3,074 of whom are attending virtually.
The figures are provisional as
more people will have registered than actually attend, but it is close to
certain that this will be the biggest Cop ever in terms of number of participants.
The final number or attendees will be released after the conference.
For comparison, Cop27 in Sharm
el-Sheikh last year hosted just under 50,000 delegates, while Cop1 in Berlin in
1995 only hosted 3,969.
·
Oliver Milman
John Kerry was up early to help open the US pavilion at Cop28 this
morning. The US’s climate envoy led a small group of Biden administration
officials in an upbeat assessment of the White House’s efforts in tackling
climate change.
“I feel optimistic, I really do,” Kerry said. “I am in Dubai with
a sense that something different is really happening.” Kerry pointed to the
rapid progress at this Cop of the loss and damage fund, and said that the US
had taken the lead in spurring the world to increase ambition on emissions
cuts, crack down on deforestation and curb methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
A similar message is expected from Kamala Harris, the US
vice-president, when she speaks here later on Saturday. Announcements from the
US on coal and methane are also expected.
Activists who gathered outside the
US pavillion were a bit more sceptical, however. Overt protests aren’t really
allowed here but a group of climate campaigners led a chant about phasing out
fossil fuels and posed for pictures with slogan stickers stuck to them.
The US is expected to break
production records for oil and gas this year and is building out a vast network
of infrastructure for new gas exports, something that Kerry and his colleagues
did not address.
“You can’t talk about reductions
when you are talking about more exploration and leasing and drilling,” said
John Beard, who was there for Kerry’s speech.
Beard, a former Exxon engineer who
now campaigns against the industry’s impacts on communities along the Gulf of
Mexico coast, added: “You can’t talk about decarbonising when you’re
recarbonising, it doesn’t make sense. Talk is cheap and sending your big dog
officials here isn’t going to do it, it’s action that will do it.”
·
Updated at 03.31 EST
Nina Lakhani
Harjeet Singh, unofficial winner of best dressed at Cop27,
never lowers his standards. As well as being a fashion icon and lovely human
being, Harjeet is a climate justice warrior and sharp policy analyst.
He is the head of global political
strategy for the Climate Action Network and global engagement director of the
fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative, which is gearing up for a
major announcement at 1.30pm GST (9.30am GMT) today
·
Updated at 03.27 EST
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos
Mitsotakis, is
speaking. He says the evidence of the climate crisis has never been clearer,
and that the benefits of transitioning to a low-carbon economy had never been
clearer.
He speaks of the fires and floods
that have devastated Greece in recent years, and says the country has cut coal
use by 80% while growing the economy faster than other countries in the
eurozone.
He says the decarbonisation of
shipping – in which Greece is a world power – must be done on an even playing
field. Shipping is one of the world’s most polluting industries, and has been
notoriously resistant to change.
He refers to “protecting ancient
monuments from the wrath of climate change” and to “learning from our
ancestors”, but does not explicitly mention this week’s row over whether the UK
should return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.
Some believed the tie featuring
Greek flags worn by King Charles III for his speech on Friday was a subtle
signal of support for returning the marbles.
My colleagues Caroline Davies and
Helena Smith covered that story here:
‘An obvious message’: King Charles’s Greek flag tie
rekindles marbles row
·
·
Our correspondents in Dubai are
always on the lookout for the best-dressed delegates to highlight in the blog.
Fanny Chen is from Brazil, and is
at Cop28 promoting vegan eating.
“Livestock is the root cause of
both Nature’s collapse and the climate crisis,” according to the leaflet she is
handing out.
·
·
Mia Mottley:
"Turn down the methane"
Mia
Mottley, the prime
minister of Barbados and a major figure in climate diplomacy, is speaking at
the leaders’ statements section of the conference.
She thanks people for their work
so far, but says that the creation of a loss and damage fund is only part of
the equation. For every dollar spent on preventing climate-induced disasters,
seven dollars is saved, she says.
She says non-state actors – ie.
fossil fuel companies – need to come to the table with money.
“The reality is that unless we
change course … we are going to see far more lives lost and far more damage
done,” she says.
She singles out action on methane
as essential, as it is so much more damaging in the short term than carbon
dioxide, and says the world needs strong regulation of oil and gas companies to
swiftly reduce methane releases.
“To turn down the heat, you simply
have to turn down the methane,” she says.
It is interesting that Mottley
spent the majority of her speech, which ran significantly over her allotted
three minutes, focusing on methane rather than climate finance, the subject
with which she is most associated. More announcements on methane are expected
later on Saturday.
·
·
Updated at 03.34 EST
Patrick Greenfield
There are huge queues to get into
Cop28 this morning at what will surely be the largest climate summit by some
distance. More than 80,000 people have registered for badges to the event, and
many are struggling to get into the venue in Dubai.
Delegates could be heard pleading
to get through security this morning, warning that they were missing events and
meetings in the Blue Zone where negotiations are held, with waits expected to
last up to two hours at the entrance nearest the metro station.
For those reading this post still
in the queue, the good news is that there is another way into Blue Zone. Delegates
need to enter via the Green Zone entrance - where there are no queues - and
then get into the Blue Zone that way.
·
·
22 countries
call for tripling of nuclear by 2050
Twenty-two countries have called for a tripling of nuclear energy by 2050 in
order to meet net zero goals.
John Kerry, the US’s climate
envoy, defended the statement. “We are not making the argument to anybody that
this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy
source,” he said.
“But we know because the science
and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can’t get to net zero
2050 without some nuclear. These are just scientific realities. No politics
involved in this, no ideology involved in this.”
Bill McKibben’s campaign group
350.org were less enthusiastic. Masayoshi Iyoda, a Japan campaigner at the
group, said: “There is no space for dangerous nuclear power to accelerate the
decarbonization needed to achieve the Paris climate goal … it is nothing more
than a dangerous distraction.
“The attempt of a ‘nuclear
renaissance’ led by nuclear industries’ lobbyists since the 2000s has never
been successful - it is simply too costly, too risky, too undemocratic, and too
time-consuming. We already have cheaper, safer, democratic, and faster
solutions to the climate crisis, and they are renewable energy and energy
efficiency.”
Twenty-two countries have called for a tripling of nuclear energy by 2050 in
order to meet net zero goals. John
Kerry, the US’s climate envoy, defended the statement. The signatories to the
declaration were: Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana,
Hungary, Japan, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United
Kingdom and the United States.
·
·
Updated at 03.35 EST
Politico has reported on the shadow cast over Cop28 by the war
in Gaza. Several leaders used their speeches to draw attention
to the conflict, and behind the scenes officials are having meetings with their
counterparts about Gaza.
Here’s a sample of Politico’s
report:
Israeli president Isaac Herzog
spent much of the morning in meetings telling fellow leaders about “how Hamas
blatantly violates the ceasefire agreements,” according to a post on his X account. He ended
up skipping a speech he was meant to give during Friday’s parade of world
leaders.
There were other conspicuous
no-shows. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was absent, despite
being listed as an early speaker. And Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority
leader, also disappeared from the final speakers’ list after initially being
scheduled to talk just a few slots after Herzog.
Then, shortly after leaders posed
for a group photo in the Dubai venue on Friday, the Iranian delegation
announced it was walking out. The reason, Iran’s energy minister told his country’s official news agency:
The “political, biased and irrelevant presence of the fake Zionist regime” —
referring to Israel.
Read the full piece here.
·
·
Welcome to
day three of Cop28
Today will see more world leaders
take to the stage to give speeches. The hosts will hope some of them will use
them to make pledges to the newly-agreed loss and damage fund, the creation of
which has been the main talking point of the conference so far.
And here’s a summary of the main
events yesterday:
·
World
leaders, particularly those from developing countries at the forefront of the
climate crises, begged large economies and emitters to take urgent action both
to reduce emissions and fund loss and damage
·
UK
prime minister Rishi Sunak declared to the conference that he had watered down
climate policy in the UK, drawing anger from politicians and climate experts
who said he had “misread the room”
·
UK
opposition leader Keir Starmer accused Sunak of “shrinking and retreating” from
showcasing leadership on the global stage at Cop28 and over the climate crisis
·
A
new UN report found that droughts are a planetary emergency causing widespread
famine, and that they are a silent, often ignored, killer
·
Brazil’s
president, Lula, outlined that it is not possible to tackle the climate crisis
without also tackling inequality. He spoke of climate suffering in the Amazon,
which is experiencing one of the “most tragic droughts in its history” while
cyclones in the south of Brazil have left a trail “of destruction and death”.
·
The
UK’s King Charles III opened the conference, and warned in his speech that
“unless we rapidly repair and restore nature’s economy, based on harmony and
balance, which is our ultimate sustainer, our own economy and survivability
will be imperilled.”
You can also read our daily news
wrap from yesterday here:
Cop28: King Charles warns of ‘vast, frightening
experiment’ on natural world
@q
SUNDAY,
DECEMBER 3RD DAY TWO
Cop28 president says
there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels
Exclusive: UAE’s
Sultan Al Jaber says phase-out of coal, oil and gas would take world ‘back into
caves’
Damian Carrington and Ben Stockton
Sun 3 Dec 2023 05.33 EST
·
·
·
The president
of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber, has claimed
there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to
restrict global heating to 1.5C, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate
Reporting can reveal.
Al Jaber also
said a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development
“unless you want to take the world back into caves”.
The comments
were “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial”, scientists said,
and they were at odds with the position of the UN secretary general, António
Guterres.
Al Jaber made
the comments in ill-tempered responses to questions from Mary Robinson, the
chair of the Elders group and a former UN special envoy for climate change,
during a live online event on 21 November. As well as running Cop28 in Dubai,
Al Jaber is also the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil
company, Adnoc, which many observers see as a serious conflict of interest.
More than 100
countries already support a phase-out of fossil fuels and whether the final
Cop28 agreement calls for this or uses weaker language such as “phase-down” is
one of the most fiercely fought issues at the summit and may be the key
determinant of its success. Deep and rapid cuts are needed to bring fossil fuel
emissions to zero and limit fast-worsening climate impacts.
Al Jaber
spoke with Robinson at a She Changes Climate event.
Robinson said: “We’re in an absolute crisis that is hurting women and children
more than anyone … and it’s because we have not yet committed to phasing out
fossil fuel. That is the one decision that Cop28 can take and in many ways,
because you’re head of Adnoc, you could actually take it with more
credibility.”
Al Jaber
said: “I accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature
conversation. I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist.
There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the
phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C.”
Robinson
challenged him further, saying: “I read that your company is investing in a lot
more fossil fuel in the future.” Al Jaber responded: “You’re reading your own
media, which is biased and wrong. I am telling you I am the man in charge.”
Al Jaber then
said: “Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will
allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the
world back into caves.”
“I don’t
think [you] will be able to help solve the climate problem by pointing fingers
or contributing to the polarisation and the divide that is already happening in
the world. Show me the solutions. Stop the pointing of fingers. Stop it,” Al
Jaber said.
Guterres told
Cop28 delegates on Friday: “The science is clear: The 1.5C limit is only
possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce, not abate.
Phase out, with a clear timeframe.”
Bill Hare,
the chief executive of Climate Analytics, said: “This is an extraordinary,
revealing, worrying and belligerent exchange. ‘Sending us back to caves’ is the
oldest of fossil fuel industry tropes: it’s verging on climate denial.”
“Al Jaber is
asking for a 1.5C roadmap – anyone who cares can find that in the International
Energy Agency’s latest net zero emissions scenario, which says there cannot be
any new fossil fuel development. The science is absolutely clear [and] that
absolutely means a phase-out by mid-century, which will enhance the lives of
all of humanity.”
Prof Sir
David King, the chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group and a former UK
chief scientific adviser, said: “It is incredibly concerning and surprising to
hear the Cop28 president defend the use of fossil fuels. It is undeniable that
to limit global warming to 1.5C we must all rapidly reduce carbon emissions and
phase-out the use of fossil fuels by 2035 at the latest. The alternative is an
unmanageable future for humanity.”
Dr Friederike
Otto, of Imperial College London, UK, said: “The science of climate change has
been clear for decades: we need to stop burning fossil fuels. A failure to
phase out fossil fuels at Cop28 will put several millions more vulnerable
people in the firing line of climate change. This would be a terrible legacy
for Cop28.”
Otto also
rejected the claim that fossil fuels were necessary for development in poorer
countries, saying that the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change “shows that the UN’s sustainable development goals are not
achievable by continuing the current fossil-driven high emission economies.
[There are] massive co-benefits that come with changing to a fossil-free world”.
A
spokesperson for Cop28 said: “The IEA and IPCC 1.5C scenarios clearly state
that fossil fuels will have to play a role in the future energy system, albeit
a smaller one. The Cop president was quoting the science, and leading climate
experts.
“He has
clearly said that the oil and gas industry must tackle scope 1 and 2 emissions
[from their operations], must invest in clean energy and clean technologies to
address scope 3 emissions [from burning fuels], and that all industry must
align around keeping the north star of 1.5C within reach.
“Once again,
this is clearly part of a continued effort to undermine the Cop presidency’s
tangible achievements and a misrepresentation of our position and successes to
date.”
The
spokesperson said the presidency had operationalised the loss and damage fund
with more than $700m, launched a $30bn private market climate vehicle, and
brought 51 oil companies to agree decarbonisation targets and 119 countries to
sign a pledge to triple renewable energy. “This is just the beginning,” the
spokesperson said.
Al Jaber is
also head of Masdar, the UAE’s renewable energy company, but his appointment as
Cop28 president has been controversial. Shortly before the summit, leaked
documents showed that the UAE had planned to use climate meetings with
governments to promote oil and gas deals. Al Jaber denied having seen or used the
talking points in the documents. Adnoc also has the largest net-zero-busting expansion plans for
oil and gas, according to independent analysis.
The issue of
a phase-out or phase-down is complicated by the terms not having agreed definitions
and by the highly uncertain role of technologies to “abate” emissions, such as
carbon capture and storage. “Keeping the Paris agreement targets alive will
require a full fossil fuel phase-out, not a vague phase-down relying on
unproven technologies,” said Otto.
More than 100
African, European, Pacific and Caribbean countries back a phase-out of unabated
fossil fuels. The US, the world’s biggest oil and gas producer, also backs a
phase-out. Others, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and China, reject the call.
Both options are on the table at Cop28, as well
as proposals to only mention coal, or to not say anything at all about fossil
fuels.
Cop26 in
Glasgow in 2021 agreed for the first time to “phase down” coal use, but this
had been watered down from “phase out” at the last minute, bringing the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, to tears.
In his
conversation with Robinson, Al Jaber also said: “A phase-down and a phase-out
of fossil fuel in my view is inevitable. That is essential. But we need to be
real serious and pragmatic about it.”
“Hold on. Let
me just explain,” he said. “The world will continue to need energy sources. We
[UAE] are the only ones in the world today that have been decarbonising the oil
and gas resources. We have the lowest carbon intensity.”
This refers
to the emissions from the energy used to extract fossil fuels, not the far
larger emissions from burning the fuels. “There is no such thing as ‘low
carbon’ or ‘lower carbon’ oil and gas,” said Otto.
Numerous
commentators have said that negative or embarrassing revelations about Al Jaber
and Adnoc increase the pressure on him
to deliver a strong Cop28 deal. The Guardian reported recently that state-run
UAE oil and gas fields had been flaring gas almost daily despite
having committed 20 years ago to a policy of zero routine flaring.
The Guardian
previously reported that Adnoc had been able to read emails to and from the Cop28 office until
the Guardian raised the issue in June and that the UAE had also failed to report its oil industry’s emissions of the
powerful greenhouse gas methane.
Harjeet
Singh, at Climate Action Network, said: “Cop28 must deliver a decision on
phasing out fossil fuels in a just and equitable manner, without any loopholes
or escape routes for the industry to continue expanding and exacerbating the
climate crisis.”
Cop28:
Can fossil fuel companies transition to clean energy?
On Tuesday 5 December, 8pm-9.15pm GMT, join Damian Carrington, Christiana
Figueres, Tessa Khan and Mike Coffin for a livestreamed discussion on whether
fossil fuel companies can transition to clean energy. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live
ATTACHMENT
“B”
DIRECTORY
of WORLD LEADERS and their REMARKS
From
Various (mostly the Guardian U.K.
News from COP National Leaders by
Country
|
|
|
|
A |
Vahagn Khachaturyan, president of Armenia, said it
was clear we cannot continue using predominantly hydrocarbons for energy and
need to “phase down” fossil fuels – he didn’t say he wanted to phase them out. On
Saturday, Bill Hare, at Climate Analytics, said: “Australia still is a very coal-intensive country and still
is approving new mines to export coal. It is essentially using the
drug-dealer defence, saying that other countries are demanding the
coal.” But by Wednesday, Australia reportedly ended finance for fossil fuel expansion overseas –
now focus turns to local subsidies. In another
gratuity to the oil producers, GOP 29 will be hosted by Azerbaijan. |
|
B |
Barbados prime minister Mia demanded money and denounced methane,
saying the world needs strong regulation of oil and gas companies to swiftly
reduce methane releases. “To turn down
the heat, you simply have to turn down the methane,” she says. GUK, which called her “a major figure in climate
diplomacy” found it “interesting” that she focused on methane, not climate
finance, “the subject with which she is most associated.” This changed on Tuesday, when
Mottley gave a press conference regarding international financial systems,
where she said: “We are living in the age of superlatives. Temperature and
extreme weather records are tumbling, and our finance systems cannot cope”. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva, said it was not possible to tackle the climate crisis without also
tackling inequality. He spoke of climate suffering in the Amazon, which was
experiencing one of the “most tragic droughts in its history”, while cyclones
in the south of Brazil had left a trail of “destruction and death”. Da Silva, had “roared into” Cop28 with a
mega-delegation of more than 2,000 people and grand ambitions to address
inequality and protect the world’s tropical forests, gaining a £35 million
promise from the UK to protect the Amazon rainforest through Brazil’s
dedicated Amazon fund. But “any
pretensions he might have had to broader climate leadership on cutting fossil
fuels were weakened on Thursday,” GUK noted, when his energy minister, Alexandre
Silveira, announced that Brazil plans to
align itself more closely with the world’s biggest oil cartel, Opec. Brazilian climate campaigners said the
timing and symbolism were “horrendous” and Marcio Astrini,
the executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory called the
statement a scandal. (Best-dressed delegates Fanny Chen from
Brazil, and is promoting vegan eating.
“Livestock is the root cause of both Nature’s collapse and the climate
crisis,” according to the leaflet she is handing out.) |
|
C |
Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s environment
minister, has said the loss and damage fund should help rebuild trust between
the global north and south after years of tense negotiations. Earlier today, Canada committed US$11.8m to
the new fund China: U.K.
PM Sunak declined
to single out China when asked which countries need to do more to tackle
climate change, and heaped praise on Cop28 host the United Arab
Emirates. Pressed on
whether Beijing should do more, the prime minister told reporters in Dubai:
“Everyone collectively needs to do more to make sure that we do reduce
emissions sufficiently.” China’s Institute of Atmospheric Physics from the
Academy of Science’s short-term climate prediction team finds that, after the
warmest summer on record we could be heading for a similarly abnormal winter.
the “imminent maturity of a moderate to strong eastern Pacific El Niño”
augurs an exceptionally warm winter –
“and gives a 95% chance that the global average surface temperature for the
2023-24 winter will set a new historical record.” Although Colombia’s economy is dependent on
fossil fuels, which account for about half of its exports, its president has
committed to stop the expansion of coal, oil and gas exploitation. If they
can do it, why can’t we? Nikos Christodoulides, president of Cyprus,
told the summit that his country was experiencing the effects of climate
change – wildfires, floods, extreme heatwaves which have destroyed large
parts of their forests and said that the Eeastern Mediterranean and Middle
East climate change initiative was working on a coordinated response across
the region. “(The Loss
and Damage Fund) was a milestone in terms of creating a positive mood for the
very, very complex process on the GST [global stock take] that we had ahead
of us now. But the fund needs to be filled up. The pledges announced were a
welcome sign, but they were just pledges and must materialise as soon as
possible,” said ambassador Pedro Pedroso of Cuba. The Czech Republic’s decision to join the
Powering Past Coal Alliance leaves only a handful of European countries
including Poland and Bulgaria outside the group. Alexandru Mustață,
campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels, said: “The Czech Republic stood alongside
Germany and Poland as one of the three big coal laggards in the EU. Today’s
announcement shows that like most European nations, it is looking to a future
beyond coal.” |
|
D |
Despite being at war with Russia, Ukraine
has signed a deal at Cop28 with Danish renewable energy company Vestas to
supply turbines to build in the country.
They agreed to build 64 wind turbines |
|
E |
Abiy Ahmed, president of Ethiopia, said his
country had planted 32.5bn seedlings and was turning a desert into a
biodiverse paradise, producing 6m hectares of wheat in one year and has, for
the first time become a wheat exporter. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the
European Commission: Global emissions must peak by 2025, we must phase out
fossil fuels and we must reduce methane emissions” In terms of private finance, she said: “We
need to reform the international financial system, we need more carbon
pricing. Upon the
loss and damage handouts, “Everyone with the ability to pay should
contribute,” said the EU climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, who said he
wanted to “broaden the donor base beyond the usual suspects, simply because
that reflects the reality of 2023.” |
|
F |
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, prime minister of Fiji, has given a powerful
speech talking about the large number of natural disasters that have befallen
the island nation in the past few years. “It is
clear that we are at a breaking point not only for the Pacific, but for
humanity … we need a just transition that ensures global emissions peak
before 2025.” A garrulous Emmanuel Macron, president of
France, called for a complete U-turn on the subject of coal on Friday,
December first, with the G7 countries must set the example and commit to
putting an end to coal, with the World Trade Organization placing a tariff on
the black stuff. Last Tuesday, Macron also hailed the signing
of a declaration to triple nuclear energy by 2050 and recognise “the key role
of nuclear energy in achieving global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions/carbon
neutrality by or around mid-century”.
Nuclear energy “is back,” he said.
Twenty-two
countries have pledged to triple nuclear capacity by
2050 A new
diplomatic initiative, led by France and called the Coal Transition
Accelerator, was also announced today. It will focus on ending private
finance for coal, supporting communities that have previously relied upon the
fuel and accelerating the development of clean energy in those regions. Leo Roberts, at the E3G thinktank (see USA
below) said: “Most coal projects are in the global south and none of them make
any sense on economic grounds. They’re also a terrible idea for development
and for the climate. So ending private finance for those will be extremely
important.” |
|
G |
Germany has also announced it will put
$100m towards the loss and damage fund, In Germany, politicians and pundits across the political spectrum
demanded that the national branch of Fridays for Future, the student protest
movement that Thunberg started in 2018, distance itself from her views. German heat pump rollout at
risk as government suspends climate subsidies Stephanie Akrumah, a climate activist and
Director of the Centre for Green Growth, a Ghana based NGO, said: “Women and
girls should be at the centre of tackling the climate crisis but instead, our
voices are silenced and we are ignored when funding is distributed. Conscious
and unconscious barriers holding women back must be demolished. Greek prime
minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke of the fires and floods that have
devastated Greece in recent years, and that Greeks have cut coal use by 80%
while growing the economy faster than other countries in the Eurozone. He said decarbonisation of shipping – in
which Greece is a world power – must be done on an even playing field.
Shipping is one of the world’s most polluting industries, and has been
notoriously resistant to change (While the PM did not specifically mention
the Elgin Marbles, Greeks were excited that King Charles wore a Greek-motif
tie and pocket square during his address to the conference – signalling (?) –
his support for their return to Athens.) |
|
H |
The
authorities in Honduras have issued an arrest warrant for the alleged
mastermind in the case of Berta Cáceres, the murdered Indigenous
environmental leader, writes my colleague Nina
Lakhani. Cáceres was shot in her home by hired
hitmen in March 2016 in retaliation for leading a grassroots campaign to stop
construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on a river
considered sacred by the Lenca people. |
|
I |
Even as
the Narendra Modi,
India’s prime minister, prepares to travel to the Cop28 summit,
a top official in his government insisted coal will remain India’s main
source of energy for years to come.
“Coal is, and will continue to be an important part of India’s energy
needs,” Vinay Mohan Kwatra,
India’s foreign secretary, told reporters ahead of Modi’s trip to Dubai. On Friday,
the Iranian delegation announced it was walking out. The reason, Iran’s
energy minister told his country’s official news agency: The “political,
biased and irrelevant presence of the fake Zionist regime” — referring to
Israel. Abdul Latif Rashid, president of Iraq, drew
on the history of the region, pointing out that his predecessors in
Mesopotamia, 4,500 years ago, drew up the first agreement for sharing water
resources, and warned the summit that the famous rivers of Iraq were now
under threat from drought linked to climate change. Putin is also scheduled to meet the Iranian
president, Ebrahim Raisi, on Thursday for what his aide, Yury Ushakov, has
described as “a rather lengthy conversation”, according to Tass, the Russian
state-run news agency. Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE has signed
the ICC founding treaty, meaning they don’t face any obligation to detain
Putin. Al Jaber said he had “incredible respect for
Mary Robinson” after he was accused of being arrogant towards the former
Irish president when he said there was no scientific need to phase out fossil
fuels, adding: “I was very honoured to receive her invitation to speak in a
discussion around climate and gender.” |
|
J |
The prime minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida,
welcomed the summit’s plans to conclude the first ever global stocktake. He outlined the country’s financial and
energy transition plans, including a goal to make renewable energy its main
source of power – Japan is apparently the world’s third largest market for
solar power. But Evan Gach, from the Kiko Network, an NGO in
Japan, said: “It’s disappointing to not see Japan on the PPCA list, but maybe
not a surprise. Japan has over 170 existing coal units, and there’s no plan
or roadmap to phase these out. Japan is committed to extending the life of
fossil fuels for as long as they can profit from it.” Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, the king of
Jordan linked the climate emergency to the war happening in Gaza, adds:
Jordan does not contribute significantly to climate breakdown but is greatly
affected, with water scarcity a real threat. |
|
K |
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of
Kazakhstan, has pledged to join the global methane pledge. He says there is extraordinary
potential for wind and solar in his country – a key oil exporter William Ruto, the president of Kenya, the
world needs to invest in green energy and other infrastructure in Africa. “A
tendency to ignore Africa’s developmental and industrial needs … is no longer
a tenable position. Turning Africa into a green powerhouse is not just
essential for the continent, it is also vital for global industrialisation,
decarbonisation.” |
|
L |
Gitanas Nausėda, president of
Lithuania, said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has committed
“ecocide” in his war against Ukraine and should not be about to get away with
it. |
|
M |
Tina Stege, climate envoy of the
Marshall Islands, pointed out that Al Jaber, the president of Cop28 who has
come under fire for his comments that there is “no science” |
|
N |
Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte has
stepped down as prime minister after a divisive and angry election – merely acknowledging
that the decarbonisation in the Netherlands is “tricky.” It remains to be
seen what far-right politician Geert Wilders will want to do on this topic. New Zealand has won an award at Cop28.
Unfortunately it is not one to be proud of. Each day, the Climate Action
Network is branding one country the “fossil of the day” – an award for the
most bone-headed and regressive climate action because of the newly-formed
government’s choice to overturn the existing world-leading ban on new oil and
gas exploration. Christopher Luxon, the new prime minister, has vowed to open
the country’s vast ocean to more oil and gas exploration, rowing back on his
predecessor Jacinda Ardern’s 2018 ban. Greenpeace Nordic
just held a press conference at Cop28 along with climate legal advocates to
discuss their court case against the state of Norway. |
|
O |
|
|
P |
Tariq
Luthun, a Palestinian American from Friends of the Earth Palestine, who said denying
water to people was a form of collective punishment that has also been used
in the US, for example the mass water shutoffs for overdue bills in Detroit
and the lead contamination scandal in Flint, Michigan. “What good
is to be found in a green world if the roots are soaked in blood,” said
Luthum. “I reject the notion that some people have to suffer so that others
can prosper.” An early
frontrunner in this year’s fashion stakes is Briseida Iglesias, a Guna
indigenous leader from Panama, sage of the songs and other spiritual
practices of the Gunadule people. Santiago Peña, president of Paraguay, said:
“In my country of Paraguay all energy is clean and renewable. Yes you heard
that, it is all clean and renewable.”
He’s right – the Itaipu Dam, located on the Paraná River, is one of
the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world and generates about 95%
of Paraguay’s electricity, all of which comes from renewable sources. Polish activists
have already got together to protest against his attendance. Dominika Lasota,
a climate activis, said: “Fuck you. Your power is coming to an end. Fossil
fuel dictators out.” When Greta
Thunberg posted a photo of herself holding a “stand with Gaza” sign on
Instagram in October, the backlash in Israel and Germany came hard and fast. |
|
Q |
|
|
R |
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, arrived in the UAE, to the alarm
of the Ukrainian delegation. Putin is also scheduled to meet the Iranian
president, Ebrahim Raisi, on Thursday for what his aide, Yury Ushakov, has
described as “a rather lengthy conversation”, according to Tass, the Russian
state-run news agency. Neither
Saudi Arabia nor the UAE has signed the ICC founding treaty, meaning they
don’t face any obligation to detain Putin. |
|
S |
Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, Samoa’s
environment minister and chair of Aosis, pointed to the pragmatic realities
of the ongoing diplomacy.“We still have a week left,” Schuster said. “We
would like to continue our work. We have our goals. We will prefer to
continue to stand up for what we believe in.” A new paper from the Climate Social Science Network examines
the role of Saudi Arabia in obstructing progress at climate talks over the
past few decades. The key quote the authors highlight is: What sets
Saudi Arabia apart from most other countries is that it sees its national
interest as best served by obstructing intergovernmental efforts to tackle
climate change Fatou Ndoye is a Senegalese
climate expert who coordinates mangrove restoration. Ndoye is a strong entry in our best-dressed
series for Cop28. President of Serbia, Aleksandar
Vučić, said that temperatures in his country have increased by 1.8C
already. Serbians experienced uncomfortable “tropical nights” over 20C
degrees celcius for the first time this October, Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan, president of
the Seychelles, said he was disheartened that so many financial commitments
on climate change were yet to be fulfilled despite the urgency of the
crisis. Small island developing states
urgently need money to deal with the coastal erosion they are seeing. Zuzana Čaputová, president of
Slovakia, asked the summit: “How much more do we want to harm future
generations?” Her country’s emissions are 55% lower than they were in 1980
and, by the end of this year will stop using coal to generate electricity. Climate
funding must be faster and easier, says deputy PM of flood-hit Somalia. Vivian
Sunwoo Lee, from the Solutions for our Climate group in Korea, said: “If
(South) Korea doesn’t want to fall behind the major economies, it will also
need to phase out coal.” Solar and
wind energy is the cheapest electricity in the world today, and often even
cheaper than simply continuing to buy the fuel for coal-fired power stations. Pedro Sánchez, president of Spain, said we
need to have a “polluter pays” principle, where polluters pay for the
destruction they cause. |
|
T |
Licypriya Kangujam, a 12-year-old Indian climate justice activist and
special envoy of Timor-Leste here at Cop28, was unimpressed at the UAE Cop
president’s oil and gas links. Tupou VI, the King of Tonga said it was
“painful” for small developing island states to see that Cop28 “may not be
the milestone moment we were all hoping for”: over 50,000 Pacific island
people were displaced every year as their homes are lost as a result of
climate breakdown. Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made
comparisons between the war in Gaza and the climate crisis. He said: “Turkey
has stood by peace during all these crises and works towards finding
solutions on the basis of equity. He pointed out that Turkey is the second in
Europe and ninth in the world for hydro energy and despite the devastating
earthquake in February they are managing to keep on track for their goals and
are “healing the wounds” of the disaster. Turkmenistan
joined the Global Methane Pledge today, an important move for the world’s
fourth largest methane emitter. In May, the Guardian revealed
Turkmenistan’s “mind boggling” methane emissions in
May, a development sources said was instrumental in pushing the country to
act. The country’s super-emitting leaks are seen as some of the easiest to
fix by repairing ageing gas infrastructure. Kausea Natano, prime minister of Tuvalu, called for the creation of a fossil fuels non-proliferation treaty. “I come to deliver a simple message to save
our people from the devastating impacts of climate change,” he said. “This Cop28 must produce
a decision that addresses the root cause of emission. It must include clear
language of phasing out fossil fuels. We no longer have time to sit by while
our islands sink, while our forests burn and while our people suffer.” |
|
U |
UN climate chief warns nations not to ‘fall into the trap of
point-scoring’; UNITED
ARAB EMIRATES On 31 December, two
key air quality regulations will drop off the statute book under the Retained
EU Law (REUL) Act. (UAE) Opening: Hana Alhashimi, the UAE’s chief
climate negotiator. She says the UAE’s negotiating team is two-thirds female,
and two-thirds youth, from a range of diverse backgrounds. Majid al-Suwaidi, the Cop28 director-general,
says “We have no time for polarisation and argument; it is time for
partnerships, solidarity and action.” The
United Arab Emirates’ vast fossil fuel production is contributing to dangerously
high air pollution levels, creating health risks for its people and migrant
workers The
race is now on to breed drought resistant and more weather-flexible crops. In
the UAE for example, there are wild dates and olive trees adapted to extreme
mountain conditions which could provide a “genetic treasure trove”, according
to the World Wildlife Fund, Ukranians alarmed by Putin's
arrival in UAE. Russian president,
Vladimir Putin, arrived in the UAE, to the alarm of the Ukrainian delegation. Ugandan climate activist
Vanessa Nakate participates in a demonstration against fossil fuels UNITED KINGDOM “We want to restore that cross-party
consensus, but the way we will do it is by leading from the front,” said
(Labor Party’s Keith) Starmer. “Those that want to be with us on this journey
are very welcome. And I know there are leading lights in other political
parties who would welcome an incoming Labour government leading from the
front.” Lili Fuhr, director of the legal groups
CIEL’s fossil economy program, warned that the global stocktake (GST) risks
becoming “bloated and meaningless”. “The US, the very worst climate wrecker,
has plans for massive oil and gas expansion and wants to talk about unabated
emissions, which is part of the festival of false solutions the fossil fuel
industry is promoting here. United States It is now “crunch time” in these climate talks, according to John
Kerry, who has urged other countries to raise their ambition in Dubai. “Come
on, it’s time to get serious,” the US climate envoy said. The US joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance on Saturday by
committing to close all its coal-fired power plants, in a move hailed at
Cop28 as “huge news” that puts pressure on the world’s biggest burner of
coal, China. Coal, maintains GUK is
“the dirtiest fossil fuel” – about 40% of fossil fuel emissions – and its
phase-out is essential to fighting the climate crisis. The US has the world’s
third biggest fleet of coal-burning power stations. The deadline set by the
US for ending coal appears to be 2035, five years after the 2030 date seen as
compatible with keeping global heating below 1.5C. The Czech Republic and Kosovo, both heavily
reliant on coal, also joined the PPCA today. Al Gore said an agreement by countries to
phase out fossil fuels would be “one of the most significant events in the
history of humanity”. He added that it had been “absurd” to put a fossil fuel
company CEO in charge of Cop28. “If
there were a decision here to surprise the world to say ‘OK we get it now,
we’ve made enough money, we will get on with what needs to be done to give
young people a sense of hope again and stop as much as suffering as
possible... it would be one of the most significant events in the history of
humanity,” “There is only one measure
of success for Cop28: will it include a commitment to phase out fossil fuels
or not,” he said. “If it does include such a commitment it will be a smashing
success; if it does not it will be a failure.” Kerry was up
early to help open the US pavilion at Cop28 this
morning. The US’s climate envoy led a small group of Biden administration
officials in an upbeat assessment of the White House’s efforts in tackling
climate change. “I feel optimistic, I
really do,” Kerry said. “I am in Dubai with a
sense that something different is really happening.” But he refused to denounce the twenty two
nations calling for a tripling of nuclear energy, adding that: “...the reality of
facts and evidence tell us that you can’t get to net zero 2050 without some
nuclear. These are just scientific realities. No politics involved in this,
no ideology involved in this.”
(Protesters disagreed... 350.org’s
Masayoshi Iyoda contending that: “The attempt of a ‘nuclear
renaissance’ led by nuclear industries’ lobbyists since the 2000s has never
been successful - it is simply too costly, too risky, too undemocratic, and
too time-consuming.) By Tuesday, when Jaber’s ‘no
science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels had gone viral, he
opined: “Well I think what he was
saying … is the science itself does not prescribe a particular approach, it
doesn’t say you have to do this or you have to do that,” Kerry
explained. Kamala
Harris, the US vice-president, @when she speaks here later on Saturday.
Announcements from the US on coal and methane are also expected. |
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Zambia’s president, Hakainde Hichilema, has
hit back at suggestions that a wave of carbon offsetting deals in African
countries by a UAE sheikh, which include his country, are a new “scramble for
Africa”. This year, the rights over
vast tracts of African forest have been sold off in a series of huge carbon
offsetting deals that cover an area of land larger than the UK to a UAE-based
firm called Blue Carbon Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president of
Zimbabwe, said “economic sanctions placed on our country are hindering
climate action”. |
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