Page 4 - Climate Change

Host nation Azerbaijan defends oil, gas sector at COP29 amid West criticism

Azerbaijan's oil and gas revenues accounted for 35 per cent of its economy in 2023, down from 50 per cent two years earlier. The government says these revenues will decline to 22 per cent by 2028

COP29: Experts call for $1 trn annual investment to fight climate change

At the COP29 climate summit, prominent voices in the climate action arena voiced a call for greater accountability, real climate finance, and transparent data from developed countries and called for USD 1 trillion per year in cross-border finance to developing countries. Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President, Inter-American Development Bank from the Inter-American Development Bank, highlighted the enormous financial need for climate adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage. We need an NCQG (New Collective Quantified Goal) that is relevant to actual climate finance needs, he stated, calling for USD 1 trillion per year in cross-border finance to developing countries. Persaud also noted that transparency is critical to finance accountability, arguing that clear data on financial flows and impact is essential. He cautioned, however, that loss and damage finance should be grant-based and separate from adaptation and mitigation to ensure funds reach the m

Targets unchanged a year after deal on tripling renewables by 2030: Report

A year after countries agreed to triple global renewable energy capacity to 11,000 gigawatts by 2030, a new report on Tuesday revealed that national targets still only aim for a collective doubling of capacity in the next six years. The report by global energy think tank Ember showed only eight countries have updated their renewable targets in the last 12 months, resulting in just a four-GW increase in overall renewable energy targets globally. The report analysed national 2030 renewable capacity targets for 96 countries and the EU as a bloc. These countries collectively account for 96 per cent of the world's renewable capacity, 95 per cent of global electricity sector demand and 94 per cent of global power sector emissions. Of the 96 countries, 83 have renewable capacity targets for 2030. At the UN's climate conference in December 2023 in Dubai, world leaders reached a historic agreement to triple global renewables capacity by 2030. The International Energy Agency (IEA) and ...

COP29 adopts establishment of carbon market under Paris Agreement Article 6

In a landmark decision at the first day of the global climate talks here, COP29 have officially adopted the new operational standards for a mechanism of the Paris Agreement under Article 6, setting the stage for a global carbon market. This adoption of article 6.4, achieved during the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA), sets the stage for operationalising Article 6, which has faced years of deadlock. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement facilitates international collaboration to lower carbon emissions. It offers two pathways for countries and companies to trade carbon offsets, supporting the achievement of emission reduction targets set in their climate action plans, or nationally determined contributions (NDCs). The first option, known as Article 6.2, allows two countries to establish a bilateral carbon trading agreement under their own terms. The second, Article 6.4, seeks to develop a centralised, UN-managed system to enable

Greta Thunberg protests against Azerbaijan hosting global climate summit

Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Monday attended a rally in Georgia to protest against Azerbaijan hosting the annual United Nations climate talks. Thunberg and scores of other activists who rallied in Tbilisi, the capital of the South Caucasus nation, argued that Azerbaijan doesn't deserve to host the climate talks because of its repressive policies. UN climate talks, called COP29, opened Monday in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a major oil producer where the world's first oil well was drilled. Thunberg described Azerbaijan as a repressive, occupying state, which has committed ethnic cleansing, and which is continuing cracking down on Azerbaijani civil society". She charged that the Caspian Sea nation has used the summit as a chance to greenwash their crimes and human rights abuses. "We can't give them any legitimacy in this situation, which is why we are standing here and saying no to greenwashing and no to the Azerbaijani regime, she said. Azerbaijan has committed to clean

COP29 kicks off; host asks nations to resolve differences on finance goal

Azerbaijan, the host of this year's UN climate conference, called on all countries on Monday to urgently resolve outstanding issues to agree on a new climate finance goal to help developing nations combat and adapt to climate change. Delivering his remarks at the opening ceremony of the UN summit, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said current policies are leading the world towards 3 degrees Celsius of warming, which would be catastrophic for billions of people. He said that the COP29 Presidency's top priority is to find consensus on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), or new climate finance goal, to replace the previous goal of USD 100 billion per year agreed in 2009. Babayev emphasized that the NCQG must be effective and adequate to address the scale and urgency of the problem. Negotiations have seen some progress but a lot of work is left, with just 12 days to land the deal. Countries now urgently need to finalise the elements, resolve differences on ...

World already on cusp of 1.5 degree celsius temp rise, finds new research

The UK-based scientists behind the new approach, who published it Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, say it simplifies the tracking of climate change and is easier to use

COP29: Work will continue despite Trump's return, says US climate envoy

Trump has promised to again remove the United States, the world's biggest historic greenhouse gas emitter, from international climate cooperation

Afghanistan attends UN climate talks for first time since Taliban's return

Afghanistan's first delegation at United Nations climate talks since the Taliban's return to power in 2021 has arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday in a bid to garner support for climate action in the climate-vulnerable nation. Matuil Haq Khalis, who's head of the country's environment protection agency, told The Associated Press that Afghanistan is among the worst affected nations by climate change and needs the world's support to deal with extreme weather like erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and flash floods. All the countries must join hands and tackle the problem of climate change, said Khalis, speaking through a translator. Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable to climate change, with a recent assessment by climate experts ranking it the sixth most climate vulnerable country in the world. In March this year, northern Afghanistan was hit by heavy rains resulting in flash floods, killing over 300 people. Climate scientists have found that extreme rainfall has gotten 25 pe

COP29 in Baku: Climate finance takes centre stage in global talks

India's strong data system can also speak for other nations who have less means and capabilities - financial or intellectual to record them, understand macroeconomic, monetary and financial aspects

A tough climate: COP29 meeting is not expected to yield much progress

COP29 intends to build on that consensus by putting funding by the Global North front and centre. But the prospects of convincing developed countries to loosen the purse-strings appear bleak

India to push for accountability, fair financing, green credit at COP29

India's approach at COP29 focuses on accountability, green credit, fair financing, and incremental goals for its developing economy, multiple delegates said on Monday as the latest edition of the world's most important meeting on climate change kickstarted here. The 29th session of the climate change conference of parties (COP29) is being held from November 11-22 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. While moderate in terms of attendance and scale, India's primary priorities at the conference are expected to include holding developed nations accountable for climate finance, enhancing resilience for vulnerable communities, and advancing an equitable energy transition, a delegate said. Another focus area for India would be to promote green credit and the LiFe (Lifestyle for Environment) philosophy towards sustainability, another delegate said. A member of the delegation said that India's COP29 strategy is expected to challenge developed nations on the gaps in fulfilling climate pledges

UN climate talks to focus on money to help poor nations cut pollution

A complex international two-week-long game of climate change poker is convening. The stakes? Just the fate of an ever-warming world. Curbing and coping with climate change's worsening heat, floods, droughts and storms will cost trillions of dollars and poor nations just don't have it, numerous reports and experts calculate. As United Nations climate negotiations started Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan, the chief issue is who must ante up to help poor nations and especially how much. The numbers are enormous. The floor in negotiations is the $100 billion a year that poor nations based on a categorization made in the 1990s now get as part of a 2009 agreement that was barely met. Several experts and poorer nations say the need is $1 trillion a year or more. It's a game with high stakes, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare, a physicist. Right now the fate of the planet depends very much on what we're able to pull off in the next five or 10 years. But this year's talks, known as COP29, wo

China's energy dominance gets boost from Trump's return to White House

China is responsible for nearly a third of the world's carbon footprint, about 2.5 times the US figure

Climate promises hang fire as big economies don't warm up to COP29

Indian minister likely to skip summit, which begins today; Trump's shadow looms over climate finance commitments

Multilateral banks crucial to financing fight against global warming

As climate change leads to a seemingly endless stream of weather disasters around the world, countries are struggling to adapt to the new reality. Preparing to better withstand hurricanes, floods, heat waves, droughts and wildfires will take hundreds of billions of dollars. And then there is confronting the root cause of climate changethe burning of fossil fuels like coal, gasoline and oilby transitioning to clean energies like wind and solar. That will take trillions of dollars. Enter climate finance, a general term that means different things to different people but boils down to: paying for projects to adapt to and combat the cause of climate change. Financing related to climate change is especially important for developing countries, which don't have the same resources or access to credit that rich countries do. International mega banks, funded by taxpayer dollars, are the biggest, fastest-growing source of climate finance for the developing world. Called multilateral developme

COP29: India to focus on climate finance, protecting vulnerable communities

As world leaders and climate negotiators converge on Baku for COP29, beginning Monday, India is set to bring renewed focus to the urgent need for climate finance, accountability, and protection for vulnerable communities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend the conference, and Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav may also be absent, with Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh leading the 19-member delegation instead. India's national statement is scheduled for November 18-19. India's key priorities at the conference are likely to focus on ensuring accountability of developed nations on climate finance, strengthening resilience for vulnerable communities, and achieving an equitable energy transition, experts anticipate. Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), emphasised that COP29 must go beyond promises, pushing developed nations to accelerate their paths to net zero and meet their ...

2024 likely to be hottest yr on record again, says European climate agency

For the second year in a row, Earth will almost certainly be the hottest it's ever been. And for the first time, the globe this year reached more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming compared to the pre-industrial average, the European climate agency Copernicus said Thursday. It's this relentless nature of the warming that I think is worrying, said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus. Buontempo said the data clearly shows the planet would not see such a long sequence of record-breaking temperatures without the constant increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere driving global warming. He cited other factors that contribute to exceptionally warm years like last year and this one. They include El Nino the temporary warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide as well as volcanic eruptions that spew water vapour into the air and variations in energy from the sun. But he and other scientists say the long-term increase in temperatures beyond fluctuations like E

Northern Arc secures $65 mn commitment from global firms for climate fund

NBFC firm Northern Arc on Thursday said it has secured USD 65 million from global development banks for maiden climate fund through its fund management arm, Northern Arc Investments IFSC Trust. The climate fund gets commitment of USD 50 million from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and USD 15 million from OeEB, the official Development Bank of the Republic of Austria, Northern Arc said in a statement. Located in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), the climate fund will extend debt financing to growth-stage companies operating in sectors such as commercial, industrial, and residential solar energy, energy efficiency, green buildings and materials, e-mobility, and sustainable agriculture, it said. Additionally, it will focus on businesses innovating in the circular economy, water segment and adaptation technologies that seek to reduce environmental impact and promote long-term resilience, it said. The fund aligns with India's broad

Japan's Mount Fuji still without its iconic snowcap for 1st time in 130 yrs

Japan's iconic Mount Fuji, known for its snowcap forming around this time of the year, is still snowless in November for the first time in 130 years, presumably because of the unusually warm temperatures in the past few weeks. The lack of snow on Mt. Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of Tuesday breaks the previous record set on October 26, 2016, meteorological officials said. Usually, the 3,776-metre-high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting October 2, about a month after the summertime hiking season there ends. Last year, snow fell on the mountain on October 5, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, or JMA. The snowless Mt. Fuji has captured attention on social media. People posted photos showing the bare mountain, some expressing surprise and others concerned over climate change. The JMA's Kofu Local Meteorological Office, which keeps weather data in central Japan and was the agency that announced the first snowfall on Mt. Fuji in 1894, has ci