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That’s because countries previously agreed under the ParisAgreement that, by the end of 2024, they would decide on the new quantum of climate finance for lower-income countries, building on the previous target of $100 billion/year. Here’s what’s on the agenda at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and why it matters.
Oil, gas, and coal exports are not counted when countries tally their greenhouse gas emissions under the ParisAgreement. This allows wealthy nations to report progress on emissions reduction goals, while shipping their fossilfuels — and the pollution they produce — overseas. Read more on E360 →
A new dataset released by InfluenceMap provides information on heat-trapping emissions traced to the 122 largest investor and state-owned fossilfuel companies in the world. Fossilfuels are the main driver of climate change and the terrifying effects of it that we see happening across the world.
Last week, I participated in the Scientists Speakout Day during the Summer of Heat on Wall Street , to protest and disrupt the financial institutions that are enabling the fossilfuel industry (and, as a result, our current climate crisis).
The future trajectories are based on different scenarios, such as versions of the future where the world comes together to take action and phase out fossilfuels, or versions where fossilfuel production continues throughout this century. 2C above the preindustrial average.
Earlier this year, The Guardian ran a powerful article exposing the ties of Elsevier, one of the world’s largest academic publishing companies, to the fossilfuel industry. The article caught my attention because I’d never considered the ways in which an academic publisher might be perpetuating and enabling a fossilfuel economy.
In the study, we found that political power dynamics shape international negotiations, that the ParisAgreement temperature goal doesn’t fully account for the dangers of sea level rise, and that climate justice requires fully considering diverse views and experiences of climate change.
Countries committed to a principle of fairness when they signed the ParisAgreement in 2015, acknowledging that those who have profited for decades from oil, gas and coal had a responsibility to deliver funds to the countries least responsible, yet most impacted by climate change.
In one of three new reports on emissions, UN officials went as far as saying that the ParisAgreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius may be out of reach.
Plans countries have submitted under the ParisAgreement would lead to an increase in overall emissions by 2030 and that trend desperately needs to be reversed. Global Energy Monitor’s tracking of corporate methane emissions found that 30 fossilfuel companies were responsible for 43% of the sectors’ emissions.
This year, we yet again witnessed the dramatic consequences of the world’s continued burning of fossilfuels, such as hurricane Debby in Quebec, the wildfires in Jasper, and the flooding in southern Ontario. Before the ParisAgreement was signed in 2015, the world was on track for a catastrophic four degrees of warming.
After 30 years of international negotiations failing to mention the root cause of the climate crisis, the acknowledgement that we must phase out all fossilfuels and massively scale up renewable energy in order to effectively tackle the climate crisis, was both long overdue and extremely significant.
Union of Concerned Scientists’ (UCS) research shows that top fossilfuel producers’ emissions are responsible for as much as half of global surface temperature increase. The best solution: Replace fossilfuels with renewable energy. A small number of big corporations are responsible for the climate crisis.
This year’s annual global climate negotiations, COP29, concluded with an inadequate commitment on climate finance which countered the ParisAgreement’s foundational principles of global climate justice. trillion must be mobilized every year to transition away from fossilfuels, scale up clean energy, and adapt to climate damages.
Countries will submit new commitments, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), required under the ParisAgreement over the coming months. Renewable energy technologies are rapidly advancing, becoming increasingly competitive and, in many cases, becoming cheaper in cost and more efficient than fossilfuels.
If policymakers can reduce short-term, high-impact heat-trapping gases such as methane we can limit warming and keep the ParisAgreement goals within reach. Methane emissions come from two main sources : fossilfuels and agriculture—primarily animal-based agriculture. We need to phase out fossilfuels.
Oil, gas, and coal exports are not counted when countries tally their greenhouse gas emissions under the ParisAgreement. This allows wealthy nations to report progress on emissions reduction goals, while shipping their fossilfuels — and the pollution they produce — overseas. Read more on E360 →
Current national climate pledges fall well-short of the ParisAgreement goal to keep global average temperature increase this century well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C At COP26, China submitted a long-term development strategy , pursuant to Article 4(19) of the ParisAgreement.
Canada’s big five banks are deservedly feeling more heat lately about their funding of fossilfuels. They are among the worst in the world, pumping $727 billion into fossilfuels since the ParisAgreement was signed, while scoring among the lowest on having policies to rectify this.
For years, fossilfuel companies have socialized the costs of their pollution while privatizing the benefits. Since local and state governments are on the frontlines of paying for worsening wildfires, they should also be on the leading edge of holding fossilfuel companies accountable. Source: YouTube.
According to the Energy Information Agency , South Korea’s power sector is heavily reliant on fossilfuels. Two thirds of generation capacity is based on fossilfuels, split evenly between coal and natural gas, with 17% nuclear, and 14% hydro and other renewables. 50% coal, 26% gas, and 25% nuclear.
The key word here is “ intensity :” Fossilfuel companies often focus on emissions intensity, meaning emissions per barrel of oil, rather than absolute emissions, which is a set number measured in metric tons. Heat-trapping emissions must be cut in half by 2030 to reach the Parisagreement goal of keeping global warming to 1.5
The dangerous impacts of a warming, fossil-fuel dependent world span from wildfires capable of destroying entire towns to cancer-causing air pollution that afflicts the next generation. The UNFCC ParisAgreement , for example, proposed that the global community would work together to limit the Earth’s temperature warming by 1.5°C
The IPCC enables decision-makers to move beyond fossilfuel industry-generated deception and disinformation about climate change, providing them with the science needed to make informed decisions. It’s crucial that our leaders have access to comprehensive and accurate science to guide their choices.
Now the reports driven by these resolutions are beginning to roll in, and while they certainly provide some insight into the fossilfuel industry’s investment in political influence, a sleight of hand is preventing investors from seeing the companies’ full strategy. degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Some events last week sent a strong signal that the tide is turning against fossilfuels. To paraphrase Churchill, this may not be beginning of the end for fossilfuels, but at least it is the end of the beginning of the campaign against them. Each of the events standing alone would have been noteworthy.
As I prepare to attend the UN’s 28 th annual Conference of the Parties (COP28 ), I’ve been thinking a lot about the connection between the UN climate talks and litigation, especially in light of the stark reality that parties to the 2015 ParisAgreement are falling short on key milestones leading up to the next month’s meeting.
While there is enormous potential for UN climate negotiations to transform climate action, meaningful progress has been delayed in part by the fossilfuel industry’s deceptive tactics. Last year’s COP was notable as the first to explicitly mention “fossilfuels” in the final decision document.
The GST is a cornerstone of the ParisAgreement , designed to periodically gauge collective progress and identify gaps in ambition. Fossilfuels, which are central to mitigation discussions but were largely avoided, reflecting ongoing political tensions.
Two-thirds of the G20’s public finance for energy went to fossilfuels in 2019–2020. The G20 group of nations provided nearly US$200 billion in support of fossilfuels in 2021, despite the worsening impacts of the climate crisis and their pledge in 2009 to phase out “inefficient” subsidies. By Catherine Early.
Our experts will be able to provide insight on the negotiations at COP29 – including on issues related to climate finance, the energy transition and fossilfuel subsidies. Our team will also be tracking the participation in the negotiations and proceedings by the Government of Canada, provincial leaders, and oil and gas lobbyists.
goal of the ParisAgreement, but I do think that it will be possible for us to keep warming under 2C and avoid the most devastating effects of climate change. We are already falling behind on meeting the targets of the ParisAgreement and we are not taking the drastic action necessary to start closing the gap.
Mexico’s climate commitment for 2030 under the ParisAgreement calls for cutting emissions 22%, cutting black carbon by half, and achieving net-zero deforestation. AMLO has come under criticism for his commitment to fossilfuel production and refining in Mexico.
Drawing on research by the Union of Concerned Scientists and others, the commission report found that fossilfuel companies fully understood their products’ impact on climate as early as 1965, when their own scientists discovered them. The industry’s actions, the CHR report said, were driven “not by ignorance, but greed.”
Trading in disinformation In its climate lobbying report, ExxonMobil deemed 52 associations “aligned” for acknowledging the risks of climate change, publicly backing the ParisAgreement goal of limiting average global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and taking steps to reduce carbon emissions.
Figueres, who famously was one of the key architects in securing the historical agreement that led to the signing of the ParisAgreement, added: “At the last COP, fossilfuel lobbyists outnumbered representatives of scientific institutions, Indigenous communities, and vulnerable nations.
However, as we replace fossilfuels with clean electricity for heating and transportation to meet our climate goals, these peak demands will increasingly shift to the winter in many parts of the country. Decarbonizing the power sector also plays a critical long-term role by replacing fossilfuels in other sectors.
A leaked recording showed a vital member of the presidency being exposed for wanting to use the summit to strike fossilfuel deals. He declared fossilfuels to be ‘a gift of god’ and used the platform the summit presented him with to attack Western democracies.
This change shall facilitate two long-term obligations: achieving a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 and improving Europe`s contribution to the ParisAgreement. The step is underpinned by an action plan that was prepared for months under the responsibility of Commissioner Frans Timmermans earlier this year.
There is still much we can do to bend that emissions curve sharply within this decade—but only if world leaders, especially leaders of richer countries and major emitting nations, take responsibility to act together quickly and fossilfuel companies are held accountable for their decades of obstruction and deception.
Spearheaded by the Republic of Vanuatu, they want the court to clarify how existing International Law can strengthen governmental action on climate change, protect public health and the environment, and save the save the ParisAgreement.
A 2022 Rainforest Action Network repor t found that “fossilfuel financing from the world’s 60 largest banks has reached USD $4.6 trillion in the six years since the adoption of the ParisAgreement, with $742 billion in fossilfuel financing in 2021 alone.” The biggest US bank investors in fossilfuels? “At
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