The climate emergency is a direct consequence of carbon-heavy land-use and agriculture, transport, buildings and industrial processes and polluting energy sources. Without profound changes to these sectors and a drastic cut to carbon footprints, there is little hope of protecting the planet from the devastating effects of a warmer world.
Below are climate-related news and events from the United Nations and partners.
Tune into the launch of the 2024 Eye on Methane report and the refreshed version of IMEO’s methane data platform, both of which provide insights on the world’s methane emissions – responsible for roughly one third of current global warming. Check the live feed from 12.30 Baku time.
Today the focus is on energy, peace, relief and recovery, a rather broad theme which is reflected in the myriad events on across Baku Stadium.
This event builds on the Climate Technology Progress Report 2024 by UNEP-CCC and the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism, which provides a comprehensive overview of advancements in renewable energy technologies covering critical areas such as adoption rates, feasibility, sustainable finance, and digitalization.
This side-event features technical presentations on the key findings of the Emissions Gap Report 2024, and looks forward to what is now needed in the next round of countries' climate plans, due in February next year.
The Global Methane Pledge Ministerial will review progress and showcase new actions on implementation, resource mobilization, and execution of projects to reduce methane in line with the goals of the pledge.
With the final round of the talks on a global plastics agreement set to take place next month in Busan, Republic of Korea, this event sees UNEP’s Executive Director, Inger Andersen take part in a conversation on the importance of mobilizing finance for the private sector projects that support the reduction of plastic pollution. You can watch the event live here.
The world is falling far short of the money needed to tackle the climate crisis, according to a new report published today.
The report - produced by the Independent High Level Expert Group (IHLEG) on Climate Finance – says that the world needs to mobilise US$1 trillion per year for developing countries by 2030.
The report says that "any shortfall in investment before 2030 will place added pressure on the years that follow, creating a steeper and potentially more costly path to climate stability. The less the world achieves now, the more we will need to invest later.
The report is published as countries negotiate at COP29 a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) for financial support for developing countries beyond 2025. Countries agreed that the new goal should be set before 2025 from “a floor of USD 100 billion per year."
A new UNEP policy brief launched today has highlighted the "knowledge gaps" when it comes to addressing loss and damage.
While loss and damage from climate change are increasingly mentioned in country's national climate plans, but these documents say little about options to address loss and damage and largely miss non-economic loss and damage.
Loss and damage is one of the multiple climate finance issues currently being negotiated in Baku.
Given the sheer number of texts being pored over by negotiators in Baku, we are grateful that Carbon Brief has published a very useful tracker where the status of each of the texts can be found.
Constantly updated during the talks, it provides a window into where progress is being made (and where it’s not) as well as the sheer scale of the task facing negotiators. Readers can search for keywords using the text box or reorder the entries by date or other columns.
Current climate policies will lead to a disastrous 2.7C of warming, according to new data from the Climate Action Tracker, released today. It shows that the expected level of global heating by the end of the century has not changed since 2021, with “minimal progress” made this year.
“This three-year standstill underscores a critical disconnect between the reality of climate change and the urgency that governments are giving to the policies needed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, driving global warming at a rate of close to 0.3°C per decade,” the group said.
With countries needing to submit their new climate plans – or NDCs – by February this year, it’s vital that they show ambition in order to keep the Paris Agreement goals in sight.
As climate impacts intensify and hit the world’s most vulnerable hardest, nations must dramatically increase climate adaptation efforts, starting with a commitment to act on finance at COP29.
This has been in evidence in many of the world leaders’ speeches and was made clear UNEPs Adaptation Gap Report 2024: Come hell and high water, which highlighted the fact that US$187-359 billion more needs to be spent in climate adaptation every year.
Currently, countries are negotiating over a “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG) on climate finance which would decide how much developing countries would get after 2025, where that money would come from and what form it would take.
Yesterday it was announced that Multilateral Development Banks – such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank – pledged to boost climate finance with $120 billion a year for low and middle income countries by 2030.
The figure many are talking about in Baku is at least $1 trillion a year by 2035, although there is a long way to go before any breakthroughs are made.
Forests are a vital carbon sink, but time is running out to halt and reverse forest loss. This event will address the urgent need to ramp up these financial mechanisms, such as carbon finance. Progress in forest conservation efforts will also be highlighted, specifically in tropical forest countries that have developed large-scale programs.
There has been much talk during COP29 about Article 6, which focuses on the development of carbon markets, places where countries, companies and individuals can trade what are known as greenhouse gas emissions credits. The Article is seen as crucial to limiting global warming to 1.5°C, one of the aims of the Paris Agreement.
