WHAT DID COP27 DELIVER?: As we bid adieu to this 12 months’s installment of U.N.’s annual climate conference, emotions are still simmering and the scramble is on to find out what was actually achieved in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The devil is at all times in the small print, but in relation to the pure language concluding COP27, experts aren’t sure climate diplomats really moved the ball forward in a meaningful way, based on draft decisions issued Friday.
“This COP shall be seen as a failure if it not only fails to make progress on the Glasgow text around fossil fuel phase out from last 12 months, but actually backtracks from that text,” Catherine Abreu, a campaigner with Destination Zero, told POLITICO’s Karl Mathiesen.
The draft doesn’t include a proposal from India to phase out all fossil fuels. And it omitted a timeframe for countries to align their emissions reduction plans with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees. Draft text does, nevertheless, call on institutions just like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to tackle more risk to extend climate finance threefold by 2025.
All that is alleged while the green movement achieved impressive access on the conference — the sort of access the fossil fuel industry can only dream of, Karl reports.
Take, for instance, Jennifer Morgan. Until February she was head of Greenpeace International. Now, she is Germany’s top climate envoy and was handed the job of finding agreement between amongst 200 countries on probably the most explosive issue on the conference: Who pays for the damage brought on by climate change?
It is a path increasingly climate activists are selecting. That shift gives them power to shape global affairs, but it surely also comes at the value of ethical purity.
Only one 12 months ago, Morgan was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Pacific islanders and other vulnerable nations against the rich polluters which have caused climate change. This 12 months, she was huddled along with her advisers meeting over those countries’ demands for climate reparations while her employer, the German government — together with the EU and U.S. — resisted making a reparations fund.
It’s “some of the controversial issues ever,” Morgan said.
Ultimately, Morgan’s EU bloc backed a proposal for climate reparations. The U.S., though, is seeming increasingly to be the lone holdout — though President Joe Biden promised delegates this time can be different.
That is putting U.S. climate envoy John Kerry in a make-or-break spot: Does he play spoiler or savior on the central issue of this 12 months’s climate gathering? Zack Colman, Karl and Sara Schonhardt have details.
DREAMS OF CARBON NEUTRALITY — California has a latest long-term plan that goals to get to carbon neutrality by 2045. The plan is not final yet (it still must be voted on by the California Air Resources Board next month), but it surely is drawing criticism from some who say the state is not doing enough to chop pollution in disadvantaged neighborhoods, our Camille Von Kaenel reports.
That is not its only hurdle. To achieve the lofty goals of the plan — which spans a whopping nearly 300 pages (in case you are searching for some light bedtime reading) — Californians would want to scale back driving by a 3rd. And if past performance is any indicator, that does not look too likely.
California would also need lots more clean energy to satisfy its emissions goals. Like lots. As in, it could have to quadruple its wind and solar energy by 2045. And while California’s renewable energy development rate is ahead of schedule, it is not ahead enough.
The state, for its part, acknowledged the plan — which it’s calling a “North Star” — is lofty to some.
“Make no mistake, many individuals don’t think this is feasible, and as many again don’t think 2045 is soon enough,” said Lauren Sanchez, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s climate adviser.
SOCCER AND GREENWASHING — The World Cup shall be big on fun and games — quite literally — with possibly a side order of “greenwashing.”
Organizers of the event, set to kick off Sunday, have said it’s carbon neutral. But critics think there’s slightly sketchiness in that portrayal.
Preparations for holding the famous soccer tournament in Qatar required an enormous amount of climate-damaging construction. And it’s expected to supply lots more emissions compared with the last edition in 2018, in keeping with climate advocates. While the game’s global governing body is using a carbon credit scheme to offset roughly half of the expected emissions, that tactic has been widely criticized, Daniel Cusick of POLITICO’s E&E News reports.
“It’s a type of climate denial,” said Allen Hershkowitz, founding director of the nonprofit Sport and Sustainability International and a number one expert on the intersection of climate change and skilled sports.
BANK SHOT ON ESG — The Kentucky Bankers Association is suing state Attorney General Daniel Cameron over his involvement with a multi-state investigation into six of the nation’s banks over “alleged antitrust and consumer protection law violations related to ESG.”
Cameron acted beyond his legal authority in joining other Republican attorneys general in in search of information from banks over their involvement with the U.N. Net-Zero Banking Alliance, KBA said in a lawsuit filed in Franklin Circuit Court on Halloween. The group also accuses Cameron of violating First Amendment Rights and a state law that allows the state to stop doing business with financial institutions that boycott fossil-fuel corporations.
“Our members understand the values and goals behind the passage of SB205, but that can’t be the premise of a precedent for allowing any government official or agency to exceed its authority over our industry,” KBA President and CEO Ballard Cassady said in a press release. “Today, it’s the ESG-type issues raised by the AG’s actions, tomorrow it may very well be dictating rates of interest or hiring practices.”
The attorney general’s office is reviewing the KBA’s lawsuit and plans to reply by Nov. 23, Krista Buckel, the acting communications director for Cameron, said in an email.
GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we let you know in regards to the latest on efforts to shape our future. We deliver data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and news Tuesday through Friday to maintain you within the loop on sustainability.
Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn and reporters Jordan Wolman and Allison Prang. Reach us all at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].
Like what you are reading? Excellent. Join for the Long Game . 4 days every week and still free!
— A serious Italian energy firm is planning to construct a solar cell plant within the U.S. as a part of broader push into the American market, the Wall Street Journal reports.
— A high-tech effort to reduce emissions related to air travel that truly might make things worse. Bloomberg has the story.
— Climate-linked weather disasters are prompting prospective retirees to rethink where they wish to spend their golden years, in keeping with the Latest York Times.
— And speaking of the World Cup, Qatar has decided to bar beer sales at stadiums in the course of the tournament. Which will annoy fans who’re coming from around the globe for the tournament, but it surely’s really going to hassle Budweiser owner Ab InBev, which reportedly paid $75 million for sponsorship rights.
WHAT DID COP27 DELIVER?: As we bid adieu to this 12 months’s installment of U.N.’s annual climate conference, emotions are still simmering and the scramble is on to find out what was actually achieved in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The devil is at all times in the small print, but in relation to the pure language concluding COP27, experts aren’t sure climate diplomats really moved the ball forward in a meaningful way, based on draft decisions issued Friday.
“This COP shall be seen as a failure if it not only fails to make progress on the Glasgow text around fossil fuel phase out from last 12 months, but actually backtracks from that text,” Catherine Abreu, a campaigner with Destination Zero, told POLITICO’s Karl Mathiesen.
The draft doesn’t include a proposal from India to phase out all fossil fuels. And it omitted a timeframe for countries to align their emissions reduction plans with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees. Draft text does, nevertheless, call on institutions just like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to tackle more risk to extend climate finance threefold by 2025.
All that is alleged while the green movement achieved impressive access on the conference — the sort of access the fossil fuel industry can only dream of, Karl reports.
Take, for instance, Jennifer Morgan. Until February she was head of Greenpeace International. Now, she is Germany’s top climate envoy and was handed the job of finding agreement between amongst 200 countries on probably the most explosive issue on the conference: Who pays for the damage brought on by climate change?
It is a path increasingly climate activists are selecting. That shift gives them power to shape global affairs, but it surely also comes at the value of ethical purity.
Only one 12 months ago, Morgan was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Pacific islanders and other vulnerable nations against the rich polluters which have caused climate change. This 12 months, she was huddled along with her advisers meeting over those countries’ demands for climate reparations while her employer, the German government — together with the EU and U.S. — resisted making a reparations fund.
It’s “some of the controversial issues ever,” Morgan said.
Ultimately, Morgan’s EU bloc backed a proposal for climate reparations. The U.S., though, is seeming increasingly to be the lone holdout — though President Joe Biden promised delegates this time can be different.
That is putting U.S. climate envoy John Kerry in a make-or-break spot: Does he play spoiler or savior on the central issue of this 12 months’s climate gathering? Zack Colman, Karl and Sara Schonhardt have details.
DREAMS OF CARBON NEUTRALITY — California has a latest long-term plan that goals to get to carbon neutrality by 2045. The plan is not final yet (it still must be voted on by the California Air Resources Board next month), but it surely is drawing criticism from some who say the state is not doing enough to chop pollution in disadvantaged neighborhoods, our Camille Von Kaenel reports.
That is not its only hurdle. To achieve the lofty goals of the plan — which spans a whopping nearly 300 pages (in case you are searching for some light bedtime reading) — Californians would want to scale back driving by a 3rd. And if past performance is any indicator, that does not look too likely.
California would also need lots more clean energy to satisfy its emissions goals. Like lots. As in, it could have to quadruple its wind and solar energy by 2045. And while California’s renewable energy development rate is ahead of schedule, it is not ahead enough.
The state, for its part, acknowledged the plan — which it’s calling a “North Star” — is lofty to some.
“Make no mistake, many individuals don’t think this is feasible, and as many again don’t think 2045 is soon enough,” said Lauren Sanchez, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s climate adviser.
SOCCER AND GREENWASHING — The World Cup shall be big on fun and games — quite literally — with possibly a side order of “greenwashing.”
Organizers of the event, set to kick off Sunday, have said it’s carbon neutral. But critics think there’s slightly sketchiness in that portrayal.
Preparations for holding the famous soccer tournament in Qatar required an enormous amount of climate-damaging construction. And it’s expected to supply lots more emissions compared with the last edition in 2018, in keeping with climate advocates. While the game’s global governing body is using a carbon credit scheme to offset roughly half of the expected emissions, that tactic has been widely criticized, Daniel Cusick of POLITICO’s E&E News reports.
“It’s a type of climate denial,” said Allen Hershkowitz, founding director of the nonprofit Sport and Sustainability International and a number one expert on the intersection of climate change and skilled sports.
BANK SHOT ON ESG — The Kentucky Bankers Association is suing state Attorney General Daniel Cameron over his involvement with a multi-state investigation into six of the nation’s banks over “alleged antitrust and consumer protection law violations related to ESG.”
Cameron acted beyond his legal authority in joining other Republican attorneys general in in search of information from banks over their involvement with the U.N. Net-Zero Banking Alliance, KBA said in a lawsuit filed in Franklin Circuit Court on Halloween. The group also accuses Cameron of violating First Amendment Rights and a state law that allows the state to stop doing business with financial institutions that boycott fossil-fuel corporations.
“Our members understand the values and goals behind the passage of SB205, but that can’t be the premise of a precedent for allowing any government official or agency to exceed its authority over our industry,” KBA President and CEO Ballard Cassady said in a press release. “Today, it’s the ESG-type issues raised by the AG’s actions, tomorrow it may very well be dictating rates of interest or hiring practices.”
The attorney general’s office is reviewing the KBA’s lawsuit and plans to reply by Nov. 23, Krista Buckel, the acting communications director for Cameron, said in an email.
GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we let you know in regards to the latest on efforts to shape our future. We deliver data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and news Tuesday through Friday to maintain you within the loop on sustainability.
Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn and reporters Jordan Wolman and Allison Prang. Reach us all at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].
Like what you are reading? Excellent. Join for the Long Game . 4 days every week and still free!
— A serious Italian energy firm is planning to construct a solar cell plant within the U.S. as a part of broader push into the American market, the Wall Street Journal reports.
— A high-tech effort to reduce emissions related to air travel that truly might make things worse. Bloomberg has the story.
— Climate-linked weather disasters are prompting prospective retirees to rethink where they wish to spend their golden years, in keeping with the Latest York Times.
— And speaking of the World Cup, Qatar has decided to bar beer sales at stadiums in the course of the tournament. Which will annoy fans who’re coming from around the globe for the tournament, but it surely’s really going to hassle Budweiser owner Ab InBev, which reportedly paid $75 million for sponsorship rights.
