“Energy Day’ means one thing: a full transition to sustainable renewables. This means not only increasing the renewable energy supply but also thinking about energy efficiency, reducing overconsumption, sustainable use of renewable resources, a socially just transition, and ensuring energy access for all.” from ECO by Climate Action Network
By the close of Day 4 — Energy Day — at COP26 one thing became crystal clear: Renewables can’t meet the increasing demand for energy. At least not yet, anyway.
“The end of coal is in sight,” COP26 President Alok Sharma announced yesterday, after a commitment was signed by 77 countries, along with the agreement by G7 countries, to end funding international coal in 2021.
The Thursday statement saw major economies commit to ending coal use in the 2030s, with the remaining countries aiming for the 2040s.
“I feel very encouraged in terms of what we have done so far,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa. “There is reason to be cautiously hopeful.”
Espinosa said we really need to catch up on climate finance, as the developed world has yet to meet the $100b target established at COP15 in Copenhagen to address loss and damage from extreme weather events and other consequences of climate change.
Climate Finance — Loss and Damage
According to CAN, Mohamed Adow, Director, Powershift Africa, told the briefing that climate finance has made little progress since COP15 in Copenhagen and yesterday’s finance talks had brought “dismal” outcomes.
He said: “The $100bn that was promised to the developing countries to support adaptation and mitigation hasn’t been provided and here we are 12 years later still looking for the finance to materialise. It will require heavy lifting from the UK Presidency if we are going to come out of Glasgow with any real agreement apart from the range of declarations that create hype but remain hollow.
“They need to provide assurance to vulnerable countries that the finance is going to be delivered; increase the share of adaptation finance to provide support to poor countries suffering from impacts of climate change; and for those long neglected issues of Loss and Damage we need to mobilise some serious finance to be able to provide support for communities.”
CAN writers on the daily ECO newsletter say they still get “goosebumps listening over and over to Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s powerful intervention on Monday: “Failure to provide the critical finance, and that of loss and damage is measured, my friends, in lives and livelihoods in our communities. This is immoral and it is unjust”.
ENERGY Matters
The world wants to “transition” away from fossil fuels toward green energy, but the difficult reality is this: Dirty fuels are not going away — or even declining — anytime soon.
The total amount of renewable energy that’s available is growing. That’s good news for a world threatened by potentially devastating climate change.
But the increase in renewable energy is still lower than the increase in global energy demand overall. A “transition” from fossil fuels may come someday, but for now, renewable energy isn’t even keeping pace with rising energy demand — so fossil fuel demand is still growing www.cnbc.com/...
The dark secrets behind big oil’s climate pledges
Royal Dutch Shell announced last week it will cut its absolute carbon emissions in half by 2030. But the commitment pertains only to the company’s internal climate footprint, not the much larger share of emissions that occur when its fuels are burned for energy. The timing of the announcement is also notable, as it comes on the heels of a Dutch court ruling earlier this year that Shell must slash its emissions 45% by 2030.
Most other fossil fuel companies – and the banks that finance them – continue to find alternatives to promising outright emissions reductions.
A net zero goal signals a company aims to offset its emissions by adding cleaner energy projects to their portfolios, or attempting to capture carbon dioxide and stop it from entering the air. But these goals can be so narrow as to be meaningless.
Top [UK]Government ministers and officials have met repeatedly not just with ExxonMobil representatives but also with other oil industry officials over the past five years to explore key issues around Britain’s net zero climate strategy, associated energy policies, and in particular the role of carbon capture, utilisation and storage, the documents reveal.
The meetings, particularly those involving ExxonMobil, increased in the run-up to COP26
TOP Tweets
Business
First Movers Coalition is tackling the climate crisis
The World Economic Forum is partnering with the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and over 30 global businesses to invest in innovative green technologies so they are available for massive scale-up by 2030 to enable net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.
The First Movers Coalition, which was launched at the Climate Change Conference COP26, brings together global companies with supply chains across carbon-intensive sectors. They range from major consumer goods firms that ship, truck and fly their products, to renewable energy companies that use steel to build wind turbines. These companies are leveraging their collective buying power to create the market conditions required to unleash innovation which will reduce the amount of carbon emitted in certain particularly pollutant industries.
CAN Newsletter
Outside the COP
Global Landscape Forum — Attend Remotely
The research is there. The ideas are there. The ways to act are there.
From 5–7 November, this all converges at GLF Climate. Take part in panels and conversations to learn what needs to be done and how. The three-day event will focus on the areas most crucial to bringing climate change under control: forests, food and finance.
Join policymakers, Indigenous leaders, writers, royalty, youth activists, scientists and many more in strategizing our way to a better future.
In the streets
Cop26 protesters urge Sturgeon to act over ‘intimidating’ policing
Climate campaigners attending the Cop26 summit are urging Nicola Sturgeon to intervene in what they describe as intimidating and heavy-handed policing of protests in Glasgow.
The open letter from the Cop26 Coalition, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and the Climate Coalition calls on the first minister to ensure that the right to protest is upheld in advance of Friday and Saturday’s mass marches, after activists reported “numerous incidents of abuse of powers and intimidating tactics” by the 10,000 officers from forces across the UK who have been deployed daily.
Bill McKibben from Glasgow
What Climate Levers are Left to Pull?
This Glasgow climate summit is at full pitch now—the world leaders have mercifully packed up their boilerplate and left, and now more serious business is underway. Well, somewhat more serious business: there’s a big fight going about whether it’s appropriate for the COP dining hall to be serving haggis (which is to say, diced sheep lung cooked in the sheep’s stomach), since the carbon embedded in the whole process amounts to 3.4 kilograms, or seven times what some campaigners have calculated is the correct amount of co2 per meal. (It should be noted that the dining hall also carries “vegetarian haggis,” and personally I’ll have a slice of pizza, thank you).
The writers in Climate Brief work to keep the Daily Kos community informed and engaged with breaking news about the climate crisis around the world while providing inspiring stories of environmental heroes, opportunities for direct engagement, and perspectives on the intersection of climate activism with spirituality, politics, and the arts.