This weekly round-up brings you key climate news from the past seven days, including a report on the huge gap between the so-called “polluting elite” and the rest of the world and a UN study warning countries ahead of COP28 that the world is on track to warm 2.9C this century.
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1. Wealthy Nations May Have Met $100 Billion Climate Finance Pledge in 2022, OECD Says
Since 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been monitoring the progress towards a pledge made by wealthy countries at COP15 in 2009 to raise $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
According to previous assessments, developed nations missed the target and by 2021 still remained just over $10 billion short of the goal. Nevertheless, preliminary and yet-to-verify data published last week by the OECD indicate that the goal “looks likely to have already been met as of 2022.”
Despite reaching the symbolic milestone, the figure appears insignificant when compared to the trillions of dollars actually needed to help developing nations decarbonise and adapt to a rapidly changing world.
Read more here.
2. Global Carbon Emissions: Richest 1% Match Emissions of 5 Billion People
The emissions of the wealthiest 1% in 2019 were equivalent to those of the poorest 66% of humanity, approximately 5 billion people, and were sufficient to cause 1.3 million deaths due to heat-related illnesses, new research has found.
The new study, published Monday by Oxfam, a global organisation that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice, has shed light on the alarming carbon emissions of the super-rich, revealing their disproportionate contribution to global climate change and underscoring the urgent need to address the excessive carbon consumption of the affluent minority.
“Not taxing wealth allows the richest to rob from us, ruin our planet and renege on democracy,” said Oxfam International’s interim executive director, Amitabh Behar. “Taxing extreme wealth transforms our chances to tackle both inequality and the climate crisis. These are trillions of dollars at stake to invest in dynamic 21st-century green governments, but also to re-inject into our democracies.”
Read more here.
3. World Leaders at COP28 Must Strengthen Climate Mitigation Action to Narrow Emissions Gap As World Faces 3C of Warming This Century, UN Report Warns
The world is on track to warm 2.9C this century and only bolder climate action will save humanity from the worst consequences of global warming, a new UN report has warned ahead of next week’s UN climate summit, COP28.
According to the latest Emissions Gap Report, which tracks the gap between where global emissions are heading with current country commitments and where they ought to be to limit warming to 1.5C, current climate mitigation strategies and targets for 2030 put the world on course for a 2.9C global temperature rise this century, far from the 1.5C threshold agreed upon by world countries in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The study reinforces the findings of a recent report, which had already warned that, at current emissions levels, the global carbon budget – the net amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) we have left to emit before we exceed 1.5C of warming – will run out in six years.
Read more here.
4. World Will Need 1bn Hectares to Implement Land-Based Climate Mitigation Pledges, Study Finds
High-emitting developed nations continue to over-rely on “unrealistic amounts” of the world’s land to mitigate climate change and achieve net zero emissions, a new analysis has warned.
A group of scientists and analysts from the University of Melbourne and Climate Resource, who analysed new data on almost 40 updated country climate pledges and low emissions development strategies, found that the implementation of current land-based climate mitigation pledges will require about 910-1,060 million hectares (2.25-2.62 billion acres) – an area larger than the United States – with 75% of it coming from climate pledges from wealthy polluting nations, including the US, Canada, Australia, and Saudi Arabia.
“If the world is to stay below 1.5 degrees of warming, it is essential that [Nationally Determined Contributions] are transparent and credible, not relying on false solutions like biological carbon offsetting and bioenergy carbon capture and storage,” said Kate Dooley, lead author of the Land Gap Report.
Read more here.
5. COP28 Will Be the ‘Moment of Truth’ for Oil and Gas Sectors, IEA Says
Next week’s UN climate summit will be a “moment of truth” for the oil and gas industry, which currently supplies more than half of the global energy supply, according to a new report.
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest report on the implications and opportunities arising from the momentum building up ahead of COP28 says the time has come for fossil fuel companies to set out a clear pathway to net zero amid a rapidly intensifying climate crisis, largely fuelled by their activities and products.
The oil and gas industry is a critical component of the global energy mix, accounting for approximately 60% of the world’s energy consumption. Together, they employ nearly 12 million people worldwide and generate trillions of dollars in revenue each year. Nevertheless, despite being the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, they account for just 1% of total clean energy investments globally.
Read more here.
