Most recent 40 articles: Climate Change News - Finance
|
Limiting frontline voices in the Loss and Damage Fund is a recipe for disaster - Climate Change News - Finance  (Apr 26) |
|
Apr 26 · Comment: Representatives of groups hardest-hit by the climate crisis say restrictions on their participation at the fund’s first board meeting set a worrying precedent Youth and other civil society groups hold a protest calling for a full, funded and fair transition away from fossil fuels at the COP28 climate summit venue in Dubai, UAE on December 12, 2023. (Photo: Megan Rowling) Isatis M. Cintron-Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican climate scientist and staff associate at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Liane Schalatek is associate director at the Heinrich Boell Stiftung Washington with expertise in UN climate funds and finance. Lien Vandamme is senior ... | By Liane Schalatek, Lien Vandamme and Isatis Cintron-Rodriguez Read more ... |
|
|
Will blossom of reform bear fruit? Spring Meetings leave too much to do - Climate Change News - Finance  (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · Comment: Changes are afoot at the IMF and World Bank – but debt-squeezed developing nations need far faster access to more finance for climate action International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva holds a press briefing on the Global Policy Agenda to open the IMF and World Bank's 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington, U.S., April 18, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque) Rachel Kyte is professor of practice in climate policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. With spring in full bloom, the world’s finance ministers, development and financial leaders, and philanthropists met for the World Bank and ... | By Rachel Kyte Read more ... |
|
|
Global billionaires tax to fight climate change, hunger rises up political agenda - Climate Change News - Finance  (Apr 19) |
|
Apr 19 · Brazil and France want the G20 to get behind a global minimum tax on billionaires’ wealth, also backed by IMF chief, but Germany rejects the idea French Minister for Economy, Finance, Industry and Digital Security Bruno Le Maire (L) and Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad arrive at a joint press briefing on taxation during IMF/World Bank Sprint meeting in Washington on April 17, 2024. Photo by Yuri Gripas/ABACAPRESS.COMNo The finance ministers of Brazil and France pushed this week for a tax on US-dollar billionaires of at least 2% of their wealth each year, with the $250 billion it could raise going to tackle poverty, hunger and climate ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
Fossil fuel debts are illegitimate and must be cancelled - Climate Change News - Finance  (Apr 16) |
|
Apr 16 · Comment: The Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF are a chance to transform outstanding debts for fossil fuel projects into grants for renewable energy systems Climate activists protest demanding that the World Bank stop fossil fuel financing, on the fifth day of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in Marrakech, Morocco October 13, 2023. (Photo/REUTERS/Susana Vera) Lidy Nacpil is coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD). Many countries in the Global South are burdened with huge public debts. These rising debts are a drain on public resources that are urgently needed for sustainable ... | By Lidy Nacpil Read more ... |
|
|
World Bank climate funding greens African hotels while fishermen sink - Climate Change News - Finance  (Apr 16) |
|
Apr 16 · Climate Home reveals that the World Bank Group has counted support for luxury hotels as climate finance, which experts say fails the most vulnerable Fishers in Mbour, Senegal, just miles from the hotel resort of Saly, unload the day's catch. (Photo: Jack Thompson) The spotless white-sand beach of Le Lamantin luxury resort in Saly, about 90 kilometres south of Senegal’s capital Dakar, is lined with neat rows of sun loungers and parasols. Here, holidaymakers enjoy jet-skiing, catamaran-sailing and spa therapy, unaware that their hotel is benefiting from international climate finance channelled through the World Bank Group. Just a few kilometres further south, ... | By Matteo Civillini and Jack Thompson Read more ... |
|
|
SBTi needs tighter rules on companies’ indirect emissions - Climate Change News - Finance  (Apr 11) |
|
Apr 11 · Comment: Businesses are not required to cut all their value chain emissions in line with a 1.5C warming limit – and allowing offsetting could weaken efforts further Greenpeace activist protest at a pension fund in Luxembourg (Photo: Sara Poza Alvarez/Flickr) Silke Mooldijk works at the NewClimate Institute and is part of the core team behind the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor. A decade ago, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) was launched with the goal of mobilising the private sector for climate action. Today, it stands as the largest and most influential validator of corporate climate targets, having confirmed the 2030 goals of ... | By Silke Mooldijk Read more ... |
|
|
In Somalia, Green Climate Fund tests new approach for left-out communities - Climate Change News - Finance  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · GCF head Mafalda Duarte promises a more proactive plan to bring cash to the most vulnerable countries struggling with climate impacts Mafalda Duarte was appointed last year as executive director of the UN fund. Photo: Green Climate Fund One of the world’s most vulnerable countries, Somalia is bearing the brunt of climate extremes. A two-year drought – its worst in decades – was followed last November by devastating floods. The double crisis is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions more, destroyed livelihoods, and exacerbated severe hunger and water scarcity. For the East African nation, this was not just a ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Fossil fuel firms seek UN carbon market cash for old gas plants - Climate Change News - Finance  (Mar 7) |
|
Mar 7 · Fossil fuel companies that built gas power plants more than a decade ago are hoping for rewards from a new carbon credit market Workers are seen silhouetted near a liquified natural gas (LNG) storage tank at PetroChina's receiving terminal at Rudong port in Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, September 4, 2018. (Reuters/Stringer) Fossil fuel companies are aiming to profit from a new United Nations’ carbon market by selling carbon credits linked to gas-fired power plants they have already built. At the Cop28 climate summit last December, governments agreed to set up a new global carbon credit market under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement – and a host of ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
UN climate fund axes Nicaragua forest project over human rights concerns - Climate Change News - Finance  (Mar 7) |
|
Mar 7 · In the first such decision since its creation, the Green Climate Fund pulled out of a project in Nicaragua after developers failed to address environmental and social compliance issues An agriculture worker in Nicaragua, where the GCF pulled out of a project after a human rights complaint. (Photo: Green Climate Fund) The UN’s flagship climate fund has pulled out of a forest conservation project in Nicaragua after local community groups complained about a lack of protection in the face of escalating human rights violations in the area. It is the first such decision the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has taken since its creation in 2010. The GCF said on Thursday it ... | By Matteo Civillini and Sebastian Rodriguez Read more ... |
|
|
How to hold shipping financially accountable for its climate impacts - Climate Change News - Finance  (Mar 5) |
|
Mar 5 · A levy on shipping emissions will be discussed by governments at IMO talks this month, with climate-vulnerable nations seeking funding from the industry A view of Barbados-flagged bulk carrier "Lycavitos" on the sea off Koh Sichang, Thailand, February 20, 2023. (Reuters/Geir Vinnes/Handout) Discussions about climate finance are usually framed around national borders: wealthy countries rightfully paying more than less-developed states for their historic responsibility in the climate crisis. But holding only countries accountable for the damage done to our planet lets other polluters, often much larger than some major economies, off the hook. We have a unique ... | By Ana Laranjeira Read more ... |
|
|
When governments fund fossil fuels, it’s time to take them to court - Climate Change News - Finance  (Feb 28) |
|
Feb 28 · A new wave of climate litigation is targeting state institutions that are still providing public finance for fossil fuels, despite pledges to turn off the funding tap A warning sign for a natural gas pipeline is seen as natural gas flares at an oil pump site outside of Williston, North Dakota, March 11, 2013. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton) Today’s climate crisis is already worse than scientists predicted, yet governments continue to pour billions of dollars of public funds into the single-biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions: fossil fuels. Activists have been protesting against this for years, and now we’re seeing the fight spill into courtrooms. In the face of ... | By Maria Alejandra Vesga Correa, Leanne Govindsamy and Lorenzo Fiorilli Read more ... |
|
|
Loss and damage must be a focus of IPCC’s next reports - Climate Change News - Finance  (Feb 16) |
|
Feb 16 · Without proper interventions anchored on the latest and best available science, even more people would be vulnerable to disastrous impacts of tremendous economic and non-economic costs. The aftermath of Supertyphoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Tropical storms are set to get fiercer with climate change (Pic: UN photos) The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been influential in the history of the global climate negotiations. Its third and fourth Assessment Reports helped elevate adaptating to climate change into a critical issue on par with reducing emissions. The United Nations-sanctioned organisation is in a position to once again push ... | By John Lee Algo Read more ... |
|
|
Blended finance can perpetuate climate colonialism - Climate Change News - Finance  (Feb 15) |
|
Feb 15 · ‘Blended finance’ took centre stage at Cop28, with the Green Climate Fund among its supporters. But there are still major problems with the concept that must be addressed before considering any further expansion. An off-grid solar panel installed in Limpopo, South Africa (Photo: Mujahid Safodien / Greenpeace) ‘Blended finance’ took centre stage at Cop28, with the Green Climate Fund among its supporters. But there are still major problems with the concept that must be addressed before considering any further expansion. Blended finance is a combination of public concessional finance (i.e. with more generous terms than the market) with private or ... | By Farwa Sial Read more ... |
|
|
US trade agency backs oil and gas drilling in Bahrain despite Biden pledge - Climate Change News - Finance  (Feb 9) |
|
Feb 9 · Ex-Im’s financing would boost fossil fuel production in the Gulf state with the construction of over 450 new oil and gas wells Bahrain has one of the oldest oil and gas fields in the Middle East. Credit: Michele Solmi/Flickr The United States is set to invest public money in the expansion of oil and gas production in Bahrain despite the Biden administration’s pledges to end support for fossil fuel projects overseas. The US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) – a federal export credit agency – is pushing ahead with plans to back the drilling of more than 450 new oil and gas wells in one of the oldest extraction fields across the Middle ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
“Shameful”: Shell uses carbon credits under investigation to meet climate targets - Climate Change News - Finance  (Feb 2) |
|
Feb 2 · The oil and gas giant offset part of its emissions with over a million credits from Chinese projects suspended because of integrity concerns Greenpeace protesters erect a spoof billboard outside Shell’s HQ. Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe / Greenpeace Oil and gas giant Shell is counting discredited carbon credits towards its climate goals, drawing accusations of “bad faith” and “malintent”. Last month, Shell used rice farming carbon credits to offset a chunk of its annual emissions, claiming to reduce the “carbon intensity” of its fossil fuel products. But experts have long argued that the sellers of these offsets are over-counting their emissions ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Junk offset sellers push to enter new UN carbon market - Climate Change News - Finance  (Jan 18) |
|
Jan 18 · Renewable energy schemes make up four-fifths of Kyoto-era projects hoping to keep selling offsets under Article 6, sparking concerns over the credibility of the new market. Chinese wind farms are among the most prevalent CDM projects seeking transition. Photo: Asian Development Bank Developers are trying to keep selling offsets from hundreds of controversial projects through a revamped United Nations mechanism, sparking fears that worthless credits will allow companies and countries to pollute. Climate Home analysis shows that renewable energy investments make up four-fifths of all projects seeking a transfer from the old Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to the ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Witness bribing minister’s family own Congolese carbon credit company - Climate Change News - Finance  (Jan 11) |
|
Jan 11 · The minister Jean-Pierre Bemba bribed witnesses in his war crimes trial and holds power over the environment minister Eve Bazaiba Jean-Pierre Bemba attends his trial at the International Criminal Court (Photos: International Criminal Court) Family members of a powerful government minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused of war crimes have set up a carbon offsets company in the country, sparking fears the company will get favourable government treatment. The Societe Conservation Forestiere (SCF) was set up in December 2022 and is co-owned by two adult children of the DRC’s defence minister Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was accused of war crimes and found ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
First ever Paris Agreement offsets face integrity questions - Climate Change News - Finance  (Jan 9) |
|
Jan 9 · As Switzerland buys the first ever bilateral offsets, civil society’s analysis suggests the claimed emissions reductions from Thai buses would have happened anyway The offsetting scheme is replacing petrol-fueled buses with electric ones in Bangkok. Photo: Ian Fuller The first-ever exchange of carbon credits between countries under a new Paris Agreement mechanism is facing criticism over whether the offsets deliver the emission reductions claimed. Switzerland has bought from Thailand the first batch of carbon offsets under the mechanism, created through the rollout of electric buses in the Thai capital Bangkok as part of a bilateral partnership. It is ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Slow start for Indonesia’s much-hyped carbon market - Climate Change News - Finance  (Nov 20) |
|
Nov 20 · Since President Widodo launched Indonesia’s exchange two months ago, there’s been barely any trading of carbon credits The Indonesia Stock Exchange building in Jakarta's central business district (Photo credit: Andrew Prawiro) In September, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo opened the country’s first carbon exchange IDX Carbon, declaring “this is Indonesia’s real contribution to fight with the world against climate crisis”. In the launch video, a calm female voice makes a plea over jangly guitar. “Join us to accelerate net zero with more transparency, liquidity and efficiency,” she says, as a headless businessman fondles a hologram of a globe. Two ... | By Joseph Rachman Read more ... |
|
|
France, Kenya set to launch Cop28 coalition for global taxes to fund climate action - Climate Change News - Finance  (Nov 16) |
|
Nov 16 · The taskforce, set to be launched at Cop28, will consider the feasibility of levies on shipping, aviation, financial transactions and fossil fuels. William Ruto and Emmanuel Macron have been driving forward the initiative over the last few months. Credit: Laurent Blevennec / Présidence de la République France and Kenya are set to launch an international taxation taskforce at Cop28 to push for new levies to raise more money for climate action. The governments are in advanced discussions with a handful of European and Global South countries that could join the coalition in Dubai, according to a source with knowledge of the talks. The taskforce is planning to ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
The OECD must take its chance to stop funding oil and gas - Climate Change News - Finance  (Nov 6) |
|
Nov 6 · Export credit agencies are still backing oil and gas projects – this week’s OECD meeting is a chance to change that The OECD's headquarters pictured after a snowstorm in Paris in 2018 (Photo credit: Herve Cortinat/OECD) The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is meeting in Paris this week for its annual forum. On the negotiating table is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to end the flow of public money into fossil fuels, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing about it. The OECD is made up of a group of primarily wealthy countries, who collectively set their own standards around big global issues like tax, trade and the ... | By Sandrine Dixson-Decleve Read more ... |
|
|
Rich nations offer loans not grants for Vietnam’s coal transition - Climate Change News - Finance  (Oct 30, 2023) |
|
Oct 30, 2023 · The G7 has offered to mobilise $15.5 billion to get Vietnam from coal to clean energy but just 2% of this is grants Workers walk near an excavator loading coal onto a truck at a coal port in Hanoi in 2012. (REUTERS/Kham/File Photo) Members of the G7 group of wealthy nations offered Vietnam more than $300 million in grants to support plans to reduce coal use, documents seen by Reuters show, accounting for 2% of a financial package made up mostly of costly loans that Hanoi has been reluctant to accept. The documents, which were finalised by donor countries in late October, reveal for the first time the breakdown of the $15.5 billion pledge that G7 countries and ... | By Reuters and Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
The EU is about to revive a failed climate solution - Climate Change News - Finance  (Oct 23, 2023) |
|
Oct 23, 2023 · Comment: The EU once led the world in combatting flawed forest offset schemes. Now it’s looking to give them a new lease of life. Greenpeace activists raise a banner against the giant globe at the centre of the COP26 conference hall in Glasgow. Photo: Emily Macinnes / Greenpeace Since their inception more than 30 years ago, carbon offsets have given false comfort to those seeking easy solutions to the climate crisis. Encouraging one party to continue pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, while paying another to do the opposite has been a giant diversion: side-tracking us from decarbonising our economies and lives. One scandal after another has ... | By Kathleen McAfee and Kate Dooley Read more ... |
|
|
China’s Belt and Road gets ‘green’ reboot and spending boost - Climate Change News - Finance  (Oct 19, 2023) |
|
Oct 19, 2023 · Clean energy is a priority as China promises $100 billion of development funding – but don’t call it climate finance Xi Jinping addresses the UN in 2017 (Photo credit: United Nations Geneva) China has raised clean energy among the priorities of its flagship international investment programme, while promising an extra $100 billion in development funding. President Xi Jinping said China will “further deepen cooperation” in green infrastructure and energy projects with developing countries as part of a reboot of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Xi unveiled his plans at a glitzy summit celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Saudi Arabia, Russia urge World Bank to keep funding fossil fuels - Climate Change News - Finance  (Oct 12, 2023) |
|
Oct 12, 2023 · Major oil and gas producers hit back at World Bank reforms that aim to channel more money into clean energy A gas field in the Yamal Peninsula in Russia. Photo: Russian Government Russia, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have urged the World Bank to keep funding fossil fuel as a way to guarantee energy access across the world, as the lender pursues green reforms. During a meeting of the bank’s steering committee in Marrakech, Morocco, they voiced opposition to reforms which are expected to channel more money into clean energy projects. Mohammed Aljadaan, the Saudi finance minister, said “hydrocarbons will continue to play an important role in ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
World Bank targets dirty subsidies to fund climate action - Climate Change News - Finance  (Oct 11, 2023) |
|
Oct 11, 2023 · The World Bank says it will try to get governments to stop spending public money making fossil fuels artificially cheap A petrol/gasoline station in Switzerland (Photo credit: Rama) The World Bank is seeking to persuade governments to take money away from subsidies for fossil fuels and invest it in good causes like climate change. Governments around the world currently spend over half a trillion dollars a year on making the use of fossil fuels cheaper and the bank wants some of this to be spent on tackling climate change. In response to calls from the wealthy governments that fund it, the bank is pivoting to focus more on climate change, alongside its ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
Exposed: carbon offsets linked to high forest loss still on sale - Climate Change News - Finance  (Oct 05, 2023) |
|
Oct 05, 2023 · Project owners in Cambodia and Brazil are selling carbon offsets to Uber, Marathon and ArcelorMittal despite an uptick in deforestation Underreported deforestation can generate worthless carbon offsets. Cover art: Spoovio / Fanis Kollias / Climate Home News Tucked on the edges of a biodiversity hotspot, the Tumring project in Cambodia is supposed to prevent a rainforest the size of Chicago from being chopped down. Its supporters claim it has been doing exceptionally well. The Cambodian government hailed it as the “most successful” community-based forest conservation scheme on the carbon market and a climate solution. Satellite images tell a different story. ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Green Climate Fund ambition at risk after ‘disappointing’ pledges - Climate Change News - Finance  (Oct 05, 2023) |
|
Oct 05, 2023 · The UN’s flagship climate finance initiative can barely sustain its existing portfolio after a lackluster fundraising conference on Thursday Lightning over the city of Songdo, South Korea, where the Green Climate Fund is headquartered (Photo: Soonye Yoon/World Meterological Organisation/Flickr) The UN’s flagship climate fund has raised $9.3 billion from rich governments to help developing nations go green and protect people from the impacts of climate change – less than in its last replenishment round four years ago. As contributions from traditional donors flatline, the Green Climate Fund’s new leadership is looking to private sources to ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Green Climate Fund may have to curb ambition as funding stagnates - Climate Change News - Finance  (Sep 21, 2023) |
|
Sep 21, 2023 · The UN’s flagship global climate fund looks likely to have to rein in its ambition, after France announced just a 4% boost in its contribution. An agriculture worker in Nicaragua, where a GCF project is under scrutiny for a human rights complaint. (Photo: Green Climate Fund) The UN’s flagship global climate fund looks likely to have to rein in its ambition, after France announced just a 4% boost in its contribution. Yesterday, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire announced his nation would give €1.61 billion ($1.75bn) to the organisation’s four-yearly fundraising round. While that’s slightly more in euros than France gave last time ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
Rich countries ‘confident’ $100bn climate finance delivered in 2023 - Climate Change News - Finance  (Sep 19, 2023) |
|
Sep 19, 2023 · Data won’t be confirmed until 2025 and developing countries say the rich world must make up for earlier shortfalls from the target 10-year old Nakeeyat Dramani Sam calls for climate finance in a speech to the Cop27 plenary (Photo credit: Kiara Worth/UNFCCC) There will be no confirmation that rich countries have met their $100 billion a year climate finance promise until 2025 at the earliest. That’s according to ministers from Canada and Germany, the two nations tasked with drawing up the “delivery plan” for belatedly meeting the pledge. In an open letter, Canada’s Steven Guilbeault and Germany’s Jennifer Morgan, said on ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
EU uses pollution tax funds to back Romanian gas pipeline - Climate Change News - Finance  (Sep 15, 2023) |
|
Sep 15, 2023 · The European Union is using taxes on pollution to fund a gas pipeline in Romania, claiming it will reduce emissions compared to coal European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen visits Romania in 2015 (Photo credit: Jane Hannemann/Bundeswehr) While the European Union pushes for a phase out of fossil fuels on the world stage, it is continuing to hand public money meant for climate projects to gas pipelines within its borders. While it no longer funds the extraction of fossil fuels, the EU backs gas pipelines in Eastern Europe using money generated from taxes on pollution. When polluting European companies are taxed through the EU’s emissions trading ... | By Raluca Besliu Read more ... |
|
|
A wolf in sheep’s clothing: why Africa should shun carbon markets - Climate Change News - Finance  (Sep 07, 2023) |
|
Sep 07, 2023 · Turning Africa into a source of carbon credits will benefit polluters and middlemen, not most Africans and not the planet A man stands in a rainforest in Gabon (Photo: Axel Rouvin/Flickr) There is increasing hype and push for so-called voluntary carbon markets in Africa. Politicians, businesses, some NGOs and big philanthropy are trying to get an African Carbon Market Initiative off the ground, which would allow companies to buy carbon credits in exchange for continued emissions. It’s become a major topic of controversy in the run up to the Africa Climate Summit this month. But Africa’s leaders should think twice before supporting this wolf in sheep’s ... | By Mohamed Adow Read more ... |
|
|
African leaders skirt over fossil fuels in climate summit declaration - Climate Change News - Finance  (Sep 06, 2023) |
|
Sep 06, 2023 · A joint statement forming the basis of Africa’s negotiating position for Cop28 is silent on the role of oil and gas Climate activists take to the streets at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Greenpeace African leaders have stopped short of calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels in a joint declaration that forms the basis of their negotiating position at the Cop28 climate summit in November. The document signed by heads of state at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit underscores a missing consensus between countries championing renewable energy and those arguing fossil fuels – and gas especially – are needed for economic development. | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Green debt swaps, explained - Climate Change News - Finance  (Sep 04, 2023) |
|
Sep 04, 2023 · Debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps are becoming more common, with Ecuador’s recent $1.6bn deal the biggest yet. How do they work? A sea lion in the Galapagos islands (Photo credit: Diego Delso) Government debts are rocketing to untenable levels while the need for huge investments in climate and nature becomes ever clearer. Enter debt-for-climate and debt-for-nature swaps. Dating back to the 1980s, these measures are having a renaissance. In the past, a common policy response to debt crisis was to boost exports by cutting down forests for timber or farmland. This was unsustainable. In 1984, the World Wildlife Fund’s Thomas Lovejoy ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
UAE pitches itself as Africa’s carbon credits leader - Climate Change News - Finance  (Sep 04, 2023) |
|
Sep 04, 2023 · An Emirati coalition has announced a $450 million commitment to buy carbon credits generated in Africa but critics called offsets a “risky diversion” The rainforest in Liberia, where a UAE firm wants to produce carbon credits from forest conservation. Photo: Travis Lupick The United Arab Emirates is positioning itself as a carbon credits leader in Africa, committing hundreds of millions of dollars towards producing carbon offsets on the continent and buying land off African governments. The latest sign of that came on Monday when a coalition of major UAE energy and financial companies indicated its intention to buy $450 million of carbon credits ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Money row delays green plan – Climate Weekly - Climate Change News - Finance  (Aug 18, 2023) |
|
Aug 18, 2023 · Wednesday was supposed to be the big unveiling of the plan to get the world’s fourth most populous country off coal and on to clean energy. But disagreements between Indonesia and the wealthy countries backing it meant that the launch was delayed. What were they arguing over? You guessed it – money. Specifically, how much of the $20 billion promised should be grants versus loans? The wealthy countries represented by the US and Japan say 0.8%, while Indonesia says ‘a lot more than that please!’ While negotiations continue, the Indonesian government official in charge told Climate Home News they need to see how much is being put on the ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
As Guyana shows, carbon offsets will not save the Amazon rainforest - Climate Change News - Finance  (Aug 01, 2023) |
|
Aug 01, 2023 · With all their flaws, carbon offsets are not the solution to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest – leaders should acknowledge that A member of the Munduruku people in the Tapajós river, in the state of Pará, Brazil (Photo: Valdemir Cunha / Greenpeace) In theory, forest carbon offsets are a simple idea. Companies pay for a tonne of carbon reduced through forest protection and restoration to counter emissions they are continuing to emit, or have emitted in the past. It sounds like a a win-win. A company gets a step closer to telling its investors and consumers it’s reached net zero, and critical forest protection gets an injection of cash. But this ... | By Joe Eisen Read more ... |
|
|
UN climate fund suspends project in Nicaragua over human rights concerns - Climate Change News - Finance  (Jul 26, 2023) |
|
Jul 26, 2023 · The Green Climate Fund suspended a $117 million forest conservation project in Nicaragua over escalating violence against indigenous people. The Bosawas Reserve in Nicaragua has been hit by illegal mining and logging despite protected status. Photo: Rebecca Ore The UN’s flagship climate fund has suspended payments to a $117 million forest protection project in the Central American nation of Nicaragua over human rights concerns, the first such decision since its creation in 2010. An investigation by the fund’s independent complaint mechanism found a series of failures that could “cause or exacerbate” violent conflict between indigenous people ... | By Matteo Civillini Read more ... |
|
|
Kerry rejects “climate reparations” but praises loss and damage fund - Climate Change News - Finance  (Jul 14, 2023) |
|
Jul 14, 2023 · Experts said that the term “climate reparations” implies liability, whereas the loss and damage fund will be filled on a voluntary basis US climate envoy John Kerry at an event at Cop27 (Photo: Marc Beckmann/BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt/Flickr) The US climate envoy John Kerry has strongly refuted the idea that the US will pay “climate reparations” but listed the creation of a loss and damage fund as one of his objectives for Cop28. In a combative discussion with Republicans on Congress’s house foreign affairs committee this Thursday, Kerry was asked by Republican Brian Mast if he was “planning to commit America to climate ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|
What’s in a word? – Climate Weekly - Climate Change News - Finance  (Jul 14, 2023) |
|
Jul 14, 2023 · Protesters at Cop27 call for reparations for loss of livelihoods and damage to nature (Photo credit: UN Cilimate Change) In the world of climate diplomacy, words matter a lot. Negotiations have hinged on “shall” vs “should”, “phase out” vs “phase down”, “green” vs “low-carbon”. And they matter in domestic politics too, as we found out when a hostile Republican Congressman asked US climate envoy John Kerry yesterday if he was “planning to commit America to climate reparations”. Before the Republican could finish his sentence, Kerry had shot back “no, definitely not” and ... | By Joe Lo Read more ... |
|
|