The climate emergency is a direct consequence of carbon-heavy land-use and agriculture, transport, buildings and industrial processes and polluting energy sources. Without profound changes to these sectors and a drastic cut to carbon footprints, there is little hope of protecting the planet from the devastating effects of a warmer world.
This live feed will keep you up-to-date with all the latest news from the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan.
04 Dec
2023
13:54
Five ways communities are adapting to the climate crisis
Panos Pictures/Peter Barker
This year, humanity came face to face with an ever-worsening climate crisis, as wildfires, storms and floods caused devastation around the world.
Countries must dramatically scale up their efforts to adapt to the climate crisis, say experts. Developing nations alone need $215 billion to $387 billion to contend with the fallout of climate change, found UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2023, released last month.
While current spending is only a fraction of that total, there are some rays of hope. From Cambodia to Peru, a range of innovative projects are helping communities weather a variety of climate-related perils. Read about five of those efforts here.
04 Dec
2023
12:44
Plastics can not be a lifeboat for the fossil fuel industry
UNEP/Duncan Moore
Plastics are not a lifeboat for the fossil fuel industry as the world decarbonises - that was the message from UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen today at COP28.
"Business-as-usual growth in plastics would burn through up to 20 per cent of the carbon budget for 1.5°C by 2040 – mainly from the production of primary polymers and conversion into products," she said at The Climate Impact of Plastic Production - The Road to a Global Plastics Treaty event in Dubai earlier today.
Andersen highlighted some of the other climate impacts of plastic pollution, including the fact that ocean and coastal ecosystems are vital to store carbon and build resilience to climate change, yet "there can be no adaptation in a sea of plastic."
She also outlined what a plastic pollution free future looks like: "We need to use fewer virgin polymers, less plastic and no harmful chemicals. We need to ensure that we use, reuse, and recycle resources more efficiently. And dispose safely of what is left over. This is how we protect ecosystems, human health and the climate. Create new jobs. And save trillions in social and economic costs."
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC)process is underway to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
The next stage of the INC process will take place in Ottawa in April next year.
Adaptation finance is stalling, despite pledges made at COP26 in Glasgow two years ago to double adaptation finance support to around $40 billion per year by 2025, with public adaptation finance flows to developing countries declining by 15 per cent to around $21 billion in 2021.
Published last month, the Adaptation Gap Report 2023revealed that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries are 10-18 times as big as international public finance flows – more than 50 per cent higher than the previously estimated.
As a result of the growing adaptation finance needs and faltering flows, the current adaptation finance gap is now estimated to be US$194-366 billion per year. At the same time, adaptation planning and implementation appear to be plateauing. This failure to adapt has massive implications for losses and damages, particularly for the most vulnerable.
“In 2023, climate change yet again became more disruptive and deadly: temperature records toppled, while storms, floods, heatwaves and wildfires caused devastation,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “These intensifying impacts tell us that the world must urgently cut greenhouse gas emissions and increase adaptation efforts to protect vulnerable populations. Neither is happening.”
Faith Pavilion highlights importance of religious groups to climate action
COP28/Christopher Pike
Faith-based organizations and religious leaders are an important presence at COPs demonstrating that religious and spiritual communities are essential to the fight against climate change.
UNEP – through the Faith for Earth Coalition – is working with religious groups from around the world to further climate action and the Faith Pavilion has partnered with 140 faith-based organizations.
More than 200 religious participants took part in a pre-COP gathering in Abu Dhabi last month, and ended with with 28 faith leaders signing a statement in support of urgent action. The Interfaith Statement on Climate Action Towards COP28 was backed by leaders representing Anglicans, Bahá’is, Bohras, Buddhists, Catholics, Coptic Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Evangelicals, Hindus, Jains, Jewish peoples, Mahikaris, Mandaeans, Protestants, Shia Muslims, Sikhs, and Sunni Muslims.
And with with 84 per cent of the world’s population having a faith, such declarations can be very influential and show the depth and reach of faith-based groups in driving climate action.
Today is Finance Day at COP28, with the focus on the role finance can play in promoting sustainable land use, enhancing ecosystem resilience, and generating public and private investments for climate action.
UNEP Pavilion: Tackling the True Cost of Finance Adaptation
This panel session will unveil and discuss updated financial data and analysis from the 2023 Adaptation Gap Report, reflecting actual adaptation costs aligned with developing countries' NDCs and NAPs. The session will also explore how financial institutions can expand climate-resilient finance and embed assessments of physical climate risks across the sector.
This event will explore innovative financial solutions to address pressing global challenges related to sustainable land use and adaptation and explore how these initiatives are instrumental in promoting sustainable land use, enhancing ecosystem resilience, and driving public and private investment for climate action.
UNEP event: Accelerating NDC implementation and addressing global stocktake outcomes through TNAs
This event will discuss the linkages between Nationally determined contributions (NDCs), Technology Needs Assessments (TNAs) and the Global Stocktake by explaining how TNAs were integrated into the NDCs and their implementation process to enhance access to climate technologies for developing countries.
Time: 13.15-14.45pm
UNEP Pavilion: Catalysing NDC investments: ambition to Action
This event will to discuss innovative institutional arrangements and alliances for climate decision-making and investments. It brings together government officials and experts from Colombia, Vietnam and Morocco to share experiences on transformative institutional setups, attracting investment, and forging alliances for climate investments.
Greening public investments can accelerate SDGs and Paris Agreement goals, fostering economic dividends, job creation, and resilience against climate risks. This event will explore efficient pathways for African and developing nations, organizations, financial institutions, and the private sector to accelerate sustainable infrastructure investments, design policies, attract financing and foster public-private partnerships for a climate-resilient world.
UNEP Pavilion: The financial system & the quest for net-zero - using the best available science to enable a smooth yet determined economic transition
This session will discuss the forms in which private and public financial institutions, as well as their regulators can accelerate and augment cooperation towards net zero. It will also go in-depth on the newest scenarios developed in conjunction with the Network for Greening the Financial System.
UNEP event: Enabling the shift towards a new finance paradigm
This event will discuss the importance of price-based insurance products to shield smallholder farmers from market fluctuations. Government ministries from African countries will share their insights on the critical role of public finance in supporting agriculture and adaptation, advocating for increased risk-taking and conducive environments to generate additional capital.
Time: 18.00-19.30pm
03 Dec
2023
18:52
Record numbers descend on COP28 this weekend
It was a very busy first weekend at COP28 with tens of thousands descending on Dubai's Expo City. Here is a selection of photos from the past two days.
WMO Report: 83 per cent of all new energy capacity renewable
Unsplash/Anna Jiminez Calaf
Renewables made up 83 per cent of all new energy capacity last year, and 40 per cent of all power generation globally is currently renewable, according to a new report launched at COP28 today by UN weather agency WMO and the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA.
WMO said that the increase is “key to achieving decarbonized energy systems by 2050, with an accompanying steep and decisive decline of fossil fuel consumption” and IRENA insisted that “to stay on the 1.5 degree Celsius climate pathway, global renewable capacity must triple by 2030."
UNEP Executive Director: "Transparency critical to decarbonisation"
UNEP/CG
Transparency is critical for decarbonisation – that was the message from UNEP Executive Secretary Inger Andersen today, as she spoke at a press briefing on Methane Accountability Mechanism at COP28 earlier today.
"We must deliver low-carbon development transformations that slash greenhouse gas emissions, ideally by 28 to 42 per cent by 2030 to stay on track for 2°C and 1.5°C respectively. Deep reductions in methane emissions are an important part of this transformation," she said.
"However, transparency is going to be critical because trust is low. Sure, companies are saying the right things. Yet the coal, oil and gas production planned for 2030 is more than double the levels consistent with 1.5°C. It would require serious mental gymnastics for oil and gas companies to convince themselves they are doing all they can for the climate," Andersen added.
Tackling plastic pollution key to meeting climate goals
UNEP/Duncan Moore
UNEP Executive Inger Andersen today highlighted the role tackling plastic pollution can have on the climate crisis.
"A projected 20 per cent of carbon budget will be used by plastic production by 2040. We need a global deal to beat plastic pollution," she said at COP28.
Inside a research centre tracking the fallout from the climate crisis
Unsplash/Patty Zavala
With climate transparency on the agenda this COP28, how are the increasingly devastating effects of the climate crisis being monitored?
One UNEP centre monitoring these events is the Global Resource Information Database – Geneva (GRID-Geneva). Set up in 1985, it is home to 22 scientists who transform often complex data from multiple sources into accessible information to support the decision-making process related to environmental issues, with a focus on early warnings for environmental disasters.
