COP28 will be another missed opportunity

Hi friend,

The Loss and Damage Fund is back on the global climate change agenda, but no one can agree on which nations should contribute, which nations will benefit, or what to do about poor and forgotten countries that have already been knocked sideways by extreme weather events and are struggling to recover with limited resources.

The fund will be a hot topic at the upcoming COP28 climate conference, but I’m not holding my breath for anything other than more hot air, empty promises, and blame-shifting. World leaders will use the impasse over the fund to draw focus away from the fact that we’re on track to produce more oil and gas than ever before, and that we’ll overshoot the amount of fossil fuels needed to limit warming to 2°C by 69%.

The fact that COP28 will be hosted in Dubai and chaired by Sultan Al Jaber, a UAE government minister and CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, is another reason not to hold out hope for any real commitments to reducing carbon emissions and weaning the world off fossil fuels. This juxtaposition of a key oil executive at the helm of a climate summit raises questions about the sincerity and effectiveness of any potential commitments to reducing carbon emissions and transitioning from fossil fuels.

Politicians, billionaires, and global corporations give two shits about the climate: zero and none. We cannot trust them to act in the best interests of people or the planet – not when money and power are on the line. The vested interests of the global elite in maintaining the status quo overshadow any genuine concern for climate action, and I have a feeling that COP28 will be another chapter in the ongoing saga of missed opportunities in climate governance.

So, it’s up to us to do what we can, when we can, and to trust that our millions of small changes, combined, can make a difference.

— Tarryn ✌️

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This week's climate and sustainability news worth noting

💸 Global climate negotiators reached an agreement on the Loss and Damage Fund to help vulnerable countries deal with the impacts of extreme weather events, although not everyone is happy with how things turned out. The World Bank will host the fund on an interim basis for four years. In terms of who will fund the fund, well, that’s a bit blurry. Developed countries were “urged to provide support” although there was no commitment for an immediate infusion of money to help communities who are facing climate emergencies now. It’s also not clear who will contribute to the fund and where the money will go. Discussions will continue at COP28 later this month.

🛢️ The UK is at it again. The UK’s North Sea Transition Authority has offered 27 new licences for oil and gas production projects. The NTSA says it needs to “bolster energy security” by granting licenses to projects with the potential to be developed quickly. And King Charles III, who is usually a vocal advocate for climate action, opened Britain’s Parliament last week with a “King’s Speech” (which was written by PM Rishi Sunak) that included support for the future licensing of new oil and gas fields.

🇦🇺 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has signed an historic deal that will allow all citizens of the Pacific nation of Tuvalu to apply for a new visa to move to Australia and flee the catastrophic impacts of climate change. Tuvalu, home to about 11,000 people, is one of the lowest-lying countries on the planet, and one of the nations at most risk from rising sea levels due to climate change.

🚨 A UN-backed report has found that, in 2030, the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia will drill for more oil and gas than at any point in history. The world remains on track to produce around 110% more oil, gas, and coal through 2030 as would be allowable if governments wanted to limit warming to 1.5°C. The world was also set to overshoot the amount of fossil fuels consistent with limiting warming to 2°C by 69%.

🥵 2023 is "virtually certain" to be the warmest in 125,000 years as more heat records tumble in October. 

😷 Severe air pollution levels in New Delhi, India, forced schools to close and led to a temporary ban on construction. Last week, air quality was more than 10 times the global safety threshold for five days in a row. Drivers found using gasoline and diesel vehicles that create smog will be fined 20,000 rupees, and doctors have advised that people wear masks outside.

🇰🇪 Kenya has declared 13 November a special public holiday for a nationwide tree-planting campaign. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said Kenyans will be expected to plant trees “as a patriotic contribution to the national efforts to save our country from the devastating effects of climate change”. The country aims to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.

🐆 Extreme weather linked to climate change could be fundamentally reshaping ecosystems, with native species hardest hit by non-native ones. On average, non-native species tended to show more positive responses to extreme weather, or, at least, less negative ones. But the effects on native land species could be more far-reaching, with native populations also losing geographic distribution and struggling to recover. Cheetah populations are especially vulnerable to rising temperatures.

👏 Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has fallen to a five-year low, dropping 22.3% between August 2022 and July 2023 compared to the previous year. The decline in tree loss is estimated to have reduced the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 7.5% and comes almost a year after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office.

🚘 The EU is likely to water down a crucial car pollution law following intense lobbying from the auto industry, a move experts warn could lead to health and environmental damages costing around €100 billion.

🇬🇧 The UK government has allocated £65 million to divert waste heat from data centres to nearby households in a bid to heat homes and cut emissions.

🌀 Wild weather:

• Floods in Somalia.

• Wildfires in the Southern US.

• Floods in France.

• Drought in Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

And in business news

✅ The Business for Nature coalition has launched the ‘It’s Now for Nature’ campaign in a bid to get all major businesses to publish nature-based strategies that assist with efforts to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.   Businesses can reference the Nature Strategy Handbook, which sets out recommendations and guidance to set targets related to improving biodiversity and halting nature loss.

🧑🏽‍⚖️ Shell is suing Greenpeace in relation to an incident in January when activists boarded one of its oil production vessels near the Canary Islands to protest drilling. Shell is seeking US$2.1 million in damages but offered to reduce its claim to $1.4 million if Greenpeace's activists agreed not to protest again at any of Shell's oil and gas infrastructure at sea or in port. Greenpeace said it would only do so if Shell complied with a 2021 Dutch court order to cut its emissions by 45% by 2030, which Shell has appealed.

One small thing you can do

Leave leaves where they fall.

Instead of raking leaves into a pile, naturalists say we should, erm, leave them where they fall, which would return organic materials back to the soil.

Much like a garden of unmowed grass, within that fallen leaf layer is an entire ecosystem, and many species of moths and butterflies rely on the leaf layer to complete their lifecycle. Those moths and butterflies, in turn, are a critical food supply for many birds.

Because lots of little actions combined can add up to something remarkable.

I'll leave you on this happy note...

A leaf sheep 🥰

oceansnation

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