Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
US on track to cut emissions, Biden urges world to ‘step up’ Negotiators begin work on draft cover text as Week 1 ends
Biden addressed the climate conference in Egypt, saying the global climate crisis posed an existential threat to the planet
SHARM EL SHEIKH: President Joe Biden vowed at UN climate talks on Friday that the US was on track to slash its carbon emissions, urging all nations to ramp up their own efforts to avert catastrophic global warming.
Biden touted the passage of a massive, $369 billion spending package to green the United States economy as an example for the entire world.
While the US spending on its own renewable energy push has been praised by activists, Washington has come under criticism for falling short on its pledges to financially help developing countries with their own transitions and to cope with intensifying climate-induced impacts.
“The climate crisis is about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security and the very life of the planet,” Biden told an audience at the COP27 in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm El Sheikh.
Biden said the US is “on track” to achieve its pledge of cutting emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030.
“To permanently bend the emissions curve, every nation needs to step up. At this gathering, we must renew and raise our climate ambitions,” he said.
“The United States has acted, everyone has to act. It’s a duty and responsibility of global leadership.”
His speech, which lasted about 22 minutes, was briefly interrupted by unidentified people in the crowd making howling noises and attempting to unfurl a banner protesting fossil fuels.
New research shows just how dauntingly hard it will be to meet the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels requiring emissions to be slashed nearly in half by 2030.
Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at the Climate Action Network International said, “The US once again arrived without a clear plan on how it plans to do its fair share on climate finance and phasing out fossil fuels. Its radio silence on loss and damage finance, offering insurance instead of real money, while vulnerable countries have ramped up their demand for a finance facility proves once again how out of touch
Biden is with the reality of the climate crisis.”
Before his speech,
Biden met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of COP27, where he raised human rights issues with his host amid concerns over the health of jailed dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah.
NEW DELHI: Negotiators and ministers from 194 parties will on Saturday begin working out the draft cover text of the COP27 UN climate summit as the first week of events and announcements come to a close at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Negotiators had already started discussing issues that will be the presented in the COP27 resolution at the end of next week.
“Cover decision negotiations will begin tomorrow. It’s still a very long way to go to see what finds space there,” said a negotiator from one of the South American countries on Friday.
“Developed countries are likely to push for text on fossil fuel subsidies, coal phase down, methane pledges and other items from the Glasgow Pact such as keeping the 1.5-degree Celsius goal alive,” said an independent observer who did not wish to be named.
“Developing countries will push for equity and common but differentiated responsibilities to be highlighted in mitigation measures. Another red line may be the push to expand donor base for climate and adaptation finance,” the observer added.
There is a subtle push from developed countries to include China and India in the donor base for the new finance target,
New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), for 2025 onwards, which will start at $100 billion per year. There is also a push, observers said, to increase the donor base for the Adaptation Fund, which is supposed to help developing countries adapt to the effects of climate change.
Over 300 phrases in the draft section on the mitigation work programme - which talks about urgently scaling up action to meet Paris Agreement goals - are currently bracketed, which essentially means that they are not agreed upon.
The draft cover text also says urgent action across all sectors is needed on 1.5 degree Celsius goal and that current policies and measures are insufficient for achieving the goal, adding that the window of opportunity for achieving climate resilient development is closing. These are not bracketed.
“Some pretty punchy draft text here on 1.5C & need for ‘urgent action across all sectors & covering all GHGs’ – and it isn’t bracketed,” said Simon Evans, deputy editor, Carbon Brief, in a post on Twitter.
A number of important issues could be left out to make space in the final document, including a funding facility for loss and damage; scaling up action on adaptation of climate impacts; climate financing, specifically the new, collective, quantified goal for post-2025 period; and, possibly, a decision on safeguarding carbon offset markets, observers said.