Page 7 - Cop27

Beyond bloviation: What do climate conferences like COP achieve anyway?

It would be wrong to think that nothing has been achieved. A great deal has, though far too slowly - for which lack of speed the world, especially its poor, will pay the price, writes T N Ninan

COP27: Joe Biden says climate crisis is about 'very life of the planet'

"It's more urgent than ever that we double down on our climate commitments. Russia's war only enhances the urgency of the need to transition the world off its dependence on fossil fuels," he said

Top Indian unicorn founders, venture capitalists back Green Startup Pledge

World's first climate pledge for startups is backed by India's leading VC funds and supported by entrepreneurs including Nithin Kamath, Deepinder Goyal and Bhavish Aggarwal

Technology cannot remain confined to only big players: India at COP27

Nandan said that science is there but how to apply this science and knowledge to our activities needs to be processed

COP27: Joe Biden off to climate talks, first leg of around-the-world trip

President Joe Biden is heading to a global climate meeting with a giant domestic investment in tow and he's likely to face questions about how far the US will go to pull other large greenhouse gas emitters along. His attendance on Friday at the UN climate conference, known as COP27, in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is the first stop on an around-the-world trip that will also take him to a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in Cambodia and a Group of 20 summit meeting for leaders of the world's largest economies in Bali, Indonesia. Biden boarded Air Force One late on Thursday buoyed by a stronger-than-expected showing by the Democratic Party in Tuesday's midterm elections, congressional passage this year of the largest climate investment in US history and Russian military setbacks on the Ukrainian battlefield. At the climate conference, Biden will discuss a new supplemental rule coming Friday that cracks down on methane emissions, a measure that expands on a similar ...

COP27: African nations push for funding to adapt to climate change

Battling droughts, sandstorms, floods, wildfires, coastal erosion, cyclones and other weather events exacerbated by climate change, the African continent needs to adapt, but it needs funds to do so, leaders and negotiators from the continent said at the UN climate summit. It's one of the main priorities for the African Group of Negotiators at the summit, known as COP27, currently underway in Egypt. Ephraim Shitima, the group's chair, said Africa is keen to see the outcomes of the negotiations translated into action for the continent where millions are facing climate-related disasters. Shitima said the summit should provide solutions to the millions of people in the continent, adding that Africa needs finance to adapt to extreme weather as well as to facilitate just energy transition and boost renewable energy uptake. A recent study released by the World Bank said that climate-related events will squeeze more than 132 million people into poverty worldwide with African countries losin

Biden administration tightens methane emissions rule amid push for more oil

The Biden administration is ramping up efforts to reduce methane emissions, targeting the oil and gas industry for its role in global warming even as President Joe Biden has pressed energy producers for more oil drilling to lower prices at the gasoline pump. Biden was set to announce a supplemental rule Friday cracking down on emissions of methane a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming and packs a stronger short-term punch than even carbon dioxide as he attends a global climate conference in Egypt. The new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency follows up on a methane rule Biden announced last year at a United Nations climate summit in Scotland. The 2021 rule targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focusing only on new wells as previous EPA regulations have done. The new rule goes a step further and takes aim at all drilling sites, including smaller wells that emit less than 3 tonnes of methane per year. Sm

Climate change: Carbon dioxide emissions rising globally, but drop in China

The world is projected to spew 40.6 billion tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) into the atmosphere in 2022, with no sign of the decrease that is urgently needed to limit warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, according to a new report released on Friday, coinciding with the UN climate summit in Egypt. The projection of 40.6 GtCO2 total emissions in 2022 is close to the highest-ever annual total of 40.9 GtCO2 in 2019. If current emissions levels persist, there is a 50 percent chance that warming of 1.5 degree Celsius will be exceeded in nine years, according to the "Global Carbon Budget 2022" report by a group of scientists who track emissions and publish in peer- reviewed scientific journals. 1.5 degree Celsius is the preferred warming limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement -- a limit that countries hope will be sufficient to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Earth's global surface temperature has increased by around 1.1 degree Celsius as compared to the average in the pre-industrial (18501900)

COP27: Scientific research crucial to accelerate delivery for mitigation

COP27's second thematic day focused on the importance of scientific developments and research to solve the catastrophic long-term problems that the world is facing as a result of climate change

Masked power play: CoPs are places for grandstanding and inane statements

Carbonisation is driven by consumption. The more we consume, the more carbon is generated. But by design, CoPs are consumption blind

Climate projections again point to 2.7C rise if policies don't improve

The research partnership Climate Action Tracker on Thursday released its latest projections of how greenhouse gas emissions may dangerously raise the global average temperature

COP27: India insists on new global climate finance target by 2024

Developing countries require substantive enhancement in climate finance from the floor of USD 100 billion per year to meet their ambitious goals and rich countries need to lead the mobilisation of resources, India has stressed at the ongoing UN climate summit COP27. At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries had committed to jointly mobilise USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries tackle the effects of climate change. Rich countries, however, have repeatedly failed in delivering this finance. Developing countries, including India, are pushing rich countries to agree to a new global climate finance target -- also known as the new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG) -- which they say should be in trillions as the costs of addressing and adapting to climate change have grown. At a high-level ministerial dialogue on NCQG at COP27 on Wednesday, India highlighted that climate actions to meet the NDC targets require financial, technological,

From Nazca Lines to the Mona Lisa, a history of unique climate protest

The protests, meanwhile, do reveal the anger and frustration activists feel, especially with the decision of Egyptian authorities and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

What is the Mangrove Alliance for Climate?

India has joined the newly-formed Mangrove Alliance for Climate at the ongoing UN climate conference in Egypt. What is this alliance? And what does it plan to achieve? Here's more

Burst sewage pipe adds to infrastructure woes at UN climate conference

First there was no water. Then there was too much of the wrong kind. Attendees of this year's UN climate conference in Egypt found themselves stepping over streams of foul-smelling fluid Wednesday after a pipe or tank holding liquid waste appeared to have burst near one of the venue's main thoroughfares. The incident was the latest of several infrastructure and planning problems that have emerged this week during the conference, which runs through Nov. 18. Participants have complained that basic necessities such as drinking water and food are not available or require lengthy queuing under the simmering Sinai sun. Floors sometimes buckle and toilet paper in the various venues has frequently run out. The problems raise broader issues about planning for an event meant to help solve climate change and promote green living. Giant AC units blow cold air into vast tent-like buildings with little insulation and doors wide open. Empty rooms are brightly lit into the night. Solar panels, win

US, China meet for climate talks as Xie says door is open on his side

Both men are interested in resuming talks on curbing methane, combating deforestation and accelerating the green transition, according to people familiar with the matter

Developing countries to seek commitment on finance, tech at COP27

India will push developed countries for "action" on climate finance and technology transfer to help developing nations adapt to climate change, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav has said ahead of the 27th edition of the Conference of Parties (COP) to UNFCCC. The minister said India will also emphasise that it is one of the few countries which has met the 2015 climate goals set in Paris, and stress on climate justice and sustainable lifestyles through Prime Minister Narendra Modi's LIFE movement which stands for "Lifestyle for Environment". "COP27 should be COP for action in terms of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. This is our overall approach. India will seek clarity as to what is being termed as climate finance whether it is grants, loans or subsidies. Public and private finance should be separate...adaptation finance and mitigation finance should be equal.These issues will be taken up strongly," the minister told reporters here on Thursday. US

India says will need coal until 2040 and beyond, says Pralhad Joshi

Addressing a parliamentary committee, minister in charge of coal Pralhad Joshi said the fuel was an affordable source of energy and demand for it had yet to peak in India

CDRI announces Infrastructure Resilience Accelerator Fund at COP27

Around $50 mn in financial commitments have already been announced for IRAF

Oil & gas emissions 3 times higher than figures being reported: COP27 data

Emissions from oil and gas production worldwide are significantly underreported and are estimated to be three times higher, according to new data released at the UN climate summit (COP27) on Wednesday. Climate Trace -- a non-profit coalition of organizations which monitors greenhouse gas emissions and publishes emissions inventories using satellite data, artificial intelligence and machine learning -- said half of the 50 largest sources of emissions across the world are oil and gas production fields and their associated facilities. "Globally, emissions from oil and gas production are significantly underreported, with the data showing that of the countries required to report regularly to the UNFCCC, emissions are as much as three times higher," Climate TRACE said. The top 14 sources of emissions in the world are oil and gas fields, with the Permian Basin in Texas, the US, being the largest emitter, the latest global emissions inventory showed. "The top 500 sources represent less tha