As the COP28 climate talks begin today in Dubai, the Green Party has set out three key demands. They are to ‘keep 1.5 alive’; an agreement on the fair and managed phase-out of all fossil fuels; and measures to address ‘climate inequality.’ Greens are challenging the UK government to lead by example and put into practice policies that will help meet these demands.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Co-leader of the Green Party, Carla Denyer, said:
“We need to hear a clear unambiguous commitment from the UK government to the 1.5C Paris Agreement target which was signed up to by 196 countries eight years ago at COP21. The government must agree to whatever it takes to get this target back on track. It’s going to require a hugely ambitious strategy, but the massive scaling up of climate action that is now necessary is because of dither and delay by countries like the UK in taking the bold action needed.
“Another vital outcome of COP28 must be the fair and managed phase-out of all fossil fuels. As one of the rich countries most responsible for the climate crisis, the UK must stand on the side of future generations and those on the front line of climate breakdown and agree to urgently move away from fossil fuels. The UK government must resist pressure from the petrostates and others at COP who wish to continue with business as usual and keep the world hooked on fossil fuels. At home this means leading by example with an immediate end to all new oil and gas licences and a rapid acceleration towards renewable energy.
“Thirdly, these climate talks must recognise that it is a super-rich elite who are super-heating the planet. The UK government must be willing to challenge the grotesque inequality driving climate breakdown and reform our tax system to make the polluter pay. This means taxing the wealth of the super-rich and introducing a carbon tax on the most polluting corporations and individuals. Such taxes, introduced globally, could generate the funds needed for a generous new Loss and Damage Fund to finance climate action in the poorest countries – those suffering the most from the impacts of climate breakdown but contributing the least to the crisis.”
“It looks like we’ve lost control of melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet,” said one author. “The bright side is that by recognizing this situation in advance, the world will have more time to adapt to the sea-level rise that’s coming.”
Even if humanity dramatically reduces planet-heating pollution from fossil fuels, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet faces an “unavoidable” increase in melting for the rest of this century, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is the continent’s largest contributor to rising seas and contains enough ice to increase the global mean sea level by over 17 feet, the study explains. Enhanced melting of ice shelves, “the floating extensions of the ice sheet, has reduced their buttressing and caused upstream glaciers to accelerate their flow” toward the Southern Ocean. Ice shelf melting could “cause irreversible retreat” of the glaciers.
Using the United Kingdom’s national supercomputer, scientists ran simulations on ocean-driven melting of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea. They simulated a historical scenario of the 20th century and four future scenarios: two involving medium and high emissions and two using the goals of the Paris agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rise this century below 2°C, with a more ambitious target of 1.5°C, relative to preindustrial levels.
“We must not stop working to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.”
The trio of British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Northumbria University researchers found that “rapid ocean warming, at approximately triple the historical rate, is likely committed over the 21st century, with widespread increases in ice-shelf melting, including in regions crucial for ice sheet stability.”
“When internal climate variability is considered, there is no significant difference between mid-range emissions scenarios and the most ambitious targets of the Paris agreement,” the study states. “These results suggest that mitigation of greenhouse gases now has limited power to prevent ocean warming that could lead to the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.”
In other words, “it looks like we’ve lost control of melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet,” said lead author and BAS researcher Kaitlin Naughten in a statement. “If we wanted to preserve it in its historical state, we would have needed action on climate change decades ago.”
“The bright side is that by recognizing this situation in advance, the world will have more time to adapt to the sea-level rise that’s coming,” Naughten noted. “If you need to abandon or substantially re-engineer a coastal region, having 50 years lead time is going to make all the difference.”
“We must not stop working to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” she stressed. “What we do now will help to slow the rate of sea-level rise in the long term. The slower the sea-level changes, the easier it will be for governments and society to adapt to, even if it can’t be stopped.”
The collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is one of nine global climate “tipping points” scientists identified in 2009. The passing of these environmental red lines would be catastrophic for life on Earth.
An international team of scientists said in 2022 we may already have passed the point of no return for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet at just 1.1°C of warming above preindustrial levels.
Tiago Segabinazzi Dotto, a senior research scientist at the U.K.’s National Oceanography Center who was not involved in the study, said in a statement that “it is likely that we passed a tipping point to avoid the instability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.”
“This work fits with existing evidence that suggests that the collapse of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea is imminent, such as the Thwaites Ice Shelf,” he continued. “However, the pace of this collapse is still uncertain—it can happen in decades for some specific ice shelves or centuries.”
“The conclusions of the work are based on a single model and need to be treated carefully since different models and even ensembles of the same model can give different responses,” he added, while also emphasizing that “this study needs to be taken in consideration for policymakers.”
Other experts who were not involved with the research also regarded its revelations as significant and echoed Naughten’s call for ramping up worldwide efforts tackle the climate emergency by cutting emissions.
“This is a sobering piece of research,” said University of Southampton physical oceanography professor Alberto Naveira Garabato. “It should also serve as a wake-up call. We can still save the rest of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, containing about 10 times as many meters of sea level rise, if we learn from our past inaction and start reducing greenhouse gas emissions now.”
"The opportunity to preserve the West #Antarctic Ice Sheet in its present state has probably passed, and policymakers should be prepared for several metres of sea-level rise over the coming centuries"
Alessandro Silvano, an independent research fellow at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), said that “particularly important will be the future of East Antarctica, where about 90% of the Antarctic ice is stored.”
Andrew Shepherd, head of Northumbria’s Department of Geography and Environment and director of the NERC Center for Polar Observation and Modeling, said that while the “conclusion about the inevitability of West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse is pessimistic, sticking to 1.5°C of global warming buys us 50 years on the extreme scenario… and even 20 years on sticking to 2°C.”
“This could make all the difference to coastal planners, and so is not to be sniffed at,” he added. “It’s vitally important that these ocean forcing trajectories are translated into projections of ice sheet losses so that we know what sea-level rise to expect.”
The research comes as the international community prepares for COP28, the next major United Nations climate summit, set to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Dubai beginning next month.
Pope Francis during the act of appointment of cardinals in the Vatican Basilica of St. Peter, on September 30, 2023, in Rome, Italy. (Photo: Stefano Spaziani/Europa Press via Getty Images)
“The necessary transition towards clean energy sources such as wind and solar energy, and the abandonment of fossil fuels, is not progressing at the necessary speed,” he said.
In his second major address on the climate crisis, Pope Francis called for urgent global action ahead of the COP28 United Nations climate conference.
The pontiff’s remarks came in a papal exhortation published Wednesday morning titled “Laudate Deum” or “praise God.”
“We must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes,” Francis said.
I invite everyone to accompany this pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home and to help make it more beautiful through our own contribution because our own commitment has to do with our personal dignity and highest values #LaudateDeumhttps://t.co/yiPrArGaZF
The pope made waves in 2015 when he published an encyclical on climate and the environment titled Laudato Si, shortly before world leaders negotiated the Paris agreement. An exhortation is a shorter, less prestigious document, according to The Washington Post. In Wednesday’s document, the first he has published on the climate crisis in eight years, Francis reflected on how far the world hadn’t come.
“With the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” he said.
As the world prepares for COP28, he said that international agreements had not so far led to effective action.
“The necessary transition towards clean energy sources such as wind and solar energy, and the abandonment of fossil fuels, is not progressing at the necessary speed,” he said. “Consequently, whatever is being done risks being seen only as a ploy to distract attention.”
“In conferences on the climate, the actions of groups negatively portrayed as ‘radicalized’ tend to attract attention. But in reality they are filling a space left empty by society as a whole.”
He also addressed concerns about the conference being hosted in a major oil-producing country, though he acknowledged that the United Arab Emirates had made significant investments in renewable energy.
“Meanwhile, gas and oil companies are planning new projects there, with the aim of further increasing their production,” he said.
The pope warned about the consequences of inaction:
We know that at this pace in just a few years we will surpass the maximum recommended limit of 1.5° C and shortly thereafter even reach 3° C, with a high risk of arriving at a critical point. Even if we do not reach this point of no return, it is certain that the consequences would be disastrous and precipitous measures would have to be taken, at enormous cost and with grave and intolerable economic and social effects. Although the measures that we can take now are costly, the cost will be all the more burdensome the longer we wait.
Yet he also counseled against abandoning hope, saying it “would be suicidal, for it would mean exposing all humanity, especially the poorest, to the worst impacts of climate change.”
Instead, he argued that hope should be found in structural changes rather than relying entirely on technological fixes like carbon capture.
“We risk remaining trapped in the mindset of pasting and papering over cracks, while beneath the surface there is a continuing deterioration to which we continue to contribute,” he wrote. “To suppose that all problems in the future will be able to be solved by new technical interventions is a form of homicidal pragmatism, like pushing a snowball down a hill.”
Throughout the text, he emphasized climate justice, pointing out that the wealthy world had contributed more to the crisis, while the Global South suffered disproportionately from its impacts. In particular, he called on the United States to alter its energy-intensive lifestyle.
“If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact,” he said.
“Global leaders meeting in Dubai for COP28 must heed the pope’s call to agree to a just and equitable phaseout of all fossil fuels and a transition to renewable energy, with adequate financial support for impacted countries.”
He also defended climate activists who have been criticized for disruptive tactics.
“In conferences on the climate, the actions of groups negatively portrayed as ‘radicalized’ tend to attract attention,” he said. “But in reality they are filling a space left empty by society as a whole, which ought to exercise a healthy ‘pressure,’ since every family ought to realize that the future of their children is at stake.”
Several long-time climate advocates welcomed Pope Francis’ remarks.
“The pope’s intervention ahead of the Dubai climate talks is welcome and adds to an increasingly loud chorus of voices demanding that countries tackle the root cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels,” Mariam Kemple Hardy, global campaigns manager at Oil Change International, said in a statement. “The pope is right to point out the growing gap between the urgent need to phase out all fossil fuels and the fact that countries and the oil and gas industry are doubling down on new production that is incompatible with a livable climate.”
“Global leaders meeting in Dubai for COP 28 must heed the Pope’s call to agree to a just and equitable phaseout of all fossil fuels. Unless it does so, COP28 will be a failure.”https://t.co/724dTQqaTo
Hardy also echoed the pope’s emphasis climate justice, calling out wealthy nations for continuing to exploit fossil fuels.
“Global leaders meeting in Dubai for COP28 must heed the pope’s call to agree to a just and equitable phaseout of all fossil fuels and a transition to renewable energy, with adequate financial support for impacted countries. Unless it does so, COP28 will be a failure,” Hardy said.
350.org and Third Act co-founder Bill McKibben hoped that the pope’s message might succeed where others had failed.
“The work of spiritual leaders around the world may be our best chance of getting hold of things,” McKibben toldThe Guardian. “Yes, the engineers have done their job. Yes, the scientists have done their job. But it’s high time for the human heart to do its job. That’s what we need this leadership for.”
“We must make up time lost to foot-dragging, arm-twisting, and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels.” [FFS]
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres kicked off his one-day Climate Ambition Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Wednesday with a simple, clear, and resounding message for world leaders: do more.
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell” by unleashing potent levels of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment since the Industrial Revolution, Guterres told the the audience, which notably did not include some leaders of top polluting nations—such as U.S. President Joe Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Chinese President Xi Jinping—who refused to attend the event.
“Horrendous heat is having horrendous effects,” Guterres said, echoing his Tuesday speech at the U.N. General Assembly. “Distraught farmers watching crops carried away by floods; sweltering temperatures spawning disease; and thousands fleeing in fear as historic fires rage.”
“Climate action is dwarfed by the scale of the challenge,” he continued. Absent dramatic reforms, humanity is heading toward “a dangerous and unstable world,” with the global temperature set to soar 2.8°C above preindustrial levels. Already, human activity—especially the burning of fossil fuels—has driven heated the planet by about 1.2°C.
“The future of humanity is in your hands—in our hands.”
Under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, nearly every nation on Earth has agreed to work on keeping global temperature rise this century below 2°C, with a target limit of 1.5°C. However, as scientific analyses have repeatedly found over the past eight years, parties to the deal are still way off track.
Current projections are alarming, “but the future is not fixed,” Guterres said, emphasizing that the 1.5°C goal is still in reach. “We can still build a world of clear air, green jobs, and affordable, clean power for all.”
“The path forward is clear,” he declared. “It has been forged by fighters and trailblazers—some of whom are with us today: Activists refusing to be silenced; Indigenous peoples defending their lands from climate extremes; chief executives transforming their business models and financiers funding a just transition; mayors moving towards to a zero-carbon future; and governments working to stamp out fossil fuels and protect vulnerable communities.”
Warning that the global community is decades behind where it should be in the shift to renewables, the U.N. chief charged that “we must make up time lost to foot-dragging, arm-twisting, and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels.”
#ClimateAction is dwarfed by the scale of the climate challenge.
Today at #UNGA, I’m urging leaders to generate momentum that we build on over the coming months.
Guterres renewed his call for developed countries to reach net-zero as close as possible to 2040, emerging economies to achieve that as close as possible to 2050, and all nations “to implement a fair, equitable, and just energy transition, while providing affordable electricity to all.”
“Many of the poorest nations have every right to be angry—angry that they are suffering most from a climate crisis they did nothing to create; angry that promised finance has not materialized; and angry that their borrowing costs are sky-high,” he noted. “We need a transformation to rebuild trust.”
Shifting from English to French—another official language of the U.N.—Guterres urged governments to push the global financial system toward supporting climate action, including by overhauling the business models of multilateral development banks to better help developing countries.
He also called for operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund at COP28, the next U.N. climate summit for Paris agreement parties, hosted in November by the United Arab Emirates—which is under fire for appointing an oil executive as the conference president.
“The future of humanity is in your hands—in our hands,” added Guterres, who was forced to leave early on Wednesday for a U.N. Security Council meeting that was scheduled after he announced the climate event. “One summit will not change the world. But today can be a powerful moment to generate momentum, that we build on over the coming months, and in particular at the COP.”
“We can—and we must—turn up the tempo,” he concluded. “Turn plans into action. And turn the tide.”
“We have to send the message that some of us are going to be living on this planet 30, 40, 50 years from now and we will not take no for an answer.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a fiery speech to the tens of thousands of climate marchers who took to the streets of New York City on Sunday, telling the crowd that “it means something” when people show up in force because now is the time for elected leaders in the United States and around the world to finally show “urgency” on the issue of soaring global temperatures that are driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
“The way that we create urgency on the issue of climate,” declared Ocasio-Cortez, “is when we have people all across the world in the streets—in the streets!—showing up, demanding change, and demanding a cessation of what is killing us. We have to send the message that some of us are going to be living on this planet 30, 40, 50 years from now and we will not take no for an answer.”
Over 75,000 are estimated to have marched Sunday ahead of the rally that capped off days of organized action in New York and elsewhere in the country and around the world. All of the coordinated activities came ahead of this week’s United Nation’s General Assembly, including a Climate Ambition Summit initiated by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres slated for Wednesday.
Calling the climate crisis “the biggest issue of our time,” the New York Democrat said the organized movement demanding bold change “must be too big and too radical to ignore.”
Ocasio-Cortez touted her 2019 Green New Deal legislation that called for a 10-year time period for rapid decarbonization alongside a shift to renewable energy that also includes a just transition for workers impacted by the shift away from good-paying and reliable jobs in the oil, gas, and coal industries.
“We are demanding a change,” she said, “so that working people get better jobs and lower bills under a renewable energy economy—that is what we are here to make sure we achieve!”
Further, Ocasio-Cortez slammed the U.S. government under the Biden administration for approving a record number of oil and gas drilling leases and told the crowd “that has got to end today” as she applauded the climate movement for starting to “crack the grip” which the fossil fuel industry holds on the nation’s political economy.
“That’s because of you,” she said to those in the crowd. “Don’t let the cynics win. The cynics want us to think that this isn’t worth it. The cynics want us to believe that we can’t win. The cynics want us to believe that organizing doesn’t matter; that our political system doesn’t matter; that our economy doesn’t matter. But we’re here to say that we organize out of hope! We organize out of commitment! We organize out of love! We organize out of the beauty of our future! And we will not give up. We will not let go! We will not let cynicism to prevail!”
