Climate Action Archives - Page 23 of 24

Climate Action2016-04-192023-07-10

Environmental Fund Taps Six for Major ‘Green Prize’

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Once the ancestral land of pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, the Tarangire national park in Tanzania found itself in the crosshairs of tourist developers carving up the wilderness for fancy lodges, luxury tents and other rich tourist amenities.

Lands once shared with the wildebeest, the zebra, and majestic old baobab trees were being “grabbed” by government or companies, without compensation to the Masaai and Hadzaba who resided there.

As countries around the world prepared to mark Earth Day on April 22, the Goldman Environmental Foundation honoured six grassroots leaders including Edward Loure of Tanzania for defending lands at risk from profit-seeking developers.

Climate Action2016-01-182023-07-10

UNFCCC Chief Praises UAE Founder’s Vision at Crown Prince’s Court

ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has abundant opportunities to diversify its economy away from oil as a result of the impulse of the Paris Agreement, the head of the UN climate convention said to a distinguished audience at the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

Addressing the Court, Christiana Figueres said opportunities ranged from displacing coal on world markets via low cost gas supplies to ramping up the global deployment of renewable energy.

Climate Action2015-12-132023-07-10

79-Nation African, Pacific and Caribbean States Welcome COP21 Agreement

BERLIN (IDN) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group has welcomed the Climate Change Paris Agreement on December 12. “It is a major step forward; it has reinforced the core issues around which the ACP joined forces with the EU,” said the 79-nation Group’s Secretary-General Dr. Patrick Gomes.

Climate Action2015-12-122023-07-10

Paris Climate Agreement Promises to be UN Chief’s Legacy

NEW YORK | PARIS (IDN) – Ban Ki-moon has reason to be sure that when he completes his second term as the Secretary-General of the United Nations end of December 2016, he would have left behind a proud legacy.

Climate change has been “one of the defining priorities” of his tenure since January 2007, when he took over as Secretary-General. In his remarks at the closing of COP21, Ban stressed: “Over the past nine years, I have spoken repeatedly with nearly every world leader. I have visited the climate front lines, from the Arctic to Antarctica and to the Amazon, from the Sahel to the Aral Sea. I have been to Pacific Islands that are sinking under the waves.”

Climate Action2015-12-102023-07-10

Polluters and Sufferers Push for Legally Binding Deal by COP21

BERLIN | BRUSSELS | PARIS (IDN) – The UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris would be recorded in the annals of global negotiations if only because a block of wealthy nations responsible for contributing to global warming made a common cause with a group of developing nations suffering the dire consequences of climate change.

Climate Action2015-12-052023-07-10

Most Vulnerable Countries Assured of Fresh Money at Climate Conference

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Chairperson Naoko Ishii has welcomed pledges made at the UN Climate Conference in Paris to inject more than 252 million U.S. dollars to help the most vulnerable countries address climate change and its adverse consequences.

In an unprecedented move, Premier Philippe Couillard of Québec, Canada’s largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division, has announced a contribution of 6 million Canadian dollars to the climate fund, hosted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the most vulnerable countries.

The commitment, made at the Paris COP21 climate talks, is the first-ever by a sub-national government, and brings total new financing to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) to more than 252 million U.S. dollars.

The support for the LDCF was included in an announcement by the Québec government on December 5 of new international funding for climate cooperation.

Climate Action2015-12-032023-07-10

China’s Carbon Trading Pilot Programmes Flawed

BEIJING (IDN | UNDP) – As China prepares to launch a nationwide carbon cap-and-trade program to try to slow climate change, experts are warning of a long list of flaws in seven pilot programs that are already operating throughout the country.

Major issues ahead of the planned 2017 launch of a national carbon trading program include a lack of openness, transparency and fairness; a flawed system of allowance allocation which does not reflect real industry conditions; and an inadequate monitoring, verification and reporting system.

Climate Action2015-11-302023-07-10

Vulnerable Communities Reject Proposed COP21 Accord

PARIS (IDN) – Leaders from the U.S. and Canadian grassroots and indigenous communities have expressed their opposition to the proposed global climate agreement, saying that it falls far short of what is needed to avoid a global catastrophe.

With more than 100 delegates from dozens of climate impacted communities across the U.S. and Canada, the It Takes Roots delegation is calling on world leaders to emerge from COP21 in Paris with an agreement based on real solutions. COP21 is the 21st session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change from November 30 to December 11, 2015.

Climate Action2015-11-292023-07-10

Thinking or Not Thinking About Tomorrow

BERLIN (IDN) – A series of interviews with the German Economic Affairs and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and with leading representatives of energy industries of the country, broadcast by the German public television network in run-up to COP21 in Paris, seemed to prove what critics of climate change conferences often claim: The governments of industrialised countries model their opinions and policies on the criteria laid down by private businesses.

Climate Action2015-11-262023-07-10

Climate Summit An Opportunity for Accelerating Transformation

TORONTO (IDN) – The Global Environment Facility (GEF) expects the twenty-first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – from November 30 to December 11 in Paris – to be a “turning point”.

It expects COP21 to send “a loud and clear signal to citizens, markets and the private sector that the transformation of the global economy is inevitable, beneficial, and already underway”.

Governments from around the world are meeting in Paris to reach a new climate change agreement that aims to keep global average temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) – the level beyond which there will be irreversible impacts.