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COP26 took place from October 31 to November 12, 2021

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One of the goals of COP26 is to
Secure global net zero by mid-century, or 2050.

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Why is this based in the UK?

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Why are these these goals been created?

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UK is hosting the COP 26 in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021.

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Why was the event placed during a pandemic?

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Who are the important people or leaders?
President: Alok Sharma
High-level champion: Nigel Topping
UK international champion on adaptation and residence: Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Prime minister's finance advisor: Mark Carney

What corporations are involved?

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Why was this foundation created?

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What is the biggest difference between the COP to the UN?

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When President Biden was asked in Rome on Sunday about criticism of the world's wealthiest economies to do more to address climate change, he noted to absence of two key players: China and Russia.

"Not only Russia, but China, basically didn't show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change," the president told reporters. "There's a reason why people should be disappointed in that. I found it disappointing myself."

One day later, as Mr. Biden joined more than 100 world leaders who have descended on Glasgow for a critical climate summit - including Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain - the leaders of China and Russia were among the most notable no-shows.

Along with Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey are not attending the summit.

The presence of heads of state and government at the talks is not just symbolic. Real work gets done among leaders that cannot happen among lower-level diplomats. During the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, President Barack Obama barged in to a secret meeting being held by the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa. The discussions that came after helped clinch a deal, albeit a weak one.

So the high-profile absences this time have dismayed some experts.

"Even as most democracies are making ambitious climate commitments, the world's most powerful autocrats in Beijing, Moscow and elsewhere are thumbing their noses, refusing to cut their emissions and even to show up at climate negotiations," said Paul Bledsoe, who advised the Clinton White House on climate change and is now with the Progressive Policy Institute.

Mr. Putin said more than a week ago that he would not attend the summit, signaling that he had concerns about the coronavirus.

"The president unfortunatelywill not speak, because the option to participate by videoconference is not available in Glasgow," said Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman.

Mr. Peskov responded to Mr. Biden's comments by saying that Russia was "already ahead of many countries, including those of Western Europe," in transitioning to low-carbon sources of energy.

Mr. Putin, addressing the Group of 20 summit in Rome via video on Sunday, said that 86 percent of Russian energy consumption came from nuclear, renewables and natural gas. Critics note that while natural gas emits about half the carbon dioxide of coal, it still generates pollution that is warming the planet, and its pipelines are vulnerable to leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Mr. Bolsonaro, under fire for his environmental policies, has not given a reason for his absence. He attended the G20 talks over the weekend, and he is visiting an Italian town that plans to award him honorary citizenship instead of going to the climate conference.

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has pledged to make tackling climate change a priority, was also expected to travel to Glasgow after the G20 summit, but instead flew back to Istanbul, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday. The reason for skipping the climate talks was a protocol issue involving his delegation in Glasgow, an official told reporters. Turkey's environment minister is expected to attend the conference in his place.

Mr. Xi is expected to issue a statement to the Glasgow summit. He has not publicly left China since the coronavirus spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

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Who's attending (Biden and Modi), and who isn't (Putin and Xi).

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When President Biden was asked in Rome on Sunday about criticism of the world's wealthiest economies to do more to address climate change, he noted to absence of two key players: China and Russia. "Not only Russia, but China, basically didn't show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change," the president told reporters.

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The goal for COP 26 was for nations to reach net-zero emissions

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Why do some countries decide not to attend?

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Which countries are the biggest emitters? Which countries are doing the best in terms of cutting their emissions?

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Climate vulnerable
The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) is a global partnership of countries that are disproportionately affected by the consequences of global warming. The forum addresses the negative effects of global warming as a result of heightened socioeconomic and environmental vulnerabilities. (Wikipedia)

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140 countries pledged to end deforestation and reverse deforestation by 2030. Russia and brazil cluded (both countries account for 30% of the world's forest)

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Fuel industry is the most polluting industry
As population levels rise, we’re requiring more and more fuel for everyday life. It's estimated that the world consumed 100.3 million barrels of oil per day in 2019. To put this into perspective, our oil consumption in 2006 was 85 million per day.

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The biggest emitter of CO2 is China

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40 countries agreed phase out the use of coal, while 26 countries signed the coal to clean power transition for the first time. Some actions include stopping the construction and the issuing of new coal plant and permits

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As young climate activists descended on Glasgow for the COP26 UN climate summit, Vanessa Nakate was faced with a familiar yet sad experience: Being pushed to the side.

"I think it's not just my experience. There are many activists from the global south who have been sidelined at the conference," she said.

Nakate is no stranger to the world stage or being erased from the record, having attended another summit last year in Davos, Switzerland.

While she was there she posed for a photo with other activists. She was the only Black woman among the five who were photographed, and when The Associated Press published the photo, they cropped her out of the picture.

After the photo was published Nakate tweeted: "You didn't just erase a photo, you erased a continent, but I am stronger than ever."

She also posted a video asking the question: "Does that mean that I have no value as an African activist, or the people from Africa don't have any value at all?"

Nakate is Ugandan and her experience in Davos influenced the title of her new memoir, A Bigger Picture. My Fight to bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis. She spoke with NPR about the role gender plays in climate activism, whether the COP26 summit feels inclusive, and her advice for other youth who want to get involved in climate activism.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity and includes some web-only highlights.

Interview Highlights
On how young people view the climate crisis
Many young people ... young adults, very many teenagers, very many children are worried about the reality of the climate crisis. They are worried about the kind of future that they are walking into. And sometimes it can be challenging for very many young people because they can get frustrated. They can get depressed because of the continuous inaction of leaders and the escalating climate disasters. I have experienced it as well. So it is sad because young people are seeing how much their lives are in danger. But again, it's also helpful because they are not keeping silent about it. They are speaking up. They are mobilizing and they are sending messages out, demanding for a future that rightfully belongs to them.
On the need to learn more about climate change from the perspective of those in the global south
There is so much to learn about the climate crisis, and learning about the climate crisis means learning from the voices that are on the front lines. And we have seen how continuously activists from the global south, who are speaking up from the most affected communities - their voices are not being platformed. Their voices are not being amplified. Their stories are being erased ... This is a problem. We can't have climate justice if voices from the most affected areas are being left behind.

On whether the COP26 summit has felt inclusive or exclusive
On my first day at the COP, I happened to meet [Nicola Sturgeon], the First Minister of Scotland ... with Greta Thunberg. And unfortunately, some media, the way they were reporting about it, you would see a picture, but then it would say, "Greta meets First Minister," [and not include my name]. And honestly, I just didn't have words for it, because this is something that I have already talked about. I think it's not just my experience. There are many activists from the global south who have been sidelined at the conference.
On what climate change looks like in Kampala, Uganda
Uganda, as a country, heavily depends on agriculture as an economy, and also for very many families, especially in the rural areas. So with the rise in global temperatures, the disruptions in weather patterns are causing extreme weather events like flooding, like landslides, like extreme droughts. So it means a loss of people's funds, drying of people's crops, destruction of people's houses. These are some of the visible impacts of the climate crisis in Uganda.
On the role gender plays in climate activism
This is a conversation that many people don't want to have. People don't like mixing climate and, for example, race or climate and gender. But it's evident that women and girls are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis in communities like mine. In many communities across the global south, where women and girls have the responsibility of providing food for their families or collecting water for their families or firewood for their families. So many times women are at the frontlines when these disasters happen. It is their hard work that is put to nothing when the farms are destroyed or when their crops are destroyed. It is women who have to walk very long distances to look for water for their families in case of extreme water scarcity.
On what to say to young people who don't know where to start with climate activism or those who feel they don't have any power
Well, I would say that no voice is too small to make a difference and no action is too small to transform our community. Many times, young people think that they need to have so many resources or they need to have a specific kind of voice or a specific kind of support. When I started my climate strikes, I only had like a marker, like a pencil to write my sign ... so that was the first thing that we used to go to the climate strike, and we just kept on sharing on social media. So I think it's really important for young people across the world to know that you are not too small to make a difference.
The audio version of this interview was produced by Noah Caldwell and Jonaki Mehta and edited by Ashley Brown. Wynne Davis adapted it for web.

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Uganda's Vanessa Nakate says COP26 sidelines nations most affected by climate change

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As young climate activists descended on Glasgow for the COP26 UN climate summit, Vanessa Nakate was faced with a familiar yet sad experience: Being pushed to the side. "I think it's not just my experience. There are many activists from the global south who have been sidelined at the conference," she said.

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What does being "climate vulnerable" mean?

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What actions can we take to reduce our carbon footprint?

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What actions can we take to reduce our carbon footprint?

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What is the definition of climate change

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How has climate change affected our daily lives

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What have people done to mitigate climate change?

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What have people done to mitigate climate change?

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Why does climate change affect some people and places more than others?

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Why does climate change affect some people and places more than others?

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Why are climate activists generally younger?

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Why are climate activists generally younger?

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To what extent has climate change affected our daily lives?

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To what extent has climate change affected our daily lives?

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Should sustainability be taught as a separate course in schools?

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Should sustainability be taught as a separate course in schools?

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Will global leaders actually come together to combat climate change?

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Will global leaders actually come together to combat climate change?

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Imagine you are a climate activist and have a popular blog with thousands of followers. Write a blog post about a specific topic. Tone will be fairly informal and engaging, with proper blog post conventions. Include a call for action/response at the end. Can include links/photos.

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'Cop26 is a failure': Greta Thunberg rallies climate activists in Glasgow

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Sir David Attenborough's Address to World Leaders at COP26 – Speech in Full

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'We are sinking': Tuvalu minister gives Cop26 speech standing in water to highlight sea level rise

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- contains personal opinion
- contains links
- contains photos
- can be written by a company/corporation, or an individual

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This is a story of redemption. I know that word can mean different things to different people but sometimes redemption shows itself in strange places. Sometimes a person's pain can be redeemed. Sometimes the anguish we're carrying might actually be the very thing that opens our eyes to something disarming and unexpected and transformational...

When my son died in an avalanche, he was 25 years old. Justin was healthy, happy, loving and mature. We had a camaraderie that I valued a lot. Shortly before he died, he sent me an email. In it he wrote, "Dad, you're the most honorable man I know. Thank you for teaching me how to love." Those are the words that a parent longs to hear and so, when the news came of his loss, I was devastated.

I think I probably grieved in the usual way during the next two or three years. There was nothing exceptional about it. I was basically an emotional basketcase during the first year and gradually, over time, my mind adjusted to the "new normal" even while that big gaping hole remained in my soul.

Then one day, I realized that I wasn't accomplishing anything of value. I was focused only on my losses. It was like I was viewing my pain through a camera with a zoom lens attached to it. I couldn't see peripheral things. I think it's healthy for a grieving person to focus on a loss. But there comes a time when we're ready to take off the zoom lens and begin viewing life through a wide-angle lens because redemption is often found hiding in the peripheries where no one thinks to look.

But... how do we do that? How do we begin searching for something that we've never experienced before - especially when we don't even know what it is?

Something told me that I needed to find people who had suffered more than me. So one day I sat in front of my computer and began googling things. I didn't even know where to start. I forget how my search began but at the end of several hours I found myself viewing a video of a little girl living in a garbage dump in Latin America. The place was called "La Chureca" and there were hundreds of kids in that dump. I had never been to Latin America but when I saw that little girl, a mysterious feeling came over me that just said, "Go."

Ordinarily, I'm not the kind of person who says, "God told me this, or God told me that." There have been so many kooky people saying so many kooky things in the name of God and I just never wanted to be one of them. But when the word "Go" began reverberating in my soul, I recalled the day after Justin died. I remembered sitting on my bedroom floor with my face in the carpet, sobbing my heart out, and another mysterious feeling came over me then as if I was being told, "This isn't an accident, Will. I am doing something. Trust me in the darkness."

So after reading about that garbage dump, I bought a ticket, got on a plane and headed to a place that travel agencies never tell you about. As soon as I arrived, I knew my life would never be the same.

Sometimes we encounter things that profoundly change our outlook on life and when it happens, it doesn't matter that former joys have lost their allure or that our foundations have been shaken. All we know is that the walls we've built around ourselves have crumbled into dust. Somehow, our unsatisfied yearnings no longer throb inside us and something restorative is taking place deep inside our souls.

Sitting on the outskirts of Managua, the dump has been called one of the most wretched places on earth. A few thousand people make their homes there. They sift through the rubbish for food to eat or things to sell. The children begin their careers early. You can see them with their sticks - poking and prodding the soil for plastics or metal or something of value. Girls as young as nine years old prostitute themselves to the garbage truck drivers in exchange for the first pick from the truck.

This is a world where violence and innocence live together and where a young girl's best protection against a sexual predator is an emaciated body. The poverty is relentless. The shame is merciless. Disease pocks the scalps of tiny little heads. But despite all the danger, the place is strangely disarming. How can we poke our lives into such a world without lowering our guard? What is the point of my fortress when a daddyless girl wants to play with me? Brick and mortar melt like wax in the warmth of her smile and the glow of her eyes. It's like falling in love with grace itself - and I found myself not wanting to leave that miserable place.

Maybe I was nuts. Maybe I touched something unclean. Maybe I contracted a strange disorder. Maybe the heat got to me. Maybe I hadn't felt so alive in decades. Maybe I had to be emptied before I could ever be filled...

I have a faith. I don't go to church anymore because the tradition that I grew up in isn't very healthy these days. But... I began praying that I could adopt one of those kids from Nicaragua. It was an impossible prayer. I knew it. The Nicaraguan government doesn't allow Americans to adopt anyone. I was also a single male who wasn't getting any younger and no agency would ever allow me to adopt a little girl anyway. But I prayed that prayer because I thought maybe God is the God of the impossible and I was crazy enough to believe anything could happen.

I eventually had to fly home but on my third trip to Nicaragua, something unexpected happened...

I had made arrangements with a Nicaraguan woman named Diana to translate for me. I was learning Spanish but... Es difícil porque mi cerebro está viejo y decrépito. So Diana was a life saver.

As soon as I arrived at the airport, Diana began telling me about her kid sister named Jenny. Diana was one of those super-organized women who wanted to plan my itinerary by the hour - months in advance. I was the free-spirited artist who just wanted to go with the flow and Jenny, well... Jenny was a wreck. Her dad had died when she was two years old. The family lost everything. She spent her childhood in a Third World hell. She had slept on floors as a child, gone days without food, suffered various indignities, developed an anxiety disorder with debilitating panic attacks and an extra dose of depression on the side. Diana wanted Jenny to just pick herself up and earn some money for the family but Jenny was having a tough time of it. She was 25 years old when I met her - the same age as Justin when I lost him.

The good news is that Jenny was very creative. She wanted to be a photographer but she had no camera - just a cheap cell phone that took pictures. She also had the disorganized personality of an artist. She didn't mind chaos in the bedroom she shared with her sister and that drove Diana absolutely nuts. It was an amusing spectacle to watch.

So one evening I took Diana and Jenny and their mom out to dinner. When we were on our way to the restaurant, Jenny began to talk. She said, "My family doesn't want me to say this but I've been having problems. I have panic attacks and depression and I don't know how to fix myself." Those few words almost made me cry. Not because they were sad, but because I wasn't used to the beauty of her honesty. Most people can't do what Jenny did. She was open and transparent and she had no interest in cultivating a fake veneer of perfection.

When we arrived at the restaurant, she took out her cell phone and showed me her photos. I was impressed. They weren't just pretty pictures. I could tell that she had an eye for composition and light and she also had one other thing that brought life to her work. She had a heart for vulnerable people. The more I listened to her, the more I saw how intelligent and analytical she was. By the end of the evening, I was in awe.

Sadly, after ten days, I had to fly home. Jenny surprised Diana by waking up at 5:30 in the morning to go to the airport with me. Ordinarily, Jenny was too depressed to get out of bed before noon. Some days she didn't get out of bed at all. So... Diana couldn't believe her eyes when her sister accompanied us to the airport. When we were there, I could tell that Jenny wanted to ask me something. But she didn't. So I got on the plane and flew home.

Once back in Vermont, I received an email. It was from that crazy girl with the cell phone camera. She wrote... "I have an unusual question for you. All my life, all I ever wanted was a dad. I never cared about toys. I just wanted a dad to spend time with me and encourage me and protect me. Would you be my dad? Would you help me to believe in myself? Would you help me overcome my problems?" My heart melted. I realized immediately that my impossible prayer was answered and that her humble cry for help would begin one of the sweetest chapters of my life.

After telling Jenny how honored I was to be her dad, I sent her a camera with lenses and a computer too. Then I asked her if there was a school in Managua where she could learn photography. She told me about a photo academy run by the French government as part of a cultural exchange effort. We enrolled her. A few weeks later, I received an email from a psychiatrist in Managua who had been helping Jenny for free. She said, "I cannot believe the transformation that is happening to your daughter! She wakes up early each morning, goes to school, does her homework, and teaches herself photo editing online." A few months later, Jenny's professor said, "Your daughter is a frickin' genius!"

Jenny graduated at the top of her class and has since established a name for herself in her field. When she visits me in the US, she is full of joy. She loves being in my workshop as I sculpt and paint. She says, "Teach me Dad! I want to learn!" When we go places, She brags about me to others. She says, "My dad is an honorable man!" I can't begin to express the joy this brings after years of mourning. She tells everyone our story. People cry. It is a story of redemption. In some mysterious way, the most heart-breaking events of our lives gave birth to the most beautiful events of our lives.

So I'll leave you here with perhaps the only words that really matter because... there are mysteries also hidden in the peripheries of your life. They are waiting to be found with a wide-angle lens while you mourn your losses and bear your pain. There is also a voice calling from the deep and offering to redeem that pain with words that are disarming, unexpected and transformational:

"This isn't an accident."

"I'm doing something."

"Trust me in the darkness."

"Go."

*Read more of Will Kautz's work at his Facebook page.

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This is a story of redemption. I know that word can mean different things to different people but sometimes redemption shows itself in strange places. Sometimes a person's pain can be redeemed. Sometimes the anguish we're carrying might actually be the very thing that opens our eyes to something disarming and unexpected and transformational...

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As the dust settles on COP26, what did it deliver for the world’s forests?

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As the dust settles on COP26, what did it deliver for the world’s forests?

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https://www.globalwitness.org/en/blog/as-the-dust-settles-on-cop26-what-did-it-deliver-for-the-worlds-forests/

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This contrasts with the feeling of disappointment with world leaders again falling short of delivering the changes needed to tackle the climate crisis.

Whilst Glasgow saw a plethora of pledges on deforestation from governments, companies and financial institutions, these were thin on detail and lacking accountability.

Here we look at the key COP26 announcements on deforestation and what they might mean for the world's forests.

The Glasgow Leaders' Declaration

The Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use saw over 140 countries commit to 'halt and reverse' deforestation by 2030.

Viewed optimistically, the declaration is the first of its kind to bring together so many Heads of State including signatories from key countries with tropical forests. It signals growing awareness that there is no way we can contain climate change to 1.5C while destroying the world's remaining forests.

However, the Glasgow Declaration is a purely voluntary statement and not a legal commitment. It didn't even receive a mention in the final negotiated COP26 text. The lack of accountability in the declaration is particularly worrying given the failure of previous similar pledges such as the New York Declaration on Forests, which committed to halve deforestation by 2020 and end it completely by 2030.

If the Glasgow Declaration fails to halt deforestation, it will amount to little more than a PR stunt that helps grab headlines and gives a veneer of respectability to some of the worst offenders. The fact that Indonesian Ministers cast doubt on their ability to deliver on the country's commitment, whilst the ink on the pledge was barely dry, does not give cause for confidence. Nor does the track record of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who signed up to the declaration despite allowing the accelerated destruction of the Amazon rainforest, which latest data shows is at a 15 year high.

Funding pledges

Public and private funding amounting to almost £14 billion ($19.2 billion) was pledged at COP26 to tackle deforestation, and increase support for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Resourcing grassroots communities is vital to help people to formalise their rights, defend legal cases and fight the threats to their land and livelihoods - which can come from companies but also the state. These groups are on the frontline of defending the environment, yet currently receive just less than 1% of climate funding.

However, as we pointed out at the time of the announcement, COP26's finance pledge is dwarfed by the flows of finance to deforestation. Our recent analysis found that banks and investors in the UK, EU, US, and China ploughed around eight times the amount pledged at COP26 - $157 billion since the Paris Climate Agreement - into agribusiness firms linked to tropical deforestation and associated human rights abuses. And these financiers netted an estimated $1.74 billion in income along the way.

So what progress was made at COP26 to stop these financial flows?

Are banks and financial institutions going to clean up their act?

At the start of COP26, a group of over 30 organisations, including Global Witness, put out a joint statement highlighting the 7 key elements that must be in any effective plan to address financial flows driving deforestation and associated human rights abuses. Sadly, none of the commitments at COP26 got anywhere near achieving this.

Amongst the finance announcements at COP26 was a statement by 30 asset managers with $8.7 trillion assets under management committing to "eliminate commodity-driven deforestation from our investment and lending portfolios by 2025". The approach appears to emphasize influencing companies they finance, rather than outright divestment from repeat offenders - so the jury is out on what this will deliver in practice. No high street banks signed up to this commitment, and almost all of the financiers featured in our recent report as significant sources of financing for deforestation financing were conspicuous by their absence, including the likes of HSBC, JPMorgan and BNP Paribas.

In addition, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) announced that financial institutions controlling $130 trillion are now signed up to 'net zero' emissions by 2050. Despite widespread recognition of the role of forests in climate change, having a climate policy or a 'net zero' commitment by 2050 will not require a financial institution to stop bankrolling deforestation. In fact, they could in principle meet a Net Zero commitment - as currently defined by GFANZ - and still be funding the rampant destruction of rainforests. Alliance members include HSBC, BNP Paribas and JP Morgan - all of whom were featured in our recent report as serial financiers of some of the worst known agribusiness companies linked to deforestation and human rights abuses. Sadly, these new commitments give us no confidence that these banks and investors will end their complicity in global forest destruction.

Corporate/Big agribusiness commits to.... what exactly?

Globally, commercial agribusiness is the number one driver of deforestation, as forests are destroyed to clear land for crops and livestock. At COP26, the Agricultural Commodity Companies Corporate Statement of Purpose committed to laying out a roadmap to 1.5C for companies responsible for half of global trade in forest-risk commodities. However, it says little beyond the reiteration of previous commitments on deforestation. Indeed, many of the signatories featured in ourDeforestation Dividends report and have made similar commitments before. We have engaged with them repeatedly on their links to deforestation and human rights abuses, only to see continued bad practice.

What next?

Our planet and communities on the frontline cannot afford more delayed action and empty promises on deforestation. The repeated failure of voluntary commitments by governments, companies and financiers shows that we can no longer rely on toothless pledges.

As UK Minister for the International Environment and Climate, Lord Goldsmith, pointed out at an event we hosted as part of COP26: " If we cannot move to a situation where banks cease investing in the kind of destructive activities that we're talking about here, if that doesn't happen, as a consequence of commitment across the board within that sector, then the only alternative is [that] government regulates". The question is how much longer before we reach this point? How long will global leaders wait whilst the Amazon and other tropical rainforests continue to be decimated?

The only way to embed real accountability and remove the incentives driving global deforestation is through regulation. This is why it's so crucial that consumer countries and hubs of global finance like China, the EU, UK and US bring forward laws to stop their firms and financial institutions fuelling the destruction of the world's climate-critical forests.

Ultimately, the success of the pledges made in Glasgow will be judged by what actually changes on the ground for forests and for the Indigenous People and local communities that depend on and defend them. The world will be watching.

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As the dust settles on COP26, what did it deliver for the world's forests? | Global Witness

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This contrasts with the feeling of disappointment with world leaders again falling short of delivering the changes needed to tackle the climate crisis. Whilst Glasgow saw a plethora of pledges on deforestation from governments, companies and financial institutions, these were thin on detail and lacking accountability.

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By Ian Parry

June 8, 2018

The world is getting hotter, resulting in rising sea levels, more extreme weather like hurricanes, droughts, and floods, as well as other risks to the global climate like the irreversible collapsing of ice sheets.

Here are five ways the IMF helps countries move forward with their strategies as part of their commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Mitigate emissions. Carbon taxes, or similar charges for the carbon content of coal, petroleum products, and natural gas, are potentially the most effective instruments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the major source of heat-trapping gases. These taxes are straightforward to administer, for example, building off existing fuel excises, and can raise significant revenue for government that they might use to cut other burdensome taxes on the economy, or fund growth-enhancing investments.

The IMF provides practical guidance on the design of fiscal policy to mitigate climate change. We are developing spreadsheet tools to help countries gauge the emissions, and broader fiscal and economic impacts of carbon pricing, and the trade-offs across alternative mitigation instruments like taxes on individual fuels, emissions trading, and incentives for energy efficiency.

For example, our annual economic review for China showed that a carbon tax, or just a tax on coal use, would be significantly more effective at reducing carbon and local air pollution emissions than emissions trading systems which do not cover emissions from vehicles and buildings, and would also raise substantial revenue.

And according to our forthcoming working paper, a $70 price per ton on carbon dioxide emissions in 2030, which would increase gasoline prices by about 60 cents per gallon, and more than triple coal prices, would be more than sufficient to meet mitigation pledges in some advanced and emerging market economies like China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa. That price would be nearly sufficient in some other countries like Turkey and the United States, but well short of what Australia, Canada, and some European countries need.

These differences in the ability of the $70 price to meet mitigation pledges reflect both differences in the stringency of commitments, and in the responsiveness of fuels and emissions to pricing. For example, emissions tend to be more responsive to pricing in countries that use a lot of coal, like China, India, and South Africa.

Energy subsidy reform. Pricing carbon should be part of a broader strategy to reflect the full range of social costs in energy pricing. This includes deaths from air pollution and other local environmental side effects from fuel use. A spreadsheet tool provides, for all member countries, estimates of the energy prices needed to reflect supply, and all environmental costs, as well as the implicit subsidies from underpricing fossil fuels.

According to IMF estimates, efficient energy pricing would have reduced global carbon emissions in 2013 by over 20 percent, and fossil fuel air pollution deaths by over 50 percent, while raising revenues of 4 percent of GDP.

IMF case studies of numerous countries' reforms distill the ingredients for successful reform. One especially important ingredient is compensation for low-income households, which generally requires only a small fraction of the revenues generated from reform. We discuss energy price reforms as part of our annual review of a country's economy, as well as in our technical assistance work with countries like Saudi Arabia , Jordan, United Arab Emirates, and in our courses and workshops.

Pricing carbon should be part of a broader strategy to reflect the full range of social costs in energy pricing.

Build resilience. IMF staff have been assessing strategies for building resilience to climate and natural disaster risks, for example in Nicaragua, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and other especially vulnerable countries.

Climate Change Policy Assessments, so far conducted for Belize, Seychelles and St. Lucia, take stock of countries' mitigation and adaption plans, risk-management strategies, and financing, and point to gaps where they need investment, policy changes, or help to build their capacity to address the effects of climate change.

IMF work is also helping to quantify the economic risks in vulnerable countries. For example, we estimate that the annual cost of natural disasters in low-income countries to be around 2 percent of GDP, or four times the impact on larger economies.

The IMF provides finance to help countries respond to the natural disasters and climate-related events. For example, during the 2015 Ebola crisis in West Africa, we established a trust fund to provide debt relief to poor countries hit by natural disasters. The IMF nearly doubled the amount countries can borrow following a large natural disaster.

1. Greener financial sector. IMF staff analyze the ways in which climate risks impact financial stability. They also help identify best practices for stress tests to a country's financial sector as a whole, which reflect climate risks. Various Financial Sector Assessment Programs , from small island states like Samoa to big economies such as the United States and France, have included stress tests to gauge the effects of natural disasters on insurance companies, banks, and other financial institutions.

2. International action. IMF staff also recommend countries coordinate at the multilateral level for example by establishing a minimum price for carbon, to complement and strengthen the Paris process. IMF staff are also involved in developing proposals for the design of carbon taxes for international transportation fuels.

There are many dimensions to climate change, and we are addressing them across the entire institution in collaboration with the World Bank and other international organizations, in terms of policy analysis and advise and our capacity development work.

You can read more about the IMF and climate change here.

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5 Things You Need to Know About the IMF and Climate Change

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By Ian Parry June 8, 2018 Versions in عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский A polar bear on shrinking ice in the Arctic: climate change means the world is getting hotter (photo: Sven-Erik Arndt/Newscom) The world is getting hotter, resulting

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UN Climate Change conferences are reknowned for running extensively into overtime with last minute negotiations to try and salvage a way forward through the consensus process. This one was no different with a Saturday afternoon ending.

Draft texts are issued, debated, watered down, reissued, debated and further watered down until enough compromise has been achieved for consensus. Occasionally some new ambition may sneak in, but generally its a dilution of action. It's a tough process, especially when urgency and ambition is required, which empowers countries with vested interests in maintaining fossil fuel production.

Australia has taken advantage of this process in the past, such as when the Australian delegation threatened to walk out in 1997 at final stage of negotiations unless a special clause on land use emissions was inserted. We got our way and a special clause was created specifically called the Australia clause which allowed us to increase our emissions by 8 percent while all other countries had commitments to reduce emissions.

During the final days of this negotiation process, Small island states and many developing countries gave up in the spirt of compromise on the Glasgow Loss and Damage Facility to be replaced by a vague Dialogue during 2022 as part of Draft texts version 3, but they were not happy about this. But the fact there were other areas of ambition in the overall deal and they are suffering now from climate impacts, made them commit to consensus.

But during the discussion India, Iran, Nigeria and China objected to the wording around coal and inefficient fossil fuel sibsidies phase out. The stocktaking plenary was adjourned and huddles reformed.

Australia actually had accepted the deal that included a call for "accelerating efforts towards the phase-out of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies." They had already successfully lobbied with others to soften the text with those two adjectives: unabated and inefficient.

When the plenary restarted India proposed asking to change language to "phase down" coal instead of "phase out". Switzerland, Europe, Mexico, Marshall Islands and Fiji all expressed profound disappointment at this proposed change, and questioned this as a non-transparent process. Switzerland received overwhelming applause.

The most eloquent statement came from the Marshall Islands:

"On behalf of the Marshall Islands I wish to read into the record our profound disappointment with the change in the language on coal from phase out to phase down. I ask that this be reflected in the report of this meeting. This commitment on coal had been a bright spot in this package. It was one of the things we were hoping to carry out of here, back home with pride, and it hurts deeply to see that bright spot dim. We accept this change with the greatest reluctance. We do so only, and I really want to stress only, because there are critical elements of this package that people in my country need, as a lifeline for their future. Thankyou.

Fiji said "we were told 2 days ago that we could not add Loss and Damage language because it was "last minute", now new language on coal has been added 2 minutes before adoption of the text. A "phase-down" has no demonstrable measures to monitor the end of coal."

The reaction actually put COP President Alok Sharma into tears for a moment, as he said, "I am truly sorry about how this process has unfolded. It is also vital that we successfully conclude this package"

This is going to lead to a much greater push next year for Loss and Damage implementation and finance, at COP27, which has been long delayed at these conferences.

Antigua and Barbuda speaking on behalf of AOSIS commented that they "would like to take note that we expect to see the development of a Loss and Damage facility by COP27." Venezuela added that they "would like to take up the issue of unilateral measures in subsequent COPs".

There was cheering in the American delegation and around other sections of the Plenary hall as the decision on Article 6 on carbon markets was gavelled, putting in place this important part of the Paris Agreement rulebook, although it seems there are already identified issues of integrity with the rules passed.

Read my blog on the assessment of outcomes from the Glasgow Climate Pact.

You can follow the flow of the diplomatic huddles and statements in the tweet thread below:

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UN Climate Change conferences are reknowned for running extensively into overtime with last minute negotiations to try and salvage a way forward through the consensus process. This one was no different with a Saturday afternoon ending. Draft texts are issued, debated, watered down, reissued, debated and further watered down until enough compromise has been achieved for consensus.

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So far, 2021 has seen a summer of climate extremes in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing even the most developed and seemingly well-prepared nations to their knees. It has been clear for years that science underestimates the scope of increasing extremes, as climate models perform better for the mean. An immediate question follows: how can we prepare?

Some people justify insufficient action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by arguing that there may be an economically 'optimal' amount of climate change that we can cope with. Relying on such assumption allows us to continue burning fossil fuels, and delay the transformation needed to get our emissions to zero and limit global warming to 1.5°C.

The past weeks and months have been a wake-up call for this kind of thinking.

So far, 2021 has seen a summer of climate extremes in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing even the most developed and seemingly well-prepared nations to their knees.

Countries in western Europe ( Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and others), as well as India and China were hit with unprecedented and catastrophic flooding, killing over 600 people. Thousands are left homeless and the areas are devastated with power cuts and infrastructure collapse.

In contrast, some parts of the world (e.g. Greece, Turkey, Finland, India, Northwestern USA and Canada) have suffered from wildfires and unprecedented temperatures attributed to human activity this summer.

This is only a small part of the picture. Many nations around the globe, regardless of their development or preparedness status, face similar climate impacts which affect millions of people.

Climate change is here now

In the last years, as we have witnessed increasing extreme events fuelled by climate change, it is slowly sinking in that even with action to reduce our emissions, adaptation measures are already urgently needed for many of our communities.

For example, the Climate Impact Explorer shows that the annual damage Germany faces from river flooding will likely increase by 72% if we simply follow current climate policies. Days with extreme precipitation, that would only occur every 10 years, are expected to double in Europe with every degree of warming. Higher temperatures will also lead to more frequent storms that move more slowly, increasing the risk of flash floods and significant damage.

It has been clear for years that science underestimates the scope of increasing extremes, as climate models perform better for the mean than for extremes. We also know that assumptions used for infrastructure design significantly underestimate the intensity of extreme precipitation events.

An immediate question follows: how can we prepare?

Transformational adaptation

Current efforts to adapt largely focus on preserving our world as we know it - taking a step-by-step approach to climate-proofing our lives. This is called incremental adaptation. However, it has limits.

In Germany, the North-Rhine Westphalia region where recent flooding hit the hardest, has invested in adaptation planning for over a decade, with clear reference to more frequent extreme flooding. Nonetheless, the region was unprepared for the scope of the recent events.

Fundamental change, often referred to as transformational adaptation, is required to reduce losses and cope with increasing climate extremes.

We will also have to accept that an increasing share of impacts will not be avoidable. Being prepared for the consequences of the unavoidable risks and taking measures to ensure we reduce loss of life will need to become part of the equation.

The scope of loss and damage from unavoidable impacts of extremes depends on how quickly we can reduce emissions and reach peak warming.

It's no surprise then that our first step to prepare must be to reduce our emissions as fast as possible. The recent extremes are stark reminder that even the wealthiest nations are not prepared for the consequences of where we are now at 1.1°C of warming. Limiting warming to 1.5°C in line with the Paris Agreement is our only option to reduce ever growing risks in the future. The latest UN scientific report finds that while some human-caused climate change and related impacts are now irreversible, with immediate and bold action, the 1.5°C goal is still within reach.

Our analysis shows that investments of USD 1.4 trillion per year are needed between 2020 and 2024 to limit warming to 1.5°C. It sounds big, but is a fraction of what governments are spending under their Covid-19 recovery packages.

We also have to start properly funding adaptation, recognising that this work may require fundamental shifts in infrastructure and our behaviour. Flood walls, improved building standards, resilient infrastructure are all tools we have at our disposal now. But the access to funds to implement these measures is vital, especially in developing countries.

Climate finance will be a big topic at this years' climate negotiations. Developed countries must deliver on the $100 billion per year by 2020 pledge they made to developing countries in Paris.

Wealthier nations, like Germany, where the government announced a total of at least 800 million euros in relief immediately after the devastating floods, are able to internally absorb some of the economic impacts. For countries already struggling with poverty alleviation, such investments are much harder or impossible to mobilise, with the potential to throw back development efforts by years.

Ensuring that the transformation of our societies includes dedicated support to the most vulnerable to prepare for extremes and to cope with loss and damage in line with the Paris Agreement, must be a central part of the global response to the climate crisis.

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Climate change is here now - we need to talk about adaptation

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So far, 2021 has seen a summer of climate extremes in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing even the most developed and seemingly well-prepared nations to their knees. It has been clear for years that science underestimates the scope of increasing extremes, as climate models perform better for the mean.

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In a recent paper for the first time, we have used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tools to determine where water depth and proximity to shore could provide a site for ocean thermal energy conversion installation for all islands in the Caribbean. But this technology is still the poor cousin in the renewables family, leading many to ask - what is ocean thermal energy conversion and what can it bring to the table to support a 100% renewable electricity system?

So far, 2021 has seen a summer of climate extremes in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing even the most developed and seemingly well-prepared nations to their knees. It has been clear for years that science underestimates the scope of increasing extremes, as climate models perform better for the mean. An immediate question follows: how can we prepare?

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The 1.5℃ global warming limit is not impossible - but without political action it soon will be

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Whether Earth can stay within 1.5℃ warming involves two distinct questions. First, is it physically, technically and economically feasible, considering the physics of the Earth system and possible rates of societal change? Science indicates the answer is "yes" - although it will be very difficult and the best opportunities for success lie in the past.

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International Institute for Environment and Development

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Just over a week on from the end of COP26 in Glasgow and the dust is settling. But as Andrew Norton reflects, any gains made from the event will require ongoing work and citizens demanding more radical action

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https://climate.nasa.gov/ask-nasa-climate/3125/extreme-makeover-human-activities-are-making-some-extreme-events-more-frequent-or-intense/

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Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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The year 2021 has seen a flurry of extreme events around the globe. Among the many that have captured headlines so far this year:

Devastating flooding in Australia, Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Northeast.

California's massive Dixie Fire, now the state's second largest on record.

A crippling U.S. polar vortex event that paralyzed Texas in February with bitter cold temperatures and massive power outages.

Snow blankets Texas on February 16, 2021 during the major cold wave that spread over Canada, the United States and portions of Northern Mexico, bringing bitter cold temperatures and massive power outages to a wide region. The cold wave resulted from a southern migration of the polar vortex. Credit: NOAA

From the unique vantage point of space, we've been able to observe and monitor these events, no matter where they've occurred. Satellite data from NASA and other institutions are critical to understanding how and why extreme events take place.

This year's events come on the heels of a record-breaking 2020 in the United States. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were 22 separate weather and climate-related disasters last year where the overall damages/costs for each reached or exceeded $1 billion. Last year also saw a record number of tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic Basin.

In 2020, the United States experienced a record-smashing 22 weather or climate disasters that each resulted in at least $1 billion in damages, including a record seven linked to landfalling hurricanes or tropical storms. Credit: NOAA map by NCEI

There's growing evidence that people and the planet are increasingly impacted by extreme events. According to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, published in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, "more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events, as well as changes in average climate conditions, are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems that provide essential benefits to communities."

As the impacts of extreme events continue to mount, interest has grown in the scientific community to study whether specific extreme events can be partially attributed to human activities. With the help of climate models, scientists have conducted an impressive array of studies, looking for possible links between human activities and extreme events such as heat waves, rainfall and flooding events, droughts, storms, and wildfires.

A dry lake bed. Scientists are seeing an increase in the intensity of droughts. Credit: NOAA

Increasingly, they're able to draw robust connections. There are reductions in the number of cold waves, increases in the number of heat waves on the ocean and on land, increases in the intensity of rainfall and drought, and increases in the intensity of wildfires. Despite the complications and uniqueness of individual events, scientists are finding significant human contributions to many of them.

An interactive map produced by CarbonBrief in 2020, shown below, provides visible evidence of these studies. On it, red dots represent different extreme events where scientists have found a substantial contribution from human activities - that is, human activities have made these events more frequent or more intense. For some of the blue dots, however (associated with rainfall events), scientists have yet to find a substantial human contribution.

Scientists have conducted hundreds of studies of extreme weather events and trends to date to determine whether they can be attributed to human activities.

In this screenshot of an interactivemap produced by CarbonBrief, the various symbols represent different types of extreme weather. Red dots indicate extreme events where scientists found a link to human-caused climate change, while blue dots represent studies that found no link, and grey dots indicate studies where results were inconclusive.

The studies show particularly strong links between human activities and marine and land heat waves, intense precipitation, intense droughts, and wildfires. Credit: CarbonBrief

Events with a big thermodynamic component - that is, those where there's a big impact because of heat - are being made more intense or more frequent because of human activities. In contrast, for extreme events that are more dependent on the dynamics of the atmosphere, the links to human activities are less clear.

Here are a few examples of extreme events where scientists are finding connections to human activities.
Get NASA's Climate Change News: Subscribe to the Newsletter "
Heat Waves

Map of air temperature anomalies across the continental United States and Canada on June 27, 2021, when the heat intensified and records started to fall in the Pacific Northwest. The map is derived from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model and depicts air temperatures at about 6.5 feet (2 meters) above the ground.

Red areas are where air temperatures climbed more than 27 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) higher than the 2014-2020 average for the same day. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using GEOS-5 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC.

The continued increase in global mean temperatures in response to rising levels of greenhouse gases sets the expectation that we'll see a corresponding increase in global heat extremes. Indeed, this is being borne out by daily temperature data across the globe. Studies of individual heat waves, such as the devastating event that took place in the Pacific Northwest this summer, suggest such events have become tens to hundreds of times more likely because of human-driven climate change.

A global examination of how often heat waves are occurring, as well as their cumulative intensity (how many days heat waves last above a certain temperature level), published last year by Australian scientists from the Climate Change Research Centre and the University of New South Wales Canberra, reveals a clear increase of more than two days per decade in the number of heat wave days since the 1950s.

Drought

In August 2020, about one-third of the continental United States was experiencing at least moderate levels of drought. This map shows surface soil moisture as measured by the U.S./German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellites on August 10, 2020. The colors depict the wetness percentile; that is, how the levels of soil moisture compare to long-term records for the month.

Blue areas have more abundant water than usual, and orange and red areas have less. The darkest reds represent dry conditions that should occur only two percent of the time (about once every 50 years). In the American Southwest, scientists estimate human-caused climate change is making droughts 30 to 50 percent more intense.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using GRACE data from the National Drought Mitigation Center and data from the United States Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The intensity of droughts is increasing. It's not so much that scientists are seeing less rainfall, though that's certainly happening in some places. Rather, in places where drought conditions exist, soils are becoming drier due to other factors, such as increased soil evaporation and decreased snowpack, which is reducing the amount of river flow during summer and fall. In the American Southwest, scientists estimate human-caused climate change is making droughts 30 to 50 percent more intense. 1

Precipitation

In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey moved through the Gulf of Mexico and stalled over Texas. This image depicts total rainfall estimates from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) data compiled for the period from August 23 to 31, 2017.

Harvey dropped up to 40 inches (102 centimeters) of rain on some areas. IMERG Data are produced at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, using data from the satellites in the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM Constellation, and is calibrated with measurements from the GPM Core Observatory as well as rain gauge networks around the world. Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

When it does rain, we're also seeing trends in how much rain falls. A prime example is Hurricane Harvey, which caused devasting flooding in parts of Texas in 2017. The storm dropped up to 40 inches (102 centimeters) of rain on some areas.

In locations where scientists have data of sufficient quality, observations are showing an increasing intensity of rainfall. This is coincident with the observed overall increase in atmospheric water vapor (about four percent per degree Fahrenheit of warming). The more water vapor that air contains, the more it can rain out during convection or as air masses collide.

Persistent, heavy rain fell for several days in early autumn in New South Wales, Australia, leading to the region's worst flooding in six decades.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology reported that areas around Sydney and in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions were drenched with 400 to 600 millimeters (16 to 24 inches) of rain across four days, with the most extreme totals approaching one meter.

On March 23, 2021, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite acquired a natural-color image of flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system along the western edge of Sydney. Credit: NASA/USGS

There have been hurricanes and intense storms throughout history, so what's changed? Model studies confirm that, for instance, about 20 percent of Harvey's rainfall was attributable to human-produced warming of the climate and waters in the Gulf of Mexico. 2, 3 More generally, climate simulations confirm that this increased intensity is a robust result.

It's important to note that impacts from extreme events are mainly a question of thresholds - the amount of flooding needed to overtop a levee, or overwhelm storm drains - so every inch (of additional rain) counts. So, while total rainfall may increase only slightly, it's the extreme precipitation events that disproportionately cause problems.

A flooded subway line. Impacts from extreme events are mainly a question of thresholds, such as the amount of flooding needed to flood a subway, so every inch of additional rain counts. Credit: Public Domain (CC0 1.0)/Pixabay

The Bottom Line

The combination of models and observations, informed by the unique view that space provides, imply that almost all the current multi-decadal trends we're seeing in climate are the result of human activities. In addition, there's increasing confidence that human-induced climate change is making extreme events statistically much more likely.

This doesn't mean every extreme event has a substantial human contribution. But with extreme events such as heat waves, wildfires and intense precipitation, we're seeing, in event after event, a very clear human fingerprint.

A strike team from Cal Fire watches as smoke from California's Dixie Fire billows overhead in July 2021. Credit: CAL FIRE

References

1. Williams, A.P.; Cook, E.R.; Smerdon, J.E.; Cook, B.I.; Abatzoglou, J.T.; Bolles, K.; Baek, S.H.; Badger, A.M.; Livneh, B. 2020: Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought. Science. 368 (6488), 314-318, doi:10.1126/science.aaz9600.

2. van Oldenborgh, G.J.; van der Wiel, K.; Sebastian, A.; Singh, R.; Arrighi, J.; Otto, F.; Haustein, K.; Li, S.; Vecchi, G.; Cullen, H. 2017: Attribution of extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey. Environ. Res. Lett. 12. 124009.

3. Risser M.D.; Wehner M.F. 2017. Attributable human-induced changes in the likelihood and magnitude of the observed extreme precipitation during Hurricane Harvey. Geophys Res Lett. 44:12, 457-12, 464.

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national aeronautics and space administration

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Extreme Makeover: Human Activities Are Making Some Extreme Events More Frequent or Intense - Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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The year 2021 has seen a flurry of extreme events around the globe. Among the many that have captured headlines so far this year: Devastating flooding in Australia, Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Northeast. California's massive Dixie Fire, now the state's second largest on record. A crippling U.S.