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UN climate report 'starkest warning yet' warns COP26 chief

LONDON, August 8: An upcoming UN report on climate change gives the international community its clearest ever warning about the dangers of accelerating climate change, Britain's COP26 President Alok Sharma said on Sunday. The chief for the November summit due to be held in the Scottish city of Glasgow told the Observer newspaper a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) due on Monday would show the world was on the brink of potential disaster. "This is going to be the starkest warning yet that human behaviour is alarmingly accelerating global warming and this is why COP26 has to be the moment we get this right," Sharma said. "We can't afford to wait two years, five years, 10 years -- this is the moment," he added, explaining that unless nations "act now, we will unfortunately be out of time". Sharma was forced to defend British fossil-fuel projects that include plans to license new oil and gas fields in the North Sea, which have proven embarrassing for Britain as it seeks to galvanise international action on climate change. The Paris-based watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IAE), has warned all fossil fuel development and exploration must cease this year if the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius is to be met. "Future (fossil fuel) licences are going to have to adhere to the fact we have committed to go to net zero by 2050 in legislation," the COP26 president said. "There will be a climate check on any licences," he added. A series of catastrophic emergencies in recent weeks including floods in Europe and China, record temperatures in North America and forest fires around the world have focused minds on global warming, Sharma said. "We're seeing the impacts across the world," Sharma said. "Every day you will see a new high being recorded in one way or another across the world," he added. Sharma said he was "throwing the kitchen sink" at efforts to reach a deal on the contentious target to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, holding a large number of virtual and in-person meetings as he looks to bring 197 countries together in consensus on the aim. 

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COP27: Can India really adopt a climate-friendly lifestyle?

Nov 9: Country signatories to the UN climate change convention have to submit a plan - called the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) - every five years. This details how they plan to reduce carbon emissions - to help slow global warming - and adapt to the impacts of climate change. India's updated NDC includes measures such as reducing the volume of carbon emissions per unit of GDP and cutting down use of fossil fuels to generate electricity. But at the top of the list is "LiFE - Lifestyle for Environment", a "healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation, including through a mass movement". "The vision of LIFE is to live a lifestyle that is in tune with our planet and does not harm it," a government statement says. It was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021. But experts say there is a contradiction between this aim and the increase in consumption that both drives and is spurred by economic growth. "Modernity basically means increased consumption. The concept of LiFE is not in conformity with that trend of consumerism," says Dr Nilanjan Ghosh, president of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics. Growing consumption, rising economy India is now among the world's top economies, with estimated growth of around 7% this year - this is at a time when other major economic powers are facing a recession. While inflation and global headwinds are causes for concern, consumer demand is strong. Private consumption forms about 55% of India's GDP, and experts expect this to continue to drive growth. This, Dr Ghosh says, is why there is a "dichotomy" in the government's emphasis on LiFE. "Will there be action to adopt a different lifestyle or will it be business as usual is the question," he says. Eugenie Dugoua, an assistant professor in environmental economics at the London School of Economics, says solutions to the climate crisis will need to put the focus on ordinary people like the LiFE campaign has done. "But we should not be overly optimistic about how much emission reduction will come out of it," she says, adding that research shows that while nudges like these can have a positive effect in the short term, this isn't sustainable in the long term. Behavioural change is "necessary and important", but it can't be the main tool for policymakers, she adds. "Instead, governments need to focus on structural change in the energy, transportation and agricultural systems." Largest increase in energy demand The biggest source of carbon emissions in India is the energy sector. In its October report, the International Energy Agency said that India is likely to see the world's biggest jump in energy demand this decade, although its energy use on a per capita basis is well under half of the global average. Some experts believe lifestyle changes are possible even with a continued rise in consumption. "It is not about asking people to not buy air conditioners, but we can make the habit of keeping our room temperature at 25C, which will lead to a cut in our energy consumption," says Madhav Pai, acting CEO of World Resources Institute India, an international non-government organisation that is working with the Indian government to disseminate the message of the LiFE programme. Mr Pai says the campaign envisages helping people to gradually change their lifestyle. "It is a nudge to 1.5 billion Indians for behavioural change towards a circular economy - to make them sign up for it." A larger message The Indian government has also positioned LiFE as a message to western countries. "The consumption pattern of the world is mindless and pays scant regard to the environment," wrote India's environment and climate change minister Bhupender Yadav in the Indian Express newspaper in October, days after Mr Modi unveiled an action plan for Mission LiFE. "Mission LiFE tries to remind the world that the mindset of 'use and throw' must immediately be replaced by 'reduce, reuse and recycle', he added. But India is also facing its own share of serious environmental problems. A report by Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Science and Environment showed that India generated 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2019-20, of which only 12% was recycled and 20% burned. "The remaining 68% remains unaccounted for, which means it is in the environment (land and water) or in dumpsites," the report said. It also found that three out of every four river monitoring stations in India posted alarming levels of heavy toxic metals. Air pollution is a major concern, especially in northern Indian states. A World Bank report released earlier this year ranks India among the countries that have the worst environmental health - the government has contested the report's methodology and offered its own environmental and sustainability parameters. Successive governments have also been accused of ignoring environmental laws while pushing for infrastructure and development projects, especially in the fragile Himalayan region. Experts say all this needs to be addressed by a government that wants people to change their lifestyles to fight against climate change. "Change has to be wholesome," Dr Ghosh says. "The two [government's actions and people's behaviour] will need to be in consonance." (with inputs from BBC)

Ratopati English आश्विन २०७९

COP27: 'Watershed moment' as UN climate summit begins

Nov 6: More than 120 world are leaders heading to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. About 30,000 people will attend the two-week summit, known as COP27, though some activists are staying away over concerns about Egypt's rights record. The past year has seen extreme weather regularly linked to climate change. The summit will open with welcome speeches from the UN's new climate change chief, Simon Stiell, and Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister and COP27 President-Designate Sameh Shoukry. Mr Stiell was previously a senior government official in Grenada, the low-lying Caribbean nation where climate change is an existential threat. Mr Shoukry said last week that the conference would be "the world's watershed moment on climate action". There will also be key addresses from diplomats and scientists including Hoesung Lee, chair of the IPCC, the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. COP27 will really begin in earnest on Monday with a World Leaders' Summit, when heads of state and government leaders deliver five-minute addresses outlining what they want from the meeting. At the last climate summit, in Glasgow last year, there were powerful speeches from people like Barbadian PM Mia Mottley, who told an enrapt audience that temperature rises of "two degrees is a death sentence" for island nations. World leaders will speak on Monday and Tuesday, and once they depart, conference delegates get down to the business of negotiation. At last year's COP26 summit in Glasgow a number of pledges were agreed: -to "phase down" the use of coal - one of the most polluting fossil fuels -to stop deforestation by 2030 -to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 -to submit new climate action plans to the UN Mr Stiell has called for this summit to be focused on turning last year's pledges into action and "get moving on the massive transformation that must take place". All of that will come down to money. Developing nations - which are at the forefront of climate change - are demanding that previous commitments to finance are upheld. But they also want there to be discussion on "loss and damage" finance - money to help them cope with the losses they are already facing from climate change rather than just to prepare for future impacts. This would be the first time the issue has been put on the formal agenda of a COP summit. The urgency of the climate change issue has been evident during the past 12 months with devastating flooding in Pakistan as well as in places including Nigeria and extreme heat in India and Europe in the summer. Ahead of the conference a series of major climate reports were released outlining progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The UNEP emissions gap report concluded that there was "no credible pathway" to keep the rise in global temperatures below the key threshold of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. This 1.5 degree limit was agreed back in 2015 in the Paris Agreement at the 21st UN Climate Summit, COP21. All subsequent climate summits have focused on developing actions to achieve this goal. As well as all the formal negotiations there will be hundreds of events over the two weeks with exhibitions, workshops and cultural performances from youth, business groups, indigenous societies, academia, artists and fashion communities from all over the world. Protests - which are normally a vibrant feature of COP summits - are likely to be subdued. Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, in power since 2014, has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent. Rights groups estimate the country has had as many as 60,000 political prisoners, many detained without trial. Mr Shoukry has said that space would be set aside in Sharm el-Sheikh for protests to take place. However, Egyptian activists have told the BBC that many local groups had been unable to register for the conference.

Ratopati English आश्विन २०७९

Agroecology, Nepal’s answer to climate change

Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change but can also be one of the most significant solutions. All photos: ZACHARY BARTON s a farmer and educator living in Nepal, I was not part of the dialogue at the UN climate summit (COP26) that just concluded in Glasgow. None of us here were. And as […]

Nepali Times कार्तिक २०७८

Egypt to host COP27 international climate conference next year

GLASGOW, November 12: The UN climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow has announced that Egypt was chosen to host the upcoming session of the conference in 2022 (COP27). At the summit on Thursday, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change congratulated Egypt, highlighting that the UAE will cooperate with partners everywhere to identify lessons learned in order to achieve effective results, Gulf News reported. He added that the UAE will work to ensure that all segments of society are part of this great effort to allow humanity to change course to a better future, extending an open invitation to the world to advance real climate action through inclusion, transparency and responsibility. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the 2023 edition of the conference, Gulf News reported. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai announced that the UAE had won its bid to host the COP28 conference in 2023. The UN Climate Change Conference is the largest global conference of heads of states and governments on climate and environmental issues. "We congratulate the UAE for winning bid to host COP28 conference in 2023. It is the most international climate conference. Our country deserves this win. We will put all our potential and capabilities to make this conference a success," Sheikh Mohammed tweeted. "The UAE will remain committed to global climate efforts and work to protect our Earth planet," he added.

Ratopati English आश्विन २०७८

Need for climate change related adaptation measures stressed

While there continues to be disagreements about how to address climate induced loss and damage in the negotiations at the UN Climate summit COP26, people in many developing countries struggle daily with climate related disasters.

The Himalayan Times आश्विन २०७८

Greta Thunberg calls for climate protest in Glasgow - Khabarhub

GLASGOW: Swedish eco-activist Greta Thunberg called for a climate protest in Glasgow, where the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP26) is taking place.

Khabarhub English आश्विन २०७८

What is COP? Explained

The UN climate summit, known as COP26 this year, brings officials from almost 200 countries to Glasgow

Nepalnews आश्विन २०७८

World Insights: 3 key issues to watch out for COP26

GLASGOW, Britain, Oct. 31: As the United Nations (UN) climate conference, billed as a "turning point for humanity," begins in Glasgow on Sunday, several issues are considered by environment experts to be critical: global carbon market, climate finance, and actual implementation. During the delayed 26th United Nations Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP26), which is the first conference after the five-year review cycle under the Paris Agreement inked in 2015, global leaders are expected to review overall progress and plan future actions. The conference, lasting two weeks, also comes at a time when the world has gone through a rapid-fire onslaught of climate-change-related weather disasters, from severe flooding to wild fires. To make the climate gathering meaningful, progress has to be made on such fundamental issues as finalizing the rules for the Paris Agreement's market mechanism, wealthy countries' unmet finance pledge to the developing countries, and the ability of the world's governments to transform words into action. "PARIS RULEBOOK" In 2015, COP21 in Paris passed a climate deal uniting almost all countries across the world in agreeing to cap global warming at well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible. While Paris climate agreement was hailed as "historic, durable and ambitious," negotiators have failed to agree on Article 6 of the deal, which is about some technical details of the implementation of the deal in building the market mechanisms, especially the global carbon market. COP25 in Madrid failed again to reach an agreement on Article 6. Without working out final details of what has been referred to "The Paris Rulebook," the world's governments lack the necessary market-based approaches to attain the grand goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. "Getting these rules right is critical for fighting climate change: depending on how they are structured, Article 6 could help the world avoid dangerous levels of global warming or let countries off the hook from making meaningful emissions cuts," said the World Resources Institute, a global research non-profit organization. "I see a COP that is being pushed by developing nations. They want solutions, they want the rule book to be complete to start implementing the Paris Agreement," Gibson Mwangi, an expert on climate change from Kenya, told Xinhua. Discussions around Article 6 have long been dominated by issues like how to avoid double counting of emission reductions. All eyes are on COP26 to see if it will solve them and produce the much-needed Paris Rulebook. CLIMATE FINANCE Developed countries built their wealth by burning fossil fuels and have contributed most to the climate crisis, from which lower-income countries now disproportionately suffer even though they have done little to cause climate change. To pay their climate debt, wealthy countries in 2009 pledged 100 billion U.S. dollars a year to help lower-income nations by 2020. However, they still have not made good on the pledge and recent reports indicate that this goal could slip to 2023. The Tursday-published Foreign Affairs magazine said in an article that the wealthy countries' commitment reflected in part a recognition of "the deep injustice at the heart of the climate crisis." A UN-appointed independent expert group on climate finance said in a report published in December that this commitment is "the bedrock of the entire international climate finance system." "We hope the western countries would meet their financial pledges, and we all hope that this conference will succeed because it will bring good to the whole world," Magdy Tawfik Khalil, professor of environment at Ain Shams University in Cairo, told Xinhua. He explained that people in North Africa are concerned about future ice melt due to global warming that would raise the level of the Mediterranean Sea or any sea, which in turn would submerge coastal areas and many cities. ACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION As COP26 gets underway, experts have underscored the importance of translating high ambitions into concrete actions. "The climate summit in Glasgow is the last attempt to avoid a catastrophe and reach an agreement on climate change," Ivana Antunovic Jovic, editor at Croatian Television, told Xinhua. "There have already been many similar gatherings, but there are no results, and the consequences of climate change are becoming more visible," she said. "In recent years, we have witnessed the United States ignoring the (climate) problem during the former administration. I hope that the new administration will understand the problem and try to solve it," Croatian climatologist Tomislav Peric told Xinhua. In his phone conversation on Friday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is unwaveringly committed to accelerating green and low-carbon development, and has always walked its talk. China submitted two documents on its nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and long-term emission control strategies to the UN this week. It aims to strive to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Last month at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, China also pledged that the country will not build new coal-fired power stations overseas. It is never easy for a developing country with a population of more than 1.4 billion that has not completed industrialization or urbanization to make such promises. China will complete the world's most dramatic reduction in carbon emission intensity, and realize carbon neutrality from carbon peaking in the shortest time in global history. But the actual results have showed that China is serious about pursuing green development, and is honoring its pledges with an aim to contribute to humanity's better shared future. For example, the country's carbon intensity in 2020 was 48.4 percent less than that in 2005, exceeding its commitment of achieving a reduction of 40-45 percent in carbon intensity during the same period. "The pandemic has really raised the urgency. We recognize now more than ever that human well-being and planetary well-being are intrinsically linked with each other," Akanksha Khatri, head of Nature and Biodiversity at World Economic Forum, told Xinhua. "The real negotiations, of course, take place behind closed doors. I hope everyone at the table can get over their tensions, in the interest of the whole Earth," said Leo Meyer, former project leader at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and current director of Dutch-based ClimateContact Consultancy.

Ratopati English आश्विन २०७८

COP26: Uniting the world to tackle climate change - Khabarhub

NEW DELHI: The UK will be hosting the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow from October 31 - November 12, 2021, to accelerate

Khabarhub English आश्विन २०७८

Nepal needs to get its climate act together

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden address the 76th UN General Assembly on 21 September. Photos: XINHUA he United Nations General Assembly is convening just six weeks ahead of the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, and follows a stark warning from the United Nations last week that the voluntary Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) […]

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