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☆ Biden to Announce Restrictions on Methane Emissions at COP27
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Eric Niiler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—President Biden is moving to tighten restrictions on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and boost funding for developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change and transition to cleaner technologies, according to the White House. Mr. Biden is expected to announce the measures in a speech before a United Nations climate conference, known as COP27, according to a fact sheet released by the White House ahead of the address. The measures include plans for the Environmental Protection Agency to require oil-and-gas companies to monitor existing production facilities for methane leaks and repair them, according to administration officials.

☆ Biden Announces Restrictions on Methane Emissions at COP27
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Eric Niiler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—President Biden is moving to tighten restrictions on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and boost funding for developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change and transition to cleaner technologies, according to the White House. Mr. Biden announced the measures in a speech before a United Nations climate conference, known as COP27. The measures include plans for the Environmental Protection Agency to require oil-and-gas companies to monitor existing production facilities for methane leaks and repair them, according to administration officials.

☆ Biden says 'everyone has to act' to help the world deal with the climate crisis. But the US isn't meeting its own promises.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

President Joe Biden touted the new US climate law and methane restrictions at a UN climate summit. Biden urged rich countries pay up on climate, but the US hasn't been meeting its own promises. Developing nations share comparatively little responsibility for the buildup of heat-trapping gasses in the atmosphere. "If countries can finance coal in developing countries, there is no reason we can't finance clean energy in developing countries," Biden said to loud applause from the audience. Looming over COP27 is the global energy crisis sparked by Russia's war in Ukraine.

☆ COP27 Global CO2 emissions to rise again, climate goals at risk, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Countries are expected to emit a total 41 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2022, said the report by more than 100 scientists, with 37 billion tonnes from burning fossil fuels and 4 billion tonnes from uses of land like deforestation. Emissions from burning coal increased, as countries have turned to the most-polluting fossil fuel after Russia restricted natural gas supplies to Europe after its Feburary invasion of Ukrane, which sent global gas prices soaring. Emissions rose by 1.5% in the United States and jumped by 6% in India, the world's second and fourth-biggest emitters, respectively. The U.N. climate science panel has said global greenhouse gases must decrease 43% by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5C and avoid its most severe impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a record drop in global CO2 emissions in 2020, but emissions are now back up to slightly above pre-COVID-19 levels.

Setting out what he said were Saudi Arabia's steps to produce cleaner energy and reduce its carbon footprint, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said: "The world is hoping to crucify us." Instead, he said, Saudi Arabia would be holding the rest of the world to account. Among Saudi Arabia's contributions, he said Saudi Arabian state oil producer Aramco (2222.SE) had the lowest methane emissions by any measure. Saudi Arabia is also working on producing hydrogen using renewable energy and aims to be the lowest cost producer, Prince Abdulaziz said. "You need to invest to decarbonise existing resources like oil and gas while building your renewable sectors.

Criticism has grown of the bank's efforts to mobilise sufficient support for developing countries to shift to clean energy. The World Bank Group provided $31.7 billion in climate finance to countries in fiscal year 2022, its highest total to date. He later clarified his remarks and said it is clear greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change. The World Bank uses cash from wealthy nations to offer loans and grants to poorer countries - offering a major route for climate finance to the developing world. We've engaged robustly and will continue to do so with a range of folks at the World Bank," she said.

☆ Democrat lawmaker Castor says Republicans want to nix climate committee
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor attends a discussion on how the United States and allies can bolster climate action and change the trajectory of global warming at COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Emilie MadiSHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 10 (Reuters) - If Republicans take control of the U.S. House of Representatives they are likely to "nix" the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, the committee's chair Democratic Representative Kathy Castor said on Thursday at the COP27 climate summit. Speaking on the same panel, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives would have to work together on climate issues, and criticised lawmakers who disagree global warming is a real problem. Reporting by William James and Valerie Volcovici, writing by Nafisa Eltahir. Editing by Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

REUTERS/Emilie MadiSHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic lawmakers at the UN climate summit in Egypt expressed concern on Thursday that Republican gains in the midterm Congressional elections could spell trouble for America's efforts to fight climate change. Speaking on the same panel, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticised lawmakers who disagree global warming is a real problem, and said Democrats and Republicans would have to work together to combat climate change. "We have to get over that," Pelosi said of lawmakers who have claimed climate change is a hoax. A delegation of Republican lawmakers arrived on Thursday in Sharm El-Sheikh separately from the Democrats and will hold an event on Friday. Last year, Biden pledged to double funds to help developing nations adapt to the effects of climate change by 2024 to $11.4 billion per year.

The declaration would build on an agreement spearheaded by the United States and EU last year to slash methane emissions 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels. The draft said signatories could also bolster monitoring and reporting of methane emissions - forcing companies to face up to the scale of their problem. The 27-country EU is the world's biggest buyer of gas, while the United States is the world's biggest oil and gas producer. Agriculture is the top source of methane emissions worldwide, but experts say the energy sector can cut emissions faster - and often at low cost. So far, the Global Methane Pledge does not include China, the world's biggest methane emitter.

☆ U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry Rekindles Contact With China at COP27
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Chao Deng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Tuesday that he spoke with his Chinese counterpart during the COP27 United Nations climate conference, rekindling contact between countries that are pivotal in the global effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions. “We need to be talking to each other because we’re the two biggest economies in the world and the two biggest emitters,” Mr. Kerry told The Wall Street Journal at a live event at the Egyptian seaside resort where the 27th U.N. climate gathering is taking place.

☆ Egypt Keeps Tight Grip on Protests as Host of COP27 Climate Conference
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Chao Deng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Demonstrators have to navigate through a complex registration system to gain access to a limited “Green Zone” protest space outside the main COP27 conference area in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—Egyptian authorities have detained more than a hundred people in connection with demonstrations planned for the COP27 climate summit with rights groups saying the government appears increasingly concerned that protests could spill over into a broader display of dissent against President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi . Human Rights Watch, a New York-based nonprofit, on Sunday said that camera-surveillance networks had been set up in taxis in Sharm El Sheikh to monitor who is traveling around the town. It also pointed to a complex registration system to gain access to a limited “Green Zone” protest space outside the main conference as a further indication that Egyptian authorities are trying to limit free speech around the summit.

☆ Leaders Gather for COP27 as Fallout From Ukraine War Complicates Climate Talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Eric Niiler | Chao Deng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

COP27 is expected to focus on boosting funds to developing countries to help them adapt to the effects of climate change. SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—World leaders began to converge on Egypt on Monday at the outset of two weeks of climate talks overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and energy-market turmoil. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will help kick off the proceedings, while President Biden will join the talks later in the week. Absent from the summit are the leaders China and Russia, countries that have a pivotal role in shaping the global energy map.

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is planning to propose a new carbon-credit program that aims to ramp up funding from businesses and governments in wealthy economies to help developing countries cut back on fossil fuels. Mr. Kerry said in an interview that he plans to make the proposal at the United Nations climate-change conference in Egypt on Wednesday, adding that he was still consulting with representatives of other countries on the size and structure of the program.

☆ COP27 Climate talks must wrench attention from competing crises
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The attention of many leaders has been going to other issues," said Espinosa, who led the U.N. climate change body - called the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC - from 2016 until July this year. "This is a very important conference in order to really get again the issue of addressing climate change very, very high up on the agenda," she told Reuters. Countries' national climate pledges put the world on track to warm by 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, overshooting the 1.5C threshhold beyond which scientists say climate change impacts will significantly worsen. Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa speaks during an interview with Reuters at a United Nations Information Center offices in Washington, U.S., December 7, 2021.

☆ Why poorer countries want rich countries to foot their climate change bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Tom Chitty | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

As the world's leaders gather in Egypt's coastal resort Sharm El Sheikh for COP, the United Nations' annual climate change conference, the subject of climate finance is top of the agenda. The term refers to money that is given or loaned, usually to a developing country, to help reduce the worst effects of climate change and to help them adapt to long-term shifts in the world's climate system. It really leads these countries to be more at the whim of the weather," said Gaia Larsen, a director of climate finance, access and deployment for the research organization World Resources Institute. The topic is set to dominate discussions at COP27 after developed countries failed to reach the $100 billion annual pledge in 2020 to support developing nations in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. Reparations have become a hugely contentious issue, with developed countries concerned that providing funding could be construed as an admission of legal liability and trigger claims on a major scale.

☆ COP27 summit to begin with plea to discuss climate compensation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The U.N. climate summit, COP27, opens in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on Sunday amid growing calls for rich countries to compensate poorer nations most vulnerable to climate change. Much of the tension surrounding COP27 is expected to relate to loss and damage -- compensation funds provided by wealthy nations to vulnerable lower-income countries that bear little responsibility for climate-warming emissions. Diplomats from more than 130 countries are expected to push for the creation of a dedicated loss and damage finance facility at COP27. "I'm hopeful that it will get on the agenda," Matthew Samuda, a minister in Jamaica's economic growth ministry, told Reuters. "We know the Europeans are supporting us," said Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development.

☆ A Core Question at COP27: Who Will Pay for Climate Change?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Elena Shao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

When world leaders gather in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, this week for the annual United Nations climate summit, the debate over who bears financial responsibility for climate change will be center stage. Most Vulnerable, but Least Responsible for Climate Change A vulnerability index developed by the University of Notre Dame measures countries’ exposure, sensitivity and capacity to adapt to the negative effects of climate change. 10 gigatons CO2 Climate change vulnerability index COUNTRY’s Total historical emissions 1 Somalia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, but has contributed only a tiny fraction of global emissions. Pakistan experienced widespread and deadly flooding this summer that scientists linked to climate change. India 57.1 Gt CO2 0.5 Middle income countries China 249.4 Gt CO2 0.4 Russia 117.5 Gt CO2 Japan 66.7 Gt CO2 Higher income countries United States 421.7 Gt CO2 0.3 United Kingdom 74.9 Gt CO2 Germany 93.1 Gt CO2 Wealthy countries are responsible for half of the world’s emissions since 1850.

How Putin and Friends Stalled Climate Progress A handful of powerful world leaders rallied around Russia and undercut global cooperation. Mr. Putin has gained from this as the increasingly autocratic Mr. Xi finds common cause with the Kremlin. “Much depends on whether authoritarian leaders perceive climate action to be in their self-interest.”Though their actions help Mr. Putin, their track records on climate are mixed. Mr. Xi called Mr. Putin his “best friend.”He was returning the favor from a year earlier, when Mr. Putin hosted Mr. Xi at the Grand Kremlin Palace and awarded him one of Russia’s highest medals for foreign dignitaries. At a news conference with Mr. Putin, Mr. Bolsonaro thanked his “dear friend,” saying that Mr. Putin had offered him support when other world leaders were criticizing his Amazon policy.

Geopolitical strife and energy market turmoil have upended prospects for reaching a global agreement to accelerate efforts to limit climate change, with many big economies failing to submit faster timetables for emissions reductions ahead of next week’s United Nations summit. With only days to go before world leaders and negotiators convene in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh for COP27, few countries have followed through on the sweeping agreement struck at last year’s conference in Glasgow. That accord urged national governments to submit more ambitious plans to the U.N. by the end of this year to wean their economies off fossil fuels and take other measures aimed at limiting global warming.

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The world is falling far short at rounding up money to help struggling nations adapt to the increasingly dangerous impacts of climate change, according to a report released Thursday. Current international finance flowing to developing countries is between 5 and 10 times below what is needed, the United Nations Environment Programme report said. "It's time for a global climate adaptation overhaul," said United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres in a media statement, noting he had asked green climate funds to work with public and private financiers to pilot a new accelerator for adaptation investment. The accelerator will help financiers work with developing countries to invest in their adaptation priorities and specific projects. At the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow last year, developed countries agreed to double support for adaptation financing to $40 billion per year by 2025.

☆ Explainer: COP27: what's on the U.N. climate talks agenda
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Valerie Volcovici | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

FOSSIL FUELS AND BACKSLIDINGCountries at last year's COP26 talks agreed for the first time to "phase down" coal production and trim other fossil fuel subsidies. Voluntary side deals also touted plans to curb fossil fuel financing and to limit planet-warming methane emissions, chiefly from the fossil fuel and agriculture industries. Following a breakthrough at the weekend as this year's summit began, the issue for the first time is part of the U.N. talks' formal agenda. ADAPTING TO A WARMER WORLDHigh-income countries have yet to meet their pledge to deliver $100 billion a year in climate finance. Low-income and climate-vulnerable countries want to ensure that the share spent on adaptation is doubled by 2025 - a pledge made at last year's U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland.

☆ Busking Brit crosses Iraq on his way to COP27 without flying
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Charlotte Bruneau | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Briton Dan Hodd, 29 years old, who left Spain about a month ago to go to the COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh without flying, but mostly biking and using public transportation, plays the violin in Baghdad, Iraq October 26, 2022. “I am trying to illustrate the importance within the transport sector to do more about the climate crisis,” the 29-year-old Briton said. After a drop during the coronavirus pandemic, air traffic is expected to bounce back to 2019 levels by 2024-25, he said. Avoiding flying is not only part of Hodd’s message to delegates at COP27. His trip to Egypt is part of a long-term project to visit 100 countries in 10 years without flying, busking with his violin to earn enough to go on.

☆ Greta Thunberg: COP27 an opportunity for "greenwashing, lying and cheating"
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks with British journalist Samira Ahmed (not pictured) on stage at the Royal Festival Hall during the launch event of her new book "The Climate Book", during The Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival, in London, Britain, October 30, 2022. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Sunday called out next month's United Nations climate summit in Egypt for being "held in a tourist paradise in a country that violates many basic human rights." Speaking at the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre where she was promoting her new book, "The Climate Book", 19-year-old Thunberg dismissed the looming climate summit, known as COP27, as an opportunity for "people in power... to [use] greenwashing, lying and cheating." While Thunberg did attend protests in Glasgow last year for COP26, she said she won't attend COP27, scheduled to be held from Nov. 6 to Nov. 18 in Sharm El Sheikh. Thunberg rose to prominence in 2018 at the age of 15 by staging school strikes in her native Sweden, becoming the face of the youth activist climate movement.

☆ 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.

☆ EU to back climate compensation talks at U.N. summit - document
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The European Union will support discussion of financial compensation for vulnerable nations bearing the brunt of climate change at next month's U.N. climate summit, a draft document showed, a potential breakthrough for countries pushing for such talks. The EU and United States, the world's third and second-biggest polluters respectively, have historically resisted steps that could assign legal liability or lead to compensation for climate impacts including droughts and floods that are disproportionately hurting poor nations. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterIt remained vague, however, on what these talks would deliver, and whether the COP27 summit should launch the climate compensation fund that dozens of developing countries have called for. "Action and support for vulnerable countries, populations and vulnerable groups needs to be further scaled up," the document said. EU countries' climate ministers meet on Monday to attempt to approve their final negotiating position.

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