COP27: EU agrees to loss and damage fund to help poor countries recover from climate disasters
News
COP27: EU agrees to loss and damage fund to help poor countries recover from climate disasters
European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans has launched a proposal on behalf of the EU to establish a loss and damage fund, the Guardian reports. The paper says Timmerman was “reluctant about a fund”, because he knows how long it can take to establish one, but agreed because the G77 are “so attached to a fund”. The fund will operate as part of a “mosaic of solutions”, the paper adds. Bloomberg says that, in exchange for the fund, “countries would vow to peak global emissions before 2025 and phase down all fossil fuels – not just coal, which was spelled out in the Glasgow climate pact last year”. Climate Home News adds: “The EU’s offer on loss and damage went down well with vulnerable countries and most other rich nations. China and Gulf states pushed back, while the US kept quiet.” The Independent says “the US is resisting any suggestion that this should be labeled as compensation, let alone reparations, for decades of greenhouse gas emissions by industrialised nations…Yet small island nations are talking about killing any deal if they don’t get cash for the climate disasters they argue were brought on on by rich polluters.” It adds that “heavy polluters China and India are arguing they should not have to contribute because they are still officially considered developing nations”. Reuters also outlines the proposal, calling it a “middle ground”.
Meanwhile, the Independent notes that in the negotiations India has called for reducing the use of all fossil fuels – not just coal. However, it says this “tactical demand” was dropped from the draft “non-paper” published yesterday. The paper quotes Frans Timmerman – vice president of the European Commussion: “We are in support of any call to phase down all fossil fuels, but we also have to make sure that this call does not diminish the earlier agreement we had on phasing down coal.” Reuters adds that “coal-reliant India had proposed the idea of changing language from the Glasgow Climate Pact calling for a phase down of coal use to include all fossil fuels, which would put more pressure on oil- and gas-reliant nations.” As such, the Guardian says India’s proposal is “bucking the narrative”, adding that “there has been some scepticism about India’s motivation in arguing for the new language”. Reuters reports that “India’s coal-fired power output has increased much faster than any other country in the Asia Pacific since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”. Bloomberg says the country is discussing a plan to keep old power stations running for longer. And the Hindu reports that India “ has opposed the developed world’s efforts to extend the scope of mitigation to agriculture”.
(The first draft of the “cover text” was published this morning and Carbon Brief’s Dr Simon Evans has updated his live tracker.)
UN chief warns of ‘breakdown in trust’ with no deal in sight at COP27
With the talks officially due to end today but widely expected to go deep into the weekend, the Guardian carries a warning from UN secretary general António Guterres: “There has been clearly, as in past times, a breakdown in trust between north and south, and between developed and emerging economies…This is no time for finger-pointing. The blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction.” The paper adds that Egyptian foreign minister and president of the talks Sameh Shoukry “gave a gloomy assessment of the state of negotiations”. It continues: “There are four key concerns: countries’ plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels; how to help poor countries adapt to the effects of the climate crisis; finance for poor countries to cut emissions and adapt to extreme weather; and loss and damage, which covers ways of helping countries afflicted by the worst ravages of climate disaster.” Guterres “urged developed countries to deliver on a past pledge to provide $100bn per year to help poor nations adapt to climate change and switch to clean energy”, Reuters reports. The Independent, Times, BBC News and other outlets also quote Guterres. Bloomberg describes the talks as “chaotic”. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that “a delegation from Britain, the European Union and Canada met the COP27 president on Thursday to highlight gaps in the current negotiating texts and express their view that the round of global climate talks in Egypt should not be allowed to fail”. The Washington Post calls the draft text released yesterday “a grab bag, listing almost every proposal countries have offered in recent days”. It adds that the word “placeholder” appeared in it 14 times.
Elsewhere, Reuters reports that “talks to establish carbon offset markets to allow countries to buy credits to partly achieve their climate pledges are set to drag on beyond the COP27 summit and into next year”. Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro unexpectedly showed up at COP27, adding: “The presence of Maduro – who has one of Latin America’s worst environmental and human rights records – made leaders at the summit visibly uncomfortable and puzzled analysts.” Climate Home News reports that that a pitch to hold “speed dating, but for international climate investments” is set to be approved. Meanwhile, the head of the Commonwealth tells Reuters that multilateral lenders have “demonstrably failed” low and middle income countries. The FT reports that “the global PR firm handling external communications for COP27 in Egypt is under fire from a group of scientists for its work for the fossil fuel industry”.
And the Washington Post and Independent report on the deteriorating health of Alaa Abdel Fattah – a political prisoner held in Egypt, who is on a food and water strike.
China has plan to curb methane emissions in sign of progress
China says it has “developed a draft plan to curb methane emissions”, even as it “stopped short of joining a global pledge to reduce the potent greenhouse gas”, reports Bloomberg. China’s special envoy on climate change Xie Zhenhua is quoted saying at COP27 yesterday: “We’re in the process of getting approval to the draft action plan, which we have already finished.” He added that China is “hoping to seek cooperation on the issue”. Reuters and Climate Home News cover the same news, saying that the US special climate envoy John Kerry “introduced Xie at the event, where the US and the European Union announced more than 150 countries had signed on to the pledge since it was launched last year at climate talks in Glasgow”. Climate Home News notes that Xie said China had a draft methane reduction strategy focussing on the “three main sources – energy, farming and waste” – and that it was “passing through the legislative and administrative process”. Xie added that China has “a little bit of a way to go so we can do surveillance and collect statistics as well as verification of our baseline”, the article notes. Bernice Lee, a climate politics expert at Chatham House, is quoted saying it was “good that Xie dropped in” and “had a publicly cooperative double act” with Kerry.
Another Climate Home News article writes that the EU is “open to creating a new funding stream to help victims of climate disaster recover – as long as China contributes”. On “one of the most contentious issues” at COP27 – loss and damage, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans “hinted at room for compromise”. He said “We want to be bridge builders. We are open for this facility, but under certain conditions, and we need to discuss this.” The Wall Street Journal says that “the revival of formal dialogue between the US and China at [COP27] has thrown a diplomatic lifeline to negotiations that delegates say are rife with division”.
Finally, China Dialogue quotes Xuan Changneng, deputy governor of People’s Bank of China, who says the bank will “explore more transition finance instruments to support lowering emissions from carbon-intensive industries”. And Reuters has a column by John Kemp under the headline: “China’s fast-growing renewables limit coal generation.”
Autumn statement: UK hits energy companies with new windfall taxes
There is widespread coverage in the UK media of the government’s autumn statement, presented in parliament by chancellor Jeremy Hunt yesterday. The Financial Times reports that Hunt “increased windfall taxes on the profits of oil and gas companies from 25% to 35% and extended them until 2028”, as well as introducing a 45% levy on electricity generators. It continues: “The new and increased windfall taxes are expected to raise a combined total of more than £14bn next year and projected to raise about £55bn by 2028, said Hunt. That is close to double the amount the original energy profits levy, which had a sunset clause of 2025, was expected to raise when it was introduced in May.” The Guardian notes that the 45% tax applies to wind, solar and nuclear. The Times reports on fears that the windfall tax will threaten investment in the North Sea. Bloomberg adds: “Climate campaigners criticised the windfall tax for including the investment allowance, which allows some companies to avoid paying.” Separately, the outlet says: “Britain’s renewable power industry will sit down with the Treasury on Friday to air grievances over the UK’s decision to slap a windfall tax on low-carbon power generators.” The New York Times asks: “Will taxing the windfall profits of oil giants fix countries’ economies?”
The Guardian says the statement pledges a further £6bn of investment to insulate homes in the UK. It reports that Hunt “announced that a taskforce would oversee an initiative to insulate homes and upgrade boilers, and would receive extra funding between 2025 and 2028”. The taskforce will aim to reduce consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030, compared to 2021 levels, according to Bloomberg. Outlets including Reuters and the i newspaper also cover the announcement on insulation. The i newspaper reports: “The chancellor said the government would invest £700m in Sizewell C, adding that it was the first state backing for a nuclear project in over 30 years.” Hunt also announced that state support for household energy bills will be extended for 12 months from April, but that “the government will increase the cap for a household with typical usage to about £3,000 a year from the subsidised level of £2,500 this winter”, the Financial Times reports. The paper continues: “Typical households will from April be paying almost three times as much as last year. They will be paying about £900 more than in 2022, taking into account a one-off, blanket £400 discount provided by the government this year. Businesses could be hit by even larger rises once government subsidies are removed.” Meanwhile, the Independent reports that Hunt said the UK remains “fully committed” to meeting a 68% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Hunt also announced that electric cars will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty – better known as road tax – from April 2025, the Guardian reports. Sky News adds: “The chancellor says he wants to make motoring taxes ‘fairer’ as half of all new vehicles are forecast to be electric by that date.” The Independent also covers the announcement. Meanwhile, the Times adds that fuel duty will rise by 23% from next year, adding 12p per litre to the cost of petrol and diesel. The paper says Hunt made no announcement on the tax in the autumn statement, but said the Office for Budget Responsibility “assumed there would be an increase in the spring”.
In other UK news, the Guardian reports that environment secretary Thérèse Coffey has “signalled” that “the de facto ban on solar farms will be continued by Rishi Sunak’s government”. And the Daily Telegraph says: “Just Stop Oil protesters have been warned they face up to a decade in jail under tough new laws, after group members caused chaos on the M25 during rush hour by climbing onto motorway gantries.”
Germany inaugurates first new LNG terminal
The first floating LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, has been completed, reports EurActiv. It was built “in record time” and intended to receive liquefied gas “as part of Berlin’s plan to replace Russian gas”, with the first regasification ship set to dock in mid-December. German economy minister Robert Habeck described the first of five planned floating terminals at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven as “a central building block for the security of [Germany’s] energy supplies this coming winter”, reports the Guardian. Habeck also pointed out that it took 200 days to build the terminal, reports Financial Times, adding that three further floating storage and regasification units would be deployed in the coming months, giving Germany LNG import capacity of at least 29.5bn cubic metres a year. In addition, Wirtschaftswoche reports that German finance minister Christian Lindner has called for “more speed” in measures to expand infrastructure in Germany, accusing German environment minister Steffi Lemke of delaying the draft.
Meanwhile, Die Welt reports that Germany is increasing its contribution to the climate-adaptation funds by €60m, which German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock announced yesterday at COP27. She also urged a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions before the end of this decade, adds the outlet. Handelsblatt quotes Baerbock saying it is “a blatant injustice that parts of Pacific island states are being swallowed up by rising sea levels, even though they bear almost no responsibility for the current greenhouse gases”.
In other German news, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that economy minister Habeck has announced financial relief for heat-pump buyers. The news notes that, from the beginning of 2023, both electricity and gas prices are to be capped by the German government at the level of 80% of historical consumption, but if a consumer buys a heat pump in 2023, their electricity consumption will be significantly higher than before. However, the outlet continues, quoting Habeck saying that “the change from gas to electricity should not be punished”. EurActiv adds that, from 2024, Germany will ban new fossil heating systems, leaving just heat pumps, including hybrid solutions partly running on fossil fuels, and biomass heaters. Finally, Der Spiegel reports on protests led by “Last Generation” campaigners against the German Free Democratic party and its leader Christian Lindner. The climate activists, who wore masks with Lindners’s face, demanded a speed limit and a continuation of the nine-euro ticket for all public transport, notes the outlet.
US: What the unusual midterm elections mean for climate action
The New York Times reports that the Democrats had a “strong showing” in the recent midterm elections, as Republicans won a narrow majority in the house of representatives, but the Democrats defended their Senate majority. This “essentially ensures that President Biden’s signature climate change law, passed in August, will be fully implemented despite threats from some Republicans to block or undo it”, the paper says. However, it notes that “Republicans can still throw sand in the gears of Biden’s domestic climate agenda”. Climate Home News says: “Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives, diminishing the chances of the US delivering on its climate finance pledges”. The paper notes that Biden promised $11.4bn per year by 2024 to support climate action in developing countries, including an overdue $2bn to the Green Climate Fund. “Democrats’ performance in the midterm elections has emboldened activists and climate hawks who say that voters were concerned about the environment even amid persistently high US gas and energy costs,” the Hill reports.
In other US news, the Financial Times reports that General Motors – the largest carmaker in the US – have forecast that its electric vehicle portfolio will be profitable in 2025. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has agreed at COP27 that “the US aims to only sell and produce zero-emissions medium- and heavy-duty vehicles like school buses and tractor trailers by 2040”.
Pet food carbon emissions: Wet food is seven times worse than dry
“An assessment of almost 940 kinds of Brazilian cat and dog food has found that producing wet food creates 690% more greenhouse gas emissions than making dry food,” the New Scientist reports. According to the outlet, an average 10kg dog on a dry-food diet is responsible for about 830kg of CO2 equivalent per year – roughly 12.4% of that of an average Brazilian citizen – while on wet food, the same dog would be responsible for 6,500kg of CO2 equivalent. The Guardian and Independent also cover the study.
In other new research, the MailOnline covers a study which finds that “brown bears are mating with polar bears and creating a more climate resilient hybrid animal”. The Daily Mail covers another paper, which finds that the Earth can regulate its temperature over hundreds of thousands of years through silicate weathering.
Comment
The Guardian view on Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement: setting a trap for Labour
There is significant comment in the UK media on chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement. “A failure by Labour to sign up to tough fiscal policies” has allowed Mr Hunt’s autumn statement to “be dressed up in Labour clothes”, writes a Guardian editorial. “The plan for higher taxes on wages and dividends as well as an extended windfall tax on oil and gas companies is about political positioning,” it continues. “Under Mr Hunt’s new fiscal strategy, austerity won’t arrive until after the end of the current parliamentary term. This is a trap” it concludes. In the autumn statement, Jeremy Hunt pledged “to double annual energy efficiency investment with new funding of £6bn,” writes Guardian environment editor Damian Carrington. “That is the good news. The bad news is that doubling does not happen until 2025, when the energy bills crisis may be over and the climate crisis will be even worse,” he continues. “The autumn statement’s purpose was to find £55bn in tax rises and spending cuts to stabilise the UK economy. To put that in context, that’s about 18 days’ worth of the pure profit the global oil and gas industry has been banking for the past 50 years,” Carrington concludes. The Guardian financial editor Nils Pratley, writes: “The chancellor’s statement, viewed through the lens of [energy] companies and investors, looks ‘a very reasonable outcome’.” While “promising to raise £14bn from generators out to 2028” – with an extended windfall tax – “Hunt left several billion on the table,” he continues. “UK faces depression and decline unless we recognise the need for a green new deal,” writes columnist Joyce McMillan for the Scotsman.“Hunt’s statement was not quite the budget that climate change forgot; but his main plan for dealing with it – despite the UK’s immense potential renewables wealth, far cheaper and quicker to exploit – was “above all”, to go ahead with the construction of Sizewell C, a vastly expensive and unwieldy nuclear project unlikely to produce any power for at least 15 years,” she continues. Guardian site editor Jonathan Yerushalmy writes for the paper review: “The UK newspaper frontpages are united in their strong – and negative – response to the chancellor’s long-awaited budget.”.
Meanwhile, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves tells the Economist: “‘The most important thing, and the agenda that I want to fight the next election on and lead on as chancellor, is growing the economy’.” At the centre of her plans is a “vast package of state investment in decarbonisation”, which includes” insulating 19m draughty homes and creating a new state-owned energy company,” pitched at the industrial towns that have “drifted away from Labour over the past two decades.” According to the Economist: “The green industrial agenda has become a sweet spot for Labour, as it has for centre-left parties globally. It provides a modernising mission for a party that believes in state activism but has struggled to articulate an agenda for office since its proposals for wholesale nationalisation of industries were rejected by voters in 2019.”
In other UK comment, Guardian columnist has Andy Beckett has penned a piece under the headline: “If you’re outraged by XR and Just Stop Oil, imagine how disruptive climate breakdown will be”. The paper also carries a comment piece under the headline: “I’m an art historian and climate activist: Just Stop Oil’s art attacks are becoming part of the problem”.
Science
Opposing seasonal temperature dependencies of CO2 and CH4 emissions from wetlands
A new study details the temperature-dependence of emissions of CO2 and methane from wetlands, finding opposite tendencies between the two greenhouse gases. Using tens of thousands of observations of emissions from 42 wetlands around the world, researchers determine the seasonal patterns of methane and CO2 emissions. They find that while the temperature dependence of CO2 emissions decreases as monthly temperatures increase, the opposite holds true for methane emissions. They note the importance of including these seasonal changes in climate models, writing that “neglecting the seasonal temperature dependencies might also bias the relative importance of warming-induced CO2 and methane emissions”.
Anthropogenic contributions to the 2021 Pacific Northwest heatwave
New research finds that human-driven climate change caused an increase in temperatures of up to 1C during the 2021 heatwave in the Pacific northwest. Researchers use a short-term weather forecast model to simulate the heatwave both with and without the effects of human-driven climate change. They find that these changes are responsible for an additional warming of 0.8-1C in the daily maximum temperatures that were observed during the heatwave, as compared to a world with no climate change. Investigating the potential effects of future warming under an extremely high-emissions scenario, they project that a similar heatwave would be increased by 5C by the end of the century.
Other stories
- Extreme heat will change us (The New York Times)
- Editorial: There is a better way to help poor countries fight climate change (The Economist)
- Fighting climate change, indigenous people protect Canadian forests (The New York Times)
- HSBC misled consumers with ‘greenwashing’ adverts, watchdog rules (The Daily Telegraph)
- Former trafficked child reveals how climate change is driving modern slavery (The Daily Telegraph)
- ‘Adapt or starve’: Sabrina Dhowre Elba on why she and husband Idris are speaking up for smallholder farmers (The Independent)
- Exclusive: Canada’s Trudeau to attend UN biodiversity summit in Montreal (Reuters)
- COP27: coral conservation groups alarmed over ‘catastrophic losses’ (The Guardian)
- ‘Everything is dead’: Animal carcasses litter Kenyan landscape as Horn of Africa megadrought and climate change collide (The Independent)
- Lab-grown meat takes one step closer to hitting supermarket shelves (The Independent)
- Factbox: The newest fronts in climate-change-related legal battles (Reuters)
- No one knows what “nature-based solutions” are (Vox)
- How droughts in Mexico could shape the future of the beer industry (The New York Times)
- At COP27, US and partners announce more funds for ‘efficient’ fertilizer as industry reports massive profits (DeSmog)
- Canada rejects Arctic mine expansion project after years of fierce protest (The Guardian)
- As evidence mounts, new concerns about fracking and health (Yale E360)
- Australia battles floods as frustration swells over relief, warnings (Reuters)
- What the greens learned from Big Oil (Politico)
- Egypt close to deals on 1GW of solar and wind projects (Reuters)
- Norway-backed fund to protect Amazon to restart early 2023 – Norwegian minister (Reuters)
- France’s plan for solar panels on all car parks is just the start of an urban renewable revolution (The Conversation)
- Egypt’s Nile Delta farmland salts up as temperatures, and seas, rise (Reuters)
- Marine partnership aims to halt decline of critically endangered fish (The Independent)
- Meet the ‘closer’ who finds the right words when climate talks hit a wall (The New York Times)
- How climate stress contributed to collapse of ancient Egypt (The Washington Post)
- Energy transitions: why countries respond differently to the same problem (The Conversation)