By Christiana Figueres Brussels – In early 2015, the European Union became the first major economy to set a post-2020 target for limiting greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. By committing to reducing emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2030,…
Tag: Climate change
The world is running out of time
By Bertrand Badré Washington, DC – In 2015, the international community launched a renewed effort to tackle collective global challenges under the auspices of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21). But after…
America’s bipartisan climate-policy failure
By Mark Paul and Connor Rupp Sarasota – US President Donald Trump’s anti-climate agenda is in full swing. His administration has already taken action 117 times to repeal or weaken climate regulations, and much more deregulation is in the works.…
Getting to net-zero emissions
By Johan Rockström Potsdam –The leaders of the G20 countries head to Osaka this week for their annual summit. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will address them before traveling to Abu Dhabi to finalize the arrangements for September’s UN Climate…
We can’t stop climate disaster if big emitters don’t step up
By Frank Bainimarama SUVA, Fiji, Jun 27, 2019 (IPS) — Are the most climate-vulnerable nations of the world right to demand that developed and major economies commit to carbon neutrality by 2050? Should the poorest nations of the world insist…
New York declares climate emergency, first US city to do so
Dhaka, June 28 – New York City officials declared a climate emergency in an effort to mobilize local and national responses to stall global warming, reports CNN. It’s the largest city in the US, with over 8.62 million inhabitants. The…
Countries differ over review of achievements under UNFCCC
Bonn, 26 June (TWN) – Disagreements between developed and developing countries arose over the need to review the progress on achievements under the UNFCCC, at the Bonn climate talks. The talks which began on 17 June, are scheduled to end…
Guterres for world youth to keep leading climate response
Lisbon, June 23 – Older generations have “failed to respond properly” to the climate emergency said the UN chief on Sunday, while the young are “stepping up to the challenge” and taking the lead to slow the destructive pace of…
Developing countries’ concerns over details of UNFCCC meet
Bonn, 21 June (TWN) — Agendas of the next UNFCCC session, frequency of forthcoming meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COPs) and participation of non-Party stakeholders in the process have proved contentious in discussions under the agenda item on…
Desertification ‘more dangerous, more insidious than wars’
By Desmond Brown Ankara, Jun 18 2019 (IPS) – Businesses are being encouraged to follow the lead of the youth to halt desertification, reduce degradation, improve agricultural sustainability and restore damaged lands. “The youth is a very particular case. The…
What to expect from the Bonn climate talks this month
Bonn, 17 June, 2019 (Meena Raman) – As students, youth and environmental activists around the world staged recent protests and continue to do so demanding for urgent and greater climate action on the part of governments in combatting climate change,…
Islands of climate innovation
by Mike Eman Oranjestad – To live in a small island state today is to reckon regularly with the cruellest irony of climate change. Islands contribute little to global warming, but they are the first to suffer from its devastating…
Climate change peril Uganda’s tree climbing lions, primates
By Wambi Michael Kasese, Uganda, Jun 12 2019 (IPS) – As climate change leads to increased temperatures in East Africa, a thicket of invasive thorny trees with the ability to withstand harsh climatic conditions have begun threatening Uganda’s second-largest park,…
Japan’s government must exit coal
by Jan Erik Saugestad OSLO – Following the abdication of Emperor Akihito, Japan announced that its new imperial era would be called Reiwa (“beautiful harmony”). But if the Reiwa era is to live up to its name, Japan’s government must…
Mobilisation needed for climate-related disasters
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage UN, Jun 5 2019 (IPS) – Climate-related displacement and food insecurity is not a future possibility, but it is already happening and it’s only projected to worsen without urgent action in coming years. Yesterday, ahead of World…
Ecuador in frontline to address climate change
By Matilde Mordt QUITO, Ecuador, Jun 5 2019 (IPS) – As the UN commemorates World Environment Day, UNDP would like to take this opportunity to commend Ecuador’s efforts to address climate change and its commitment to raising its climate ambition.…
Dhaka asks for climate justice, compensation
Dhaka, June 5 – State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has asked for climate justice that needs to be established and demanded compensation and adequate financial and other assistance for adaptation measures. He called for more concrete global…
The Myth of Climate Wars?
by Alaa Murabit, Luca Bücken New York – In the years leading up to Syria’s civil war, the country endured three consecutive record-breaking droughts. By forcing internal displacement, the droughts arguably contributed to the social tensions that erupted in popular…
End fossil fuel subsidies with taxpayers’ money: Guterres
“We need to tax pollution, not people”, and “end subsidies for fossil fuels,” Secretary-General António Guterres told the World Summit of the R20 Coalition on Tuesday, a UN-supported environmental organization, founded by former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The idea that…
Global hunger threatening families because of climate change
By Siddharth Chatterjee Nairobi, Kenya, May 2019 (IPS) – There is barely a corner of human life that will not be affected by climate change, and some of its impacts are already being felt. Consider this, 821 million people are…
Act urgently on climate change: Urban 20 Group urge G20
Mayors and Governors of U20 cities, including Tokyo, Berlin, Jakarta, Rome and Osaka will present the Urban 20 Communiqué to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of G20 Summit in Japan U20 urges G20 leaders to ensure greenhouse gas emissions peak…
Climate change is the battle of my life: UN chief
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres saw the frontline of “the battle against climate change” for himself on Thursday, by taking to the tropical waters of the South Pacific off the coast of Fiji, on a solar-powered boat. Mr. Guterres was…
Save the whole planet from climate change in self-interest
Concluding a week-long visit to the South Pacific, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the world’s decision-makers to make “enlightened” choices on climate action because “the whole planet” is at stake. “Over the past week, I have witnessed first-hand…
Save biodiversity from Nature’s destruction, climate change
LONDON, May 13 2019 (IPS) – The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ report on the global state of biodiversity is shocking but not entirely surprising. The question is, how much more evidence and repeated warnings will it take for…
UN chief in New Zealand to step-up climate change fight
New Zealand, May 12(AP/UNB) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has arrived in New Zealand as part of a trip to the South Pacific to highlight the issue of climate change. Guterres plans to spend three days in New Zealand where…
30 UN entities seek more action to deal with climate change
Dhaka, May 10 (UNB) – The leaders of more than 30 UN agencies and entities have issued a formal joint appeal for governments everywhere to “step up ambition and take concrete actions” to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above…
Climate change imperils Sundarbans tiger habitats
In 50 years from now, by 2070, the entire population of Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans mangroves in Bangladesh is likely to be lost to climate change and sea level rise, a modeling study by Bangladesh and Australian researchers has predicted. Further,…
Climate change affecting agriculture greatly: BD Minister
Dhaka, Mar 21 – Mentioning that the climate change does harm to the agriculture sector most, Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque on Thursday said Bangladesh will be at stake if the sector is affected. “Bangladesh will be at risk…
Taking the lead in fight against climate change
PARIS, Feb 22 2019 (IPS) – As the grandchild of Jamaican citizens who moved to Great Britain, Monique Taffe says she inherited a tradition of recycling and learned not to be part of the “throwaway culture”, as some environmentalists have labelled…
Aussie rodent becomes first ‘climate change extinction’
Australia officially declared a Great Barrier Reef rodent extinct today , making it the first mammal believed to have been killed off by human-induced climate change. The rat-like Bramble Cay melomys — whose only known habitat was a small sandy…