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Climate Change is an existential threat for the Caribbean. Since 2009, Small Island Developing States and many others have been calling for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to prevent the worst of climate change impacts. The inclusion of a 1.5°C temperature limit in the 2015 Paris Agreement was a major victory for vulnerable countries. Since 2015, #1point5toStayAlive is a Panos Caribbean initiative to help make the Caribbean's case for 1.5°C. |
#1point5toStayAlive Frontpage News
FINANCIAL TIME / LONDON: "COP26: where does all the climate finance money go?"
2 NOVEMBER 2021 - LESLIE HOOK - JOANNA S KAO
In 2009, rich nations promised they would send at least $100bn a year in climate finance to poorer countries by 2020. That understanding formed the basis of the 2015 Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2C, ideally 1.5C.
“Suddenly you had this really emblematic ‘$100bn’ — where, unless you work this out, it is difficult to have the global agreement [at COP],” recalls Josué Tanaka, who helped launch the climate finance unit at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. “It became the signal, the base of trust, between developed and developing countries.”
But last week, on the eve of COP26, donor countries admitted they missed that target in 2020. Now they expect to reach it in 2022 or 2023, years later than planned.
Everyone agrees there should be more money for climate finance. But that is where the consensus ends.
→ READ MORE ON THE FINANCIAL TIME
- Category: 1.5°C Press
THE CLIMATE VULNERABLE FORUM: "DHAKA-GLASGOW DECLARATION"
2 NOVEMBER 2021
We, Heads of State and Government, and high representatives, of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific, and forming a significant number, and a representative group, of those countries most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, meeting in-person and virtually, as convened from Dhaka, and in Glasgow during the World Leaders Summit of UNFCCC COP26, in October and November 2021,
Alarmed at the recent findings of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment report (AR6) which confirmed that the warming of the climate system is accelerating with the world on track to reach 1.5ºC as early as 2030, with certain adverse impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat spells, set to nearly double in scale by then compared to impacts at 1ºC, as society now finds itself firmly within an escalating climate emergency,
Further alarmed at the conclusions of the UNFCCC Secretariat’s 2021 reports on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, wherein a large number of parties to the Agreement, including a number of major emitting countries, failed to comply with the Agreement by updating or renewing enhanced NDCs, and whereby a major shortfall in contributions to limiting warming to 1.5ºC prevails, though highlighting that the 1.5ºC goal can still be kept alive if 2030 emissions are 45% below their 2010 levels, which requires drastic, constant and urgent ambition raising especially of major emitting countries prior to 2030,
All the more alarmed by reports of the unmet UNFCCC collective climate finance commitment of the developed countries to mobilize $100 billion in annual, additional climate finance, with balanced funding for adaptation and mitigation, from 2020, and the threat that this default poses for confidence in the Paris climate regime in addition to weakening support for climate action by developing countries and our member states,
→ READ THE FULL DECLARATION ON THE CVF WEBSITE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK): "A Brief History of CO2 Emissions"
A Brief History of CO2 Emissions from Fachhochschule Potsdam on Vimeo.
- Category: 1.5°C Facts
TENEMENT YAAD: "So Said, Not So Easily Done"
1 NOVEMBER 2021
Steve D. Whittaker, PhD, MSc - edited by Sherine Andreine Powerful, MPH
Since the 2020 storm season started, the Caribbean region has seen (perhaps) unprecedented downpours disrupt the daily lives of many communities and citizens. Even the most unorganized of cyclonic systems resulted in substantial damages* to infrastructure in Dominica, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Trinidad & Tobago. And yet, despite flooded streets, sweeping power outages, and buildings literally sliding off their foundations, many regional residents defer, if not decline, to act or adapt, even as the risks of these incidents increase. Almost entire governments, a plethora of private sector representatives, and a generous portion of the general public continue to operate as though these extreme weather events are within some familiar range of hurricane-adjacent horror, as opposed to reacting to the aforementioned incidents. It’s as if these events fail to serve as evidence of the existential crisis that is a change in global climate.
→ READ MORE ON TENEMENT YAAD WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
Climate Analytics: "The Global Methane Pledge and 1.5°C"
2 NOVEMBER 2021 - CLIMATE ANALYTICS
53 countries have signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, committing to cut methane emissions by 30% in 2030 from 2020 levels. In 2019, these countries made up 30% of global methane emissions and around 34% of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This analysis quantifies the potential impacts of the pledge if all countries were to adopt it.
→ READ MORE ON CLIMATE ANALYTICS
- Category: 1.5°C Facts
CARIBBEAN LEADERS SPEECHES - COP 26 OPENING
GASTON BROWN - ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
ANDREW HOLNESS - JAMAICA
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley: Speech, Opening of the #COP26 World Leaders Summit
CNN / Christiane Amanpour Interview - 1 November 2021
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- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
#COP26 News Round-Up - 2 November, 2021
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley: #COP 26 World Leaders Summit Speech (UNCC - YouTube)
Climate Tracker / Vishani Ragobeer: "The best of both worlds? Guyana wants to be a low-carbon oil producer"
Climate Tracker / Zico Cozier: "‘A matter of life or death’"
Jamaica Gleaner: "Antigua, Tuvalu to seek justice over climate change damage"
The Guardian: "Climate experts warn world leaders 1.5C is ‘real science’, not just talking point"
The Guardian: "What is deforestation – and is stopping it really possible?"
The Guardian: "US rejoins coalition to achieve 1.5C goal at UN climate talks"
- Category: 1.5°C Press
Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI): Call for Climate Action
1 NOVEMBER 2021 - Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)
The 26th Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP26) to the UN Climate Change Convention in Glasgow, UK represents a critical moment to tackle the climate crisis and set us on the pathway to a low carbon and resilient future. CANARI joins other activists and civil society organisations across the globe in calling for urgent and strengthened commitments to limit global temperature increase to 1.5C and address the needs of the most vulnerable communities and countries including Caribbean small island states.
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
THE GUARDIAN / OPINIONS: "Working at the World Bank, I can see how it is failing humanity on the climate crisis"
28 OCTOBER 2021
JAKE HESS, RESEARCHER AT THE WORLD BANK (WASHINGTON)
The World Bank is facing the biggest test in its history. Next week, Bank executives are attending the Cop26 global climate summit in Glasgow, where key decisions about the fate of humanity will be made. If the Bank wants to achieve its official goals of eradicating poverty and building shared prosperity, now is the time to step up. Because nothing will increase poverty and undermine prosperity more than runaway global warming.
I have watched this drama unfold from the inside, because I work at the World Bank. Sadly, I have little confidence that my employer will become a climate leader any time soon.
→ READ MORE ON THE GUARDIAN'S OPINIONS
- Category: 1.5°C Press
WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: "We’re Not on Track for 1.5 Degrees C. What Will it Take?"
28 OCTOBER 2021
A new report, the State of Climate Action 2021, looks at whether we are doing enough to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals. It finds that, to date, none of the 40 indicators assessed are on track to reach 2030 targets.
→ READ MORE ON WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE'S WEBSITE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
YALE ENVIRONMENT 360: "Why the World’s Rich Nations Must Pay for Climate Damage"
15 OCTOBER 2021 - BILL MCKIBBEN
“There are economic as well as non-economic costs that result from both extreme weather events like hurricanes and floods and slow onset climatic processes such as sea level rise and salinization,” he said in an email. “Loss and damage includes permanent and irreversible losses such as to lives, livelihoods, homes and territory, for which an economic value can be calculated, and also to non-economic impacts such as the loss of culture, identity and biodiversity, which cannot be quantified in monetary terms.”
→ READ MORE ON YALE ENVIRONMENT 360
- Category: 1.5°C Press
CARICOM: "Climate Change Ministers demand climate justice in Declaration ahead of COP26"
27 OCTOBER 2021
As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) readies itself for participation in the upcoming global Climate Change conference, COP 26, it issued a pre-Conference Declaration this week giving notice that the Region faces a climate emergency and demanding action.
The CARICOM Declaration on Climate Change, approved at a meeting of CARICOM Ministers with responsibility for Climate Change, made an urgent call for unswerving global solidarity to deliver ambition, timely action, and support for a just transition during this decade, with the aim of limiting global warming to well below 1.5°C.
The Declaration demanded climate justice and the assurance that the Region’s survival will not be compromised. It called on leaders at COP26 to close the emissions gap, scale up finance particularly for the most vulnerable, and agree to rules to guide parties to progressively increase and demonstrate highest ambition.
→ READ THE FULL DECLARATION ON CARICOM'S WEBSITE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK: "COP26 MUST DELIVER ON LOSS AND DAMAGE"
26 OCTOBER 2021
More than 300 civil society organisations sent an open letter to COP26 President Elect Alok Sharma and other world leaders demanding that COP26 urgently commit to deliver finance on Loss and Damage.
AN OPEN LETTER TO WORLD LEADERS
We, the undersigned, from over 300 organisations from across the world, spanning a broad range of institutions and movements, from humanitarian and development organisations to youth groups, Indigenous Peoples organisations, trade unions and climate justice groups, call on you today to ensure that COP26 delivers finance for loss and damage.
→ READ THE FULL LETTER AND MORE ON CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK INTERNATIONAL'S WEBSITE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
AFP/Yahoo! News: "Latest climate plans worlds away from 1.5C target: UN"
26 october 2021
Countries' latest climate plans will deliver just a tiny percentage of the emissions cuts needed to limit global heating to 1.5C, the United Nations said on Tuesday in a damning assessment ahead of the COP26 climate summit. Just days before the Glasgow meeting, which is being billed as crucial for the long-term viability of the Paris climate deal, the UN's Environment Programme said that national plans to reduce carbon pollution amounted to "weak promises, not yet delivered".
- Category: 1.5°C Press
