By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN (IDN) – Despite growing calls for urgent and strong climate change action, a crucial round of talks concluded in Bangkok on September 9 with what UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa has termed “uneven progress”. The Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, Gebru Jember Endalew of Ethiopia finds […]
Big Oil Locked in War with Institutions of the Art World
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – A growing number of museums in Europe are turning thumbs down on oil company dollars when the companies not only contribute to global warming but fund the “science” that supposedly disproves it. Oil company funding also misleads public perception of environmental devastation as in Nigeria […]
New Study Warns Of ‘Hothouse’ Threatening Planet Earth
By Rita Joshi BERLIN (IDN) – Planet Earth is inching towards crossing the Rubicon by passing a tipping point and entering an irresistible “Hothouse” state. Rivers would flood, coasts would vanish, storms would wreak havoc on coastal communities, coral reefs would be eliminated, and numerous people would perish because of food scarcity and inescapable lethal […]
Climate Change ‘Main Pillar’ of EU-China Relations
By Robert Johnson BRUSSELS (IDN) – Collaboration between the European Union (EU) and China on climate change and clean energy is set to become “a main pillar” of their bilateral partnership, including in their economic relations, according to a joint statement. Titled EU-China Leaders’ Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy, the statement underlines their […]
Worldwide Shipping Could Jeopardise Climate Goals
By Sean Buchanan LONDON (IDN) – Worldwide, shipping contributes an estimated 2.5 percent of global emissions, but left unchecked this could grow to 17 percent by 2050, warns Transparency International – an international non-governmental organisation based in Berlin. Failure to dramatically reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, says the NGO, will jeopardise the pledges […]
Climate Change Is The Central Challenge For Humanity
Viewpoint by Franz Baumann This article is based on Talk given to the UN Association of New York 23 May 2018. Dr. Franz Baumann joined the UN Development Program in 1980 and began working in the UN Secretariat in 1985. He retired in 2015 as an assistant secretary-general, special adviser on environment and peace operations, […]
The Road to Climate Summit in Poland Leads Through Bangkok
By Jaya Ramachandran BONN (IDN) – Since the climate negotiations in Bonn failed to pave the way for a successful United Nations climate summit COP24 in Poland in December, an extra round is being convened from September 3-8 in Bangkok. Commenting the negotiations in Bonn, concluded on May 10, the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group […]
UN Predicts Loss Of $43 Trillion Through Land Degradation
By Jutta Wolf BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – Land degradation has reached staggering proportions. If the current pace continues unabated, a gargantuan amount of $43,000,000,000,000 ($43 trillion) will be lost to the world economy by the year 2050, warns the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). But the anticipated colossal loss can be avoided […]
UN Climate Talks Show Business Support For Paris Agreement
By Jaya Ramachandran BONN (IDN) – Over 700 leading businesses around the world, together representing 2.62 gigatons of emissions equivalent to the total annual emissions of India, have made strategic climate commitments through the ‘We Mean Business’ coalition’s Take Action campaign. Organizers of the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) to be held in San Francisco […]
Reverse the ‘Individualising Imaginary’ on Climate Change
By Maurizio Fratta ROME (IDN) – The data collected by climatologists speak clearly: since 1880 – when surveys began – the summer of 2017 in Italy was the second hottest ever; the month of August recorded an average thermal excess of 2.5°C, with the fourth day of the month the hottest in the last 60 […]