On a day when WHO announced “the environmental risks linked to climate change represent more than 12 million deaths annually,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi participated in a press conference at COP25, recommitting the US to aggressively embrace action on climate change.
Day two of the talks focused on health and climate change and the role cities can play in decarbonization efforts.
"As C40 Chair, my agenda is clear: it is time for us to collectively enact a Global #GreenNewDeal,” said LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. “The time for promises is over, the time for action is underway."
About 30 cities in the US, as well as cities globally, now employ stricter building codes to lower carbon footprints. A recent report noted that investing $1.83 trillion a year in “16 low-carbon measures in cities – about 2 per cent of global GDP – could reduce global urban emissions by 90 per cent by 2050.”
(See Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity: How national governments can secure economic prosperity and avert climate catastrophe by transforming cities.)
Some highlights of today’s events:
Injustice of worsening climate impacts rises up agenda at UN talks
President Hilda Heine of the low-lying Marshall Islands said by video link that, as global emissions continued to rise, "all countries need to do more" to reduce them urgently.
In her Pacific atoll nation, water covers much of the land at some point every year as tides rise higher, she said. Just last week, hundreds of people had to evacuate their homes after the capital Majuro was flooded by large waves.
"It's a fight to death for anyone not prepared to flee," she said. "As a nation we refuse to flee, but we also refuse to die."
Nearly 70 countries - many of them island states and other developing nations - have committed to strengthen their planned emissions cuts and adaptation efforts by the end of next year.
But some of the largest emitters - including the United States, China, India and Brazil - are not among them.
Climate risks to health are growing but prioritized funding lacking to safeguard human health from climate change
Forty-eight percent of countries have conducted an assessment of the climate risks to public health. The most common climate sensitive health risks were identified by countries as heat stress, injury or death from extreme weather events, food, water and vector-borne diseases (such as cholera, dengue or malaria). However, about 60% of these countries report that the assessment findings have had little or no influence on the allocation of human and financial resources to meet their adaptation priorities for protecting health. Mainstreaming health in national and international climate processes could help access the necessary funds.
The role of cities in decarbonisation and the impact of climate change on health have been the main issues addressed on the second day of the COP25.
Cities claimed their essential role in mitigating the impact of climate crisis on Tuesday, as they are responsible for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Nancy Pelosi @ COP25
INSURERS WITHDRAWING COVER FROM COAL PROJECTS DOUBLE IN 2020
The number of insurers withdrawing cover for coal has more than doubled in 2019 as the industry’s retreat from the sector accelerates and spreads beyond Europe, the Unfriend Coal campaign reveals today in its third annual scorecard on insurance, coal and climate change.
Coal exit policies have been announced by 17 of the world’s biggest insurers controlling 46% of the reinsurance market and 9.5% of the primary insurance market.[1] Most refuse to insure new mines and power plants, while industry leaders have ended cover for existing coal projects and the companies that operate them, and adopted similar policies for tar sands.
“The climate emergency is now upon us, as countries around the world experience torrential floods, out-of-control wildfires, powerful storms, heatwaves and other climate-related extreme events. Some countries, states, cities and companies are responding with the urgency required, but the world’s largest emitting countries are missing in action.”
“For several years, we’ve been warning that we are running out of time. But it is clear that now is the time to radically change the path we’re on. The latest United Nations emissions gap report shows that global emissions continue to rise and will need to be cut at a rate of 7.6 percent each year for the next decade to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with the Paris Agreement.
“We are sleepwalking towards climate catastrophe and need to wake up and take urgent action. The outcomes of COP25 must respond to the clear urgency of the science and the demands of people around the world for transformational actions to address both the climate crisis and the crisis of economic inequality and social exclusion. We’ll be doing our best to ensure that they do.” Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy and Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists as a member of CAN