Credit: The Climate Reality Project, Unsplash
An open letter to the UN, signed by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, has determined that ‘COP is no longer fit for purpose’. It stated that the ‘current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity’. It further calls for increased accountability to offset the solely ‘marginal’ process of decarbonisation, and stricter eligibility criteria for host countries.
Researchers have theorised that climate change and a scarcity of resources have helped contribute to the horrific wars currently raging in countries around the world, whether in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, amongst others.
Scarce water supplies are expected to be a significant driving factor behind conflicts in the future, although in the event of a switch to renewables wars arising from conflicts over energy resources may decrease.
COP29’s lead negotiator, Azerbaijani Yalchin Rafiyev, described the agreement on climate finance made earlier in the week as ‘a workable basis for discussion for the first time in the three years of the technical process’, but there is an air of scepticism surrounding the final ratification of the agreement.
The Philippines has been repeatedly hit by five typhoons over the last three weeks, with a sixth expected to hit over the weekend. Over 150 people have been killed, and nine million displaced. The President, Ferdinand Marcos, was captured saying he was ‘feeling a little helpless here’ after government relief could not make it to affected areas. Extreme weather events are projected to steadily increase globally, and the fortunes of the Philippines will not abate with the sixth storm predicted to arrive in the coming days.
Research from Beyond Fossil Fuels and Greenpeace have found that European countries are planning and building 80 gigawatts of gas-fired power capacity. 40 gigawatts of this increase will come from Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The UK has promised to reach net-zero and decarbonise its power supply by 2030, whereas Italy and Germany have set the date to 2035. A spokesperson for Beyond Fossil Fuels stated that the plans were ‘dangerously out of step’ with each countries’ climate targets. If new power plants are constructed, some fear that there may be less incentive for governments to build and develop renewable sources of energy.
It has been revealed that over 1,700 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists are present at COP29. Together, they outnumber the delegations of every country at the conference excepting Azerbaijan, Brazil, and Turkey. In comparison, the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations have 1,033 delegates at the negotiations combined. There have been calls to overhaul the entire process of summits in the future to exclude fossil fuel lobbyists and representatives. It has been revealed that at least 132 oil and gas staffers present at the summit were invited as ‘guests’ of the Azerbaijani government, and have been given host country badges.
China today powered up the world’s largest open-sea offshore solar farm, the largest of its kind. The project is 5 miles off the coast of Dongying City in eastern China, and spans 3,023 acres generating 1.78 billion kilowatt-hours per year. That's the equivalent carbon dioxide reduction of 1.34 million tonnes each year.
The hosts Azerbaijan have been further criticised for the extortionate prices of food and drink at the summit. Described by the Guardian as a ‘price-gouging exploitation of delegates’, the most severe injustice of the prices is that some smaller countries cannot afford to bring larger delegations. Another issue has come to light, with vegan food containing cheese and vegetarian food containing both fish and chicken.
Delegates at COP29 have expressed concern that while under the leadership of Javier Milei, Argentina may withdraw from the Paris agreement. This worrying possibility has been furthered by Milei meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday – the first head of state Trump has met with since the election.
The UN environment program told attendees of the summit that over 1,200 huge leaks of methane have been reported to various companies and countries in the last 18 months, but only 15 responded and fixed the leaks. Methane is 82 times more effective than CO2 at trapping heat over a 20 year time period, and is responsible for one third of the global heating to date.
London based think tank Carbon Tracker published a report yesterday in which oil and gas companies were accused of worsening the climate crisis by having avoided setting targets for ‘methane emissions related to their business activities’.
That's all for this week, tune in again next week for more.
Authored by Edward Hugh-Smith and William Clare, Avon Energy Partners Ltd.
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