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The Guardian view on Cop28: energy companies are not the only ones with a carbon addiction | Editorial
Just like oil and gas businesses, and petro-states, carbon-intensive industries including meat will fight to keep on polluting
Agriculture companies and lobbyists are among those who arrived in the United Arab Emirates for Cop28 determined to resist pressure on them to transform their businesses. Documents show that JBS, the world’s biggest meat company, and allies including the Global Dairy Platform, planned to make arguments in favour of livestock farming with “full force”. While the sincerity of fossil-fuel businesses’ commitment to a green transition has long been doubted, they are not the only energy-intensive businesses to approach Cop28 as an opportunity to promote their activities – rather than a threat.
While the ostensible purpose is to safeguard the planet for the future, the fear is that the Cop process has been captured by the short-term interests of carbon-emitting industries that will do anything to protect their wealth. This year’s gathering is hosted by Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive of the UAE’s national oil company.
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Rise in English bathing sites rated unfit to swim
Court orders Belgian governments to cut emissions by 55% by 2030
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Climate politics is 'close to breaking point', Rishi Sunak tells Cop28 – video
Rishi Sunak has defended watering down his climate policies as he insisted the UK was still 'leading the charge' in tackling the climate crisis at the Cop28 summit in Dubai. Climate politics is 'close to breaking point', he said, adding: 'I shift a date to be in line with almost every other country and it’s treated like it’s a rather extreme measure.' The UK prime minister also said he did not face any criticism from the world leaders he met for delaying a UK ban on selling new petrol and diesel vehicles
Continue reading...Environmental groups follow PA governor’s lead, appeal RGGI court halt
COP28: Japan to stop building unabated coal power plants, triple renewables capacity
Sunak says not one leader at Cop28 criticised UK’s petrol car ban delay
Prime minister defends Britain’s climate record at UN summit and urges countries to decarbonise
Rishi Sunak says he did not face any criticism from the world leaders he met for delaying a UK ban on selling new petrol and diesel vehicles as he repeated his defence of the UK’s climate record.
Before and during his swift visit to Dubai for the Cop28 climate conference, the prime minister had been focusing on urging other countries to do all they could to decarbonise, while celebrating Britain’s achievements.
Continue reading...Climate measures financed by EU green bonds could lead to 44 million tonnes a year in GHG cuts -report
Starmer accuses Sunak of ‘retreating’ from climate leadership at Cop28
Labour leader says ‘things will be done differently’ if he wins the next election
Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of “shrinking and retreating” from showcasing leadership on the global stage at Cop28 and over the climate crisis.
The Labour leader said the transition to net zero could benefit millions of people in the UK who are struggling with the cost of living crisis. But instead, the “smallness” of Sunak’s politics was affecting his ability to show a “seriousness and a want to lead” on the issue.
Continue reading...Developing countries need private sector help. They can’t fight the climate crisis on their own | Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber and William Ruto
As Cop28 gets under way, it is vital that corporations and richer nations invest in the global south
- Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is president of the Cop28 United Nations climate change conference and William Ruto is president of Kenya
Without urgent action to bolster green jobs in developing economies, the collective action needed to win the fight against climate change will remain elusive. Developing nations face a number of socioeconomic challenges, forcing them to tighten spending. More people worldwide are living in hunger, and 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water at home. More than 60% of low-income countries are in, or at high risk of, debt distress, while access to capital is limited and the cost of borrowing prohibitive. This leaves minimal room for the debt creation and spending needed to fund climate action.
Green industrialisation presents an opportunity for developing nations to achieve socioeconomic transformation by combining environmental stewardship and economic progress. It offers a pathway for sustainable and inclusive growth and can address these structural challenges by improving access to energy, industrialisation and diversification, and growing employment.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is president of the Cop28 United Nations climate change conference
William Ruto is president of Kenya
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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England’s only three swimming rivers given ‘poor’ water quality status
Designation means the bathing waters carry risk of sickness, as government is accused of ‘gross negligence’
The three rivers designated for swimming in England have all been given “poor” status in newly published government water quality figures
Data released by the Environment Agency on Friday showed that during the 2023 bathing season 96% of bathing waters in England met minimum standards, with 90% of bathing waters in England being rated as “good” or “excellent”. This was a decline from the previous year’s statistics which showed that 97% met the minimum standard of “sufficient”, while 93% met the highest standards of good and excellent.
Continue reading...‘Forever chemical’ in English tap water samples carcinogenic, WHO rules
Exclusive: Move to categorise PFOA as linked to cancer in humans by World Health Organization ups pressure on UK government
A substance found in hundreds of drinking water samples across England has been categorised as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The move will increase pressure on the UK government to take action on “forever chemicals”.
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