|
Climate Change is an existential threat to the Caribbean #1point5toStayAlive is a Panos Caribbean initiative to help make the Caribbean's case for 1.5°C. 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. |
#1point5toStayAlive Frontpage News
T&T Guardian: "Simon Stiell: A Caribbean man leading the climate fight"
17 NOVEMBER 2022
RYAN BACHOO
If the Caribbean is on the frontlines of this climate change crisis, it is now sending its soldiers to lead the battle at the geopolitical level.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has emerged as the political voice of small island developing states around the world. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, meanwhile, brought loss and damage funding to the negotiating table as a COP27 agenda item as chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
Now, Grenadian Simon Stiell is settling into his new role as United Nations Climate Change Secretariat Executive Secretary.
→ MORE ON T&T GUARDIAN WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
PANOS CARIBBEAN: "Growing Concerns Over COP27’s ‘Slow Progress’ on Loss and Damage"
SIDS negotiators want commitment to financing arrangements
17 NOVEMBER 2022
PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR/FELLOWSHIP
Caribbean and other small island developing states (SIDS) are intent on securing a decision for a financing facility for loss and damage associated with climate change, despite what has been a reportedly frustrating week and a half of negotiations at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt.
In a statement shared earlier yesterday (November 16, 2022), the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which represents the interest of 39 SIDS and low-lying developing countries, made clear their displeasure with the negotiations that have so far yielded “a lack of progress” on arrangements for loss and damage that result from extreme events, such as hurricanes, and so-called slow onset events, including, sea level rise and warmer global temperatures.
“We have come too far to fail on loss and damage finance. Three quarters of humanity is relying on a favourable outcome at COP27. AOSIS and our fellow developing countries have toiled for the past thirty years to be heard on this issue,” AOSIS Chair, the Hon. Minister Molwyn Joseph of Antigua and Barbuda, said in a statement shared with the public.
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
AP/MYNORTHWEST: "Barbados spearheads push on climate disaster financing"
17 NOVEMBER 2022
At the U.N. climate summit in Egypt, leaders of developing nations have repeatedly said it’s not fair to expect them to cover the costs of rebuilding from devastating weather events in a warming world, plus invest in cleaner industry while they also pay much higher interest rates on loans than rich nations.
A plan put forward by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley would overhaul the way much of development lending works. It is also giving voice to developing nations struggling under rising debt from climate damage.
- Category: 1.5°C Press
AOSIS: "Failure On Loss And Damage Fund Is A Failure For The World"
16 NOVEMBER 2022
Small Island Developing States leaders express fear that many developed countries are backtracking on commitment to make progress on critical loss and damage response finance to assist vulnerable countries recover from climate change impacts
COP27, Egypt, 16th November, 2022 – In the final few days of negotiations at the UN climate summit, COP27, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and other developing countries are gravely concerned with the lack of progress made on the fundamental agenda item of funding arrangements for loss and damage. The inaction of many developed countries has the potential to stall talks and land a devastating blow to the hopes of the developing world for the establishment of a loss and damage funding facility at COP27.
“We have come too far to fail on loss and damage finance. Three quarters of humanity is relying on a favourable outcome at COP27,” said the AOSIS Chair, the Honourable Minister Molwyn Joseph of Antigua and Barbuda. “AOSIS and our fellow developing countries have toiled for the past thirty years to be heard on this issue. AOSIS has worked tirelessly this year to build consensus, devise a clear loss and damage response fund proposal, and ensure the commitment of the international community to come to COP27 and negotiate on this issue in good faith. Now, we are here, and some developed countries are furiously trying to stall progress and even worse, attempting to undermine small island developing States. So, not only are they causing the worst impacts of the climate crisis, they are playing games with us in this multilateral process. There have only been informal consultations, to date, of this critical agenda item, and no official launch of negotiations through a Joint Contact Group.”
“We greatly appreciate the signs of willingness to engage from countries such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand and call on other developed countries to uphold the integrity of this process which is mandated to support the most vulnerable,” he continued. “AOSIS is sworn to serve the vulnerable women, children, and men of our countries who deserve not just to survive but to thrive. Our countries have been pushed to their very limits, and there is no lifeline in further delay tactics.
We did not cause this crisis, we are bearing the brunt of the suffering, yet we are the ones constantly asked to make concessions. If other countries continue to cast aside small islands to serve the interests of the fossil fuel industry, they cannot expect our people to swim in a stagnant pool. The tide has turned on loss and damage. Why do you continue to turn a deaf ear to the cries of our people? Why do you continue to call into question the very credibility of this process?
COP27 is billed as the implementation COP. It is time to implement loss and damage finance. I am being very clear – small island developing States will no longer stand for delay on loss and damage finance.”
→ READ STATEMENT ON AOSIS WEBSITE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
Panos Caribbean: "Scaled-up Emissions Cuts a Must for Caribbean SIDS"
Climate scientist urges attention to 1.5 target, loss and damage support
16 NOVEMBER 2022
PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR/FELLOWSHIP
Caribbean climate scientist, Prof. Michael Taylor has thrown his weight behind calls for a comprehensive agreement from the United Nations (UN) Climate Talks (COP27) now ongoing in Egypt – one that is responsive to the needs of the region’s small island developing states (SIDS).
Those needs, he said, include demonstrably scaled-up emissions cuts to hold temperature increases at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, as well as financial support for loss and damage.
“The priority issues haven't changed: mitigation to limit future warming to give places like the Caribbean a more livable future; adaptation financing mechanisms in support of adaptation plans which recognise that the future ahead, even at 1.5 degrees, will be extremely challenging; as well as acknowledgement of loss and damage and new supporting financing mechanisms for the most vulnerable for whom loss and damage is already a reality,” said Taylor.
A Physicist and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Taylor was one of the lead authors for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways.
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
Guardian et al.: "COP27: This is no time for apathy or complacency"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
This editorial calling for action from world leaders on the climate crisis is published today by more than 30 media organisations in more than 20 countries
Rich countries account for just one in eight people in the world today but are responsible for half of greenhouse gases. These nations have a clear moral responsibility to help. Developing nations should be given enough cash to address the dangerous conditions they did little to create – especially as a global recession looms.
→ MORE ON THE GUARDIAN'S WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
OXFAM: "True value of climate finance is a third of what developed countries report"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
Many rich countries are using dishonest and misleading accounting to inflate their climate finance contributions to developing countries – in 2020 by as much as 225 percent, according to investigations by Oxfam.
Oxfam estimates between just $21-24.5 billion as the “true value” of climate finance provided in 2020, against a reported figure of $68.3 billion in public finance that rich countries said was provided (alongside mobilized private finance bringing the total to $83.3 billion). The global climate finance target is supposed to be $100 billion a year.
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
SKY NEWS: "Antigua's PM asks 'Why should we live somewhere else?' as he says his people don't want to become climate refugees"
14 NOVEMBER 2022
Prime Minister Gaston Brown, of Antigua and Barbuda, has angrily rejected the idea his people should be forced to migrate, and warned that climate diplomacy is failing to act with anything like the urgency needed.
- Category: 1.5°C Press
GUARDIAN: "Fear of backsliding on Glasgow pledges dominates COP7"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
Governments are supposed to be building on pledges made last year at Cop26 in Glasgow. These include limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, doubling the amount of financial assistance for poor countries to adapt to the impacts of extreme weather, and addressing the issue of loss and damage, which means financial assistance for countries stricken by climate disaster.
However, documents and proposals seen by the Guardian on Tuesday, and accounts from negotiating teams, showed some countries attempting to unpick agreements and water down commitments.
→ MORE ON THE GUARDIAN'S WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
NEW REPUBLIC: "Joe Biden Failed to Impress at the U.N. Climate Talks"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
America’s approach to loss and damage financing for developing nations is eerily reminiscent of the fossil fuel industry’s delay tactics for stalling climate policy.
→ MORE ON NEW REPUBLIC'S WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
NEW HUMANITARIAN: "What those closest to loss and damage are saying about COP’s newest agenda item"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
To sift through some of the key issues around loss and damage, The New Humanitarian spoke to a range of voices attending COP27: people from disaster-hit communities, frontline humanitarians, aid workers, and officials from governments pushing for change.
→ MORE ON THE NEW HUMANITARIAN'S WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
GREENPEACE: "COP27 Sponsor The Coca-Cola Company named worst plastic polluter for five years in a row according to 2022 Brand Audit"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
Since 2018, global cleanups and brand audits have been carried out by more than 200,000 volunteers in 87 countries and territories to identify the companies polluting the most places with the most plastic waste. Over all five years, more Coca-Cola Company branded items were collected than the next two top polluters combined. This year’s brand audits found more than 31,000 Coca-Cola branded products, doubling the proportion of Coca-Cola products found in 2018. These findings are revealed as the top polluter is serving as a sponsor of the UN climate change conference COP27 in Egypt. Given that 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels, Coca-Cola’s role in COP27 baffles environmental activists.
→ MORE ON GREENPEACE'S WEBSITE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
CASA: "SIDS VOICES AT COP27"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
Angelique Pouponneau, Policy Advisor says that the Alliance of Small Islands States (AOSIS) is looking for a framework to guide the deliberations of the Glasgow Sharm El-Sheikh Work Programme on the Global Goal on Adaptation next year that has more ‘purpose’ and ‘intent’ than at present. She also outlines Small Island Developing States’ needs for finance, technology transfer and capacity-building.
→ MORE VIDEO INTERVIEWS IN THIS SERIES ON CLIMATE AMBITION SUPPORT ALLIANCE'S WEBSITE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
LOOP CARIBBEAN: "St Vincent’s PM supports seeking climate justice before Int'l courts"
14 NOVEMBER 2022
St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is lending support to a suggestion by his Antigua and Barbuda counterpart, Gaston Browne, that countries most affected by climate change, such as those in the Caribbean, should seek redress before international courts.
- Category: 1.5°C Press
IPCC event at COP27: "Small Islands: Staying Afloat and Alive @ 1.5"
15 NOVEMBER 2022
"The main objective of the event is to share climate change science with a broad range of stakeholders by providing a platform to discuss climate change impacts, the implementation of adaptation solutions for small islands, which may assist in achieving transformation toward the end goal of a sustainable future for small island states, and vulnerabilities they face in addressing impacts and taking adaptation action.
Many small islands are seeking answers to what urgent climate adaptation action is needed to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change. No single adaptation measure will be the panacea or provide the “silver bullet” for all the challenges faced by small islands. It is clear that a balancing act is needed in implementing adaptation solutions ranging from a combination of ecosystem-based adaptation and engineered coastal structures to extreme measures such as planned relocation in retreating from the coast.
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
GREENPEACE: "COP27 stifles dissent, ignores impacted voices & puts polluters before climate justice"
13 NOVEMBER 2022
As the vital COP27 climate talks resume for a second week, Greenpeace warned that hope and progress can only be restored if the microphone is taken from the polluters and handed to people from impacted communities and countries.
To succeed, the COP27 must agree to establish a dedicated financial facility for loss and damage, secure adequate adaptation and green transition funding for developing countries and accelerate fossil fuel phase out in line with 1.5°C.
→ MORE ON GREENPEACE'S WEBISTE
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
CLIMATE ANALYTICS EVENT: "CLIMATE JUSTICE FOR THE CARIBBEAN", ON 15 NOVEMBER
In Sharm el Sheikh / COP27 on 15 November 2022: register now for this Climate Analytics Caribbean event at the CARICOM Pavilion (Pavilion 5, Area C) to discuss #ClimateJustice for the Caribbean, and to raise the bar for regional resilience. With Secretary-General of CARICOM Dr. Carla Barnett.
TO REGISTER: HTTPS://BIT.LY/3T9SPT4
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
THE GUARDIAN: " COP27 first week roundup: powerful dispatches, muted protest, little cash"
12 NOVEMBER 2022
Greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise this year, research published this week has shown, despite stark warnings from climate scientists in the past year. The prospects of sticking to the 1.5C limit above pre-industrial levels that scientists tell us is necessary have receded to a “narrow window”.
→ MORE ON THE GUARDIAN'S WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
Global Voices: "LOSS AND DAMAGE IN THE CARIBBEAN: WE SEE IT, WE FEEL IT, WE KNOW IT"
12 NOVEMBER 2022
DIZZANNE BILLY
For years, countries of the Global North (those rich countries which have benefited from industrial development and are some of the largest emitters of the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change) have been putting up barricades, preventing any discussion of Loss & Damage, much to the chagrin of the Global South (those countries already facing the brunt of the climate crisis).
→ MORE ON GLOBAL VOICES' WEBSITE
- Category: 1.5°C Press
CARE: "HALFWAY THROUGH COP27-TIME RUNNING OUT FOR GENDER-JUST CLIMATE ACTION"
12 NOVEMBER 2022
The 27th UN Climate Change Conference of Parties is at its halfway mark. Despite some positive steps having been made, progress during negotiations is continuing at a slow and disappointing pace according to CARE International.
- Category: Voices of the 1.5°C Allies
