The world is “way off track” to hit climate goals, said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber in his first address since being named negotiator-in-chief of COP28 climate talks on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, where the gathering will take place in late 2023.
“The world is playing catch-up when it comes to the key Paris goal of holding global temperatures down to 1.5 degrees,” Al Jaber said, adding that “the hard reality is that, in order to achieve this goal, global emissions must fall 43 percent by 2030.”
The UAE’s decision to entrust Al Jaber to broker global climate negotiations has drawn an intense backlash from environmental activists across the globe. They worry that inherent conflicts of interests may jeopardize the outcome of the flagship gathering.
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Category: Just Stop Oil
World ‘way off track’ on climate targets, says UAE oil boss named COP28 chief
Davos 2023: Big Oil in Sights of Climate Activist Protests
https://www.voanews.com/a/davos-2023-big-oil-in-sights-of-climate-activist-protests/6920107.html
Major energy firms including BP BP.L, Chevron CVX.N and Saudi Aramco 2222.SE are among the 1,500 business leaders gathering for the annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos, where global threats including climate change are on the agenda.
“We are demanding concrete and real climate action,” said Nicolas Siegrist, the 26-year-old organiser of the protest who also heads the Young Socialists party in Switzerland.
The annual meeting of global business and political leaders opens in Davos on Monday.
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https://www.voanews.com/a/davos-2023-big-oil-in-sights-of-climate-activist-protests/6920107.html
Scottish Greens call on Westminster to ‘wake up to the reality of the climate crisis’
Image: Chris LeBoutillier / Creative Commons THE Scottish Greens called on Westminster today to “wake up to the reality of the climate crisis” and change course on fossil fuels instead of “dragging us towards environmental disaster.”
The challenge followed publication of the Scottish government’s draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition document, which calls for a halt to new oil and gas exploration licences and outlines plans for Scotland to lead a transition to renewables.
The strategy includes ideas to increase the country’s renewable electricity generation capacity by 20 gigawatts (GW) over the next seven years, equivalent to nearly 50 per cent of current demand, the Scottish Greens said.
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“Even as the world burns, the UK government has committed to approving 100 new oil and gas exploration licences and is opening the first new coalmine for 30 years.
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Climate Change Heroes Of 2022: António Guterres, Just Stop Oil, Greta Thunberg And Climate Scientists
An interesting long article reviews and discusses climate activism 2022 and looks forward to 2023.
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On New Year’s Day, Extinction Rebellion caused a stir by tweeting, “WE QUIT! Our New Year’s Resolution is to halt our tactics of public disruption. Instead, we call on everyone to help us disrupt our corrupt government.”
“Choose Your Future & join us”, they added, providing a date and a location: 21 April, Parliament. The aim — the idea of the velvet revolution — is to get 100,000 people to commit to turning at Parliament on April 21, and also to commit to not going home again at the end of the day.
Please give this date some serious thought and ask yourself, if you already find yourself making excuses not to turn up, why it’s not worth doing. The presence of 100,000 people could genuinely be a tipping point — a gathering too large for the government to suppress via the vile anti-protest legislation passed by the former home secretary Priti Patel, and which the current home secretary, Suella Braverman, wants to expand, which criminalises protest, and equates disruption to save the planet with terrorism.
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Sunak ‘hasn’t a clue’ on climate scientist claims
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak doesn’t understand climate breakdown and should revoke all new oil and gas exploration licences, a climate expert has said.
Professor Bill McGuire of University College London said he was not surprised that Mr Sunak did not mention climate in his New Year’s speech on Wednesday.
According to a YouGov poll, the environment ranks fourth in the public’s list of most important issues facing the country.
But it was left out of Mr Sunak’s five-point pledge to halve inflation, grow the economy, curb illegal Channel crossings and bring down the national debt and NHS waiting times.
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A PM who issues more than a hundred new oil and gas exploration licences and gives the go-ahead for a new coalmine clearly hasn’t a clue or simply doesn’t care, or perhaps both
Professor Bill McGuire
