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☆ Time running out for climate deals on final day of COP27
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Global climate talks approached crunch time on Friday, the final scheduled day of negotiations that are expected to go past their deadline as chances of a deal still looked unclear. The document contained few new proposed solutions for curbing oil and gas emissions and repairing damage caused by climate change. The proposal would tie compensation for climate disasters to tougher emissions cuts, two of the thorniest issues at the meeting. In climate negotiations, loss and damage refers to the idea that rich nations, which have historically done the most to contribute to climate change, should compensate developing countries most impacted. Antigua and Barbuda’s environment minister says they have concerns about the EU proposal, while the environmental advocacy group Action Aid called it a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” because it doesn’t go far enough.

"There's now a big push to get nature into sovereign debt markets," said Simon Zadek, executive director at NatureFinance, which advises governments on debt-for-nature swaps and other types of climate-focused finance. At that level, it would be the biggest debt-for-nature swap struck to date. The combined value of swap deals to date is $3.7 billion, according to the data. Securing the buy-in of development banks is usually key for the economics of a deal. The WWF has projects in Central and South America where they are monitoring deforestation by tracking jaguars, said Brenes, who has worked on debt-for-nature swaps for the last 25 years.

"It is not a kind of tactic to avoid formal negotiation on loss and damage funding arrangements here," Schulze said. Some research suggests that by 2030, vulnerable countries could face $580 billion per year in climate-linked "loss and damage". Ghana's finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who chairs the V20 group of vulnerable countries, called the creation of the Global Shield "long overdue". Yet some vulnerable countries questioned the scheme's focus on insurance, with insurance premiums adding another cost to cash-strapped countries that have low carbon emissions and contributed least to the causes of climate change. It was not immediately clear how much of the Global Shield funding announced so far was in grant form.

Their agreement to talk again about climate thawed relations frozen earlier this year after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China by visiting Taiwan. Teresa Ribera, Spain's climate minister, said she was hopeful that the rapprochement would energise negotiations. “This unequivocal signal from the two largest economies to work together to address the climate crisis is more than welcome; it’s essential," Bapna said. Heading into the last week of the two-week conference progress has been slow, frustrating negotiators who are struggling to find consensus on how rich countries should help developing nations meet the cost of climate-fuelled disasters. The outcome on that issue, referred to in climate talks as "loss and damage", could define the perceived success or failure of the COP27 talks.

☆ Leaders push for climate action and fossil tax at UN talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — World leaders are making the case for tougher action to tackle global warming Tuesday, as this year’s international climate talks in Egypt heard growing calls for fossil fuel companies to help pay for the damage they have helped cause to the planet. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned Monday that humanity was on “a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator,” urging countries to “cooperate or perish.”Leaders gather during the COP27 climate summit in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday. Ludovic Marin / AFP - Getty ImagesHe and leaders such as Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said it was time to make fossil fuel companies contribute to funds which would provide vulnerable countries with financial aid for the climate-related losses they are suffering. The idea of a windfall tax on carbon profits has gained traction in recent months amid sky-high earnings for oil and gas majors even as consumers struggle to pay the cost of heating their homes and filling their cars. The U.S. mid-term elections were hanging over the talks Tuesday, with many environmental campaigners worried that defeat for the Democrats could make it harder for President Joe Biden to pursue his ambitious climate agenda.

☆ 'We are on the highway to climate hell': To slow down, countries need to spend more, the head of the UN says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Two leaders called for windfall taxes on oil and gas companies to help fund climate efforts. The world is on a "highway to hell" unless countries step up action, the UN secretary-general said. "We are on the highway to climate hell, with a foot on the accelerator." That wasn't part of the policy agreed on by the EU in September to tax windfall profits made by fossil-fuel companies. This drains budgets and leaves less money for infrastructure projects that make countries more resilient to the climate crisis.

☆ COP27: What are they saying at the climate summit?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Nov 7 (Reuters) - World leaders, policymakers and delegates from nearly 200 countries are at the COP27 U.N. climate summit in Egypt, where they hope to keep alive a goal to avert the worst impacts of climate change. MIA MOTTLEY, PRIME MINISTER OF BARBADOS[1/4] Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt November 7, 2022. FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE"We have a credibility problem all of us: We're talking and we're starting to act, but we're not doing enough." MA'RUF AMIN, VICE PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA"One year after Glasgow, there has been no significant global progress. For this reason COP27 must be used not only to enhance ambition, but also implementation, including the fulfilment of support from developed to developing countries."

☆ Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | Photographs Devin Oktar Yalkin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

Beyond Catastrophe A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View By David Wallace-WellsYou can never really see the future, only imagine it, then try to make sense of the new world when it arrives. (A United Nations report released this week ahead of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, confirmed that range.) A little lower is possible, with much more concerted action; a little higher, too, with slower action and bad climate luck. There were climate-change skeptics in some very conspicuous positions of global power. New emissions peaks are expected both this year and next, which means that more damage is being done to the future climate of the planet right now than at any previous point in history.

☆ Barbados issues world's first pandemic-protected bond
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Barbados' new bond - finalised in a deal with bankers on Wednesday - is likely to leave an even bigger imprint, especially with smaller, tourism-dependent countries that were pushed to the brink of economic collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic. "And hence we would not be facing the kind of debt crises that many countries are about to face". Credit Suisse banker Ramzi Issa, who led on some of the key financing aspects on the bond deal which involved a buyback, said it was "hugely significant". "It is like a dose of vaccine for your debt," said Sui-Jim Ho, a partner at Cleary Gottlieb - the law firm that helped craft the clause for Barbados. The bond deal has an ecological feature too.

Condus de premierul din Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, şi de omoloaga ei din Barbados, Mia Mottley, acest grup va fi format din şefi de stat, miniştrii, şefi de companii şi organizaţii ale societăţii civile. „Rezistenţa la (tratamente) antimicrobiene probabil că nu pare la fel de urgentă ca o pandemie, dar ea este la fel de periculoasă'', a declarat la o conferinţă de presă directorul general al OMS, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Medicamentele antimicrobiene sunt arme esenţiale împotriva bolilor omului, animalelor şi plantelor. Însă o multitudine de factori - printre care se numără folosirea excesivă a medicamentelor de către oameni, precum şi pentru animale şi agricultură, la care se adaugă accesul necorespunzător la apă potabilă, salubritatea şi igiena - au amplificat ameninţarea rezistenţei antimicrobiene în lumea întreagă, notează OMS. „Deşi antibioticele sunt un element cheie, rezistenţa la antimicrobiene cuprinde de asemenea rezistenţa la medicamente împotriva HIV, malariei, bolilor tropicale neglijate şi a altora'', a mai spus Tedros.

Persons: Sheikh, Mia Mottley Organizations: OMS Locations: Bangladesh, Barbados, miniştrii

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