Cop 29 live: Trump vow to ditch Paris agreement ‘of grave concern’ to small island states
NEWS | 13 November 2024
From 2h ago 06.28 EST Trump vow to ditch Paris agreement 'of grave concern' to small island states Dharna Noor Donald Trump’s pledge to exit the Paris climate agreement is “something of grave, grave concern” to climate-vulnerable countries, Ambassador Dr. Pa’oleilei Luteru, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, told the Guardian, writes Dharna Noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter for the Guardian US. In many places, climate disaster causes temporary devastation. But for small island states, the threat is existential, said Lutero, who is also the permanent representative of Samoa at the UN. “Our survival is very much at risk,” he said. As the world’s largest economy and top contributor to historic emissions, the US has an “ethical responsibility” to lead the climate fight, Lutero said. And without decisive climate action, the threat to other countries will also become more pronounced, Lutero said. “This is not just a crisis for small island developing states. Although we are the ones at the forefront, it will come to everyone if we do not act,” he said. “The US doesn’t live on a different planet.” The UK should also increase its ambition on climate action, Lutero said. Britain’s recent refusal to advocate for strong UN treaty language on fossil fuel phaseout has been “disappointing,” he said, as have cuts to the country’s development budget. UK officials have told him more aid budget cuts are possible, though they assured that they do not foresee a “drastic reduction in the amount of resources.” “Obviously, if you going to cut the budget it’s going to have an impact,” he said. Cop29 negotiators must quickly set a goal for climate finance, Lutero continued — a main task for negotiators at Cop29, since an (often broken) 2009 pledge expires this year. “It’s of critical importance that we agree on, or at least have a very good idea of, the quantity that we’re talking about,” he said. Poor nations need at least $1tn annually to cope with climate costs, and developed countries are willing to ensure about half of that comes from public money, leaving a yawning gap that countries are hoping to fill by other means. But “you can’t fill the gap if you don’t know what the starting point will be in terms of resources,” Lutero said. In addition to making ambitious financial commitments, rich nations should help vulnerable countries employ green technologies, while pressuring the global financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to restructure with climate justice in mind. A multilateral approach to the climate crisis is needed, Lutero argued. “It’s only when we come together that we can address global issues,” he said. Fiona Harvey wrote this week about how to fill the climate finance gap: Cop29: which climate finance ideas are most likely to work? Read more Share Updated at 06.32 EST 3m ago 07.57 EST As briefly mentioned by my colleague Dharna Noor earlier, negotiators at Cop29 are welcoming a pledge by development banks to lift climate funding to poor and middle-income countries. The World Bank is among the group that on Tuesday announced a joint goal of increasing this finance to $120 billion by 2030, a roughly 60% increase on the amount in 2023. “I think it’s a very good sign,” Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s climate minister, told Reuters on Wednesday. “But that on its own won’t be enough,” he added, insisting countries and companies must also contribute. Ryan’s view was echoed by Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation who welcomed the announcement as “a shot in the arm for the climate finance discussion” Securing an international climate financing agreement that ensures up to trillions of dollars for climate projects is a key aim of negotiators in Baku over the next two weeks. Developing countries are hoping for big commitments from rich, industrialised counterparts that are the biggest historical contributors to global warming, and some of which are also huge producers of fossil fuels. “Developed countries have not only neglected their historical duty to reduce emissions, they are doubling down on fossil-fuel-driven growth,” climate activist Harjeet Singh told Reuters. Share 9m ago 07.50 EST Damian Carrington Christmas has come early at Cop29 with the arrival of Sustaina Claus, writes Damian Carrington, Guardian environment editor. Philip McMaster, from Canada, who has been to 10 Cops, has a particular solution to the world’s climate and other problems: better childhoods to produce better leaders. “My focus is to make childhood great again – that’s our little slogan” he says. “Why? Because childhood produced Trump, childhood produced Biden, it produced you, it produced me. The childhood period is very informative and produces the next generation of leaders.” “But if you’re putting a phone up in their face, and they don’t get outside and don’t play, and they’re over pharmaceuticalised, you’re just gonna have a bunch of blobs,” McMaster says. View image in fullscreen Philip McMaster, from Canada, has come to Cop29 in Baku as Sustaina Claus. Photograph: Damian Carrington/The Guardian “For 600,000 years, we’ve been having childhoods, feet in the ground, family relations, social relations, scrape your knees, fall down, understand how things work, physicality. “But childhood is certainly not working now. It has produced the people who are making these decisions now, and they have lost their touch with reality. They’ve lost their touch with childhood.” Share 19m ago 07.40 EST Damian Carrington Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada, gave a powerful speech – as leaders of nations on the frontline of the climate crisis are able to do, writes Damian Carrington, Guardian environment editor. “I lead a country which experienced in the first half of the year a 50 year drought. Then on the first day of the second half, we experienced the earliest category five hurricane on record,” he said. “The island was devastated by flash flooding and landslides, all in a couple of hours.” “We are not here to beg, or to ask for sympathy,” Mitchell said. “It is one planet. It may be small islands today, but it will be Spain tomorrow and Florida the next day.” He called for a partnership with rich nations, in which Grenada shared how it is learning to cope with climate chaos. He called particularly for the finance to be provided for the Loss and Damage fund, which is for rebuilding communities after climate catastrophes: “Put the money in the fund, and make it available to those who suffer.” Earlier, Siaosi Sovaleni, Prime Minister of Tonga, expressed his country’s support for Australia’s bid to host Cop31 in 2026, and run it as the “Pacific Cop”. He says: “Climate change was, is, and will be the most existential threat to Pacific islands including Tongo.” Turkey is also making a strong pitch to host that summit. Share 34m ago 07.26 EST The profits of oil and gas producers could pay the entire annual bill for loss and damage caused by climate breakdown, according to a new analysis. Global Witness, a climate NGO, says the world’s top 30 oil and gas companies (excluding those based in poorer countries) recorded a combined average of $400bn per year in free cash flow since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015. That is the same amount researchers from Loss and Damage Collaboration said should be considered the minimum annual funding needed by lower-income countries to deal with the aftermath of climate disasters. Sarah Biermann Becker, a senior fossil fuels investigator at Global Witness, said: From super-charged hurricanes in the US to typhoons in the Philippines, ordinary people are already paying for the climate crisis. They’re paying with their health, homes and livelihoods, and doing what they can to build back in the wake of disaster. But as people struggle in the wake of climate chaos, there is one sector that’s raking in billions and avoiding any culpability for its role in the devastation – the fossil fuel industry. It’s time to end this injustice. We need billions of dollars to deal with climate impacts, and Big Oil firms are some of the richest companies on the planet – it’s time they paid their fair share to repair the damage they’ve done. A fund to help poorer countries respond to the effects of climate-related disasters was set up two years ago at Cop27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. But, as pointed out by Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, yesterday, so far pledges to the fund total just $700m. View image in fullscreen A man wades through a flooded village in the Philippines earlier today after heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Toraji. Photograph: Francis R Malasig/EPA Joseph Mangiben from Buenguet Province, the Philippines, said: When I was a child, strong typhoons didn’t come consecutively every single year. But today they come one after the other. I feel scared and I’m worried about what might happen. The ones who suffer most are poor nations like the Philippines. Share 49m ago 07.10 EST Ali Zaidi, climate advisor to the US president Joe Biden, has touted his country’s plans to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050 as a bipartisan project that could survive Donald Trump’s resuming power in January. The reelection of Trump, who has vowed to pull the US out of the Paris agreement and even questioned the reality of anthropogenic climate breakdown, has cast a long shadow over the Cop29 talks in Baku. Biden is not attending the summit, but according to AFP US officials in Baku have been trying to reassure their counterparts from other countries that Trump will be unable to halt US climate action. View image in fullscreen White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi speaks during a session at Cop29. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP Speaking to delegates, Zaidi suggested the nuclear plans in particular were an example of that. He said: I would remind you that this is an area that has witnessed not only bipartisan support... but also an area where Democratic and Republican administrations have passed the baton, one to the other, to keep progress going. These targets are bold, but they are also achievable. Many nations have already said they believe growing nuclear power will be the best way to meet net-zero commitments, in spite of the heavy cost of building reactors and the fear of catastrophic accidents. Share 1h ago 06.46 EST Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has used his statement in Baku to warn that Europe needs to devote more resources to responding to the impact of climate disasters. His country has doubled its renewable energy output since 2014, but in recent years has also struggled to recover from multiple floods and wildfires . This year, it had its hottest summer on record, after a winter with barely any rain. Addressing delegates, Mitsotakis said, according to Reuters: We cannot focus so much on 2050 that we forget 2024. We need more resources to prepare to respond in time, in order to save lives and livelihoods and to help people and communities rebuild after disaster. View image in fullscreen Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Greece, speaks at Cop29. Photograph: Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock Europe accounted for a diminishing share of global emissions but was almost alone in defending the rules of free trade and should make sure that the energy transition will not hurt its economy, Mitsotakis said. We need to ask hard questions about a path that goes very fast at the expense of our competitiveness, and a path that goes somewhat slower but allows our industry to adapt and to thrive. It is our responsibility to weigh these trade offs carefully Share 2h ago 06.28 EST Trump vow to ditch Paris agreement 'of grave concern' to small island states Dharna Noor Donald Trump’s pledge to exit the Paris climate agreement is “something of grave, grave concern” to climate-vulnerable countries, Ambassador Dr. Pa’oleilei Luteru, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, told the Guardian, writes Dharna Noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter for the Guardian US. In many places, climate disaster causes temporary devastation. But for small island states, the threat is existential, said Lutero, who is also the permanent representative of Samoa at the UN. “Our survival is very much at risk,” he said. As the world’s largest economy and top contributor to historic emissions, the US has an “ethical responsibility” to lead the climate fight, Lutero said. And without decisive climate action, the threat to other countries will also become more pronounced, Lutero said. “This is not just a crisis for small island developing states. Although we are the ones at the forefront, it will come to everyone if we do not act,” he said. “The US doesn’t live on a different planet.” The UK should also increase its ambition on climate action, Lutero said. Britain’s recent refusal to advocate for strong UN treaty language on fossil fuel phaseout has been “disappointing,” he said, as have cuts to the country’s development budget. UK officials have told him more aid budget cuts are possible, though they assured that they do not foresee a “drastic reduction in the amount of resources.” “Obviously, if you going to cut the budget it’s going to have an impact,” he said. Cop29 negotiators must quickly set a goal for climate finance, Lutero continued — a main task for negotiators at Cop29, since an (often broken) 2009 pledge expires this year. “It’s of critical importance that we agree on, or at least have a very good idea of, the quantity that we’re talking about,” he said. Poor nations need at least $1tn annually to cope with climate costs, and developed countries are willing to ensure about half of that comes from public money, leaving a yawning gap that countries are hoping to fill by other means. But “you can’t fill the gap if you don’t know what the starting point will be in terms of resources,” Lutero said. In addition to making ambitious financial commitments, rich nations should help vulnerable countries employ green technologies, while pressuring the global financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to restructure with climate justice in mind. A multilateral approach to the climate crisis is needed, Lutero argued. “It’s only when we come together that we can address global issues,” he said. Fiona Harvey wrote this week about how to fill the climate finance gap: Cop29: which climate finance ideas are most likely to work? Read more Share Updated at 06.32 EST 2h ago 06.21 EST As we mentioned earlier, today global leaders have been the delegates in Baku. According to the US-based news agency AP, many were expected to detail their nations’ first hand experiences of the catastrophic weather-related disasters becoming more frequent as a result of climate breakdown. Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada, told how his country had for most of the year suffered a 15-month drought, which only broke with the catastrophe of the category 5 Hurricane Beryl. He said: At this very moment, as I stand here yet again, my island has been devastated by flash flooding, landslides and the deluge of excessive rainfall, all in the space of a matter of a couple hours. It may be small island developing states today. It will be Spain tomorrow. It will be Florida the day after. It’s one planet. View image in fullscreen Dickon Mitchell, prime minister of Grenada, spoke of his country’s suffering as a result of the climate crisis. Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP Small island states are among those suffering the worst of the impacts of climate breakdown. Philip Edward Davis, prime minister of the Bahamas, also came with stern words for delegates, warning that progress on the climate was too often set back by changes of governments, such as in the US and Germany recently. If we leave climate action to the whims of political cycles, our planet’s future becomes precarious, very precarious. The climate crisis does not pause for elections or to accommodate the way of changing political ideas or ties. It demands continuity, commitment and most of all, solidarity. Share 2h ago 06.09 EST Hello, this is Damien Gayle taking over the liveblog for a few hours now, with thanks to Matt for getting things going this morning. Please do send us any comments or tips, or suggestions for that matter, on things we ought to be taking a look at. You can reach the team at cop29@theguardian.com. Share 2h ago 05.51 EST Ajit Niranjan View image in fullscreen Austrian youth delegates Photograph: Guardian A common theme around Cops is that climate summits are a waste of time - from the leaders of poor countries fed up with failed promises from the rich world, to activists sceptical of delegates flying to semi-petrostates, to teenagers aghast at the persistent lack of action from people who claim to care. Sigrid Karl, an Austrian youth delegate at Cop29, described feeling overwhelmed, hopeful and needing stamina. “Even though it’s difficult sometimes, there’s so many people here really trying to fight.” She said the Europeans had been willing to engage with young people perhaps more than some other delegations. Still, she added, the rhetoric around listening to young people can be “frustrating” if it shifts the responsibility to solve problems. “It’s not young people that are able to take these political positions.” Karl said she understood people who felt disengaged with climate talks. “I totally get that it seems far away, but this is a very important process to talk about these issues globally and find solutions together.” Still, not everyone has to be engaged with these processes, she said. “There’s so many things to do nationally and in your communities.” Share 3h ago 04.30 EST Simon Evans from Carbon Tracker has a useful update on the talks from Cop29 #COP29 13 Nov update After a day lost to Monday's "agenda fight", talks are in full swing Draft texts are emerging (see linked tracker) But the big one, on the new climate finance goal, is not due until later today (a draft from Bonn was rejected by G77+China)… pic.twitter.com/2hkveQBKF1 — Simon Evans (@DrSimEvans) November 13, 2024 Share 4h ago 04.09 EST My colleague Phoebe Weston has some analysis from the UN biodiversity conference which ended in disarray earlier this month. She reports that the event held in Colombia saw a record number of lobbyists from the meat, oil and pesticides industries in attendance Meat, oil and pesticide industry lobbyists turned out in record numbers at Cop16 Read more Share Updated at 05.04 EST 4h ago 03.36 EST Dharna Noor Small, climate-vulnerable island states have the right to be angry with rich nations for their failure to lead on climate action, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday. “You are on the sharp end of a colossal injustice, an injustice that sees the very future of your islands threatened by rising seas,” he said. Guterres praised the nations for their ambitious climate pledges, saying, “you are the first responders,” and urged wealthy G20 nations to take their lead. To support vulnerable islands, negotiators must finalise the creation of a loss and damage fund and boost funding for adaptation and mitigation, Guterres said. In September, the UN called for the transformation of international financial institutions to relieve debt and promote access to climate aid, the secretary-general noted. “We must push for implementation of these commitments starting here and now,” he said. Transforming the architecture of financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund is a key priority for vulnerable, heavily-indebted nations, Ambassador Dr. Pa’oleilei Luteru, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, told the Guardian. “We’re not saying give us free money,” he said. “What we’re saying primarily is we want an even, level playing field.” Share Updated at 03.54 EST
Author: Matthew Taylor. Damien Gayle.
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