7 December
500.000 people asked for more ambitious climate action
People from all around the world marched on the streets of Madrid yesterday. It might have been the largest environmental demonstration Spain has ever seen. Young people, activists, indigenous groups, U.N. staff and many official delegates gathered and demanded leaders to respond to the climate emergency.
Climate Target Update Tracker
The Climate Action Tracker has today published its “Climate Target Update Tracker” that will track governments’ updated 2030 targets (NDCs) as part of their commitment under the Paris Agreement to update them by 2020.
The Tracker will analyze in detail both proposed and updated 2030 targets from the 36 countries covered by the CAT, and keep a list of updated NDCs for all other countries.
The U.S. Climate Action Center Kickoff
Representatives from states, cities and counties, tribes, businesses, investors and other organizations will be at the U.S. Climate Action Center. They will tell their stories about ambition and climate action.
We are still in is a growing moment with over 3800 signatories in all 50 U.S. states. They demonstrate America’s enduring commitment to delivering on the promise of the Paris Agreement and America’s contribution to it.
6 December
New report: “Oil, gas and climate”
Out yesterday, this new report finds that the oil and gas industry are planning to invest more than US$1.4 trillion in new extraction. Projects are being planned for the US, Canada, Norway, Argentina and several other countries that will make it impossible to stay under 1.5°C of warming. The authors have called for Paris alignment through bans on fossil fuel licenses, removal of finances and subsidies and the creation of just transition plans for communities and workers.
Saudi IPO misses $2tr valuation
The Economist called Aramco’s IPO “a disappointment“. Valued at $1.7 trillion, Aramco overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable listed firm but fell significantly short of MBS’s $2tr target. It seems climate and political risks and poor corporate transparency put foreign investors off, and the kingdom was forced to abandon its ambition to raise $100 billion with an international listing of a 5% stake..
5 December
Global Climate Risk Index 2020 – Who suffers most?
The Climate Risk Index 2020, an annual report by Germanwatch, is out now. It ranks countries according to their vulnerability to extreme weather events. Not only poorer countries are affected. Japan was the worst hit in 2018. Germany and Canada also suffered high losses. The results reflect the increasing damage caused by heatwaves, which scientists have found are being worsened by climate change.
4 December
Global Carbon Budget – emissions, going up
Madrid, 4 December – Breaking: Global Carbon Project’s annual report tracking carbon emissions is out today. Despite a decline in coal use, emissions are rising thanks to big growth in natural gas and oil. Current government emissions policies are too weak to achieve the “well below 2°C” global warming limit set out in Paris.
3 December
State of the Climate – World Meteorological Organization
Madrid, 3 December – This morning at COP25, WMO issued its Provisional Statement on the State of the Climate in 2019, an annual update on global climate indicators. The report details how the past decade was a period of “exceptional global heat, retreating ice and record sea levels driven by greenhouse gases from human activities”. According to a WMO statement: “Average temperatures for the five-year (2015-2019) and ten-year (2010-2019) periods are almost certain to be the highest on record.”
2 December
Madrid, 2 December – A bullish UN has opened COP 25, declaring the negotiations the “launchpad for significantly more action”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has taken aim at the world’s largest emitters, which he says “are not pulling their weight”.
A quick check on WRI’s essential GHG tracker suggests his sights are trained on China, US, India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Japan and the EU. Guterres’ message is in line with last week’s UNEP Emissions Gap report, which fingered leading G20 polluters as being complicit in continued investments in oil, gas, coal and forest loss.
This meeting will be judged on how it responds to the climate protests seen around the world this year and the rising toll of global climate impacts. Guterres said on Sunday that 70 countries have “committed to carbon neutrality by 2050” – a figure the UN hopes to see rising by next week.
Today’s star attraction is US speaker Nancy Pelosi, who leads a 14-strong US Democrat team. She said: “It is a privilege to accompany a high-level Congressional delegation to Spain to combat the existential threat of our time: the climate crisis.”
