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Sultan Al Jaber urges nations to be flexible as talks reach impasse over whether to phase out or phase down fossil fuels

Ministers and negotiators must come to the vital final meetings of Cop28 without prepared statements, without rigid red lines, and be prepared to compromise, the president of the UN climate summit has said.

Sultan Al Jaber, whose position is now pivotal to the talks as they enter their final days, on Sunday convened a majlis of all countries, a meeting in the traditional form of an elders’ conference in the United Arab Emirates.

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Fossil fuel companies are spending millions of dollars on social media campaigns promoting carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a 'silver bullet' solution to climate change, despite the technology’s limitations and its potential to prolong fossil fuel use, according to a report.

The Malawi government has inked a deal to offer almost 3% of the African nation's land for the development of forest restoration carbon offset projects.

Owners of timberland, from public companies to family businesses, are looking to sell credits on the voluntary carbon market as a complementary activity to their existing timberland practices.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched on Sunday a new roadmap for feeding a growing population in a way that is aligned with meeting Paris Agreement temperature goals.

From next year Japan will become the first country to include full seabed carbon sequestration data in its UNFCCC greenhouse gas inventory, raising concerns among some observers this will open the door to offset more fossil fuel use.

The difference between potential revenues from selling off rainforest areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo to fossil fuel exploration or generating revenues from carbon sales is in the billions, according to a research paper seen by Carbon Pulse during COP28, underscoring the financial pressures forest-rich countries face when looking to protect natural assets. 

Carbon assets are emerging as a potential lever for international aid and development finance at COP28, suggest recent announcements and remarks by civil society actors at COP28.

A document establishing a framework for Pakistan’s involvement in the international carbon markets and laying the foundation for domestic activities is being held up in Cabinet due to a low level of awareness of the issues at the federal level, a representative from Pakistan has told Carbon Pulse.

Summit focuses on agriculture as critics say sustainable roadmap on food criticised does not go far enough

• China ‘would like to see agreement to substitute renewables for fossil fuels’

Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s climate envoy, made this call on Sunday morning:

“There is a real urgency of action to keep the planetary pain threshold of 1.5° in reach. Today is the day the presidency takes over primary responsibility for figuring out what the most ambitious version of an outcome package can be at this COP. The COP presidency has reiterated many times that they are here to facilitate an ambitious decision. This means there needs to be strong language on the phase out of fossil fuels in line with 1.5°C. At the same time, it is clear that least developed countries will not be able to go at the same speed as G20 economic powerhouses. They have to meet development needs but also have the opportunity now to leapfrog unsustainable decisions. This is why we need a package that combines energy transition and energy access. As the presidency takes us into “Majlis” (elder council formats), the question is: can we rise to the occasion and bring up the balance of the package to enable acceleration across the board. Or will we allow a small group of actors to tear down the chance of a historic decision that would give our businesses and our markets clarity about the long-term direction of travel.”

It’s great we finally have the global goal on adaptation text with adaptation targets included. But overall, the text is weak and doesn’t sufficiently address the aspiration for setting the required adaptation measures and indicators and mobilising adaptation financing. On the important question of setting these indicators to measure adaptation progress towards achieving the targets, it kicks the can down the road for another two years. Two years is too long and misses the opportunity to set the long-term finance goal (known as the New Collective Quantified Goal).

The adaptation goal is a playbook for how the world is going to adapt to the climate change that is already happening and will continue to happen, even if we stopped using fossil fuels today. Ending fossil fuels is about how to stop climate change – the adaptation goal is how we help people who are suffering from its impacts. We also remain far too low on funding. The goal for 2023 was to raise $300m for the adaptation fund, but at COP28 we’ve only seen $169m in pledges, a mere 56% of the intended amount. This is particularly galling considering that only last month, the UN’s environment programme published its adaptation gap report which calculates the difference between the world’s adaptation need and the amount of finance that has been committed. It found that this gap stands at around $387 billion. This is 10-18 times the actual finance flows to the countries and 50 per cent more than the previous estimate.”

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A carbon storage company plans to partner with biogenic emitters in order to help valorise their CO2 streams by burying emissions in nearby mine pits and generate revenues from the resulting carbon credits sales.

Two New Zealand NGOs launched a nature-based solution to restore and enhance 2.1 million hectares of diverse indigenous forest across the country, they announced on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai.

An initiative aiming to transform food and land use systems to be more climate resilient through mechanisms such as climate-smart agriculture, production intensification, and smallholder support was launched Sunday, with country commitments set to be included in national climate plans.

Canada plans to next year introduce legislation that would hold the government accountable for making progress towards and meeting its commitments on nature and biodiversity, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced Saturday.

Country negotiators on international carbon trade rules under Article 6 have run into trouble amid what they say is a toxic atmosphere at COP28, with a "bare bones" draft text published late on Saturday angering several parties, and time reportedly being wasted on theoretical issues rather than ensuring key safeguards and important technicalities are defined.

Targets include cutting methane emissions from livestock by 25%, halving food waste and managing fisheries sustainably by 2030

• Cop28 summit: live updates

Reforming the world’s food systems will be a key step in limiting global temperature rises, the UN said on Sunday, as it set out the first instalment of a roadmap for providing food and farming while staying within 1.5C.

Food production is highly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, with research suggesting that as much as a third of global food could be at risk from global heating.

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A bold genomic process is being harnessed to eliminate decades of interbreeding with domestic moggies

Scientists are preparing plans to restore the fortunes of Scotland’s threatened Highland wildcats – by identifying and removing DNA they have acquired from domestic cats.

Researchers have warned that the Highland tiger, as the wildcat is also known, is critically endangered because it has bred so much with domestic moggies. All animals now bear evidence of interbreeding, and many have little “wild” left in them.

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Scientists marvel at the fossilised head of an underwater 'killing machine' from the Jurassic.

It is Day 11 at COP28 and all eyes are on the next 48 hours of negotiations as a cautious optimism hangs in the air. The COP28 Presidency eyes a majlis - a ministerial gathering - today to find areas of agreement, followed by the first Global Stocktake (GST) text for delivery on Monday, ahead of the summit's formal close on Tuesday. Nonetheless, as the once-70,000-strong population of Expo City has begun to flock back to homelands, Carbon Pulse's team of correspondents continue to chase after news on the ground. In our daily running blog, we will report relevant or useful updates throughout the day. Timestamps are in local time (Gulf Standard Time, GMT+4).

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