Page 3 - Un Climate Talks

COP28: Renewables a way to phase out fossil fuels, says TotalEnergies

Governments at previous climate talks agreed to phase down the use of unabated coal, but the talks, hosted by oil power United Arab Emirates, have so far been split on the future role of fossil fuels

Phasing out fossil fuels among options on table for COP28 climate talks

"Absolutely not," he said when asked in a TV interview in Riyadh whether his country, the world's top oil exporter, would be happy to see the language added

TMS Ep577: Assembly election results, PMGKAY extension, Santa rally, COP28

What do the five assembly election results reveal? Has the govt budgeted enough for free foodgrain scheme? Will Indian equities see a Santa rally this December? What is COP28? All answers here

COP28: India skips pledge to triple global renewable energy target by 2030

India and China both on Saturday refrained from signing the pledge at the COP28 climate summit to triple the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030 even though New Delhi already committed to it as part of its G20 presidency. During the UN's climate talks here, 118 countries committed to tripling the global renewable energy capacity by 2030 in a highly endorsed initiative. This ambitious goal aims to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels in the world's overall energy production. The countries which backed the pledge included Japan, Australia, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Nigeria, and Barbados. Although China and India have expressed endorsement for the threefold increase in renewable energy by 2030, neither of them formally supported the comprehensive pledge on Saturday. This commitment involves scaling up clean power alongside a decrease in the utilisation of fossil fuels. The pledge called for phase down of unabated coal power and putting an end to the financing of new coal-fired pow

Himalayas melting alarmingly: UN chief insists on urgent action at COP28

Warning of a potential catastrophe in the Himalayas where the glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday said the ongoing annual climate talks here must respond to the needs of the developing nations, especially the vulnerable mountain countries that need urgent help. Almost 240 million people depend on the glaciers and 10 major rivers, such as Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra, originating in the Himalayas. Another billion people living downstream of these rivers across eight countries, including India, are also dependent on the glacier-fed rivers. Addressing a meeting with mountain countries at this year's Conference of Parties (COP28), UN Secretary-General Guterres emphasised that nearly a third of Nepal's ice had vanished in just over 30 years, and it was directly linked to greenhouse gas pollution that heats up the planet. Guterres, who visited Nepal, including the Everest region, in October last week, called for developed countries to clarify t

UN secretary general, COP28 president clash over future of fossil fuels

The competing visions summed up the most divisive issue facing world leaders at this year's UN climate summit in the oil-producing United Arab Emirates

COP28: World's top donors join IFC to lure $11 billion in climate cash

Mark Gallogly's Three Cairns Group and the Bezos Earth Fund are among the charitable donors that aim to seed the ACP with $235 million, with a further $590 million expected to come from investors

Rich nations should reduce their carbon footprint 'well before' 2050: PM

Rich nations should completely reduce their carbon footprint "well before" 2050, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday while calling on the world to deliver a concrete outcome on finance to help developing and poor nations combat climate change. Addressing a session on 'Transforming Climate Finance' at COP28 here, Modi said India expects concrete and real progress on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), a fresh post-2025 global climate finance goal. "Developed countries should completely reduce their carbon footprint well before 2050," he said. Rich nations pledged in 2009 to raise USD 100 billion annually by 2020 to assist developing countries in combating and adjusting to climate change. Despite extensions to 2025, these nations have not met this commitment. COP28 aims to establish the groundwork for a fresh post-2025 global climate finance goal, succeeding the USD 100 billion target. Countries aim to finalize this new goal by COP29 in 2024. Modi said that there shou

Loss and Damage Fund, climate finance India's key focus at COP28: Env min

Loss and Damage Fund, climate finance and issues related to nationally determined contributions to reduce emissions will be the focus areas of discussions that India would be taking up during the COP28, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav said on Thursday. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Indian Pavilion at COP28 where he underscored the importance of everyone to come together to fight climate change. We have seen India's commitment towards its environment-friendly policies... There are many issues to discuss here...there is loss and damage, also the issues of the last COP like article 6 and the climate finance associated with developing countries, those issues will also be discussed at the COP, he said. Article 6 regulates voluntary cooperation among countries to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce emissions. It incorporates both market mechanisms and non-market approaches, including cooperation in areas such as finance, technology ...

Fund to compensate developing nations for climate impacts approved at COP28

The UN climate talks in Dubai opened with a bang with countries clinching an early deal on how to compensate developing and poor countries that bear the brunt of the climate crisis despite contributing little to it. The agreement on the operationalisation of the Loss And Damage Fund on the first day of COP28 sets the stage for ambitious decisions over the next 12 days. At the COP27 in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh last year, rich countries agreed to establish a loss-and-damage fund. However, the decisions on funding allocation, beneficiaries and administration were referred to a committee. Differences between countries were so stark that it necessitated additional meetings to resolve these issues. A draft agreement was arrived at earlier this month and a revised agreement was released a day ago. The draft agreement had called for the World Bank to host the fund for the next four years. It asked the developed countries to contribute to the fund but said other countries and private parti

2023 is hottest year on record, brace for more climate extremes says UN

The U.N. weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, and a warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, forest fires, glacier melt, and heat waves in the future. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) also warned that the average temperature for the year is up some 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times a mere one-tenth of a degree under a target limit for the end of the century as laid out by the Paris climate accord in 2015. The WMO secretary-general said the onset earlier this year of El Nino, the weather phenomenon marked by heating in the Pacific Ocean, could tip the average temperature next year over the 1.5-degree (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) target cap set in Paris. It's practically sure that during the coming four years we will hit this 1.5, at least on temporary basis, Petteri Taalas said in an interview. And in the next decade we are more or less going to be there on a permanen

India should not take new commitments at COP28 climate talks in Dubai: GTRI

India should not take new commitments at the ongoing United Nations COP28 climate talks in Dubai and continue its green transition without additional assurances, think tank GTRI suggested on Thursday. The climate conference is being held at the Dubai Expo City from November 30 to December 12. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that India has already made significant commitments at COP27 (Conference of Parties) and the Paris Agreement, aligning with its Long-term Low Emissions and Development Strategy. India's commitment to generating half of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 is noteworthy. "At COP28 India need not take new commitments at COP28. Instead, it may continue its green transition without additional commitments," GTRI Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava said. However, he added that the country's high methane emissions, especially from the agriculture sector, pose a challenge. "Any improvement will require .

'Tax the bad' to boost climate finance, says COP28 advisory panel

While citing an urgent need for new funding sources, the report by a group of independent economists said existing streams of revenue could also be reallocated

'Moment of truth': Fossil fuel lobby casts long shadow over COP28

In an interview with AFP on Saturday, Jaber had defended the large presence of heavy-emitting industries, including the oil and gas sector

COP28 to focus heavily on methane emissions, India likely to stand ground

The upcoming UN climate talks in the UAE are anticipated to focus heavily on methane emissions, especially in light of China's recent commitment to include this potent greenhouse gas in its 2035 climate plans. However, experts believe that this development may not significantly impact India, as the country is already implementing initiatives centered around agriculture that have climate co-benefits. The United States and the European Union have emphasised the urgency to take action on methane, accounting for about 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times (1850-1900). The UAE, hosting this year's climate talks (COP28), is also expected to announce a commitment from major oil and gas companies to reduce methane leakage. The EU and the US jointly launched the "Global Methane Pledge" in 2021 to reduce worldwide methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, compared to the 2020 levels. Around 150 countries have signed on, but China, India, and Russia are among the prominent

COP28 DG leads discussion on leveraging technology for climate action

The panel discussion explored the evolving landscape of climate technology, and the need for diverse stakeholders' contributions and partnerships to address the climate challenge

Fossil fuel lobbyists attended UN climate talks over 7,200 times: Report

Delegates with ties to the world's biggest polluting oil and gas firms have attended UN climate talks at least 7,200 times over the last 20 years, claims a coalition of civil society organisations. The analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition comes amid a controversy over the appointment of Sultan Al Jaber, the head of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as the president of the upcoming UN climate talks (COP28) in Dubai. Al Jaber has, however, argued that having the oil and gas industry at the table is essential. Citing data on the attendees, the coalition said it underscores how organisations from countries "that are most responsible for global emissions are dominating the climate talks, attempting to influence progress on climate action". "Since COP9 in 2003, employees of fossil fuel firms have attended negotiations a minimum of 945 times. Staff from the 'Big 5' oil giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies have been granted a minimum of 26

PM Modi to attend UN climate talks in UAE from Nov 30 to Dec 1: Report

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the UN climate talks in Dubai on November 1 and deliver a national statement highlighting India's climate action, sources said on Friday. The prime minister will reach the UAE on November 30, deliver India's national statement during the United Nations' World Climate Action Summit on December 1 and return the same day, a source told PTI. The World Climate Action Summit on December 1-2 will see heads of states and governments, leaders from civil society, business, youth, indigenous peoples' organizations, frontline communities, science and other sectors discussing actions and plans aimed at scaling climate action. Modi has been championing Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE movement), urging countries to adopt planet-friendly living practices and move away from deeply consumerist behaviours. Recognising the criticality of this decade (2021-2030) for climate action, there's a call for rebalancing consumption patterns between the Global North and

French foreign minister holds talks in China on climate and global tensions

France and China should work together to reduce global tensions and address issues such as climate change and biodiversity, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Friday. Colonna was on an official trip to Beijing ahead of a major UN climate conference starting next week in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and an EU-China leaders meeting next month. Her visit coincided with the start of a four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war. "As big powers, we both share the responsibility to tackle global challenges .... and we can make concerted efforts in alleviating tensions around the world, she said at a meeting with Premier Li Qiang, China's No. 2 leader. Today's tensions range from the wars in Gaza and Ukraine to the competition between China and the YS over trade, technology and security. A delegation of Arab foreign ministers held talks in China and France in recent days as part of a series of meetings with permanent members of the UN Security Council to push for a cease-fire in

Climate injustice: There's a US-shaped hole in every feasible solution

With the US unable or unwilling to make any credible commitments, the rest of the world is floundering around trying to compensate for its lack of leadership