About 30 developing countries sent civil servants to a five-star hotel in Ghana for official UN discussions on “response measures” that are meant to tackle how to maximise the benefits and minimise the negative impacts of a green transition.

All nations agreed at last year’s COP28 climate conference to hold the latest round of talks in a hybrid format. There were no officials present from wealthy governments – and while the US, the European Union and the UK did log on virtually, they kept their cameras largely off during the two-day meeting. Their rare contributions were received badly by developing countries.

The UN negotiations on response measures to climate change have been going on for more than 20 years. The 2015 Paris Agreement reinforced a commitment by governments to consider the concerns of countries “with economies most affected by the impacts of response measures”, particularly developing ones.

In a video message introducing this month’s talks, UN climate chief Simon Stiell said national climate action plans “will have profound societal implications – both good and bad”, adding “it’s crucial that we ensure more people benefit and that harms are mitigated”.

Participants then swapped their experiences on issues such as electric motorcycles with dead batteries being dumped on the roadside in the Maldives and the effects of EU deforestation regulations on Ghana’s cocoa industry.

Slow progress in Baku risks derailing talks on new climate finance goal at COP29

Towards the end of the first day, Egyptian negotiator Khaled Aly Hashem Hussein observed that “it’s very unfortunate that in this room we don’t have a single representative from the developed countries”. This, he said, made it a monologue rather than a dialogue.

Brazil’s negotiator Vitor Mattos Vaz echoed those concerns, saying that no interventions had been heard from developed countries, including contributions via video.

He said governments “can not cherry-pick only the commitments and the tracks [of the Paris Agreement] that they are interested in”. When they do so, “they are eroding the spirit of mutual trust and reciprocal commitment,” he added, calling for the “absence of their comments”  to be formally noted.

Don’t mention CBAM

The next day, representatives from the US, EU and UK did speak up. Sewek Gasiorek from the British government said he regretted not being there in person as “it is a very busy time”, with G20 meetings and the United Nations General Assembly running concurrently.

He then clashed with negotiators from South Africa and Saudi Arabia over the extent to which the talks should focus on how measures taken by developed countries affect poorer nations. Gasiorek said “there is no agreement, as has been suggested earlier” that the discussions should be limited to that – which led South Africa’s Mahendra Shunmoogam to accuse him of “revisionist agenda-setting”.

Shunmoogam then asked the EU’s representative, Belgian government official Catherine Windey, how the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) – a tax system that is due to be fully in place by 2026 and is regarded by some emerging economies like South Africa as a protectionist measure that will damage their economies – was compatible with the “do no significant harm principle.”

Windey responded that the dialogue “isn’t supposed to address any individual policies of parties, so I’m not going to enter that discussion here”.

One developing-country official at the meeting told Climate Home they had left Ghana feeling they had wasted their time. “It was getting us into the discussion about nothing really of value,” the bureaucrat said.

Talks will continue at COP29 in Baku in November on whether and how to hold a further year’s worth of workshops and dialogue on response measures.

At COP28, governments agreed that “measures taken to combat climate change, including unilateral ones, should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade”. Developing countries are likely to push at COP29 for agreement on more explicit criticism of policies like the EU’s carbon border tax.

(Reporting by Joe Loe; editing by Megan Rowling)

This article was updated on Sept. 18 to add that the talks were planned in a hybrid format and to clarify a comment from the UK’s negotiator.

The post Developing countries denounce rich nations’ disregard for just transition talks appeared first on Climate Home News.

The UNFCCC has tweaked the algorithm used to allocate badges to observer groups this year in response to requests from governments to address a long-standing imbalance in the global representation of participants from civil society, academia and indigenous communities.

Attendees from rich industrialised countries have historically formed the biggest contingent of observers at the COP climate summits. Half of all observers at COP28 in Dubai last year hailed from a bloc of Western European nations, the US, Canada and Australia, even though countries in that group represent only 12% of the world’s population.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell wrote this week in a foreword to a handbook for observers that “we need the COP process and participation to reflect the fact that the climate crisis is hitting communities in every part of the world”.

Campaigners in the Global South have welcomed the reforms, while some green groups in the Global North quietly expressed surprise and disappointment over hefty cuts to their allocated quotas and the way the changes have been implemented.

Mohamed Adow, director of Nairobi-based think-tank Power Shift Africa, said “finally we are getting a fairer distribution of observer badges”.

“It’s only right that people from countries that are most vulnerable to the climate crisis are able to attend the meetings that are supposed to address their needs,” he added. “For too long, the vast majority of COP badges have been held by people from a small part of the world but with disproportionately high emissions.”

Racquel Moses is the CEO of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, which aims to modernise infrastructure through supporting projects like a solar panel assembly facility in Trinidad and Tobago.

She told Climate Home her organisation usually gets three badges but this year received six. “In past years, we had to rely on the generosity of other organisations for support with passes,” she said, “this year at COP, we finally have the ability to be adequately represented”.

Stela Herschmann said that Climate Observatory, the Brazilian think-tank she works for, has “for the first time received a number of credentials close to what we requested”.

She said that “no matter how many badges we requested” in previous years, they only got one or two. But this year, they asked for eight and received seven.

“I believe that this year we will see more Global South involved in the negotiations,” Herschmann said.

Letter of complaint

Some Global North groups, however, have been stunned by the scale of the changes and the impact on access to the climate summit for their staff. Climate Home is aware of several climate organisations with a historically large presence at COPs that have so far received just a handful of COP29 passes or, in more extreme cases, only one badge each.

Joseph Robertson is the head of the US-based Citizens’ Climate International, which trains volunteers to lobby their political representatives. He leads a joint delegation with partner organisations which usually gets about 12 badges, some of which it passes on to campaigners from the Global South. But this year, it got just two badges and so has had to rethink its plans for the summit.

A spokesperson for the UNFCCC told Climate Home that the “Western European and Others Group” was given 40% of the total number of observer badges in the initial allocation for COP29, made in August.

A US-based academic who is a coordinator for the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations (RINGO) constituency – one of the largest groupings of observers – voiced their concerns in a letter sent to Stiell at the end of August and seen by Climate Home.

UN climate chief calls for “exponential changes” to boost investment in Africa

It said that while RINGO appreciates efforts towards achieving “a more diverse and balanced representation” at COPs, the “drastic reduction” in badge allocations for Global North groups “has significant unintended impacts that undermine” that goal.

The letter argued that many groups use their allocations to bring young people to COPs and that organisations headquartered in the Global North provide badges to colleagues based in developing countries.

The letter went on to say that restricting observer quotas could prompt more NGOs to seek attendance passes from government delegations, known as ‘party overflow’. That would put countries “in position of controlling NGO access” and undermine the openness and transparency of negotiations, the RINGO coordinator warned.

The letter calls on the UNFCCC to revisit the quota allocation for COP29 and provide transparency in the process.

UN appeal for “global solidarity”

The UN climate body did not comment on the specific content of the RINGO letter. But a spokesperson told Climate Home “this will continue to be a gradual, iterative and difficult process”, and the UNFCCC secretariat “values any feedback from all stakeholders and will keep looking for ways to improve this process”.

They added that, as some organisations are now applying for an increase in their initial allocation, “the final breakdown of participants by geographic grouping won’t be known for some months”.

The Baku Olympic Stadium will be the COP29 venue (Photo: Matteo Civillini)

In the handbook for observers, published after the RINGO letter had been sent, Stiell pleaded with organisations affected by the changes to support the re-balancing efforts “in a spirit of global solidarity which is so crucial to success, at all levels”.

He also pointed out that the overall number of observer badges had to be cut this year due to a reduction of space at COP29. The summit hosted by Azerbaijan at Baku’s “Olympic Stadium” is expected to be smaller than last year’s gathering in Dubai, which saw a record-breaking 84,000 people attending. A member of Azerbaijan’s COP29 organising committee told Climate Home in April they were expecting around 40,000 people.

The changes to the quota allocation followed an explicit request from countries to the UNFCCC – formulated at June’s mid-year climate negotiations in Bonn – to “continue taking administrative measures to encourage a more diverse representation of observer organizations”.

Update: This article was updated on 9/9/2024 to include Stela Herschmann’s comments and on 10/9/2024 to include Joseph Robertson’s comments and on 11/9/2024 to include Racquel Moses’s comments

(Reporting by Matteo Civillini and Joe Lo; editing by Megan Rowling)

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“The first time I travelled by bus in Belém it was very difficult. It was so stuffy – there were so many people. It was so hot, I almost got sick,” José Martin, 26, an exchange student from Guinea, told Climate Home at a bus stop near Mangueirão stadium, a busy area of the city.

Belém has 870 public buses that carry around 470,000 passengers a day – but they lack cooling in a city where temperatures can rise to 34 or 35 degrees Celsius on Amazonian summer afternoons from July to November. Most of the buses are old, and users complain about broken seats and frequent breakdowns.

Candidates in mayoral elections have made campaign promises to modernise the bus network – also a hot topic among city councillors. But it was the prospect of hosting a global climate conference in November 2025 that boosted the push for a new, air-conditioned fleet.

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The first five state-of-the-art electric buses for a pilot project were delivered in early July and should have been on the road already. The vehicles – with a range of 270 kilometres and capacity for 76 passengers – are the same model used to ferry delegates around during COP28 in Dubai.

However, their deployment was held up by a dispute between Belém City Hall and the local political opposition, which lasted for nearly two months until it was resolved at the end of August.

Old buses continue to circulate in Belém (Photo: Alice Martins Morais)

Soon after the buses arrived in the city, the Municipal Audit Court (TCMPA) published a precautionary measure, suspending the purchase contract for the initial batch of 10 buses issued by the Belém Executive Secretariat for Urban Mobility (Semob). The decision alleged flaws including overpricing and lack of planning.

In response, Semob’s head, Ana Valéria Borges, said the cost – which works out at R$3.6 million (around $636,500) per bus – took into account taxes and changes in import tariffs.

The left-wing Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) – of the city’s current mayor, Edmilson Rodrigues – claimed the suspension was an attempt to benefit the opposition’s mayoral candidate, Igor Normando of the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) party. He is backed by his cousin, Pará state governor Helder Barbalho, who is a key player in the mobilisation for COP30.

Peak COP? UN looks to shrink Baku and Belém climate summits

The PSOL’s accusation stems from the fact that the councillor who took the decision to suspend the bus contract, Ann Pontes, was a federal deputy from 2003-2011 for the MDB party and has close ties to the Barbalho family.

In addition, Normando’s mother – an aunt of Barbalho – is secretary-general of the TCMPA, while another relative is director of the School of Public Accounts. The court did not respond to a request for comment from Climate Home.

Mayor Rodrigues himself also accused the Barbalho family of being involved in the TCMPA’s decision on social media.

https://twitter.com/EdmilsonPSOL/status/1827832289524318622

This post by Mayor Rodrigues on X says: “Belém’s buses are at a standstill due to an unfounded decision by the TCM, which questions the purchase of the vehicles. And guess what? The Barbalho family is involved, including Hilda Centeno Normando, Igor’s mother and TCM secretary. Stay tuned!”

Climate Home asked the press offices of Normando and the Pará State Government to comment on this claim but had not received a response at the time of publication.

COP30 tensions feared

Political scientist Eliene Silva, a researcher at the Laboratory of Geopolitical Studies of the Legal Amazon (LEGAL), warned that political tensions between the national, state and municipal authorities over arrangements for COP30 are likely to intensify, at least in the run-up to this October’s municipal elections.

Silva noted that in 2022, when there was first talk of Belém hosting the conference, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT), the governor of Pará and the mayor of Belém were allies, despite their differing political affiliations.

Helder Barbalho (left to right), President Lula and Edmilson Rodrigues in June 2023, at the COP30 announcement ceremony in Belém (Photo: Ricardo Stuckert)

But in recent months, there have been signs of a split, such as in March when Mayor Rodrigues was not seen with the Pará state governor and Lula during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to an island in Belém.

Since Normando announced his decision to run for mayor, the division between Barbalho and Rodrigues has become more evident, although Lula’s party continues to support Rodrigues.

“This issue is closely linked to the fact that Edmilson’s administration has been very poorly evaluated by the population,” said Silva.

As well as dissatisfaction with public transport, there has been widespread criticism of chaotic management of the city’s garbage, exacerbated by the hiring of a new company for the job, leading to months of irregular waste collections before the contract started.

“I think Helder [Barbalho]’s bet is precisely to bring in a new figure [as mayor], even if they don’t have as much experience in executive positions, to guarantee the continuity of the plans he has for the capital, including COP30,” said Silva.

Far-right  mayoral candidate

So far, all the main three mayoral candidates in Belém have publicly supported the hosting of COP30, highlighting it as a crucial opportunity for the city’s development.

According to the latest opinion poll released in mid-August, Normando was ahead in the race, with 36.5% of voting intentions, closely followed with 34.7% support for Éder Mauro, a far-right candidate who is aligned with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Rodrigues was trailing at around 16%.

Fossil fuel transition back in draft pact for UN Summit of the Future after outcry

Ex-policeman Mauro, now a Liberal Party parliamentarian, is regarded by environmental groups as antagonistic to the green agenda – although he has backed Belém’s hosting of COP30, primarily as a business opportunity. He has made statements defending police violence against members of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), for example, as well as calling Indigenous people “fakes”.

He is also the author of a bill that allows municipal bodies to issue environmental licences for small-scale mining operations, which environmentalists warn will weaken oversight.

Silva said a win for Mauro “could jeopardise the entire mobilisation of the federal and state governments to hold COP30″. “In this scenario, political tensions would be much more worrying than what we’re seeing now between Edmilson and Helder,” she added.

Green light for buses

Meanwhile, the suspension of the electric bus procurement was lifted last week after a series of hearings and meetings between the TCMPA and Belém City Hall.

As part of the deal, the company selling the buses, TEVX Motors Group, agreed to “reimburse” almost R$4 million – around 1% of the contract’s value – through products and services such as training, installation of chargers and disposal of the buses’ electric batteries when they can no longer be used.

Overall, by the time of COP30, 778 new buses with air-conditioning and wi-fi are expected on the streets of Belém thanks to three separate purchasing processes. The first by City Hall was expanded from an initial 10 electric buses to 30 after winning additional investment from the federal government last November.

This money will also fund another 183 more fuel-efficient buses with lower emissions that will expand the public bus transport service by adding new routes and reinforcing others.

Izabela Souza commutes 30 km every day by bus, which can take up to three hours due to traffic and bus changes (Photo: Alice Martins Morais)

The Pará state government has also ordered 265 new buses, which it will pay for with R$368.7 million from the federal government, channelled through the Ministry of Cities, run by Barbalho’s brother. Of these, 40 will be electric – used to improve connections across the Belém metropolitan region – and 50 will run on natural gas.

A further 300 new diesel buses have also been purchased as part of a joint agreement between Belém City Hall, the Pará State Government and the Belém Public Transport Companies Union. This fleet will replace older buses.

For local people, wherever the buses come from, they can’t arrive soon enough. Izabela Souza, 29, a specialist in neuro-pedagogy, commutes 30 kilometres by bus every day, which can take up to three hours due to traffic and bus changes. She said that, aside from the heat, there is a need for more buses to cut commuting times and enable passengers to sit down.

“It’s very precarious – and while the politicians are bickering, we’re the ones who have to wait here like this,” she said.

(Reporting by Alice Martins Morais in Belém; editing by Megan Rowling)

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In a letter to German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, seen by Climate Home but not made public, several coalitions of climate activists say that visa barriers exclude many participants from the Global South from the “climate negotiations that will determine the future of their countries and communities”.

Ugandan campaigner Hamira Kobusingye from Fridays for Future Africa, one of those behind the letter, told Climate Home: “This is an example of systemic and climate racism, as most of the affected delegations were primarily from Africa and Asia. This issue is rooted in the lingering effects of colonialism.”

Government negotiators also sounded the alarm, collectively agreeing in formal conclusions at the talks that they “noted with concern the difficulties experienced by some delegates in obtaining visas to enable them to attend sessions” in Bonn and urging “timely issuance of visas”.

Bonn talks on climate finance goal end in stalemate on numbers

Delegates from Europe and most of the Americas do not need visas for short stays in Germany while those from Africa and most of Asia do.

The German Federal Foreign Office told Climate Home it was “important” to them that all accredited UN conference participants were able to attend.

A spokesperson said they were “in close contact with the UNFCCC Secretariat months before the conference, including on the visa issue, and sensitised the missions abroad at an early stage to the upcoming conference and the potential increase in demand for visas”.

They added that UN accreditation for the Bonn talks “cannot replace the actual examination of the visa application” and there are legal requirements for getting a visa for the EU’s Schengen zone of free movement.

Climate Home has seen seven letters issued by the German government denying visas to African campaigners and negotiators. One other rejection letter was issued on Germany’s behalf by another European Union government, as some EU countries share responsibility for issuing visas in certain nations.

The letters say that the visas were not issued because the delegates had not proved they had the funds to cover their stay or that they planned to leave before their visa expired or that the information or documents provided were not reliable.

Not welcome?

The organisers of the letter to the German government said they have found seven other cases where delegates only had their visas approved after the start of the two weeks of talks, meaning many had to rebook flights.

Bonn makes only lukewarm progress to tackle a red-hot climate crisis

Others reported being unable to get an appointment with visa officials of the German embassy in their country.

One delegate from an African country, who did not want to be named, told Climate Home that they went to the German consulate three times before they received information on how to get a visa.

They were told they weren’t going to get a visa appointment in time and only received one after getting contacts in their own government to help. “Not everyone has those advantages though, so I was pretty lucky”, the delegate said.

Proscovier Nnanyonjo Vikman from Climate Action Network Uganda said she only received her visa five days after the start of the talks and had to change her flight. She said many delegates feel “they are being harassed to enter a country that obviously doesn’t like them”.

No shortage of public money to pay for a just energy transition

As well as limiting access, the visa issues delayed the talks. In the opening session, the Russian government blocked the adoption of the agenda because, they said, several of their negotiators had not received visas. They relented after receiving assurances the visas would be granted quickly.

The German government spokesperson told Climate Home that the foreign office liaises closely with the UNFCCC to find solutions for “queries or discrepancies” including “for visa applications submitted too late during the conference”.

Call to move mid-year talks

Similar issues have plagued previous European climate summits. In 2022, two campaigners from Sierra Leone were left stranded in Nigeria after the Swedish government sent their passports to be processed in Kenya as they applied, unsuccessfully, for visas to attend the Stockholm+50 environment summit.

The UN talks are held in Bonn every June as it is the home of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose secretariat organises the meeting and is permanently based in a riverside tower a short walk from the conference centre.

The mid-year conference is supposed to help negotiators discuss issues in advance of the COP climate summit, a more high-profile event held every November, and to share experiences on how to tackle climate change.

Vikman, who went to Bonn to promote methods of adapting farming to the effects of climate change, said that the talks should be moved from Germany to a place everyone can access.

“We don’t need to die coming to Bonn – let’s move, she said.

Developing countries suggest rich nations tax arms, fashion and tech firms for climate

Kobusingye echoed her call. “It is crucial to remember that the role of the UN is to unite nations. If Global North countries cannot facilitate this process, Germany and the UN should consider moving the conference to a more receptive country that is visa-free for delegates from the Global South,” she said.

She contrasted the German government’s hosting with the UAE’s arrangements for COP28 last November and December when, she said, “every accredited delegate received their visa promptly, demonstrating that it is possible to accommodate all participants efficiently”.

(Reporting by Joe Lo; editing by Megan Rowling)

This story was updated on June 14 to add comment from the German government received after publication.

The post Visa chaos for developing-country delegates mars Bonn climate talks appeared first on Climate Home News.

In the closing session of the two-week talks on Thursday evening, many countries expressed their disappointment and frustration at the lack of any outcome on the Mitigation Ambition and Implementation Work Programme (MWP), noting the urgency of stepping up efforts to curb greenhouse gas pollution this decade.

The co-chairs of the talks said those discussions had not reached any conclusion and would need to resume at the annual climate summit in Azerbaijan in November, unleashing a stream of disgruntled interventions from both developed and developing countries.

Samoa’s lead negotiator Anne Rasmussen, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), emphasised that “we really can’t afford these failures”. “We have failed to show the world that we are responding with the purpose and urgency required to limit warming to 1.5 degrees,” she said.

Anne Rasmussen of Samoa, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Photo: IISD/ENB – Kiara Worth

Governments, from Latin America to Africa and Europe, lamented the lack of progress on the MWP because of its central role in keeping warming to the 1.5C temperature ceiling enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Current policies to cut emissions are forecast to lead to warming of 2.7C, even as the world is already struggling with worsening floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels at global average temperatures around 1.3C higher than pre-industrial times.

Mitigation a taboo topic?

Despite the clear need to act fast, a deep sense of mistrust seeped into talks on the MWP in Bonn, with negotiators disagreeing fundamentally over its direction, according to sources in the room.

Developed countries and some developing ones said that the Like-Minded Group of Developing Countries (LMDCs), led primarily by Saudi Arabia and China, as well as some members of the African Group, had refused to engage constructively in the discussions.

“The reason is that they fear this would put pressure on them to keep moving away from fossil fuels,” an EU delegate told Climate Home.

Bonn bulletin: Fossil fuel transition left homeless

Bolivia’s Diego Pacheco, speaking on behalf of the LMDCs, rejected that view in the final plenary session, while describing the atmosphere in the MWP talks as “strange and shocking”. He also accused developed countries of trying to bury data showing their emissions will rise rather than fall over the course of this decade.

The EU and Switzerland said it was incomprehensible that a body charged with cutting greenhouse gas emissions had not even been allowed to discuss them.

“Mitigation must not be taboo as a topic,” said Switzerland’s negotiator, adding that otherwise the outcome and credibility of the COP29 summit would be at risk.

Rows over process

Before MWP negotiations broke down in Bonn, its co-facilitators – Kay Harrison of New Zealand and Carlos Fuller of Belize – had made a last-ditch attempt to rescue some semblance of progress.

They produced draft conclusions calling for new inputs ahead of COP29 and an informal note summarising the diverging views aired during the fraught exchanges. For many delegates, the adoption of those documents would have provided a springboard for more meaningful discussions in Baku.

But the LMDC and Arab groups refused to consider this, arguing that the co-facilitators had no mandate to produce them and calling their legitimacy into question – a claim rebutted by the UN climate secretariat, according to observers. Frantic efforts to find common ground ultimately came to nothing.

A session of the Mitigation Work Programme in Bonn. Photo: IISD/ENB – Kiara Worth

Fernanda de Carvalho, climate and energy policy head for green group WWF, said the MWP discussions must advance if the world is to collectively reduce emissions by 43% by 2030 and 60% by 2035 from 2019 levels, as scientists say is needed.

The MWP should be focused on supporting countries to deliver stronger national climate action plans (NDCs) – due by early next year – that set targets through to 2035, she said.

“Instead, we saw [government] Parties diverging way more than converging on hard discussions that never made it beyond process,” she added.

‘Collective amnesia’

Some developing countries, including the Africa Group, pushed back against what they saw as efforts by rich nations to force them to make bigger cuts in emissions while ducking their own responsibilities to move first and provide more finance to help poorer countries adopt clean energy.

Brazil – which will host the COP30 summit in 2025 – said the MWP was the main channel for the talks to be able to find solutions to put into practice the agreement struck at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a fair way.

But to enable that, “we have to create a safe environment of trust that will leverage it as a cooperative laboratory”, he said, instead of the “courthouse” it has become “where we accuse and judge each other”.

Observers in Bonn pointed to the absence of discussions on implementing the COP28 deal on fossil fuels, which was hailed last December as “historic”.

“It seems like we have collective amnesia,” veteran watcher Alden Meyer, a senior associate at think-tank E3G, told journalists. “We’ve forgotten that we made that agreement. It’s taboo to talk about it in these halls.”

‘Detour on the road to Baku’

After the exchange of views, UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell noted that the Bonn talks had taken “modest steps forward” on issues like the global goal on adaptation, increased transparency of climate action and fixing the rules for a new global carbon market.

“But we took a detour on the road to Baku. Too many issues were left unresolved. Too many items are still on the table,” he added.

The closing plenary of the Bonn Climate Change Conference. Photo: Lucia Vasquez / UNFCCC

Another key area where the talks failed to make much progress was on producing clear options for ministers to negotiate a new post-2025 climate finance goal, as developed countries refused to discuss dollar amounts as demanded by the Africa and Arab groups, among others.

Bonn talks on climate finance goal end in stalemate on numbers

Developing nations also complained about this in the final session, while others expressed their concern that a separate track of the negotiations on scientific research had failed to address the topic in a rigorous enough manner.

In his closing speech, Stiell reminded countries that “we must uphold the science”, and urged them to accelerate their efforts to find common ground on key issues well ahead of COP29.

The next opportunities to move forward on the new finance goal – expected as the main outcome from the Baku summit – will be a “retreat” of heads of delegations in July followed by a technical meeting in October, including a high-level ministerial dialogue on the issue.

But several observers told Climate Home that highly contentious issues – such as the size of the funding pot and the list of donors – are beyond the remit of negotiators and are unlikely to be resolved until the political heavyweights, including ministers, take them up in Azerbaijan in November.

Rising costs of climate crisis

“Business-as-usual is a recipe for failure, on climate finance, and on many other fronts, in humanity’s climate fight,” Stiell said. “We can’t keep pushing this year’s issues off into the next year. The costs of the climate crisis – for every nation’s people and economy – are only getting worse.”

Mohamed Adow, director of Kenya-based energy and climate think-tank Power Shift Africa, warned that “multiple factors are setting us up for a terrible shock at COP29″, saying this “ticking disaster threatens to undermine” the NDCs and in turn the 1.5C warming limit.

North Africa’s disappearing nomads: Why my community needs climate finance

In comments posted on X, formerly Twitter, Adow called for justice for those dying from the impacts of climate change such as extreme heat in India and Sudan in recent days, arguing that climate finance remains “a vital part in securing a safe and secure future for us all”.

But, he said, Bonn did not deliver a beacon of hope for vulnerable people. “Developing countries are expected to slay the climate dragon with invisible swords, having gotten zero assurances on the long-term finance they need,” he added.

(Reporting by Megan Rowling and Matteo Civillini, editing by Joe Lo)

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Stiell said this month that he personally “would certainly like to see future COPs reduce in size”, telling an audience at London’s Chatham House think-tank that “bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better”.

In Dubai, where the 2023 summit was held from November 30 to December 13, the Expo City site was so large that important delegates were ferried around on golf buggies while electric scooters were available to get around the public area, known as the Green Zone.

“Size does not necessarily translate to the quality of outcomes,” Stiell said in London, noting that the UN climate change secretariat (UNFCCC) is discussing the issue with the hosts of COP29 in Azerbaijan this year and COP30 next year in Brazil.

Last week, Climate Home reporters visited the COP29 host city of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan – on a tour sponsored by the COP29 presidency – and also the location of COP30, the Brazilian Amazon city of Belém, to see how preparations are going for the November 2024 and 2025 gatherings.

Azerbaijan’s government is expecting just 40,000 people to come to the Baku Olympic Stadium for the talks this year, while Belém’s remoteness, congested roads and lack of hotels are likely to substantially limit how many people can attend the “Amazon COP”.

The number of people attending COPs has shot up in recent years. Close to 40,000 people went to COP26 in Glasgow, around 50,000 were in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for COP27 and nearly 84,000 headed to Dubai last year. But most of the 28 COPs held since 1995 have been attended by fewer than 10,000 people.

Just over half of last year’s participants belonged to government delegations, with most of the rest comprising staff working at the conference or activists from non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

In practice, the boundaries of these categories are blurred though, as government delegations often include business representatives, NGO employees, journalists and others.

Baku’s Olympic Stadium

The government of Azerbaijan will host COP29 in the country’s Caspian seaside capital, Baku. A member of the organising committee told Climate Home they are expecting around 40,000 people.

The government has not had much time to prepare, as it was only tasked with the presidency last November at COP28 after Eastern Europe’s geopolitical divisions delayed the decision on which country would host the summit.

But it already has a venue: the Olympic Stadium on the outskirts of Baku. According to state media, COP29 chief operations officer Narmin Jarchalova said temporary structures will be built around the stadium to accommodate the negotiations and side events. These are likely to be in car-park areas.

The city is used to hosting major events. Ten thousand come each year for Formula One’s Baku Grand Prix and the 69,870-capacity Olympic Stadium has hosted the 2015 European Games, big concerts, the 2019 Europa League football final and Euro 2020 matches, although no Olympic Games despite the name.

Climate Home visited the area in April while in Baku, as part of a press trip organised by the COP29 presidency team. The stadium is connected to the city centre, where most hotels are located, by a Soviet-era metro railway with a one-way journey taking around 45 minutes.

A car journey should take about half of that, 20 minutes, but heavy traffic gridlocked the main roads in and out of Baku when Climate Home visited.

The Baku Olympic Stadium (Photo: Matteo Civillini)

Climate Home asked the COP29 team for information on how the temporary COP facilities will be built, powered and heated sustainably during the summit, but had received no response at the time of publication.

In February, Climate Home revealed that the government had told hotels in Baku not to sell rooms for COP29’s November 11-22 dates until further notice.

In London this month, UN climate chief Stiell said, with regard to the number of participants, that “we have an opportunity with Azerbaijan and we’re engaging with them”. He did not give further details.

COPs usually feature one big climate demonstration on the middle Saturday of the two-week talks. The UNFCCC is talking to the COP29 team about how this will be enabled.

Protesters march on the middle Saturday of COP26 in Glasgow, UK, in 2021 (Photos: Insure Our Future)

In a meeting at the energy ministry last week, COP29 CEO and deputy energy minister Elnur Soltanov told journalists, including Climate Home, that these discussions were “fruitful”.

Human rights groups like Freedom House say Azerbaijan does not respect freedom of assembly. Police violently arrested opposition protesters in 2019.

Soltanov was asked if the climate march will be allowed to take place in the city, which is governed by Azerbaijan’s police force, or only in the COP29 venue, which is under the jurisdiction of UN security guards.

He replied that “this is too specific a question” but said that protest is “part and parcel of people expressing their views, their anger, their desperation”.

Brazil’s Amazon COP

On Belém, which is in northern Brazil near the Amazon rainforest, Stiell said he was “actively discussing with the Brazilians how we can reduce the size of the COP so that the logistics of it can be supported at that hosted destination”.

Last June, Brazilian climate ministry official André Corrêa Lago told local media he was expecting 40,000-50,000 people. But there are concerns that the city will struggle to cope with those numbers.

Belém is not a major tourist destination and has less than 6,000 hotel rooms. Even at last year’s Amazon Summit – a smaller event than a COP – participants reported difficulty finding rooms and rates soared.

Construction workers are currently turning a 1.6 km-long disused airport runway into the Parque de Cidade (City Park), which will be the size of about 70 football pitches. The park and its new buildings will be the main COP30 venue.

The government of Pará State says it is almost one-third finished. The federal government, meanwhile, is reportedly considering hosting part of COP30 in bigger cities like Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.

A spokesperson for the federal government told Climate Home that “all possibilities to enable the reception of delegations and visitors are being evaluated”.

As well as the park and its new buildings, some of the conference will be held in an existing conference centre on the park’s southern tip called The Hangar – which hosted last year’s Amazon Summit.

The Hangar convention centre (Photo: Alice Martins Morais)

For COP30 delegates though, finding a hotel room and getting to the venue are likely to be challenging. 

A spokesperson for the COP30 organising committee said last week that while 84,000 people went to COP28, the peak daily attendance was just 41,000 at the beginning of the conference when heads of state made their speeches.

An Ibis hotel near the COP30 site (Photo: Alice Martins Morais)

The spokesperson told Climate Home the organisers are looking at bringing in cruise ships for COP participants to sleep on, refurbishing schools to serve as hostels and encouraging people to rent out their rooms on Airbnb.

To promote the “modernisation” of the city’s existing hotel rooms, the government has given hotel operators tax exemptions on purchases for new equipment like minibars, televisions and air-conditioning.

The city’s airport, which the government aims to improve before COP30, has few regular international connections and is over three hours by plane from Brazil’s major hubs like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. 

There are no trains to Belém and getting the bus from Rio or Sao Paulo can take more than two days.

The Belém Bus Rapid Transit system is scheduled to be completed by COP30 (Photo: Alice Martins Morais)

Even inside the city, transport is challenging. The roads are congested, particularly in the centre where most of the hotels are, during rush-hour and when it rains.

The authorities have tried to solve the problem by widening roads and building dedicated bus lanes for a Bus Rapid Transit system.

While these are being constructed, they have made traffic worse – but the body in charge told Climate Home work is progressing according to schedule and should be completed by the second half of 2024 – well before the UN climate summit the following year.

“The new fleet will reinforce the capital’s transport system for COP30,” said a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transport Management Centre, adding that 40 of the 265 new air-conditioned buses will be electric.

Argentinian scientists condemn budget cuts ahead of university protest

Nonetheless, the remoteness of the location is likely to translate into a bigger carbon footprint for delegates travelling from overseas.

While COPs have a sizable carbon footprint, researchers investigating misinformation have found this is often exaggerated on social and traditional media by those trying to undermine climate action.

Examples include pictures of private jets with captions falsely associating them with COP or of biofuel generators with captions erroneously claiming they are diesel.

Questioned about COPs’ carbon footprint by an audience member at London’s Chatham House, UN climate head Stiell replied that “at every COP, we get the reports – how many private planes [and] the CO2 footprint for hosting those COPs”.

But, he added, “taking a very pragmatic view, we need the right people around the table in order for this process to work and there will be a cost to that. How you ensure that those that are present are the ones necessary to contribute positively to the process is also important.”

(Reporting by Matteo Civillini in Baku, Alice Martins Morais in Belém and Joe Lo in London; videos by Fanis Kollias; editing by Joe Lo and Megan Rowling)

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This week, the UN climate change body (UNFCCC) confirmed that this year’s Regional Climate Weeks will be cancelled until further notice due to lack of funding.

The update comes shortly after UNFCCC chief Simon Stiell made an urgent plea at the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial last week to plug the body’s funding gap, stating that it is facing “severe financial challenges” – putting a rising workload at risk due to “governments’ failure to provide enough money”.

The suspension of the Regional Climate Weeks is hugely disappointing news.

It means that a vital platform to express the concerns of people and communities most affected by climate change has been taken away.

UN’s climate body faces “severe financial challenges” which put work at risk

The climate weeks are a vital opportunity to bring a stronger regional voice – those who are footing the bill in developing countries for a crisis they have done the least to cause – to the international table in the lead-up to the UN COP climate summits.

Last year we saw four regional climate weeks: Africa Climate Week in Nairobi, Kenya; Middle East and North Africa Climate Week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week in Panama City, Panama; and Asia-Pacific Climate Week in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

These attracted 26,000 participants in 900 sessions and brought together policymakers, scientists and other experts from the multiple regions, with fundamental contributions feeding into the COP28 agenda. 

At Africa Climate Summit alone, over 20 commitments were made by African heads of state – commitments and announcements that equated to a combined investment of nearly $26 billion from public, private sector and multilateral development banks, philanthropic foundations and other financing partners.

This is the right way forward because, while extreme weather events affect all of us, we know their impacts are not felt equally.

Shrinking water access

Extremes of both drought and floods are threatening people’s access to the three essentials they need to survive – clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene – as boreholes run dry, floods wash away latrines, and supplies are contaminated by silt and debris.

Around the world, ordinary people – farmers, community leaders, family members – are doing everything they can to adapt to the realities of life on the frontlines of climate change.

They’re working together to monitor water reserves, conserving supplies to make every drop last. They’re sowing crops that can withstand droughts, and planting trees to protect them from floods. And they’re building with future threats in mind, raising homes and toilets off the ground and making them safe from floodwaters.

Expectations mount as loss and damage fund staggers to its feet

Each Regional Climate Week provides a vital platform for those shouldering the heaviest burden of the climate crisis – such as women and girls, people experiencing marginalisation, and Indigenous communities – to share their experiences, expertise, and unique perspectives.  

The climate crisis is a water crisis, and the people on the frontlines of this crisis are vital to solving it. 

With leadership and participation from those vulnerable communities and groups, we are all better equipped to adapt to our changing climate – and to ensure that everyone, everywhere has climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene.

Each and every UN climate conference matters. We urgently need global governments to fuel their words with action, open their wallets and prioritise the voices, experiences and solutions of those most affected by the climate crisis. If not, we’ll continue to see climate change wash away people’s futures.

Dulce Marrumbe is head of partnerships and advocacy at WaterAid’s regional office for Southern Africa.

The post Cancellation of UN climate weeks removes platform for worst-hit communities appeared first on Climate Home News.

The final text for the first time mentions all fossil fuels, “calling on” parties to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner”.

Most delegates were satisfied with the result, with no country opposing the text in the final plenary. Vulnerable nations and some observers had mixed feelings.

No ‘phase-out’, but Dubai deal puts oil and gas sector on notice

EU: Beginning of the end of fossil fuels

EU chief negotiator Wopke Hoekstra told a press huddle outside the plenary that the global stocktake text, the main outcome from Cop28, was “truly consequential” and the “beginning of the end of fossil fuels”.

The EU’s Wopke Hoekstra describes this text as “truly consequential” and “the beginning of the end of fossil fuels” #Cop28 pic.twitter.com/aZxYYubcsO

— Joe Lo is @joeloclimate@bsky.social (@joeloyo) December 13, 2023

Aosis: Litany of loopholes

Anne Rasmussen, representing the alliance of small island states (Aosis), told the plenary:

“In terms of safeguarding 1.5C in a meaningful way, the language is certainly a step forward, it speaks to transitioning away from fossil fuels in a way the process has not done before. But we must note the text does not speak specifically to fossil fuel phase-out and mitigation in a way that is in fact the step change that is needed. It is incremental and not transformational.

“We see a litany of loopholes in this text that are a major concern to us.”

Tears flowed and a lengthy rousing ovation during final plenary just now for AOSIS Chair #AnneRasmussen, as she delivered an emotional response filled with unsparing observations about the final outcomes from #COP28UAE pic.twitter.com/YEt4sgIvB0

— AOSIS (@AOSISChair) December 13, 2023

US: Strong messages

US climate envoy John Kerry told the plenary:

“While nobody here will see their views completely reflected in a consensus document of so many nations, the fact is that this document sends very strong messages to the world.

“First, the document highlights that we have to adhere to keep 1.5C within reach. That is the North star. We therefore must do those things necessary to keep 1.5C. Everything we can to achieve this goal.

“In particular it states that our next [national climate plans] will be aligned with limiting warming to 1.5C. I think everyone has to agree this is much stronger and clearer as a call on 1.5C than we have ever heard before.”

Saudi Arabia: Silence

The Saudi delegation does not join in the applause as #Cop28 president says “We have language on fossil fuel for the first time ever” pic.twitter.com/wv2qa7zqje

— Joe Lo is @joeloclimate@bsky.social (@joeloyo) December 13, 2023

UAE: Different sort of Cop

Cop28 president Sultan Al Jaber told the final plenary in Dubai:

“It is an enhanced, balanced, but make no mistake historic package to accelerate climate action. It is the ‘UAE Consensus’. Many said this could not be done.

“But when I spoke to you at the very start of Cop, I promised a different sort of Cop. A Cop that brought everyone together, private and public sectors, civil society and faith leaders, youth and indigenous peoples. Everyone came together from day one. Everyone united, acted and delivered.”

France: Still work ahead

French minister for energy transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher told reporters outside the plenary:

“We need to be very cautious and to report and make sure that every country improves their [national climate plans] and that, at the same time, we are going to put the money on the field so that developing countries can do their own transitions and adaptations. That is what is at stake today — how will the finance come to the most vulnerable countries?”

India: Outcomes backed by finance

Indian minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav said in a statement:

“India urges that the determination shown at Cop is also substantiated with means to bring it to fruition. This must be based on the principles of equity and climate justice, which is respectful of national circumstances, and where the developed countries take the lead based on their historical contributions.”

Today, the world came together at #COP28 in Dubai, UAE to display positive collaboration and camaraderie for an action-oriented approach towards a greener and healthier planet.

Through its G20 Presidency steered by PM Shri @narendramodi ji, India displayed the resolve to make… pic.twitter.com/eC07BAr4Fy

— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) December 13, 2023

Least developed countries: We expected more

Madeleine Diouf Sarr, head of climate change at the ministry of environment of Senegal and chair of the least developed countries group, said in a statement:

“This outcome is not perfect, we expected more. It reflects the very lowest possible ambition that we could accept rather than what we know, according to the best available science, is necessary to urgently address the climate crisis.”

“Next year will be critical in deciding the new climate finance goal, which must be informed by this global stocktake, and must close the vast gaps that have been identified. To respond to the global stocktake, the new goal must reflect the full needs of our countries to address climate change, including the costs to mitigate, to adapt, and to address loss and damage.”

Colombia: Gas colonising decarbonisation

Colombian environment minister Susana Muhamad told the plenary:

“Loopholes (in the final text) have risks and the risks can undermine the political will. The transition fuels could end up colonising the space of decarbonisation. Right now, in the financial segment of the text, we don’t have still the economic structure required for this deep transition — which is not only an energy transition but is fundamentally a whole-of-society economic transition.”

La transición para dejar los combustibles fósiles, debe complementarse con un Tratado que entregue reglas claras de financiamiento para los países, pero además respetando los bosques y las comunidades. ¡Nuestra lucha por la justicia climática y equidad, sigue! #COP28 pic.twitter.com/37rn1AzHFa

— Susana Muhamad (@susanamuhamad) December 13, 2023

Germany: Multilateralism delivers

German state secretary and special envoy for international climate action Jennifer Morgan said in a statement:

“Today the world adopted a historic decision that is strongly guided by the 1.5C limit. There is an unmistakable signal that the future is renewables and not fossil fuels. For the first time, countries made the decision to transition away from fossil fuels, accelerating action in this critical decade.

“Today we showed that multilateralism delivers. Tomorrow we drive these decisions forward. We must be fast. We must be deliberate, with ambition and solidarity for climate justice.”

Bolivia: Rich nations must step up

Bolivian chief negotiator Diego Pacheco told the plenary:

“We cannot support outcomes that mean that the world will enter a new era of implementation of the Paris Agreement without equity, without common but differentiated responsibilities, without a differentiation between developed and developing countries and without means of implementation and concrete financing for developing countries.

Developed countries have not decided to take the initiative of leading the fight against the climate crisis and this is jeopardising the lives of people in our part of the world. We say a great deal about 1.5C and science, but developed countries that have plans to expand their fossil fuels going up to 2050 are running counter to science itself, the very science they talk about.”

UN chief: Progress gathering pace

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told the Cop28 plenary:

“For the first time, the outcome recognizes the need to transition away from fossil fuels – after many years in which the discussion of this issue was blocked. ”

“To those who opposed a clear reference to a phase out of fossil fuels in the COP28 text, I want to say that a fossil fuel phase out is inevitable whether they like it or not. Let’s hope it doesn’t come too late.

Of course, timelines, pathways and targets will differ for countries at different levels of development. But all efforts must be consistent with achieving global net zero by 2050 and preserving the 1.5 degree goal. And developing countries must be supported every step of the way.”

John Kerry says that the US and China “both intend – based on many initiatives set out in Global Stocktake – we will again update our long term strategies and we invite other parties to join us in doing so” #Cop28

— Joe Lo is @joeloclimate@bsky.social (@joeloyo) December 13, 2023

WRI: More finance needed

Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO, World Resources Institute said in a statement:

“Fossil fuels finally faced a reckoning at the UN climate negotiations after three decades of dodging the spotlight. This historic outcome marks the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. Despite immense pressure from oil and gas interests, high ambition countries courageously stood their ground and sealed the fate of fossil fuels.

“Now a critical test is whether far more finance is mobilized for developing countries to help make the energy transition possible.”

The #COP28 #GlobalStocktake text was gaveled through without any comments allowed from Parties. The text is severely lacking in assurances for climate finance, and equity – indications that developed countries must take the lead – is almost entirely missing.

— Brandon Wu (@brandoncwu) December 13, 2023

Climate Action Network: Marred by loopholes

Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International said in a statement:

“After decades of evasion, Cop28 finally cast a glaring spotlight on the real culprits of the climate crisis: fossil fuels. A long-overdue direction to move away from coal, oil, and gas has been set. Yet, the resolution is marred by loopholes that offer the fossil fuel industry numerous escape routes, relying on unproven, unsafe technologies.

The hypocrisy of wealthy nations, particularly the USA, as they continue to expand fossil fuel operations massively while merely paying lip service to the green transition, stands exposed.”

OPEC: oil and gas have critical role

Mohamed Hamel, Secretary General for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), and Haitham Al Ghais, Secretary General for OPEC said in a statement:

“The oil and gas industry will play a constructive and critical role in sustainable development and poverty eradication, while contributing to a just, orderly and inclusive energy transitions, in particular through enhancing efficiencies and developing and deploying advanced technologies, such as carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS). They stressed that continued investment in oil and natural gas is essential to meet future demand and ensure global market stability.”

Power Shift Africa: Genie is out of the bottle

Mohamed Adow, Director of Power Shift Africa, said in a statement:

“For the first time in three decades of climate negotiations, the words ‘fossil fuels’ have made it into a Cop outcome. We are finally naming the elephant in the room. The genie is never going back into the bottle. Future Cops will only turn the screw even more on dirty energy.”

“Finance is where the whole energy transition plan will stand or fall. We also need much more financial support to help vulnerable people in some of the poorest countries to adapt to the impacts of climate breakdown.”

CEEW: Disappointed on all fronts

Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of the Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water, said in a statement:

“This Cop has largely disappointed on all fronts. It hasn’t sufficiently raised climate ambition, held historical polluters accountable, or established effective mechanisms to finance climate resilience and a just low-carbon transition for the global south.

“While the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund on the first day marked a noteworthy success, subsequent developments revealed a discordant trajectory. The global stocktake’s final text lacked the candid acknowledgment of problems and the teeth required to fight them.”

350: Partial win for people power

May Boeve, executive director of activist network 350.org, said in a statement:

“People power has propelled us to the doorstep of history but leaders have stopped short of entering the future we need.

“It is frustrating that thirty years of campaigning managed to get ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ in the Cop text, but it is surrounded by so many loopholes that it has been rendered weak and ineffectual.”

Climate Analytics: Weak energy package

Bill Hare, climate scientist and CEO of Climate Analytics, said in a statement:

“The energy section is weak and simply doesn’t have enough hard commitments to bring the 1.5C warming limit within reach this decade, and there’s no commitment to peak emissions by 2025. The goal of tripling renewables and doubling of efficiency is very welcome, but will need hard work to implement.

“The agreement opens the doors to false solutions like carbon capture and storage at scale, and the reference to transition fuels is code for gas, which is absolutely not a transitional fuel. This has been promoted by LNG and fossil gas exporters.”

The post Dubai deal: Ministers and observers react to the UAE consensus appeared first on Climate Home News.

Making up around 80% of global emissions and also 80% of global GDP, the G20 has the responsibility and the capabilities to alter the course of our planet’s destiny.

The G20 ministers must demonstrate their leadership in placing the earth on track for a future within the 1.5°C temperature limit, which is resilient to the climate shocks already affecting the world’s most vulnerable communities.

Keeping 1.5°C in reach

We cannot afford an overshoot of 1.5°C

Accelerating our efforts to achieve a just transition and keep the temperature limit in reach is critical. We know that effective adaptation can save lives, contribute to sustainable development and support efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality.

However, there are limits to our ability to adapt that are already being reached, so we must step up our actions urgently. Loss and damage is occurring today in every region of the planet.

The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report confirm that we must urgently and drastically scale up action and support to address climate change in this decade, accelerate efforts to respond to the impacts that are already happening, and prepare for them to get much worse.

We, as members of the High Ambition Coalition, are committed to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, including keeping alive the 1.5°C temperature limit. The scale and speed of the shifts that our world requires will be unprecedented. The outcome of the first Global Stocktake is an opportunity to course correct onto a path of a just and equitable transition and a much more resilient world.

Phasing out fossil fuels

We must work together to accelerate climate action now and to also set and meet higher targets. We must put an end to the narrative that climate action is the enemy of development. It is the only sustainable development pathway. We look to the G20 to lead the way.

Remaining within 1.5°C will require us to peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 at the latest and reduce them by 43% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. Revised 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions that align with the 1.5°C limit, and new 2035 NDCs that keep nations on that pathway, are crucial.

We will not stay within 1.5°C without reducing fossil fuel production. Further fossil fuel expansion risks rendering the eventual transition more expensive and disruptive to economies and societies.

Phasing out fossil fuels will not be easy, but humankind cannot afford to delay. We must bring the fossil fuel era to an end together, and agree a plan to do this at COP28.

We urge you, as leaders of the G20, to accelerate your efforts to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions, to expand your cooperation and lead the way in phasing out all fossil fuels and in transitioning to a green sustainable energy future where access to energy is guaranteed for all.

Key climate actions

Renewable energy has the potential to replace fossil fuels, and to improve access to clean energy across the world, particularly the developing world. We also need a step change in energy efficiency, and to redirect fossil fuel subsidies as part of a just and equitable transition.

We must agree and deliver global goals on renewable energy and energy efficiency, as part of a 1.5°C-aligned global energy strategy. And we must ensure that all sectors, including international transport, reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.

Life saving adaptation is needed worldwide. Enabling national adaptation planning and implementation, and removing the barriers we see today, is key, and will require international cooperation and support, including the delivery of the COP26 call to double adaptation finance.

The climate crisis is causing loss and damage to occur today, and it will worsen. We must all support the swift operationalization and capitalization of loss and damage funding arrangements, and a fund for responding to loss and damage.

Boosting climate finance

Current climate finance flows fall far short of what is needed to meet our climate goals. Accelerated implementation, ambition, and support need to be mutually reinforcing processes to deliver the global transformations that are needed.

As the costs of the climate crisis continue to rise, a new financial system that meets the needs of the vulnerable is needed. We welcome the efforts at the Summit for a New Finance Pact to respond to interrelated climate, energy, health and economic crises and the need for finance to overcome them.

We support efforts to reform the international financial architecture to ensure that financial flows reach the trillions required for low carbon resilient development, and to ensure climate finance is accessible, and avoids trapping countries in further debt.

At the same time, each country should play its part to strengthen efforts to meet their Paris Agreement commitment to align all financial flows with low greenhouse gas climate resilient development.

We welcome the UN Secretary General’s efforts to accelerate ambition. G20 members should support this agenda, and join the ‘Climate Solidarity Pact’ that the Secretary General has called for.

All G20 members should demonstrate their commitment to living up to the Paris Agreement, Glasgow Climate Pact, and Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, and to protecting the lives of us all. This is the most critical decade, and an opportunity for us to chart a path to a more sustainable, safe, and liveable future for all.

Signatories

H.E. Lenore Gewessler, Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy,
Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austria
H.E. Maria Heloisa Rojas Corradi, Environment Minister, Chile
H.E. Susana Muhamad, Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development,
Colombia
H.E. Dan Jørgensen, Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy,
Denmark
H.E. Ms. Cynthia Ehmes, Acting Secretary of the Department of Environment, Climate
Change and Emergency Management (DECEM), Federated States of Micronesia
H.E. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for the Energy Transition, France
H.E. Eamon Ryan, Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications,Ireland
H.E. Rob Jetten, Minister Climate and Energy Policy, the Netherlands
H.E. James Shaw, Minister of Climate Change, New Zealand
H.E. Steven Victor, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Environment, Palau
H.E. John Silk, Minister of Natural Resources and Commerce, Republic of the Marshall
Islands
H.E. Toeolesulusulu Cedric P S Schuster, Minister for Natural Resources and
Environment and Samoa Tourism Authority, Samoa
H.E. Romina Pourmokhtari, Minister for Climate and the Environment, Sweden
H.E. Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Meteorology, Geo
Hazards, Environment, Energy & National Disaster Management Office of the Republic
of Vanuatu

The post Open letter from 14 countries to G20: Safeguard a liveable future appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: Martin Fisch)

GLOBAL TERRITORIAL EMISSIONS COVERED: 99% (EDGAR, 2012)

NUMBER OF COUNTRIES COVERED: 188

4/2/2016 – Nepal: Boost renewables to generate 80% of electricity by 2050. Increase ‘forest carbon stocks’ 5% by 2025 on 2015 levels.

15/12/2015 – Venezuela: 20% cuts on a business as usual trajectory by 2030, dependent on public sources of climate finance.

12/12 – St Kitts and Nevis: 22% cuts on business as usual by 2025, 35% by 2030. (Funding needs to be published at a later date)

4/12 – Tonga: Aims for 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and 70% by 2030, plus double the number of marine protected areas in 15 years.

1/12 – Brunei: Cut energy consumption 63% from business as usual levels, get 10% of electricity from renewables and expand forest reserves to 55% of land area by 2035.

29/11 – Angola: Aims to cut emissions 35-50% from business as usual by 2030, depending on international support. Price tag US$15 billion, plus $1bn for adaptation.

28/11 – Palau: Cut energy sector emissions 22% from 2005 levels by 2025.

28/11 – Nigeria: Cut emissions 20% from business as usual in 2030, or up to 45% with international support.

27/11 – Tuvalu: Cut energy sector emissions 60% from 2010 levels by 2025.

27/11 – Jamaica: Cut emissions 8% from business as usual in 2030, with 20% of energy coming from renewable sources.

27/11 – Malaysia: Cut emissions intensity 35% from 2005 to 2030, or up to 45% with international support.

25/11 – Niue: Aims to get 80% of energy from renewable sources by 2025, subject to international support.

“Niue’s future is imperilled by the effects of climate change for which it bears absolutely no responsibility” – official submission.

24/11 – Kuwait: Analysis to be updated on receipt of English translation of Arabic submission.

24/11 – Bahrain: No targets to cut emissions. Offers support for renewable energy, carbon capture and energy efficiency.

24/11 – Micronesia: Targets 28% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 2000 levels by 2025, increasing to 35% with international support.

23/11 – Yemen: Aims to cut emissions 1% on business-as-usual by 2030, rising to 14% with financial assistance.

23/11 – Cuba: Offered support for renewable power, though specified no targets, nor emission cuts. Could revise pledge on outcome of Paris agreement.

23/11 – South Sudan: Aims to plant 20 million trees over a decade and preserve 20% of natural forests. Policies to develop clean energy and transport. Estimated US$50 billion of investment needed in mitigation and adaptation by 2030.

21/11 – Iran: Targets greenhouse gas emission cut of 4% from business as usual in 2030, rising to 12% with international support. All action subject to lifting of economic sanctions.

20/11 – Qatar: No target to cut emissions. May consider solar energy dependent on technology transfer from developed countries.

20/11 – Cook Islands: Reduce emissions from electricity sector 38% by 2020 on 2006 levels. Power country with 100% renewable electricity by same year.

18/11 – St Lucia: Cut emissions 16% below business as usual in 2025 and 23% in 2030, subject to international support.

18/11 – St Vincent and the Grenadines: Cut emissions 22% below business as usual by 2025.

18/11 – Bahamas: Cut emissions 30% below business as usual by 2030. Total cost of plan $900 million.

17/11 – Somalia: Projects worth US$100 million to boost resilience, rehabilitate hydroelectric dam and tackle unsustainable charcoal production.

17/11 – Nauru: Replace “a substantial part” of electricity generation from diesel plants with solar panels, subject to US$50 million of finance.

17/11 – El Salvador: Develop clean power strategy by December 2016, restore a million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

12/11 – Pakistan: No measurable target.

“Pakistan is committed to reduce its emissions after reaching peak levels to the extent possible subject to affordability, provision of international climate finance, transfer of technology and capacity building” – official submission

12/11 – Iraq: Analysis to be updated on receipt of English translation of Arabic submission.

11/11 – Egypt: Phase out of fossil fuel subsidies within 3-5 years. No quantifiable carbon cuts, but support for increasing renewables’ share of electricity generation.

10/11 – Sudan: Policies including 1,000MW of solar, 1,000MW wind power by 2030, dependent on $12.88 billion of international support.

10/11 – Saudi Arabia: Seeks “mitigation co-benefits ambitions” of up to 130 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, conditional on continued economic growth.

5/11 – Fiji: Cut emissions 10% on business as usual levels by 2030, rising to 30% on $500 million of foreign funding. Higher target could see 100% of electricity come from renewable power.

28/10 – Suriname: Minimise deforestation, expand biofuel and hydropower capacity with international support. Mitigation and adaptation costs estimated at US$3.5 billion to 2025.

22/10 – Sri Lanka: Greenhouse gas emissions cut of 7% from business as usual by 2030, or up to 23% with international support. Measures to adapt to climate impacts estimated to cost US$420 million over the next decade.

22/10 – United Arab Emirates: Increase clean energy to 24% of mix by 2021, from 0.2% in 2014.

“The UAE’s actions are based on a strategy for economic diversification that will yield co-benefits in terms of both mitigation and adaptation” – official submission

19/10 – Oman: 2% emissions cut on business as usual by 2030

19/10 – Antigua and Barbuda: Set up efficiency targets for vehicle imports by 2030, among other policies. No emission reduction target

16/10 – Uganda: 22% emission cuts on a business as usual basis by 2030 due to a “series of policies and measures in the energy supply, forestry and wetland sectors.”

12/10 – Bolivia: says it will halt illegal tree-cutting within five years and double renewable energy’s share of power generation to 79% by 2030.

6/10 – Afghanistan: Aims to cut emissions 13.6% from business as usual by 2030, conditional on international support, and reduce vulnerability to climate impacts. Price tag estimated at US$17.4 billion.

“Despite suffering decades of instability and war, Afghanistan has made considerable development progress” – official submission

1/10 – Argentina: Plans to cut emissions 15% below business as usual by 2030 emissions, rising to 30% on international support.

1/10 – Mozambique: Plans to cut emissions 76.5 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent over 2020-30. “These reductions are estimates with a significant level of uncertainty and will be updated… by early 2018.”

1/10 – Ecuador: Cut energy sector emissions by 20.4-25% below business as usual by 2030. That could rise to 37.5-45.8% on international support.

1/10 – India: India aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions for each unit of GDP 33-35% from 2005 levels by 2030.  Will need an estimated $2.5 trillion in support and targets 40% of electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by that date.

“Surprisingly, the country’s carbon intensity target doesn’t fully capture the emissions it would avoid if it succeeds in meeting its renewable energy goals. We expect India can exceed its carbon intensity target in the course of shifting to non-fossil energy” – Nitin Pandit, CEO, World Resources Institute India 

1/10 – Belize: Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 62% below business by 2033. Will raise renewable energy to 85% of electricity mix, in aim to reduce greenhouse gases 24 million tonnes of CO2e from 2014-33.

1/10 – Paraguay: 10% emissions cut from business as usual by 2030, rising to 20% on international support.

1/10 – Botswana: 10% emissions cut by 2030, from a 2010 baseline. Cost estimate US$18.4 billion.

1/10 – Sierra Leone: Keep emissions “relatively low” by 2035, dependent on around US$900 million of support.

1/10 – Honduras: Cut emissions 15% from business as usual by 2030, conditional on international support; plant 1 million hectares of forest.

1/10 – Thailand: Intends to cut emissions by 20% from business as usual by 2030, rising to 25% on international support.

1/10 – Guinea:  Will cut emissions 13% by 2030 on 1994 levels. Total cost of tag: $8.2 billion

1/10 – Philippines: Cut emissions by 70%  by 2030 relative to a business as usual scenario.

1/10 – Cameroon: Cut emissions up to 32% by 2035 on business as usual, depending on international support.

1/10 – Samoa: Generate 100% of electricity from renewable sources by 2017, and maintain it through to 2025 with international support.

30/9 – San Marino: Cuts emissions 20% on 2005 levels by 2030.

30/9 – Turkey: Up to 21% emissions cuts from business as usual by 2030, using a mix of domestic and international resources.

30/9 – Togo: Emissions cuts of 11% from business as usual by 2030, rising to 31% with international support. Price tag US$3.5 billion.

30/9 – Papua New Guinea: Could tackle deforestation with support through international REDD+ scheme; some hydropower and renewable potential.

30/9 – Liberia: Emissions cuts of 15% from business as usual by 2030, subject to international support.

30/9 – Tajikistan: “Flexible” target to deliver 10-20% greenhouse gas emissions cuts from 1990 levels by 2030, or up to 45% with international support.

30/9 – Lesotho: Unconditional emissions cuts of 10% from business as usual by 2030, or 30% with international support.

30/9 – Rwanda: Target still under development. US$24 billion price tag for water, energy and agriculture measures.

30/9 – Cambodia: Plans to reduce emissions by 27% on business as usual by 2030.

30/9 – Gambia: Emissions reduction of up to 44.4% from business as usual by 2025 and 45.4% by 2030, excluding land use and forestry, dependent on international finance.

30/9 – Malawi: Mix of policies could cut per capita use from 1.4t CO₂e in 2010 to 0.7-0.8t in 2030, if fully implemented, compared to increase to 1.5t under business as usual.

30/9 – Bhutan: Plans to remain carbon neutral as set out in 2009. Repeats commitment to keep 60% of territory forested.

30/9 – Costa Rica: Plans to cut emissions 24.7% below 2012 levels by 2030.

30/9 – Zimbabwe: Plans to keep per-capita emissions from energy sector 33% below business as usual by 2030, provided there is sufficient support.

30/9 – Turkmenistan: Aims to keep emissions in 2030 at 2015 levels.

30/9 – Solomon Islands: Plans to cut emissions to 12% below business as usual in 2025 and 30% in 2030. That could rise to 27% and 45% respectively with funding. GHG emissions could be cut by over 50% with appropriate support by 2050.

30/9 – Jordan: Plans to reduce emissions by 1.5% below business as usual by 2030, rising to 14% with international support.

30/9 – Burundi: Aims to cut greenhouse gases 3% below business as usual by 2030, rising to 20% on international support.

30/9 – Lebanon: Aims to cut greenhouse gases 15% below business as usual by 2030, rising to 30% on international support.

30/9 – Ukraine: Emissions will not exceed 60% of 1990 levels by 2030. In 2012, they were at 42.9%, and can rise as high as 76% by 2020. INDC will be revised on restoration of territorial integrity’

30/9 – Haiti: Emissions will fall 5% below 2000 levels by 2030, rising to 31% on international support at a cost of $25.4 billion.

30/9 – Sao Tome and Principe: Cut emissions 24% by 2030 on 2005 levels. Country is a net carbon sink.

30/9 – Guatemala: Plans to cut emissions 11.2% on 2005 levels by 2030. That could rise to 22.6% with international support.

30/9 – Israel: Cut greenhouse gases 26% below 2005 levels by 2030.

29/9 – Dominica: Plans to cut emissions 44.7% by 2030 below 2014 levels, conditional on international funding.

29/9 – Congo: Cut emissions by 48% by 2025 and 55% in 2035 below business as usual levels.

29/9 – Azerbaijan: Reduce greenhouse gases 35% below 1990 levels by 2030.

29/9 – Tanzania: cut emissions by 10-20% below business as usual by 2030.

29/9 – Swaziland: Double renewable energy share by 2030 from 2010 levels, introduce 10% ethanol to petrol, phase out HFCs and other potent climate pollutants. Will develop an emissions target and plan by 2020.

29/9 – Zambia: Emissions cuts of 25% from business as usual by 2030 with domestic resources, costed at US$15 billion, increasing to 47% with an estimated $35bn of international support.

29/9 – Grenada: Cut emissions 30% from 2010 levels by 2025, with an indicative target of 40% by 2030. US$161 million cost to be met by international development funds.

29/9 – Namibia: An 89% cut to greenhouse gas emissions from business as usual by 2030, mainly through reducing deforestation. Price tag: US$33 billion.

29/9 – Uruguay: In energy sector, cut CO2 per unit of GDP 25% from 1990 to 2030, or up to 40% with international support. Separate targets for methane and nitrous oxide, particularly in beef production.

29/9 – Barbados: Emissions cut of 44% compared to business as usual in 2030, equivalent to an absolute cut of 23% from 2008 levels.

29/9 – Mauritania: 22.3% emissions cuts by 2030 below business as usual, of which five-sixths hinges on international support. Total cost for mitigation and adaptation estimated at US$17.6 billion.

29/9 – Vietnam: GHG cuts of 8% below business as usual by 2030, rising to 25% on international finance.

29/9 – Kyrgyztan: Cut GHGs 11.49 – 13.75% below business as usual in 2030, or 29.00 – 30.89% with international support.

29/9 – Cote d’Ivoire: 28% emissions cut below 2012 levels by 2030.

29/9 – Cape Verde: Will specify GHG cuts from energy sector in second half of 2016, sets targets to achieve 100% grid access by 2017. Renewable energy penetration to rise to 3o% by 2025, or up to 100% on international finance.

29/9 – Niger: Commits to cut GHGs 3.5% below business as usual by 2030, rising to 34.6% with international support

29/9 – Armenia: Can emit 663 million tonnes of CO2- equivalent over period 2015-2050, equal to 5.4 tonnes per capita based on 1990 population. First country to submit a per-capita target.

29/9 – Benin: Aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions 3.5% below business as usual levels by 2030, rising to 21.4% with international support. Budget to meet mitigation and adaptation goals is US$ 30 billion, $2.32 billion of which Benin will provide.

28/9 – Mali: Cut emissions from agriculture 29%, energy sector 31%, land-use change 21% below business-as-usual by 2030.

28/9 – Vanuatu: Cut energy sector emissions 30% below business-as-usual by 2030, and 100% for electricity sub-sector, conditional on international support

28/9 – Chile: Cut emissions per unit of GDP 30% below 2007 levels by 2030. That rises to 35-45% with international support.

28/9 – Burkina Faso: Cut GHG emissions by 7.6% below business-as-usual levels by 2030. Rises to 18.2% on international support.

28/9 – Barbados: Cut GHGs 44% below business as usual. In absolute terms, that’s 23% below 2008 levels by 2030.

28/9 – Guyana: Cut emissions up to 52 million tonnes of CO2 by 2025 in forestry and energy sectors

28/9 – Chad: Cut emissions by 18.2% below business as usual by 2030, rising to 71% on international support

28/9 – Peru: Plans to cut emissions 20% below business as usual by 2030, rising to 30% with international finance

28/9 – Kazakhstan: 15% emission cuts by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. Could rise to 25% conditional on international cash

28/9 – Maldives: 10% emission cuts from business as usual in 2030, rising to 24% with international support

28/9 – Cameroon: 32% emissions cut from business as usual by 2035, subject to international support. Estimated cost 2016-20 is US$1.8 billion.

28/9 – Mauritius: 30% emissions cut by 2030 compared to business as usual, subject to international support.

28/9 – Myanmar: Increase forest cover to 30% of land area by 2030, get 38% of electricity from hydro, improve electricity efficiency 20%, subject to international support. Data “not sufficiently reliable” to set overall emissions goal.

28/9 – Brazil: Unconditional pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions 37% from 2005 levels by 2025, with an “indicative” target of 43% by 2030.

“Brazil is one of the few developing countries to commit to an absolute goal for emissions reduction” – president Dilma Rousseff

Independent assessment: “It’s significant that Brazil, among the world’s largest emitters, has the largest reduction target. But it is insufficient considering the potential the country has to do more” – Carlos Rittl, head of Climate Observatory

28/9 – Central African Republic: Reduce emissions 5% on business as usual levels by 2030. Total cost of $3.69 billion; $3.46 relies on international cash.

26/9 – Senegal: GHG cuts of 6% by 2030 from business as usual, rising to 31% on international finance. Cost of plan comes to $21.5 billion.

26/9 – Kiribati: GHG cuts of 12.8% by 2030 compared with business as usual levels. Rises to 49% reduction on international finance.

“As one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change its ability to respond to climate risks is hampered by its highly vulnerable socio-economic and geographical situation” – UN communication

25/9 – Moldova: Aims to cut emissions by 64-67% below 1990 levels by 2030. Could rise to 78% on international finance of up to $5.1 billion.

25/9 – South Africa: Aims to ‘peak, plateau and decline’ emissions by 2030, requires $53 billion for adaptation to climate impacts.

25/9 – Belarus: Aims to cut GHGs 28% below 1990 levels by 2030.

25/9 – Georgia: Commits to 15% cut on business as usual by 2030, which could rise to 25% on international support.

25/9 – Seychelles: Will slash emissions 29% on a business as usual basis by 2030, costing an estimated $309 million

25/9 – Bangladesh: Plans to cut GHG emissions 5% by 2030 compared with business-as-usual levels in power, transport, industry sectors, rising to 15% on international support.

24/9 – Mongolia:  14% reduction in total national GHG emissions excluding Land use, land use change and forestry by 2030, compared to the projected emissions under a business as usual scenario.

24/9 – Indonesia: Unconditional 29% greenhouse gas emissions cuts on business as usual by 2030. With international support this could rise to 41%.

24/9 – Madagascar: 14% cuts on business as usual by 2030.

24/9 – Albania: 11.5% cuts on a business as usual trajectory by 2030.

23/9 – Ghana: 15% emission cuts on business as usual by 2030.

23/9 – Mauritania: 22.3% GHG cuts on a business as usual scenario by 2030. Will need $17.6 billion to pay for mitigation and adaptation efforts.

23/9 – Montenegro: 30% cuts by 2030 compared to the 1990 base year. “The reduction is to be achieved by general increase of energy efficiency, improvement of industrial technologies, increase of the share of renewables and modernization in the power sector.”

21/9 – Equatorial Guinea: Cut emissions by 20% by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.

17/9 – Grenada: Cut emissions 30% by 2025 on 2010 levels, with ‘indicative target’ of 40% cut by 2030 on 2010 levels.

17/9 – Comoros: 84% cut in GHG emissions by 2030 on business-as-usual.

16/9 – Tunisia: 13% cut in carbon intensity by 2030 from 2010 levels, rising to 41% with international cash

11/9 – Cote d’Ivoire: 28% GHG cuts on business-as-usual by 2030, rising to 36% with additional support

7/9 – Colombia: 20% GHG cuts on business-as-usual by 2030. Could rise to 30%, conditional on international support

4/9 – Algeria: 7% unconditional cut to greenhouse gas emissions from business as usual by 2030, rising to 22% with international support

18/8 – Dominican Republic: 25% GHG cuts on 2010 levels by 2030, conditional on climate finance.

18/8 – Democratic Republic of Congo: 17% GHG cuts by 2030 on 2000 levels, covering agriculture and forests, conditional on $21 billion of support.

14/8 – Djibouti: Cut emissions 40% from business as usual by 2030 using domestic resources, or another 20% with international support. Take measures to adapt to increasing risk of water scarcity.

“In order to combine the fight against climate change impacts with economic development, the Republic of Djibouti is pursuing the goal of becoming an economic crossroads and a showcase for sustainable development in the Red Sea” – UN submission

11/8 – Australia: 26-28% cuts on 2005 levels by 2030. Overall design of Australia’s 2030 target policy framework will be further considered in detail in 2017–2018.

“Australia’s 2030 target is a strong, credible and responsible contribution to climate action” – UN submission

“Australia’s weak target is another serious blow to its international reputation.  As with Prime Minister Abbott’s attempt to ignore climate change when hosting the G20 last year, this will send a serious shudder through the Pacific and raise concern amongst its closest allies, including the United States and Europe” – Marshall Islands minister Tony de Brum

7/8 – Trinidad and Tobago: 15% cuts on a business as usual baseline by 2030 from three sectors: transport, power generation, heavy industry.

“The estimated cost of meeting this objective is US$2 billion, which is expected to be met partly through domestic funding and conditional on international financing including through the Green Climate Fund.”

5/8 – Macedonia: 30% on business-as-usual levels by 2030, rising to 36% with finance.

“Due to the extensive use of fossil fuels, particularly the dominant share of domestic lignite for electricity production, there is a significant potential in the country for GHG emissions reduction” – UN submission

29/7 – Monaco: 50% greenhouse gas cuts on 1990 levels by 2030.

24/7 – Kenya: 30% greenhouse gas emissions cut from business as usual by 2030; “significant priority” placed on adapting to climate impacts.

“Kenya is determined to continue playing a leadership role in addressing climate change by communicating a fair and ambitious contribution” – UN submission

20/7 – Marshall Islands: 32% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2010 levels by 2025 and 45% by 2030.

“It’s essential to our survival. Not just to talk about it but do what we can to contribute… it shows a small country can step up to the plate” – Foreign minister Tony de Brum

17/7 – Japan: will cut greenhouse gas emissions 26% from 2013 levels by 2030.

“Having faced a drastic change in its circumstances with regard to energy due to the Great East Japan Earthquake… Japan decided the new Strategic Energy Plan last year as a starting point for reviewing and rebuilding our energy strategy from scratch” – UN submission

Independent assessment: “With plans to build 52 new coal-fired power plants, Japan is heading in the wrong direction and put at odds with the G7 recent commitment to phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century” – Maiko Morishita, Oxfam

7/7 – New Zealand: will cut greenhouse gas emissions 30% below 2005 levels by 2030, equal to a reduction of 11% on 1990 levels. 

“New Zealand’s INDC will remain provisional pending confirmation of the approaches to be taken in accounting for the land sector, and confirmation of access to carbon markets” – UN submission

Independent assessment, Oxfam: “New Zealand’s neighbours in the Pacific are some of those most affected by climate change and this target will be a slap in the face to them. It is irresponsible for New Zealand to continue to pollute the atmosphere with dangerous amounts of greenhouse gases whilst also claiming to be a friend to the Pacific and other small island developing states.”

3/7 – Singapore: intends to peak emissions ‘around 2030’ and cut carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 36% from 2005 levels by 2030.

“Its mitigation contributions must be viewed within the context of its national circumstances, limited access to renewable energy, and early actions. As a lowlying island state of 716 km² with no natural resources, Singapore has to accommodate not only housing and commercial centres, but also power plants, reservoirs, air/seaports and industries within city boundaries” – official submission

30/6 – South Korea: cut emissions 37% on business as usual by 2030. Domestic action makes up 25.7% of cuts, 11.3% from buying international carbon credits.

“Korea’s mitigation potential is limited due to its industrial structure with a large share of manufacturing (32% as of 2012) and the high energy efficiency of major industries” – UN submission

30/6 – China: intends to peak emissions before 2030, cut levels of carbon emissions per unit of GDP 60-65% on 2005 levels by 2030, boost share of renewables and nuclear in energy mix to 20% by 2030.

“China has nationally determined its actions by 2030 as follows: To achieve the peaking of carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 and making best efforts to peak early” – UN submission

Independent assessment – “Meeting this goal won’t be easy, but research shows that with a sustained commitment China can reach its target even before 2030. This commitment will benefit China and represents a serious and credible contribution to tackle climate change.” Jennifer Morgan, WRI

30/6: Iceland: aims to match EU’s 40% reduction on 1990 levels by 2030

“A precise commitment for Iceland within such collective delivery has yet to be determined, and is dependent on an agreement with the European Union and its Member States and possibly other countries” – UN submission

30/6 – Serbia: 9.8% cut by 2030 on 1990 levels. De facto rise of 15.3% as Serbia emitting 25% less than baseline today.

“[t]he Republic of Serbia expresses is willingness to contribute to global GHG emissions reduction in accordance with its capabilities national circumstances and development goals”

10/6 – Ethiopia: 64% greenhouse gas emissions cut by 2030 on business as usual.

“The full implementation of Ethiopia’s INDC is contingent upon an ambitious multilateral agreement being reached among Parties that enables Ethiopia to get international support and that stimulates investments” – UN submission

6/06 – Morocco: 32% greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 on business as usual.

19% of 32% emissions cut conditional on $35 billion of climate finance and legally-binding deal in Paris. Intends to “substantially reduce” fossil fuel subsidies and have renewables provide 42% of ‘installed electrical power’

“Morocco has set a target to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) growth that will be reached through its own means, a target that could be enhanced substantially with support from the international community.” – UN submission

15/05 – Canada: 30% greenhouse gas emissions cut from 2005 levels by 2030. Curbs on methane leaks and regulations on fertilisers.

“Canada’s ambitious new target and planned regulatory actions underscore our continued commitment to cut emissions at home and work with our international partners to establish an international agreement in Paris that includes meaningful and transparent commitments from all major emitters” – Environment minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Independent assessment: “It doesn’t compare favourably with other developed countries,” – David Waskow, WRI

30/4 – Andorra: 37% GHG cut by 2030 compared to business as usual.

23/4 – Liechtenstein: 40% GHG cuts on 1990 levels by 2030, covering all sectors. Expects EU climate and energy policies to contribute to goal.

1/4 – Gabon: 50% greenhouse gas cuts by 2025 compared to business as usual. The INDC also includes plans for a national carbon market and a domestic green fund.

“I deeply appreciate Gabon’s initiative and welcome this first INDC from an African nation,” – Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.

31/3 – Russia: 25-30% on 1990 levels by 2030, “subject to the maximum possible account of absorbing capacity of forests”

“…if contribution of the Russian forests is fully taken into account, limiting GHG emissions to 70-75% of 1990 levels by the year 2030 does not create any obstacles for social and economic development…” – official submission.

Independent assessment: “Russia’s INDC is a magnum opus of hypotheticals,” – Thomas Hale, Blavatnik School of Government

31/3 – US: 26-28% on 2005 levels by 2025

“This target is consistent with a straight line emission reduction pathway from 2020 to deep, economy-wide emission reductions of 80% or more by 2050,” – official submission.

Independent assessment: “We are confident that the US commitment can be met — and even exceeded. Doing so, though, will require several critical steps,” – Rhea Suh, NRDC

27/3 – Mexico: Emissions peak by 2026, 25% reduction compared to business as usual in 2030 (includes black carbon)

“Mexico is a responsible party committed to tackling global climate change by transforming its development route to a low emissions pathway, which requires progressive decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth,” – official submission.

Independent assessment: “Mexico’s plan to peak its emissions by 2026 is particularly encouraging and should inspire others to follow a similar course,” – Jennifer Morgan, World Resources Institute.

27/3 – Norway: 40% on 1990 levels by 2030

“Norway’s commitment … is well in line with the emissions pathways towards 2050 that correspond to keeping global warming below 2C,” – official submission.

Independent assessment: “I think it is good to link to the EU system. It will set a minimum level of ambition at least consistent with their direct peers. It will also drop the direct link to offsets, which Norway was very fond of,” – Glen Peters, CICERO.

9/3 – European Union: “At least” 40% on 1990 levels by 2030

“I now call on all our partners, especially major and emerging economies, to come forward in time and at least match our level of ambition,” – Miguel Arias Canete, EU climate commissioner.

Independent assessment: 40% goal looks “ambitious” given expected 54% rise in the EU’s economic growth from 2000 to 2030 (Jonathan Grant, PwC)

27/2 – Switzerland: 50% GHG cuts on 1990 levels by 2030

“This objective of a 50% reduction in emissions reflects Switzerland’s responsibility for climate warming” – Swiss environment ambassador Franz Perrez.

Independent assessment: “Switzerland’s proposal includes forestry accounting, which prevents an unambiguous quantification of its target, and will likely result in weaker emissions reductions across all other sectors” (Climate Action Tracker)

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