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New analysis published by climate finance experts on Monday called for all countries to commit to a substantial rise in investment to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement.

A taxpayer-funded drive for ‘blue’ hydrogen is good news for fossil-fuel lobbyists, but bad news for the climate crisis

With the impacts of the climate crisis so apparent for all to see, it is becoming ever harder for governments to fob off voters with promises of action tomorrow. At Cop28 we’ll see increasingly overt action by fossil fuel companies and petrostates to preserve their traditional power. But it is just as important to scrutinise emerging so-called green or low-emission solutions, which sound plausible, but are often simply big oil’s business-as-usual in a new guise.

The UK’s much touted low carbon hydrogen standard (LCHS) is an example of this. While hydrogen can be a low-emission fuel, the UK’s plan is quite clearly a fig leaf for “blue” hydrogen – which is made from fossil fuels – and according to one study, is even more at odds with our commitment to limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C than burning coal.

Kevin Anderson is professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester. Simon Oldridge is an independent researcher

Cop28: Can fossil fuel companies transition to clean energy?
On Tuesday 5 December, 8pm-9.15pm GMT, join Damian Carrington, Christiana Figueres, Tessa Khan and Mike Coffin for a livestreamed discussion on whether fossil fuel companies can transition to clean energy. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live

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Indigenous Peoples and local communities need to be at the heart of developing an effective and equitable biodiversity market due to the key role they play as stewards of biodiversity-rich land, while the introduction of a credit price floor could help ensure an equitable approach here, said speakers from the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits at COP28 today.

The Coal to Clean Credit Initiative (CCCI) signed Monday an agreement for the early phaseout of a Filipino coal plant, and is working with the COP28 presidency to garner buying interest in the resulting carbon credits issued from its draft methodology, which it says will be eligible for transaction under the Paris Agreement.

Summit negotiations continue in wake of Sultan Al Jaber’s claim there is ‘no science’ indicating a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C

• Cop28 president says there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels

John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate was just asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme in the UK what he thinks of Damian Carrington’s scoop that Sultan Al Jaber said there was ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels.

He was very diplomatic in his response and appeared to give the oil chief and Cop28 president the benefit of the doubt.

“What you have to do is clearly reduce the emissions. They have made it clear we need a 43% minimum reduction in emissions by 2030, and we need net zero 2050 in order to meet the goal of keeping 1.5. We’ve got all kinds of ways of getting there. Renewables are the one technology we really know we can deploy today and it has the impact we need.”

“We are not only signed up to that, president Biden on behalf of the US voted to join the g7 where we said we must phase out unabated fossil fuel. We have to do that yes otherwise you cannot reach net zero by 2050. What we are trying to figure out is how we can capture those emissions, or reduce those emissions, or not make those emissions in the first place.

“I think the only question here is not whether or not you are going to reduce emissions, it’s what means are you going to use to go at this to provide the energy you want for your country but also keeping faith with the reduction of the emissions that are creating the climate crisis.”

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Exclusive: Labour leader tells Guardian at Cop28 that Britain is wanted back in ‘leading role’ as he accuses Sunak of retreating

The UK will come back strongly to the world stage to “lead from the front” in tackling the climate crisis under a Labour government, Keir Starmer has pledged, after meeting world leaders at the Cop28 summit in Dubai.

“There’s an overwhelming feeling here among world leaders that they want to see the UK back playing a leading role,” he told the Guardian at the UN climate talks. “That’s why our statement of intent that under a Labour government we will be back playing a leading role has been really well received.

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It isn’t just our planet’s future that’s at risk: soon the artefacts buried deep in our soil may be lost for ever

A remarkable discovery was made 50 years ago at Vindolanda, the Roman fort below Hadrian’s Wall. Four metres down, the archaeologist Robin Birley and his team came upon a mass of black, damp and stinky organic material. Miraculously preserved in this anaerobic time capsule were pieces of leather, including Roman shoes, some fragments of textile and numerous pieces of wood. These included a couple of thin, postcard-like, wooden leaf-tablets, less than 2mm thick, with strange marks on the surface that turned out to be cursive Latin written in ink.

The very first tablet discovered was a fragment of a letter, telling an unnamed soldier that socks and underpants had been dispatched, presumably in response to a plea for additional protection against the very damp and cold that would later preserve the note deep below ground. Now, the climate crisis is irreversibly altering these conditions, destroying Vindolanda’s buried treasures faster than archaeologists can get to them.

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It's Day 5 of COP28, and climate finance is the catchphrase of the day – although tensions on 1.5C and the fossil fuel phaseout are bubbling. In our daily running blog, Carbon Pulse will report relevant or useful updates throughout the day. Timestamps are in local time (Gulf Standard Time, GMT+4).

Consumers left angry and dismayed when they found out the truth about these terms, says Advertising Standards Authority study

Plastic bottles, takeaway cups and food packaging that could take an unlimited amount of time to break down are being advertised as “biodegradable”, with the advertising regulator calling for more clarity on such claims from businesses.

British consumers believe they are making green choices while disposing of waste when they are often not, according to a new report. The study, from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), based on extensive interviews with consumers, found widespread misunderstandings around common terms such as “biodegradable”, “compostable” and “recyclable”, leaving participants angry when they discovered what they meant.

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The focus on individual choices has left us frustrated. Now an EU-led ‘climate club’ is our best hope of systemic action

Something flipped last summer in both the visibility of the climate crisis and in the space the media devotes to it. Apparently, all it took was for the air to turn orange and unbreathable above Wall Street and for smoke to smother holidaymakers in Greece.

And yet, despite the fact that the conversation finally feels like it is approaching the level of ubiquitousness that the crisis merits, the solutions being proposed leave me deflated. And that’s not merely because of the lunatic hypocrisy of holding the Cop28 in Dubai, where it will be presided over by the CEO of the world’s 12th-largest fossil-fuel company.

Alexander Hurst is a Guardian columnist. He is a France-based writer and an adjunct lecturer at Sciences Po, the Paris Institute of Political Studies

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Dakar’s nine-mile-long Hann Bay used to be known as one of West Africa’s most beautiful, lined with traditional fishing villages, villas and tourist attractions. But for the last 20 years it has been at the centre of the city’s industrialisation, with 80% of the city’s industry nearby. Today it is one of Dakar’s most polluted areas, with canals spilling raw sewage and chemicals on to the beach and into the sea

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I’m still recovering from the glittering spectacle of Cop27

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Six of the major independent carbon crediting standards have announced on Monday at COP28 their intent to work together on common principles for the quantification and accounting of removals and emissions reductions, as they each seek assessment under the ICVCM's Core Carbon Principles (CCPs).

Campaigner claims ministers do not have legal right to alter timeline of carbon budget pledges at will

Chris Packham has filed a high court legal challenge to the UK government over its decision to weaken key climate policies.

The broadcaster and environmental campaigner has applied for a judicial review of the government’s decision to ditch the timetable for phasing out petrol and diesel powered cars and vans, gas boilers, off-grid fossil fuel domestic heating and minimum energy ratings for homes.

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El Niño usually brings hot, dry weather to Australia. But the rains that have drenched eastern Australia are normal too. Andrew King, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist, The University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Leaked papers suggest United Utilities logged dozens of incidents as less serious than they had been.

Exclusive: former US vice-president and climate activist says phase-out can be only measure of success for Cop28

An agreement by countries to phase out fossil fuels would be “one of the most significant events in the history of humanity”, according to Al Gore, amid wrangling by governments at Cop28.

It would be a “welcome surprise” if world leaders agreed at the climate talks to call for an end to fossil fuels, but such a declaration would have “enormous impact” upon the world, Gore told the Guardian at the gathering in the United Arab Emirates.

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The federal Australian government has announced an advisory group to encourage business to invest in nature repair, it announced Monday, as it looks to pass its Nature Repair Market (NRM) legislation in parliament this week.

Australia’s latest climate change statement shows we have little hope of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. There’s good news on the 2030 target, but then what? John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Transgrid names winners of nearly $3 billion worth of contracts for HumeLink, where work is going ahead in the face of community criticism and ahead of final project approvals.

The post Transgrid hands out multi-billion dollar contracts for controversial HumeLink build appeared first on RenewEconomy.