At COP27, climate change was framed as a battle for survival
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Protesters at the UN’s Cop27 summit are calling for climate offsets and an end to the use of fossil fuels as negotiations begin on how to deal with the climate crisis in Egypt.
Activists in Sharm el-Sheikh want rich countries to pay reparations to poorer countries for the impacts of climate change caused by the world’s top polluters.
It comes after the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, which also chairs the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), called on Tuesday for all major issuers to agree to pay for “losses and damages” in the negotiations.
“We all know that India and China are the biggest polluters and polluters must pay,” Prime Minister Gaston Browne said. “I don’t think there is a free pass for any country.”
Browne also added that all countries should pay “what is equitable and fair,” and said that a greater share of responsibility rests with developed countries that have historically been responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that have caused global warming.
key points
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China ‘willing to contribute to compensation for climate damage and loss’
Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry
(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
China would be willing to contribute to a mechanism to compensate poorer countries for losses and damages caused by climate change, its climate envoy Xie Zhenhua told the Cop27 conference on Wednesday.
Xie said China was under no obligation to participate, but stressed his solidarity with those calling for more action from rich nations on the issue and highlighted the damage China had suffered from climate-related weather extremes, Reuters reports.
China is designated by the World Trade Organization as a developing country, despite having the second largest economy in the world.
Last month, US special envoy John Kerry told reporters that China should contribute its own funds to the loss and damage, “especially if they think they’re going to continue for the next 30 years with the increase in its emissions”.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 12:11 p.m
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US climate envoy John Kerry announces new carbon market plans
US climate envoy John Kerry has announced plans for companies to buy carbon credits to help countries move away from coal power.
Speaking at the Cop27 summit, Kerry said companies such as Microsoft and PepsiCo were involved in the plans, while countries and environmental groups also provided support, according to a Reuters report.
Fossil fuel companies were excluded, Kerry added.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 11:56 am
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Oil and gas emissions ‘up to three times higher than companies claim’
(AP)
Global emissions of climate-altering greenhouse gases from oil and gas are up to three times greater than the companies that produce them claim, according to detailed new research.
The work, released amid the UN’s Cop27 climate summit, is the most comprehensive and specific global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions to date, detailing emissions data from 72,612 individual sources across the world
It reveals the enormous scale at which greenhouse gas emissions are rising, and also the enormous level of underreporting by polluting industries, which is undermining efforts to combat the worsening climate crisis.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 11:46 am
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Sturgeon urged rejection of Roseban oil field
The Prime Minister has attended the first days of the climate summit in Egypt (Jane Barlow/PA)
(PA file)
Scotland’s first minister has been accused of failing to answer a question from a climate campaigner about controversial proposals for a new North Sea oil field.
Nicola Sturgeon was approached by Wiktoria Jedroszkowiak, a Fridays for Future Eastern Europe campaigner, on Tuesday, who asked her about her position on the Rosebank pitch.
Rosebank, proposed west of Shetland by Norwegian state-controlled company Equinor, could be up to twice the size of the controversial Cambo development, which was halted after public outcry, including from the Prime Minister .
The Scottish Government does not have the power to refuse the necessary permits for the development of oil fields, but Ms Sturgeon has already waded into debates on the issue, including her rally against Cambo last year.
Ms Jedroszkowiak approached Mr Sturgeon during the Cop27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh.
In a video of the interaction posted on social media, the activist said: “My friends in Scotland, you are very concerned about the Rosebank oil field and I want to ask if you have any views on it?”
Ms Sturgeon replied: “I need to go now.”
Ms Jedroszkowiak pressed: “It was very important when you said no to Cambo last year.”
The Prime Minister said: “My view on this is very clear, we have to move away from fossil fuels, we have to do it in a fair way.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 11:23 am
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UN “should set net zero plastic target by 2040”
A team of UK experts advising the United Nations, the G20 and the World Bank has called for a zero target for new plastic pollution by 2040.
Professor Steve Fletcher, director of the Global Plastics Policy Center at the University of Portsmouth, has called for the UN to make the “bold pledge” in its upcoming Global Treaty to end plastic pollution.
The call comes as leaders discuss plastic pollution and its role in climate change at the Cop27 summit in Egypt.
The University of Hampshire team has advised the United Nations Environment Programme, the G20 and the World Bank on plastics policy, including the possible structure and content of a global agreement to tackle pollution by plastic
Writing in the journal Nature Reviews Earth And Environment, Professor Fletcher said: “The treaty target must be ambitious and meaningful, we call on the UN to aim for a minimum target of 0% new plastic pollution for the 2040
“To achieve this, policy makers, businesses, researchers and society at large must go beyond existing best available technologies and practices and be radical in their thinking to develop a coordinated global strategy to tackle to plastic pollution”.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 10:54 am
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“We are not in a climate crisis,” says former Brexit minister David Frost
Former Brexit minister Lord Frost has thrown his support behind Liz Truss as he urged Kemi Badenoch to withdraw from the Tory leadership contest so there can be “unity among free market traders” (Peter Byrne/PA)
(PA file)
Former Brexit minister David Frost has joined a controversial think tank that denies global warming is a problem, declaring: “We are not in a climate emergency”.
But Lord Frost, a key figure on the Tory right, said the organization provided an “objective view” of climate change as it also suggested the drive towards net zero is unachievable.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 10:33 am
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Protests on the occasion of Finance Day
On Finance Day at Cop27, this morning’s protests include representatives of the Asian People’s Movement for Debt and Development.
They are calling for divestment from fossil fuels and carrying signs saying that carbon capture technology is an “excuse” to continue extracting climate-altering fossil fuels.
(Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Meanwhile, other protest groups rallied to amplify calls for so-called “climate fixes.”
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest outside the site of the Cop27 climate conference at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Convention Center
(AFP via Getty Images)
“You must pay compensation for this damage,” reads a sign.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 10:07 am
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No ‘Send me Scotty’ solution on climate, says Barbados PM
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley warned she is “going to say some things you might not like” as she warned there is no easy solution to the climate crisis on the opening day of the first children’s and youth space in Cop27.
The country’s first female leader, who was re-elected in a landslide victory earlier this year, has gained superstar status in the climate movement after her clarion call to world leaders at Cop26 in Glasgow last year. He told the leaders of rich countries at the time that their failures were a “death sentence” for small island and developing nations.
This year, she is a leading voice calling for better funding from developed countries and the fossil fuel industry to help vulnerable countries with the losses they are suffering due to the effects of the climate crisis.
(Louise Boyle)
Sam Rkaina November 9, 2022 8:45 am
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What is Cop27 and why does it matter?
Chaired by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry until November 18, with Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad as coordinator and ministerial envoy for the event, the summit follows last year’s meeting in Glasgow.
It once again brings together world leaders, climate organizations and activists to solve the big questions about safeguarding the future of our planet.
But why does it matter and what will it achieve?
(Getty Images)
Sam Rkaina November 9, 2022 8:06 am
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African countries facing ‘economic devastation’
African countries face “economic devastation” from climate change, an aid agency has warned as it reveals the scale of the impact of rising temperatures on the continent.
A study published by Christian Aid warns that under current climate policies, which put the world on track for global warming of 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, African countries face an average impact of 20% of GDP projected for 2050.
This figure could rise to 64% of GDP by 2100, according to the study, launched on Finance Day at the COP27 talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, where financing for poor countries hit by the impact climate is a key demand of many. .