COP28 conference looks set for conflict after tense negotiations on climate damage fund
BENGALURU, India (AP) — Tense negotiations at the final meeting on a climate-related loss and damages fund — an international fund to help poor countries hit hard by a warming planet — ended Saturday in Abu Dhabi, with participants agreeing that the World Bank would temporarily host the fund for the next four years.
The United States and several developing countries expressed disappointment in the draft agreement, which will be sent for global leaders to sign at the COP28 climate conference, which begins in Dubai later this month.
The U.S. State Department, whose officials joined the negotiations in Abu Dhabi, said in a statement it was “pleased with an agreement being reached” but regretted that the consensus reached among negotiators about donations to the fund being voluntary is not reflected in the final agreement.
The agreement lays out basic goals for the fund, including for its planned launch in 2024, and specifies how it will be administered and who will oversee it, including a requirement for developing countries to have a seat on the board, in addition to the World Bank's role.
Avinash Persaud, a special envoy to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on climate finance, said the agreement was “a challenging but critical outcome. It was one of those things where success can be measured in the equality of discomfort.” Persaud negotiated on behalf of Latin America and the Caribbean in the meetings.
He said that failure to reach an agreement would have “cast a long shadow over COP.”
Mohamed Nasr, the lead negotiator from Egypt, last year’s climate conference host, said, “It falls short on some items, particularly the scale and the sources (of funding), and (an) acknowledgment of cost incurred by developing countries.”
The demand for establishing a fund to help poor countries hit hard by climate change has been a focus of U.N. climate talks ever since they started 30 years ago and was finally realized at last year’s climate conference in Egypt.
Since then, a smaller group of negotiators representing both rich and developing countries have met multiple times to finalize the details of the fund. Their last meeting in the city of Aswan in Egypt in November ended in a stalemate.
While acknowledging that an agreement on the fund is better than a stalemate, climate policy analysts say there are still numerous gaps that must be filled if the fund is to be effective in helping poor and vulnerable communities around the world hit by increasingly frequent climate-related disasters.
The meetings delivered on that mandate but were “the furthest thing imaginable from a success,” said Brandon Wu of ActionAid USA who has followed the talks over the last year. Wu said the fund “requires almost nothing of developed countries. ... At the same time, it meets very few of the priorities of developing countries — the very countries, need it be said again, that are supposed to benefit from this fund.”
Sultan al-Jaber, a federal minister with the United Arab Emirates and CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company who will oversee COP28 next month, welcomed the outcome of the meetings.
“Billions of people, lives and livelihoods who are vulnerable to the effects of climate change depend upon the adoption of this recommended approach at COP28," he said.
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This story corrects the timing for the COP28 climate conference.
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AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
Follow Sibi Arasu on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @sibi123
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Sibi Arasu, The Associated Press
Ship traffic ramps up through the Northwest Passage as Arctic ice retreats
MONTREAL — Michael Wenger still remembers the patches of blood red and vivid violet that daub the landscape of the Northwest Passage.
“People usually think it's ice and glaciers and rocks. And then you get there and you see these meadows, with all the different plants,” he said, speaking by phone from Reykjavik, Iceland, where he was attending an Arctic Circle Assembly conference.
“It’s very colourful,” said Wenger, CEO of Polar Journal AG, who worked as an expedition guide on a northern cruise vessel in 2016.
A growing number of people are now getting to witness those vibrant tundras first-hand. The same climate shifts that affect Arctic flora have also forced a massive retreat in Arctic sea ice — even in the passage, where geography and wind currents freeze the waters for a longer period of the year than in other parts of the Far North.
“It’s happening at a crazy rate,” said Bernard Funston, former chairman of the Canadian Polar Commission.
In step with the melt, more and more ships are sweeping across the Northwest Passage as a heating planet clears a path for boat traffic through the Arctic corridor, raising hopes for commercial viability as well as concerns about the environmental and social impact.
Steeped in lore since before Roald Amundsen became the first European to fully chart it in 1906, the Northwest Passage runs 1,450 kilometres from east to west, threading an archipelago of islands between Baffin Bay and the Beaufort Sea via a half-dozen routes under a single name. Effectively off-limits to transcontinental shipping for centuries, the seaway hosted a bulk freighter from end to end for the first time in 2013.
With a hull strengthened to withstand floating ice, the Nordic Orion that year hauled a load of metallurgical coal from Vancouver and across the Arctic coastline to Finland. The journey shaved 1,000 nautical miles from the traditional route through the Panama Canal and shipped 25 per cent more cargo due to the greater depth of the passage.
The ramp-up since has been striking, with bulk carriers, fuel tankers, cruise liners and research expeditions leading the charge.
The number of unique vessels operating in the Canadian Arctic rose 35 per cent to 212 between 2016 and 2022, according to figures provided by the international Arctic Council.
Researchers say the Northwest Passage will likely never compete with trade arteries like the Panama Canal due to the inconsistent navigation season, lack of ports and still-hazardous conditions.
But the diminishing ice, growth of northern resource development and more recently Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have already prompted more commercial vessels to travel the channels.
“The season is getting longer and the ships are getting bigger,” said Hjalti Hreinsson, a project manager at the Arctic Council. Cruise liners are among the largest vessels venturing through.
More ships carry the potential for more underwater noise, fuel pollution and invasive species, affecting communities and the environment in and around the passage.
“The biodiversity of the area is being directly threatened not merely by the passage of mega ships but by proposed seismic testing and other activities that would follow,” Peter Ittinuar, the first Inuk member of Parliament, said in a 2017 paper, referring to oil and gas exploration.
In Pond Inlet, locals told Wenger they used to hunt narwhal in a day or two. “Now they have to go out for five or six days before they even see a narwhal,” Wenger said. Noise-sensitive beluga and bowhead whales, essential to subsistence hunting traditions, also flee the sound of engines, while seals retreat in sync with the sea ice.
The anxieties of shippers and residents can overlap. If boats are stranded or an accident occurs, the tiny shoreline towns are ill-equipped to handle an influx of rescuees or transform into staging grounds for a cleanup effort.
In 2018, the Russian-flagged Akademik Ioffe research vessel ran aground in the passage’s Gulf of Boothia with 162 people on board, prompting rescue by a pair of Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers — and reflection on the perils of the waterway.
“The weather changes, it basically pushes ice right in front of the vessels and then they get caught,” said Wenger.
Several other deterrents remain before the Northwest Passage can become a full-blownhighway.
For massive container ships, parts of the route are too shallow and the passage offers no ports where the vessels can drop cargo, which they typically do at several points along a voyage.
“There’s a complete and utter lack of infrastructure. So it’s risky for companies to do this, and it’s not foolproof. Just because it’s shorter doesn’t mean it’s going to take less time,” said Jackie Dawson, the Canada Research Chair in the human and policy dimensions of climate change at the University of Ottawa.
“There’s just a lack of predictability. And if you do have an accident, there’s no one immediately there to help.”
Still, the numbers speak for themselves. “Even pleasure craft is going up really quickly,” Dawson said. “People are excited by the idea of traversing the Northwest Passage.
“In my world, a lot of scientists who would have wanted to work in Russia now want to work here,” she added, referring to that country’s attack on its neighbour. “We’re going to see more science vessels.”
The trend is already underway, with 13 research ships cruising arctic waters in Canada last year versus four in 2016, according to the Arctic Council group.
For Wenger, the call of the wild animals — polar bears, seals, muskox — he saw in the passage persists. But other images remain even more frozen in his mind.
“Seeing an area that had been dubbed one of the hardest waterways to cross due to the ice conditions ... without any ice — that was a real wow,” he recalled. “I didn't expect that.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2023.
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will work alongside leaders from Conservation International to advocate for climate action and better treatment of the environment, the group said Monday.
Conservation International said Ardern has become its sixth Arnhold Distinguished Fellow and would serve a two-year term to advocate internationally, especially on issues affecting the Pacific and Antarctica. The group said the role was considered part-time and came with a stipend
It is one several new roles Ardern has announced since unexpectedly stepping down as prime minister in January. She is also completing dual fellowships at Harvard University's Kennedy School and writing a book on leadership.
“From the beginning of my time in the New Zealand Parliament, I’ve advocated for global climate action,” Ardern said in a statement. “My passion and sense of urgency on this issue has only increased over the last 15 years, especially as I witnessed firsthand the impact of climate change in our region."
Ardern's government joined other nations in 2020 by symbolically declaring a climate emergency. Though the declaration came without any new statutory powers or money, she said at the time that it acknowledged the burden the next generation faces.
“For them, it is instinctual, it is tangible, it is real,” Ardern said. “It is about the country they will inherit.”
Related video: Ardern on Power of Earthshot, Climate Change Outlook (Bloomberg)
Duration 8:28 View on Watch
Ardern also banned new exploration for offshore oil and gas and plastic shopping bags.
Conservation International CEO M. Sanjayan said Ardern's appointment was a win for the entire conservation and climate movement, adding that she "has modeled the kind of leadership, empathy and determination required to deliver crucial environmental and climate solutions.”
Just 37 when she became prime minister in 2017, Ardern became a global icon of the left. When she stepped down she said she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do the job justice. Her political popularity in New Zealand had been fading, and her successor Chris Hipkins suffered a heavy defeat in a general election last month.
Nick Perry, The Associated Press
Katie Myers, Grist
November 5, 2023
Kentucky Gov.Andy Beshear speaks to the press on July 31, 2022, in Whitesburg, Kentucky. At least 28 people were killed in the state, with hundreds rescued, but many still unaccounted for, due to flooding after heavy rainfall.
Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, has been called the state’s “consoler-in-chief.” He’s presided over a period of extreme weather in the state, from tornadoes that leveled entire towns in the farmlands of western Kentucky, to record flooding that washed out thousands of homes in its mountainous Appalachian east. Through it all, voters have taken note that the governor has made a habit of personally visiting disaster sites and committing to funding their recovery.
But when it comes to the root causes of the state’s weather troubles, Beshear is quieter.
“I wish I could tell you why we keep getting hit here in Kentucky,” said in a media briefing after the floods. “I can’t give you the why, but I know what we do in response to it.”
Though climate scientists and environmental advocates have drawn a link between the disasters and human-caused climate change, Beshear has avoided discussing the topic at length. Now, he’s up for reelection, against a Republican cut from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s cloth.
On Tuesday, Kentucky voters will be choosing between Beshear and challenger Daniel Cameron, the state’s Republican attorney general. Beshear, a Democrat, upset staunch Republican (and climate denier) Matt Bevin in 2019 in a deep-red state that is still mainly controlled by right-wingers at the local levels and in the state legislature. Cameron, who has reliably come out against environmental regulation at many turns, is appealing for a return to Republican hegemony. As the state has been both pummeled by climate disaster and remains politically enmeshed with the coal industry, Beshear has toed a careful line, one that at times appears self-contradictory, in order to keep his poll numbers strong.
Beshear is among the most popular Democratic governors in the country, and he’s currently polling just ahead of Cameron. He’s accepted endorsements from the United Mine Workers union and high-profile coal mine operators, and he’s eschewed endorsements from major environmental groups that might typically support a Democratic candidate. He’s acknowledged that climate change is real, but in a state that was once ranked third in the country for coal production, connecting fossil fuels specifically to climate change can be tricky.
Kentucky experienced a 65 percent drop in coal production between 2013 and 2022, and eastern Kentucky is reeling from the rapid decline of the industry and resulting layoffs and bankruptcies. Nonetheless, coal still holds cultural significance and exerts economic pull in the state. There are still plenty of active coal mines in both east and west, and the state is still one of the top five coal-burning states in the country.
It’s unclear what actions a re-elected Beshear, or Cameron, would take to speed up the transition to clean energy. Kentucky has been found to be “dead last” in the race to decarbonize, running far behind other states in wind and solar production. Both candidates support an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy.
Beshear, alone among Democratic governors, turned down millions in Inflation Reduction Act money for climate mitigation earlier this year, saying that Kentucky cities could still accept the funds. Though the state’s municipalities all are eligible, the move may leave behind rural communities with fewer resources, since application can be arduous.
In 2021, Beshear and the state’s Energy and Environment Cabinet unveiled a program called “E3,” which lists gas and oil as essential parts of a diverse energy portfolio, makes no commitments toward decarbonization, and does not mention climate change once. Kentucky’s last climate action plan was created in 2011 — by Steve Beshear, the state’s last Democratic governor and Andy Beshear’s father.
When discussing the energy transition, Beshear tends to focus on something that might be more tangible to his voters: jobs. News releases from the administration center on Kentucky’s record-low unemployment rate and tout thousands of potential jobs in the state’s electric vehicle sector.
Lane Boldman, the executive director of a bipartisan advocacy group called the Kentucky Conservation Committee, says that in red states like Kentucky, it’s crucial for Democratic leaders to keep the focus away from controversial topics that could provoke a knee-jerk negative reaction in voters. “I think it’s a matter of the language you use, versus what your actions are on the ground,” Boldman said.
Boldman pointed to recent investments in utility-scale solar on abandoned eastern Kentucky strip mines, and new electric vehicle battery plants slated for construction across the state, as evidence of progress under Beshear’s administration. She also noted that the administration is going after separate funding within the Inflation Reduction Act for workforce development in the energy-efficiency sector. One report showed that Kentucky’s clean energy sector workforce grew faster than that of any other industry in the state in 2022. If Beshear wants to win, Boldman said, it’s better to keep his head down when it comes to talking about climate change.
“The actions he’s taking are, I think, pretty pro-environment for a state where the politics are very, very conservative,” she said.
Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
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