Category Archives: Paris climate agreement

Paris agreement is working, Australian minister tells Cop29, but much deeper cuts needed by 2035

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Chris Bowen also pledges A$50m to a fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown

The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has declared the landmark Paris agreement “is working” as it had brought the world back from “the brink of catastrophic 4C warming”, but argued countries must set the most ambitious emissions targets possible for 2035 to limit worsening global heating.

Giving Australia’s national statement on the conference floor at the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan, he also pledged A$50m (US$32.5m) towards a global loss and damage fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown. The funding was welcomed by climate campaigners, who said it was “the right thing to do”.

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Fears grow that Milei will withdraw Argentina from Paris climate accord

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Far-right president may announce country’s departure from agreement after meeting Donald Trump

There is growing concern that Argentina’s far-right president, Javier Milei, is set to announce his country’s departure from the Paris climate accord.

Earlier this week, negotiators from Milei’s government were ordered to leave the Cop29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, after just three days. Now, the Guardian understands that Milei is considering announcing a formal withdrawal from the agreement, and that a decision could be made after a formal meeting with Donald Trump.

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US climate envoy says fight against climate crisis does not end under Trump

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Even if president-elect rolls back climate progress, John Podesta reaffirms commitment to a clean planet at Cop29

The US climate envoy John Podesta said the fight “for a cleaner, safer” planet will not stop under a re-elected Donald Trump even if some progress is reversed, speaking at the Cop29 UN climate talks on Monday as they opened in Baku, Azerbaijan.

“Although under Donald Trump’s leadership the US federal government placed climate-related actions on the back burner, efforts to prevent climate change remain a commitment in the US and will confidently continue,” said Podesta, who is leading the Biden administration’s delegation at the annual talks.

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‘Inexcusable’: should climate hypocrites get the petrostates label?

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Suggestions definition of petrostate is too narrow as many rich countries that could phase out fossil fuels double down

“Drill, baby, drill!” Donald Trump’s ominous avowal to pump up the oil and gas production of the US has horrified many people around the world about the intentions of the Republican candidate, who has also declared he wants to be “dictator for a day”. Rather than the prospective leader of the free world, the election frontrunner sounds more like the tyrant of a petrostate.

That should not be entirely surprising given the country’s recent record: it has ramped up fossil fuel production to become the world’s biggest producer. As a Guardian investigation reveals, the total number of projected licences by the US for 2024 could lead to an estimated 397m tonnes of planet-heating emissions.

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NSW government accused by critics of using ‘fatally compromised’ emissions report

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Climate campaigners and scientists disturbed over claims about global warming found in document obtained through Gipa laws

The New South Wales government is facing criticism over a review of how to cut emissions from coalmines that claims the goal of limiting global heating to well below 2C will not be met – a position at odds with the state’s laws and policies.

Climate campaigners and scientists said the claim in the report, prepared for the planning department, is inconsistent with state legislation that commits to pursuing efforts to limit temperature increases to 1.5C.

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How a Dutton misstep on climate saw him go quiet for three days then come out swinging

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Exclusive: Text messages asking ‘did we miss a party room meeting?’ pinged between Coalition MPs, caught out by new ‘position’ on 2030 emissions target

Peter Dutton’s refusal to commit the Coalition to a 2030 emissions reduction target was policy on the run to fix a mistake, when ambiguous comments in a newspaper interview were reported as a shift.

Guardian Australia understands Dutton never intended to declare a new position on the government’s 2030 emissions reduction target, but misspoke during an interview with the Australian newspaper just over two weeks ago. He decided to go quiet for three days and then come out swinging, rather than reveal it was inadvertent.

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Climate activists across Europe block access to North Sea oil infrastructure

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Blockades at facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, with protests in Scotland and action expected in Denmark

Climate activists in four countries are blocking access to North Sea oil infrastructure as part of a coordinated pan-European civil disobedience protest.

Blockades have been taking place at oil and gas terminals, refineries and ports in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, in protest at the continued exploitation of North Sea fossil fuel deposits.

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Peter Dutton rejects Nationals push to overturn commitment to net zero

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Liberal leader says Coalition ‘committed’ to policy after Barnaby Joyce labelled its cost ‘utterly untenable’

Peter Dutton has rejected a push within the Nationals to overturn the commitment to net zero by 2050, warning the Coalition “won’t be departing” from the policy after Barnaby Joyce labelled the cost “utterly untenable”.

The Liberal leader told Radio National on Friday he was not concerned by Joyce’s intervention because there is “strong support for net zero” within the Coalition for the policy he had “recommitted to”.

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Paris finance reforms could untie poor countries’ hands in climate crisis

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Changes to the World Bank could unlock developing states access to loans and to the means of staving off disaster

The Netherlands has almost the same amount of solar generating capacity as the whole continent of Africa. That must be, in part, because the interest on a loan to set up a windfarm in Africa is about 17% more than one to do the same in Europe.

Many poor countries enjoy vast natural resources of wind and sun yet struggle to access renewable energy because of the crippling cost of capital imposed on them. Private sector companies perceive far greater risk in poor countries, penalising most heavily the countries in greatest need of investment.

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‘Absolute scandal’: UAE state oil firm able to read Cop28 climate summit emails

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Exclusive: UN conference president Sultan Al Jaber is also head of oil firm, which was consulted on how to respond to a media inquiry

The United Arab Emirates’ state oil company has been able to read emails to and from the Cop28 climate summit office and was consulted on how to respond to a media inquiry, the Guardian can reveal.

The UAE is hosting the UN climate summit in November and the president of Cop28 is Sultan Al Jaber, who is also chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). The revelations have been called “explosive” and a “scandal” by lawmakers.

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University investment funds urge ‘bold action’ to stop new fossil fuel projects

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Asset managers told they have key role to play on climate crisis in open letter before Shell’s annual meeting

A coalition of university investment funds has called on institutional investors to rebel against the boards of fossil fuel companies and their backers.

As Shell prepares for its annual shareholder meeting this week, representatives from the Universities of Newcastle, Sussex, Bristol and from Trinity College, Cambridge, have written an open letter to the asset management industry urging “bold action” to stop new fossil fuel projects.

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Liverpool becomes first UK city to commit to Paris climate agreement

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Exclusive: Eurovision host will issue licences only for concerts and festivals that agree to help reduce emissions by 50%

The Eurovision host Liverpool has become the first city in the UK to commit to the Paris agreement for major live events.

The city will issue licences for only those concerts and festivals that agree to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to help meet climate goals, including using a proportion of renewable energy to power the festival and reducing the number of cars visitors take to events.

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Half of glaciers will be gone by 2100 even under Paris 1.5C accord, study finds

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If global heating continues at current rate of 2.7C, losses will be greater with 68% of glaciers disappearing

Half the planet’s glaciers will have melted by 2100 even if humanity sticks to goals set out in the Paris climate agreement, according to research that finds the scale and impacts of glacial loss are greater than previously thought. At least half of that loss will happen in the next 30 years.

Researchers found 49% of glaciers would disappear under the most optimistic scenario of 1.5C of warming. However, if global heating continued under the current scenario of 2.7C of warming, losses would be more significant, with 68% of glaciers disappearing, according to the paper, published in Science. There would be almost no glaciers left in central Europe, western Canada and the US by the end of the next century if this happened.

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France becomes latest country to leave controversial energy charter treaty

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Quitting the ECT, which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits, was ‘coherent’ with Paris climate deal, Macron said

France has become the latest country to pull out of the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT), which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits.

Speaking after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “France has decided to withdraw from the energy charter treaty.” Quitting the ECT was “coherent” with the Paris climate deal, he added.

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Labor backing fossil fuel projects could scupper Greens support for 43% target

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Adam Bandt vows to push Albanese government ‘further and faster’ on emissions reduction

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says the party’s support for the government’s climate legislation may hinge on whether it continues to back new fossil fuel projects, vowing to push Labor to go “further and faster” on its emission reduction goals.

Hitting back at the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, after he suggested the government would not negotiate with the Greens to pass the legislation through the Senate, Bandt accused Labor of being the “only obstacle” to greater climate ambition in the new parliament.

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Energy treaty update fails to address climate crisis, activists say

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1994 agreement allows investors to sue governments for changes in energy policy that harm their profits

Climate activists have said a deal to update a “dangerous” energy treaty has failed to make the agreement compatible with the urgency of the climate crisis.

After more than four years of talks, 52 countries and the EU on Friday struck a deal to “modernise” the energy charter treaty, a 1994 agreement that allows investors to sue governments for changes in energy policy that harm their profits.

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Scott Morrison softened his defiant language on climate change action amid UK trade deal

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Documents indicate PM’s changes to foreign policy speech coincided with environment agreement in trade talks

Scott Morrison softened his defiant language on climate action in a foreign policy speech in June 2021, shortly after officials appeared to have finalised the environment-related parts of the Australia-UK free trade agreement, documents obtained under freedom of information laws reveal.

The timing is outlined in government documents obtained by Guardian Australia, alongside draft talking points denying climate policy was causing any delays to the trade negotiations.

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Protect Indigenous people’s rights or Paris climate goals will fail, says report

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Rainforests looked after by communities absorb twice as much carbon as other lands, analysis shows

Paris climate agreement goals will fail unless the rights of Indigenous people who protect rainforests are honoured, according to a new report.

Forest lands stewarded by Indigenous people and communities in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru sequester about twice as much carbon as other lands, according to the analysis.

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Cop26: Women must be heard on climate, say rights groups

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Those worst hit by global heating are left out of talks, says feminist coalition calling for systemic change

Women must be enabled to play a greater role at the Cop26 summit, as the needs of women and girls are being overlooked amid the global climate crisis, a coalition of feminist groups has said.

The Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice has laid out a call for action at the UN general assembly, including demands that world leaders meeting at Cop26, in Glasgow this November, must end fossil fuel expansion and move to 100% renewable energy.

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Most plans for new coal plants scrapped since Paris agreement

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Report by climate groups found more than three-quarters of projects were discarded after the deal was signed

The global pipeline of new coal power plants has collapsed since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, according to research that suggests the end of the polluting energy source is in sight.

The report found that more than three-quarters of the world’s planned plants have been scrapped since the climate deal was signed, meaning 44 countries no longer have any future coal power plans.

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