UN Climate Deal Is Reached, But Crucial Issues Remain Unresolved
November 13, 2021
The Glasgow climate conference reached a successful conclusion on Saturday, with almost 200 nations signing up unanimously to the Glasgow Climate Pact. The diplomatic success was palpable, but climatically the outcome was more ambiguous, with no new moves in the final hours to bridge the gap between the aspiration to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C and nations’ actual greenhouse gas emissions pledges on the table, which still would lead to future warming above 2 degrees C.
As Glasgow Deadline Looms, Key Disputes Hold Up a Climate Agreement
November 12, 2021
The Glasgow climate conference edged toward a close on Friday, with agreement on a final declaration near. But detailed discussion on particular issues — especially finance for developing nations to cope with climate change — is widely expected to push the final session into Saturday. The aim of “keeping 1.5 alive,” meaning limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C is now on “life support,” UN Secretary General António Guterres says.
An Ambitious U.S.-China Statement Galvanizes the Glasgow Summit
November 11, 2021
With ministers from around the world back in Glasgow to take control of negotiations, delegates at the UN climate talks Wednesday were digesting the first draft of the pact to be signed at the climate conference’s scheduled close on Friday. Having failed to persuade countries to up their commitments to meet the Paris target of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C, the British hosts suggested that the agreement instead commit nations to having a second go in time for COP27 in Egypt at the end of next year.
Proposed Glasgow Accord Calls for Tougher Targets, Phasing Out Coal, and Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies
November 10, 2021
With ministers from around the world back in Glasgow to take control of negotiations, delegates at the UN climate talks Wednesday were digesting the first draft of the pact to be signed at the climate conference’s scheduled close on Friday. Having failed to persuade countries to up their commitments to meet the Paris target of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C, the British hosts suggested that the agreement instead commit nations to having a second go in time for COP27 in Egypt at the end of next year.
Fossil Fuel Lobbyists at Climate Talks: What Are They Trying to Achieve?
November 9, 2021
It was a statistic that shocked many in Glasgow Monday. An examination of delegation lists by the human rights group Global Witness found that fossil fuel companies and their trade associations have more than 500 representatives registered at the climate conference, more than the biggest national delegation, Brazil.
Climate Negotiators Confront a Key Question: How Hot Will the Planet Get?
November 8, 2021
As the second week gets under way, how is the Glasgow climate conference going? How is the planet faring? Is it on target for capping warming at 2.7 degrees C by later this century? Or are we headed for 2.2 degrees C or 1.8 degrees C? Or is it still a doomsday 4 degrees C or more? All those numbers have been in circulation in recent days. So what should we believe?
In Glasgow, Experts Warn of Widespread Misspending of Climate Adaptation Funds
November 5, 2021
Tens of billions of dollars in aid are being poured into helping the most vulnerable nations to adapt to climate change. Rich nations in Glasgow are promising more. But is the money being well spent? Authors of a new report from the UN Environment Programme say not. Often it is funding projects that increase vulnerability.
A Worrying Resurgence of Coal Becomes a Key Focus at Glasgow
November 4, 2021
Is coal-burning in the midst of being banished from the world’s energy systems? Or is it, on the contrary, bouncing back as countries reboot their economies after the pandemic lockdown? The answer may seal the fate of the planet, but it remains up in the air after contradictory claims in recent hours at the Glasgow climate summit. Politicians are optimistic; scientists much less so.
In Glasgow, Financiers Vow to Shift Investments from Fossil Fuels to Renewables
November 3, 2021
Follow the money. Whatever politicians promise, what matters is where investment goes. Does it finance coal or wind power, deforestation or ecological recovery? So the announcement, on day three in Glasgow, that financiers who control 40 percent of the world’s corporate assets, with a value of $130 trillion, are promising to set their future investments toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in 2050, is clearly a big deal.
Reducing Deforestation and Methane Emissions Take Center Stage at Glasgow
November 2, 2021
If at first you don’t succeed, try another declaration. Tuesday’s highlight at the Glasgow climate summit was the Declaration on Forest and Land Use, under which more than 100 leaders — from Russia to Brazil to Canada to Indonesia — pledged to end deforestation and land degradation by 2030. It brought a sense of déjà vu.
Glasgow Climate Conference Opens With Dire Warnings and Muted Expectations
November 1, 2021
Some big international conferences begin with high ambition and end in ignominious failure. Some start with modest ambition and achieve major success. It’s too early to tell how the UN climate conference in Glasgow will go. Yet as the biggest climate negotiations since the Paris Agreement in 2015 began today in Scotland, the British hosts were making strikingly downbeat assessments of its chances of achieving further progress on taming climate change.
A Big New Forest Initiative Sparks Concerns of a ‘Carbon Heist’
October 28, 2021
Major funding to finance forest conservation projects is set to be announced at the UN climate summit. But some environmentalists contend the LEAF program could exclude the Indigenous people who have long protected the forests that the initiative aims to save.
Bill McKibben on Why the World’s Rich Nations Must Pay for Climate Damage
October 14, 2021
Damage from increasingly extreme weather events is falling especially hard on developing countries, even though they have done the least to contribute to climate change. At the upcoming UN climate talks, rich nations must begin to compensate them for their mounting losses.
At Climate Summit, Can the World Move from Talk to Action?
October 12, 2021
Negotiators at the Glasgow climate conference will face a critical choice: Set firm emissions targets for 2030, or settle for goals of achieving “net zero” by 2050? The course they set could determine if we have a shot at avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.
