Climate Weekly

A weekly digest on impacts, politics and science of the climate emergency; from the Global South perspective. Access our extensive coverage on climate. You can find this newsletter in the web here.

November 04 – November 09, 2021

Dear readers,

The devastating impacts of climate change is a present-day reality and not a future possibility. The last decade was the warmest in 142 years of history. Indian ocean will be experiencing one of the highest sea level rise due to heavy melting of polar ice-caps, which rose 21 percent in last 4 decades, adding almost 3.5 trillion tonnes ice-melt in sea water.

The climate clock is ticking past. With only 500 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emission space left to breach the 1.50C warming thresholds and with annual global emission hitting 80 billion tonnes, if we failed to take our action beyond political pledges of Glasgow CoP, we may not be able to avert the dooms-day for human race. Our world should attain Net Zero by 2050, but the targets taken by G7 and China shows their unwillingness to follow polluters act principle.

Though Glasgow CoP is showing an upspring of lofty promises, but there is lack of plan to achieve those promises and over reliance of technologies yet to commercialized! Astonishingly the draft (of the final statement) by UK Presidency even fails to mention ‘fossil fuels’. This is despite warnings from entities like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency (IEA) that phasing out fossil fuels is critical to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius . Even the declaration by G20 on barring overseas investment in new coal, is too cosmetic. A blanket ban on investment in new coal is the necessity. Even after half a decade of Paris agreement, the wealthy north still fails to put the money on the table, and is yet grappling with the commitment and transparency of future funding requirements.

Very pertaining issue of climate justice though has come back in discourse after been sidelined in Paris. But the contentious issue of compensation under ‘loss and damage’ is getting sidelined by the developed countries

India's targets to combat climate change announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP 26 are bold and ambitious, but they will be immensely challenging as well to achieve explained Sunita Narain

EXTREME WEATHER TRACKER

October 2021 was the third-warmest in 142 years, 09 November 2021 Read More

Climate clock is ticking: Reset shows world is a year closer to 1.5°C warming threshold, 05 November 2021

Global warming led to frequent, extreme melting of ice in Greenland over past 40 years, 05 November 2021

3.5 trillion tonnes of ice melted and flowed into the ocean over the past 10 years, raising sea levels and flood risk globally, according to a new study

COMMENTARIES

CoP26: Meat eating is a big climate issue – but isn’t getting the attention it deserves, 09 November 2021

The global food system is currently responsible for about a quarter of all human-made greenhouse gases, a figure that is projected to increase

Mood at Glasgow: Promises galore, substance lacking, 08 November 2021

A slew of announcements by countries and businesses are missing the mark on key outcomes needed by the Global South

A ‘green childhood’ may be the only way to meet our mid-century climate targets, 08 November 2021

Greta Thunberg did not wait to be 25 years to contribute to the betterment of the planet

Energy crisis: Expensive, unreliable source of electricity, coal in spotlight, 08 November 2021

The power sector has begun to recognise coal as a ‘zombie fuel’

Green lending: World’s biggest banks’ latest initiative at COP26 is a step backwards, 06 November 2021

It wouldn’t make sense to abruptly forbid lending to non-green projects now, since we need to avoid hitting hardest the banks that are traditionally most involved in carbon-heavy sectors

CoP26: How India is paving the way towards climate action, 06 November 2021

India’s adaptation efforts have been shouldered through afforestation activities, wetland management, compensatory afforestation, etc

G20’s coal declaration is cosmetic and too little, too late, 05 November 2021

With a Code Red for humanity, the world expects nothing less than absolute withdrawal from all new investment in coal

CLIMATE NEWS | SCIENCE| IMPACTS| POLITICS

CoP26 Diary (Nov 8): Fossil fuel lobby larger than delegation of any country, term missing from draft statement, 09 November 2021

Saudi Arabian delegation blocked efforts to write in greater climate ambition in the document, say reports

Canadian first to be diagnosed as suffering from climate change, 09 November 2021

A doctor in Nelson, British Columbia wrote ‘climate change’ as part of his diagnosis of an elderly patient suffering from multiple problems exacerbated by the deadly North American heatwave in June

COP 26: Contentious issues of finance, carbon markets pushed to week 2, 09 November 2021

CoP26 President Alok Sharma reported progress made during week one in Glasgow in an informal stocktaking plenary November 8

CoP26: Glasgow summit hits finance wall, lack of funds linked to achieving Net Zero target, 09 November 2021

India leads charge; Bangladesh, island countries also raise funds question

CoP26: 47 countries commit to make climate-resilient health systems, 09 November 2021

42 countries also commit to making their health systems more sustainable and low-carbon

'CoP26 must deliver to help developing countries deal with loss and damage', 09 November 2021

Down To Earth spoke to Sunil Acharya, regional advisor on climate and resilience at Practical Action on loss and damage negotiations at Glasgow

Towards better adaptation: Global model to assess resilience to climate risks launched, 09 November 2021

The model will help countries focus on national adaptation investments

Target to halve global fuel consumption by 2030 is stalling: IEA report, 08 November 2021

Fuel consumption should fall 4.3 per cent per year on average from 2019 to 2030, to halve fuel consumption of new light-duty vehicles

CoP26: Contradictions dominate first Glasgow draft, fossil fuel cut not considered, 08 November 2021

Draft identifies global Net Zero as one of the possible elements for inclusion under Glasgow outcome; experts call it a bogus claim

Shipping emissions must fall by a third by 2030 and reach zero before 2050 – new research, 08 November 2021

CoP26 will put a much needed spotlight on the shipping sector. At a subsequent meeting in November 2021, the IMO will discuss plans for revising its climate strategy in 2023

Carbon budget target 2030: How it ends, 08 November 2021

What is the carbon budget that remains — the amount of carbon dioxide we can emit going forward if we are to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C?

CoP26: Activists protest global leaders’ dilly-dally, demand climate justice now, 07 November 2021

Greta Thunberg termed CoP26 discussions “blah, blah, blah”

There has been a decline in climate finance during COVID-19: WRI report, 05 November 2021

Countries have been forced to cut funding for many climate-related sectors to free up money for addressing pandemic-related expenditures and revenue losses

CoP26: 104 countries promise to cut methane emissions; What is the global pledge about?, 05 November 2021

A 0.3% reduction per year in methane is equivalent to net-zero for carbon dioxide — there would be no additional warming if this level of reduction is achieved

CoP26: Adaptation costs increase as fund flow slows down, 04 November 2021

The latest UNEP Adaptation Gap Report says that adaptation costs and financing needs in developing countries are five to 10 times greater than current finance flows

CoP26 Diary (Nov 3): Activists outrage at not being able to access event, 04 November 2021

A round-up of what went on at the Glasgow summit

CoP26: Carbon budget report puts Net Zero euphoria in place at Glasgow, 04 November 2021

Net rise of emission for all major countries in 2021

Carbon budget: Unfair share has been the way of the world, 04 November 2021

Till 1989, the original seven emitters appropriated 77% the world's carbon space. Between 1990 and 2019, China, along with the original seven, was behind 67% of the world's emissions. The remaining world, about 66% of the people, emitted only 33%

Global emissions almost back to pre-pandemic levels after unprecedented drop in 2020, new analysis shows, 04 November 2021

From the beginning of 2022, the world can emit an additional 420 billion tonnes of CO2 to limit global warming to 1.5℃, or 11 years of emissions at this year’s rate

Videos

Déjà vu: Will Chennai see a repeat of 2015 deluge?

Watch Video>>

What does PM Modi's climate change goals at CoP26 Glasgow mean for India? Sunita Narain explains

Watch Video>>

This Weekly Newsletter is published by Down to Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based global think tank advocating on global south developmment issues.

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