At COP27, climate change was framed as a battle for survival
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Protesters at the UN Cop27 summit are demanding climate offsets and an end to the use of fossil fuels as talks begin in Egypt to tackle the climate crisis.
Activists in Sharm el-Sheikh want rich countries to pay reparations to poorer countries for the effects of climate change caused by the world’s biggest polluters.
It comes after the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who is also chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), on Tuesday called on all major issuers to agree to pay for “losses and damages” in the talks.
“We all know that India and China … are big polluters and polluters have to pay,” Prime Minister Gaston Brown said. “I don’t think there’s a free pass for any country.”
Mr Brown also added that all countries should pay “what is just and fair”, saying that developed countries, which in the past were responsible for planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, bore a greater share of the responsibility .
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Sturgeon has been urged to reject the Roseban oil field
First Minister attends first few days of climate summit in Egypt (Jane Barlow/PA)
(PA archive)
Scotland’s first minister has been accused of failing to answer a climate campaigner’s question about controversial proposals for a new North Sea oil field.
Nicola Sturgeon was approached by Victoria Jedroszkowiak – a Fridays for Future Eastern Europe campaigner – on Tuesday who asked her position on the Rosebank area.
Rosebank – proposed west of Shetland by Norwegian state-owned firm Equinor – could be twice the size of the controversial Cambo development, which was shelved following a public outcry, including from the First Minister.
The Scottish Government does not have the power to refuse the necessary permits to develop oil fields, but Ms Sturgeon has previously weighed in on debates on the issue, including coming out against Cambo last year.
Mr Sturgeon was approached by Ms Jedroszkowiak at the Cop27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh.
In a video of the interaction posted on social media, the activist said: “My friends from Scotland, they are very concerned about the Rosebank oil field and I want to ask if you have any opinion on this?”
Mrs. Sturgeon replied, “I have to go now.”
Ms Jedroszkowiak insisted: “It was very important when you said no to Cambo last year.”
The First Minister said: “My view on this is really clear, we need to move away from fossil fuels, we need to do it in a fair way.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 11:23 am
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UN ‘must set net zero plastic target by 2040’
A team of UK experts advising the UN, the G20 and the World Bank has called for a target of zero new plastic pollution by 2040.
Professor Steve Fletcher, director of the Center for Global Plastic Policy at the University of Portsmouth, called on the UN to make a “bold pledge” in its forthcoming Global Compact 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 UN Environment Programme, the G20 and the World Bank on plastics policy, including the possible structure and content of a global agreement to tackle plastic pollution.
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 by 2040.”
“To achieve this, policymakers, businesses, researchers and society as a whole must go beyond existing best available technologies and practices and be radical in their thinking to develop a coordinated global strategy to tackle plastic pollution.”
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 10:54 am
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“We are not in a climate crisis,” says former Brexit Secretary David Frost
Former Brexit minister Lord Frost has backed Liz Truss, calling for Cammy Badenoch to step down from the Tory leadership race so there can be ‘unity between free marketers’ (Peter Byrne/Pennsylvania)
(PA archive)
Former Brexit Secretary David Frost has joined a controversial think tank that denies global warming is a problem, saying: “We are not in a climate emergency”.
But Lord Frost, a key right-wing Tory figure, said the organization was providing an “objective view” of climate change, as he also suggested the pursuit of net zero was unachievable.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 10:33 am
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Protests at the start 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 call for a divestment from fossil fuels and carry placards saying carbon capture technology is an “excuse” to continue extracting climate-changing fossil fuels.
(Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Meanwhile, other protest groups have rallied to increase calls for so-called “climate offsets”.
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest outside the venue 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 one sign.
Harry Cockburn November 9, 2022 10:07 am
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No ‘Tell me Scotty’ climate solution, says Barbados PM
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has warned she will “say some things you may not like” as she warns there is no easy solution to the climate crisis on the opening day of Cop27’s first-ever space for children and young people.
The country’s first female leader, who was re-elected in a landslide earlier this year, gained superstar status in the climate movement after her eloquent address to world leaders at last year’s Cop26 in Glasgow. She told rich country leaders at the time that their failures were a “death sentence” for small island and developing nations.
This year, she has been a leading voice calling for better funding from developed nations and the fossil fuel industry to help vulnerable countries with the losses they are suffering from 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?
Hosted by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry until November 18 – with Environment Minister Yasmin Fouad serving as ministerial coordinator and 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 break down the big questions about protecting our planet’s future.
But why does it matter and what will it achieve?
(Getty Images)
Sam Rkaina November 9, 2022 08:06 am
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African countries face ‘economic devastation’
African countries face “economic devastation” from climate change, an aid agency has warned, as it reveals the scale of the blow from the continent’s rising temperatures.
A study published by Christian Aid warns that under current climate policies, which put the world on track for 2.7C of global warming by the end of the century, African countries face an average hit of 20 per cent to their expected GDP by 2050.
That figure could rise to 64 percent of GDP by 2100, according to the study, launched on the finance day of the Cop27 talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, where funding for poor countries hit by climate impacts is a key demand from many nations.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar November 9, 2022 07:09 am
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Lula takes Brazil back on climate terms with promise to save the Amazon
Among the biggest draws of the Cop27 summit in Egypt is a world leader who only takes office in January.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrives in Sharm el-Sheikh after winning a landmark election in Brazil with huge implications for the Amazon rainforest – the “lungs of the planet” – which suffered severe destruction under hard-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula is expected to have meetings with, among others, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, all of whom were quick to congratulate him on his victory.
There was collective relief among those concerned about the climate emergency at the departure of Bolsonaro, under whose watch Brazil’s emissions rose by 12 percent last year alone.
In the past 12 months, deforestation in the Amazon has increased by 64 percent, affecting an area almost twice the size of New York – in addition to losing an area larger than Belgium during his first two years in power.
Kim Sengupta reports from Sao Paulo.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar November 9, 2022 07:02 am
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Developing countries need $1 trillion a year in climate finance – report
Developing countries need to secure $1 trillion a year in external financing for climate action by the end of the decade and match that with their own funds, according to a new report.
The report, released ahead of climate change talks at the Cop27 summit in Egypt on Tuesday, said the funding is needed to reduce emissions, increase resilience, tackle the damage of climate change and restore nature and land.
“The world needs a breakthrough and a new climate finance roadmap that can mobilize the $1 trillion in external financing that will be needed by 2030 for emerging markets and developing countries other than China,” the report said , commissioned by the current and previous climate summit hosts, Egypt and Great Britain.
He said the total annual investment requirements of developing countries will reach $2.4 trillion by 2030, with half coming from external financing.
Current investments total about $500 million, the report said.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar November 9, 2022 6:42 am
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