Been thinking of my late mentor & collaborator Dr. Saleemul Huq & wondering what he would have had to say about #COP28. Or how his presence there might have informed, inspired, interrupted different discussions, as it had in all prior COPs. Pretty sure he would have had scathing words at the end.
Listen to my interview with the #BBC Newshour on #COP28 outcomes, failures, gains & why I don’t think it's neither all hopium nor irrelevant. We cover climate justice, fossil fuel transitions, global overshoots, climate finance & impacts on frontline communities & ecosystems.
There is still much emphasis on a #JustTransition, #Adaptation and #LossAndDamage financing at #COP28. Important things. But they amount to NOTHING in a 2°C, 3°C, 4°C, 5°C world of conflict, violence and civilisational collapse. So focus on phasing-out fossil fuels! #COP28UAE
What is Australia's fair share when it comes to financing the necessary climate transition?
In a headline today, the Australian government has pledged AU$150m in #ClimateFinance for Pacific nations.
Good news, right? Isn't this PM Anthony #Albanese "ending the #ClimateWars" by actually doing what #Australia ought to have done years ago? Let's consider that assumption.
Back in 2009 at the much hyped, but ultimately deeply disappointing international climate negotiations in #Copenhagen known as #COP15, one step forward that was agreed, even as more comprehensive or ambitious agreements slipped away was that the wealthy nations of the world (including #Australia) collectively pledged to be providing US$100b each year to help the poorer nations transition away from #FossilFuels (#ClimateMitigation) and develop in ways that help societies adapt to the warming that cannot be mitigated (#ClimateAdaptation).
1/8
And to make up for the last four years of contributing nothing (and even putting aside the many years of failure under the #Coalition between 2013–19 when finances ought to have been ramping up to meet the 2020 goal), #Australia has a backlog of about $AU20b to be seen as anything like a 'fair' contributor to the #GreenClimateFund, remembering that the US$100b/yr represents only a fraction of what the developing world needs to ensure a just and swift transition to a climate-stable future.
And that's before we consider the #LossAndDamage fund announced a few days ago (another long-term sticking point in #UNFCCC negotiations and a separate piece of international #ClimateFinance), to which Australia has not yet made any kind of pledge.
Until Australia takes credible steps towards those kinds of figures, Australian government promises ought to be treated by all our neighbours as so much smoke.
7/8 #AusPol#ClimatePol
#FossiloftheDay awards December 3 at #COP28 just finished: 3 winners tonight:
🥇New Zealand for overturning a world-leading ban on oil and gas exploration
🥈 Japan with two initiatives nothing more than plans to extend the life of coal and gas.
🥉 USA for being a Burden-Shirker on low 💰 to #LossAndDamage Fund.
"For years, climate-vulnerable countries have asked wealthier nations – who have largely amassed their riches through unbridled CO2 emissions – to take their fair share of responsibility for the #climate crisis and pay up for the damage caused.
The fund launched on the first day of the UN climate negotiations this year is meant to address that imbalance."
"Wealthy countries most responsible for the climate emergency have so far pledged a combined total of just over $700m (£556m) to the #LossAndDamage fund – the equivalent of less than 0.2% of the irreversible economic and non-economic losses developing countries are facing from global heating every year."
🇦🇪 $100 million
🇩🇪 $100 million
🇬🇧 $60 million
🇺🇸 $17.5 million
Cost of one Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 fighter jet package: $108 million*
So that's the equivalent of 2.6 F-16 fighter jet sales. #COP28UAE
Costs vary between F-16 variants, jet engine, avionics, training and logistics package on offer: approximately from $63 million to $196 million per aircraft. Excluding missiles, bombs and other expendables.
I’ve been down lately. A bad cold. The darkness of winter setting in. The horrors of the world. A thousand trolls in my mentions. excusing horrific violence.
Please. Some good news. Of any kind, at any scale. Just share some good shit. Tell me about your rays of sunshine.
My family adopted a calico kitten recently and she’s the best thing since sliced bread, sweet and adorable and playful and affectionate.
@HeavenlyPossum i joined a webinar today organised by the Climate Social Science Network in memory and honour of Saleemu Huq, who recently passed away. Everyone shared their memories of this truly great and kind man, and the discussion (about climate obstruction and #LossAndDamage, for which H was a key advocate) was so good that i felt great fondness for Saleem and everyone there. So many good, intelligent people on our side.
It's "almost an insult," said Brandon Wu, director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA. If the US responsibility for about a quarter of historical greenhouse gas #emissions were equated with a fair share of #LossAndDamage finance "that would mean the #US should be providing $70 billion per year" by 2030, he added.
"As the world prepares for #COP28, the onus is on global leaders, corporations and individuals to rise to the occasion and champion the cause of #ClimateJustice. Wealthy nations must start putting real funding towards #LossAndDamage, while ramping up their mitigation and adaptation efforts, and reining in the influence of the #FossilFuel industry in #climate policies."
My oped in @TheGuardian on #climatechange co-written with the late great Dr. Saleemul Huq OBE who passed away on Saturday. We discuss the importance of #LossAndDamage at #COP28 conference to advance global #ClimateJustice.
@petergleick It is utterly devastating that Saleem has passed away, as he was my lifelong mentor, collaborator and ally since 1997. But shortly before his death, we submitted our co-authored oped to @guardian that I took the lead on drafting. It was published earlier today.
Chances of a #LossAndDamage fund before #COP28 were lost and damaged by rich countries.
"After almost a year of fraught negotiations between countries over how to get the fund up and running, the fourth round of talks in the Egyptian city of Aswan ended in discord over who should fund it, where it should be based and who would be eligible for support."
#ClimateDiary There is no question that #COP28 will be the most important yet. The #GlobalStocktake will be the “biggest accountability moment in history”, and on its basis leaders will need to make crucial key decisions about fiscal and policy commitments. With less than two months to go, we need to all be as well informed as possible and put pressure on leaders as much as we can. I thought I would start a 🧵that I will keep going in the run up 1/n
21/n Another key concern at #COP28 is #LossAndDamage. This was the one area where there was real progress at #COP27 last year in Egypt: for the first time, countries agreed to set up a fund for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters. Loss and Damage is simultaneously essential and deeply inadequate as a #ClimateJustice measure: no amount of money is going to compensate for the loss of entire Islands or cities! But it must be provided
22/n A couple of weeks ago, at a pre-COP28 meeting in #AbuDhabi, there was further real progress, when rich and poor country governments managed to agree on a blue-print of the #LossAndDamage fund. This will be announced officially in #Dubai at #COP28 next week, but it’s really good this is already in place - now we “just” need actual money to start materialising.
"National courts could be ordered to cut #carbon dioxide #emissions if the complaint is upheld."
Instead of taking care of their children, countries do this:
"#Portugal's legal team has told the court that it is dedicated to fighting #ClimateChange, and also that the applicants have not provided direct evidence of the direct impact on them.
The #UK argued that the plaintiffs should have gone through national courts first."
"The paper substantiates a submission to the International Court of Justice (#ICJ) on the legal responsibility of countries to act on #ClimateChange.
Evidence gathered in Vanuatu supports a clarification on #LossAndDamage finance which could activate powerful legal tools to hold polluters accountable."