Category Archives: Cop27

Lula says ‘Brazil is back’ as he vows to reverse Amazon deforestation – as it happened

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Brazil’s president elect beat Jair Bolsonaro, under whose watch deforestation had rocketed, in last month’s election

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A long-mooted deposit return scheme in the UK will not be in place for a further two years, the UK environment secretary said on Wednesday, writes Fiona Harvey, Guardian environment correspondent.

“It will be another couple of years at least,” Thérèse Coffey told journalists at Cop27. “Scotland has not started theirs yet. We are getting on with our environmental targets and a business plan and Elms. We are coming up to the fifth anniversary of the 25 year environment plan.”

Let’s talk to the secretary-general of the UN for the next op to be done in Brazil, in the Amazon. I think it is important that the people who defend the Amazon know the region and the concrete reality.

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‘Paris agreement’ for nature imperative at Cop15, architects of climate deal say

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Leaders say December biodiversity summit in Montreal is ‘unprecedented’ chance to turn tide on nature loss

The architects of the Paris agreement have urged world leaders to reach an ambitious sister deal for nature at the Cop15 biodiversity conference this December while warning that limiting global heating to 1.5C is impossible without protecting and restoring ecosystems.

On biodiversity day at the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt, Christiana Figueres, Laurence Tubiana, Laurent Fabius and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who helped design the Paris agreement, said that Cop15 would be an “unprecedented” opportunity to turn the tide on nature loss.

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Lula faces backlash after flying to Cop27 on millionaire’s private jet

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Brazil president-elect’s decision to fly on a jet owned by a health industry mogul criticised by both opponents and supporters

Brazil’s president-elect has faced a backlash at home after flying to the Cop27 environmental summit on a private jet owned by a millionaire businessman.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected on 30 October and has vowed to undo much of the environmental damage wrought by the outgoing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

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India’s energy conundrum: committed to renewables but still expanding coal

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Critics says India’s plans to increase coal production to 1bn tonnes a year are environmentally devastating and unnecessary

Three days before India’s environment minister boarded a flight to Egypt for this year’s UN climate summit, Cop27, the country’s finance minister was busy with a new announcement.

“India needs greater investment in coal production,” said Nirmala Sitharaman at the Delhi launch of India’s biggest ever coalmine auction, where 141 new sites for coalmines will be sold off to the highest bidder.

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The Egyptian human rights activists unable to attend Cop27

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Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh follows decade-long crackdown on civil society in Egypt

“Honestly, what I want is to be in Sharm el-Sheikh and just scream,” said Amr Magdi of Human Rights Watch. Like dozens of other prominent human rights defenders, researchers and environmentalists, Magdi has been unable to attend Cop27 as he is exiled from Egypt because of his work.

“I just want to tell everyone about the injustice happening in Egypt. I can’t do it personally and I’m trying to do it with my work. I’m even helping others who are able to travel there to do this,” he said.

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Australia news live: immediate evacuation orders as central west NSW faces dramatic floods; record early voting in Victoria

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The SES has said the Lachlan River is rising faster than originally forecast. Follow all today’s news

Some issues ‘we have raised will be solved overnight’: Chalmers

Albanese has said there are no preconditions ahead of the meeting with Xi but Karvelas is pressing Chalmers on what could be on the table. He’s staying pretty tight-lipped but here are some of his answers.

We’ve made it really clear for some time … that these trade sanctions are not in Australia’s interests, and we want to see them lifted.

I don’t think anybody pretends some of the issues China has raised, certainly some we have raised will be solved overnight, but again we give ourselves a much better chance where there is engagement and dialogue.

Australia’s made its views clear over a long period of time when it comes to the detention of these two people.

What’s Australia’s ambition here?

We seek a more stable relationship with China.

We will speak up for our national interest where necessary, but we believe engagement is important to give ourselves the chance to work through some of these issues if we’re talking to each other.

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Climate-focused reform of World Bank could be done in a year, says Al Gore

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Former US vice-president says bank should refocus its spending and end its role in ‘fossil fuel colonialism’

Fundamental reform of the World Bank could be completed within a year, to refocus its spending on the climate crisis and end its contribution to “fossil fuel colonialism”, according to the former US vice-president Al Gore.

“I don’t know why it need take longer than a year,” said Gore, a longtime campaigner on the climate crisis since leaving politics, in an interview with the Guardian at the Cop27 UN climate summit. “We have an emergency on our hands.”

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‘This could be the Cop where we lose 1.5C,’ warns Alok Sharma – as it happened

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As negotiations develop, some countries pushed to weaken the goal of keeping a global temperature increase to 1.5C

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We’ve been reporting a lot on the lack of food at Cop (it’s been on our reporters’ minds for obvious reasons).

But my colleague Damian Carrington has found that vegan campaigners have capitalised on the burger shortage.

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Alaa Abd el-Fattah: family of activist jailed in Egypt say he is alive

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‘Proof of life’ note says writer, who has been on hunger strike, is drinking water again

The family of the jailed British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah say they have received proof of life, in the form of a letter in which he says he has ended his water strike after six days but will continue his hunger strike.

“I’m sure you’re really worried about me,” Abd el-Fattah wrote to his mother, in a cautiously worded letter as his communications are heavily monitored by the Egyptian authorities.

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Australia still trails most developed countries in climate performance ranking

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Despite Labor’s increased emissions target, Australia has only improved four places to 55th out of 63 in the annual index

Australia continues to trail other developed countries in addressing the climate crisis, in part due to the Albanese government’s support for new fossil fuel developments, according to an analysis released at the Cop27 UN conference in Egypt.

The climate change performance index, published by Germanwatch, the NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Network with input from 450 climate and energy experts and campaigners, found Australia was still a “very low performing country”. It ranked 55th on a list of 63 countries and country groupings, up from 59th last year.

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Increasing demand for oil and fuel threatens African nations’ economies, analysis finds

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Carbon Tracker thinktank says investors in fossil fuels on the continent would be left with stranded assets

Expanding oil and gas exports would threaten the economic stability of many African countries, new analysis has found, despite soaring fossil fuel prices.

Demand for fossil fuels is likely to fall sharply in the medium term, according to a report published on Monday by the Carbon Tracker thinktank. That makes relying on gas exports to fuel economic growth a short-term, risky strategy, while boosting solar power would prove a better long-term bet, the analysis found.

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Ukraine uses Cop27 to highlight environmental cost of Russia’s war

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Delegation at climate summit tell of destruction of protected areas and carbon toll of invasion and rebuilding

Ukraine has used the Cop27 climate talks to make the case that Russia’s invasion is causing an environmental as well as humanitarian catastrophe, with fossil fuels a key catalyst of the country’s destruction.

Ukraine has dispatched two dozen officials to the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to spell out the links between the war launched by Russia in February, the soaring cost of energy due to Russia’s status as a key gas supplier, and the planet-heating emissions expelled by the offensive.

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Climate protesters in Lisbon storm building and urge minister to resign

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Portuguese economy minister António Costa e Silva was giving a speech when demonstrators got on to the premises

Hundreds of protesters angry about the climate crisis took to the streets of Lisbon on Saturday, with dozens storming a building where Portugal’s economy minister, António Costa e Silva, was speaking, demanding that the former oil executive resign.

Holding banners and chanting slogans, protesters demanded climate action. As some demonstrators broke into the building, those outside shouted: “Out Costa e Silva!”

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Cop27: US ‘totally supportive’ of moves to address loss and damage, says Kerry – as it happened

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US climate envoy John Kerry has said his country is ready to discuss the loss and damage at Cop27

After six years as the big cheese of UN climate negotiations, Patricia Espinosa has been enjoying walking the halls of power not quite as an ordinary Joe and apparently isn’t closely following the negotiations. “It has felt just amazing. I knew that as the [UNFCCC] executive secretary that I was missing so much, and it’s been a really wonderful experience.”

Espinosa might not be paying close attention, but we’re starting to see developed countries push back against this year’s hot topic, loss and damage, after developing nations laid out a unified case for why a funding mechanism separate to climate adaptation and mitigation is needed to address the climate catastrophes that can’t be averted. The US in particular has been accused of being a “bad faith actor” due to its long track record of disrupting and delaying progress on the issue.

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Russian oligarchs and companies under sanctions are among lobbyists at Cop27

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The heavy presence of lobbyists from Moscow suggests Russia is using the climate talks to drum up business

Russian oligarchs and executives from multiple companies under international sanctions are among the lobbyists currently attending Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Among those at the pivotal climate talks are the billionaire and former aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska, who is under UK sanctions, and the billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, the former head of the Russian fertiliser company the EuroChem group, who has been targeted with individual sanctions by the European Union which he disputed, calling them “absurd and nonsensical”.

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World leaders at Cop27 urged to press Egypt over prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah

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Global spotlight on host country has heightened scrutiny of human rights record, with Biden due to meet Sisi

As Egyptian officials strive to control the narrative and isolate the case of the detained British Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, pressure is mounting on world leaders at Cop27 to acknowledge Egypt’s poor human rights record and raise his case.

The Egyptian authorities have engaged in a sweeping public relations campaign to try to discredit Abd el-Fattah, including a digital campaign depicting him as a threat to national security.

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Imprisoned activist’s lawyer denied access at Egyptian jail during climate summit – as it happened

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British-Egyptian Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who has been on hunger strike for months, stopped drinking water when Cop27 began

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We promised you the full story on fossil fuel lobbyists, and here it is.

There are more than 600 fossil fuel lobbyists at the Cop27 climate conference, a rise of more than 25% from last year and outnumbering any one frontline community affected by the climate crisis.

While the average delegation at Cop1 was 88% male and 12% female, this has shifted over time. For example, Cops 23 to 25 all had an average gender balance of 62% male to 38% female, while Cop26 had a balance of 64%-36%.

The provisional gender balance of Cop27 is similar, clocking it at 63% male to 37% female.

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Civil society groups report surveillance and intimidation at Cop27

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Attenders say actions of Egyptian authorities are threatening their participation at conference

Members of civil society attending Cop27 have described how surveillance and intimidation by the Egyptian authorities is threatening their participation in the climate conference.

Problems reported by attenders include overt surveillance, control of their meetings by conference staff and problems with accommodation.

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Sister of Alaa Abd el-Fattah accused in Egypt of ‘spreading false news’

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Complaint, which prosecutor has yet to accept, raises risk of Sanaa Seif’s detention during Cop27

The sister of the jailed hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been informed that a pro-government lawyer has filed a case against her with the Egyptian public prosecutor accusing her of espionage and “spreading false news”.

The news comes a day after Sanaa Seif spoke at an event at the Cop27 climate summit being held in Egypt, which was widely reported on. The case accuses her of “conspiring with foreign agencies against the Egyptian state, foreign agitation, and incitement against the Egyptian state and its institutions, and deliberately spreading false news.”

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China’s top climate official urges US to ‘clear barriers’ to talks

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US-China relations hit new low this year after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

China’s top climate official has said the US must take responsibility for any reconciliation between the two countries at the Cop27 climate summit, calling on the US to “clear the barriers” to talks.

Xie Zhenhua, the climate envoy for China, said he had met John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where governments and world leaders have gathered for a fortnight of talks on the climate crisis.

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