Pressure for drastic climate action to build post-COP

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Carbon Credits ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Climate Action

Significance The agreement has been widely criticised for its shortcomings, not least its failure to secure commitments to end coal use and to make major breakthroughs in climate governance. Progress has nevertheless been made on some issues, such as deforestation and methane emissions. Precedents have been set, symbolic milestones achieved and foundations for future progress laid. Impacts The Global Methane Pledge will foster increased attention on non-CO2 greenhouse gases. Comprising more than 450 institutions, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero could boost funding for decarbonisation. The finalisation of the Paris Agreement ‘rulebook’ will prompt a rapid expansion in carbon credits.

Climate talks highlight shortcomings in global efforts

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
The Us ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Trump Administration ◽  
Credibility Gap

Significance Washington has re-joined the Paris agreement and announced new climate commitments, but still faces a credibility gap. It must demonstrate by November’s COP26 summit, how it can meet its new goals. Impacts Private sector companies will face increasing pressure to set net-zero targets. The use of natural gas as a transition fossil fuel will face greater scrutiny as pressure for drastic climate action increases. Fossil fuel subsidy reform is likely to return to G20 priorities after having been neglected during the US Trump administration.

Prospects for climate governance in 2017

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Energy Capacity ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Collective Commitment ◽  
International Climate

Subject Prospects for climate governance in 2017. Significance The November 7-18 COP22 climate conference produced a new political declaration, the 'Marrakech Action Proclamation for Climate and Sustainable Development’, reaffirming the collective commitment to step up climate action to meet the temperature goal of keeping warming to below 2 degrees centigrade. Upward trends in renewable energy capacity are also promising, particularly as countries prepare to turn their nationally-determined contributions made under the Paris Agreement into reality. This progress remains fragile, however, because of uncertainty about the extent of US backtracking on international climate cooperation following the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.

Pandemic will not stop international climate action

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Business Cases ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Global Carbon

Significance This has deprived social movements of opportunities to mobilise public opinion. However, a recent surge of major economies and businesses setting long-term ‘net zero’ emission targets offers hope that 2019 might have been the peak year for global carbon emissions. Impacts Campaigners will bring more litigation cases to press for more ambitious national policies. Carbon border pricing will become more attractive in higher-ambition jurisdictions, but it will also trigger geopolitical pushback. Efficiency investments in energy and transport will slow as demand falls and capital becomes tighter, affecting their business cases. A confirmed Biden win in yesterday’s US presidential election would see US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement reversed.

US backsliding will drag on global climate progress

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Federal Support ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Action

Subject The Paris Agreement and US withdrawal. Significance President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change on June 1, prompting criticism from around the world. While current pledges are unlikely to change and the agreement will not see flight or withdrawal by other countries, US withdrawal imperils the ability of the agreement’s structure to accelerate climate action to a scale necessary to meet its objective of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees centigrade by 2100. Impacts The US private sector and sub-national polities will increase their climate action, though the loss of federal support will still be felt. A future US administration could re-enter the agreement, but substantial momentum will be lost diplomatically in the intervening years. Calls for greater adaptation -- rather than mitigation -- funds from climate-vulnerable states will grow more strident.

Prospects for climate change in 2021

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Better Than

Significance US re-entry into the Paris Agreement will signal renewed climate engagement by Washington. Prospects for climate cooperation are better than they seemed a year ago, with net-zero targets being more widely adopted, alongside long-term ambition statements. Credibility will depend on substantial changes in near-term climate policies and the pursuit of ‘green recoveries’.

India will defy external pressure over climate policy

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Palm Oil ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Emissions Intensity

Significance The G7 wants leading emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to achieve net-zero emissions by around mid-century, preferably 2050. India’s targeted Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to action against climate change includes reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35%, relative to 2005 levels, by 2030. Impacts India will steadily reduce its palm oil imports. Coal will continue to dominate India’s energy mix in the medium term. Delhi will try to step up cooperation over clean energy with key partners such as Washington.

Climate finance for forest conservation will grow

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Conservation ◽  
Futures Contracts ◽  
Carbon Credits ◽  
Carbon Credit ◽  
Free Products ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Remote Sensing Technology ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Net Zero

Significance The wider adoption of net-zero targets by private companies creates further demand for new carbon credits, including from forests. However, the expanding market for carbon credits and the proliferation of crediting schemes also introduces complexity, both for forested countries aiming to fund conservation measures and for prospective credit buyers. Impacts Carbon credit futures contracts are likely to be developed as the market matures. Satellite, artificial intelligence and other remote sensing technology will be more regularly used to monitor forest conservation efforts. Scrutiny of commodity supply chains for ‘deforestation-free’ products will grow.

Details will slow Paris Agreement's implementation

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Additional Support

Significance The climate pact sets forward an ambitious vision of global climate governance, with significant implications for policymakers and investors, but the Paris Agreement will now move beyond bold rhetoric to more contentious issues related to ratification and implementation. Impacts Many developing countries are still wary of making unconditional pledges without additional support from developed countries. Morocco -- the host of this year's COP22 summit in November -- will set the pace for the global shift to renewables. Climate-driven water shortages may 'strand' once-lucrative investments in farmland.

COVID-19 to hinder international climate diplomacy

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
International Climate ◽  
Made In

Subject Climate diplomacy. Significance Amid frustration at the limited outcomes of last year’s COP25 conference in Madrid, hopes had been building that new commitments on climate action would be made in 2020. The global COVID-19 crisis has broken momentum towards such goals, seeing several international climate conferences postponed, including COP26, which was to take place in Glasgow in November. With political energy now focused completely on COVID-19, hopes that COP26 would increase ambitions to meet Paris Agreement temperature goals have been dashed. Impacts Trends of increasing renewable energy will remain consistent, given policy support. Climate ‘emergency’ rhetoric will run into public fatigue after the health emergency. The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on November 4 will be a flashpoint in presidential elections.

Reset or Revert in the New Climate Normal

2021 ◽  
pp. 425-444
Author(s):  
Navraj Singh Ghaleigh ◽  
Louise Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Zero Emission ◽  
Recovery Trajectory

This chapter argues that ambitious climate action should be central to the “new normal” in Asia and that law has an important role in delivering it. From the perspective of climate change policy and law, the Covid-19 catastrophe offers the slim possibility that the world will “build back better,” restoring societies and economies along climate-friendly lines. This approach—resetting—envisages national stimulus packages and allied actions of central banks and financial regulators which are oriented toward economic growth and net-zero emission pathways in the months and years following Covid-19. The alternative narrative—reversion—identifies a recovery trajectory in which policies that are supportive of carbon-intensive pathways push the Paris Agreement targets further out of reach. Components of such recovery packages include unconditional bailouts for the fossil fuel sector and conventional mobility. The chapter then explores the tension between these two approaches in the immediate response to Covid-19, focussing on the coal sector as an emblematic variable in climate change debates.

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