Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! In case you didn’t spend all weekend glued to the live stream of the COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt, we’ve got you covered:
Beyond this breakthrough, however, the agreement made little progress on measures to accelerate emissions-cutting efforts or phase out the burning of fossil fuels, a primary driver of the climate crisis.
The double-edged outcome ratchets up the pressure on negotiators at next year’s U.N. climate summit in Dubai, known as COP28, to secure meaningful new action to shift the trajectory of global warming, according to experts on international climate diplomacy.
Here’s what to know about how the deal at COP27 paved the way for expected clashes at COP28:
Debating the details of a ‘loss and damage’ fund
Wealthy nations on Sunday agreed to create a fund to compensate vulnerable countries for the costs of dealing with rising seas, stronger storms and other disasters fueled by rising global temperatures, The Washington Post’s Evan Halper, Timothy Puko and Sarah Kaplan report.
The deal on a “loss and damage” fund broke an impasse on one of the most contentious issues at U.N. climate negotiations. The United States had long resisted the idea of such payments, fearing unlimited liability for its role as the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases.
Still, negotiators must spend the next year determining many of the details surrounding the fund, including who would contribute money and which countries could tap it. Already, a debate has flared over whether China — a developing country that has become the world’s largest annual emitter — should provide the same financial support as developed nations.
“We have the fund but we need money to make it worthwhile,” Mohamed Adow, executive director of the Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa, said in a statement. “What we have is an empty bucket. Now we need to fill it so that support can flow to the most impacted people who are suffering right now at the hands of the climate crisis.”
Taking stock of Paris agreement progress
At last year’s U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, nations vowed to accelerate their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions this year. But the COP27 deal does not compel countries to set stronger emissions-cutting targets, despite a push for greater ambition by the European Union and other nations.
U.S. climate envoy John F. Kerry, who was sidelined in the final hours of the summit with covid-19, said in a statement that the deal leaves the world on track to warm by a dangerous 1.7 degrees Celsius (3 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.
Under the Paris climate accord, which sought to limit warming to the safer threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), countries must engage in a “global stocktake” every five years to assess their collective progress toward this goal. Negotiators will have the crucial task of completing such a stocktake at COP28.
“We must work closely with the United Arab Emirates, which will host COP28, to ensure that the first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement produces a meaningful outcome setting the stage for even greater climate ambition in the years ahead,” Kerry said.
Fighting over fossil fuels in a top oil producer
India had led a push for the COP27 agreement to call for phasing out all fossil fuels, including oil and gas. But the final text only reiterated language from the pact at the Glasgow summit calling for a “phase down of unabated coal,” disappointing many anti-fossil-fuel campaigners.
Some diplomats are already gearing up to ensure that COP28 does more to accelerate the global shift to clean energy. But as one of the world’s biggest oil producers, the UAE has made clear that it sees a continued role for oil and gas in the energy transition, potentially threatening this push.
The UAE plans to “extract and export every molecule of fossil fuels” left in the ground, Karim Elgendy, an associate fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House, told The Climate 202.
At the same time, the UAE has set a target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and has increasingly invested in nuclear power, green hydrogen and solar energy, said Karen Young, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
“The UAE intends to be in the energy business in many forms for a long time,” Young told The Climate 202. “Oil is just the beginning.”
On the Hill
Senate Democrats call on Postal Service to ramp up electric vehicle plans
As the nation prepares for the gift-giving holiday season, Senate Democrats are calling on the U.S. Postal Service to bolster its adoption of electric delivery trucks, which they say could simultaneously improve service on routes across the country and slash planet-warming emissions.
In a letter sent Monday morning, the senators urged the agency to commit to electrifying 95 percent of its delivery fleet, rather than 40 percent as planned, using the $3 billion it received from the Inflation Reduction Act for electric vehicles and related infrastructure.
“With Inflation Reduction Act funding, USPS should aim higher and strive for at least a 95 percent electric mail delivery fleet that will reduce dangerous greenhouse-gas emissions [and] help usher in an era of ubiquitous clean car technology,” the senators wrote.
The letter was led by Sen. Edward J. Markey (Mass.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Thomas R. Carper (Del.). Signatories include Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Martin Heinrich (N.M.).
The push comes after the Postal Service in July pledged to electrify at least 40 percent of its new delivery fleet in response to lawsuits from 16 states, the District of Columbia and four environmental groups aimed at blocking the agency’s original purchasing plan, which called for mostly gas-guzzling trucks.
Asked for comment on the letter, a Postal Service spokeswoman said in an email: “We are reviewing the letter and will respond directly to the members of Congress. The Postal Service commits to evaluate vehicle mix and purchase capability in shorter intervals as technology evolves and the organization’s financial and operational picture improve. We remain committed to reducing our carbon footprint in many area of our operations and expanding the use of EV’s in our fleet is a priority within the parameters mentioned.”
Pressure points
Twitter helps officials share information about climate disasters. What if it dies?
Government officials often rely on Twitter to quickly share information about extreme weather events with tens of millions of Americans. But the future of the app is now uncertain, with the site’s new owner, Elon Musk, firing about half of the company’s employees and issuing an ultimatum that resulted in the departure of hundreds more, The Post’s Reis Thebault, Brianna Sacks and Mark Berman report.
A dozen local, state and federal officials across the country told The Post that they have used Twitter to save lives during disasters made worse by climate change, such as raging wildfires and intensifying hurricanes.
In Santa Barbara County, the fire department has responded to two of the worst disasters in California history — the Thomas Fire and the deadly mudslides that followed. The agency uses a variety of methods to communicate with the public, including radio broadcasts and Facebook.
But Twitter is “our main way to disseminate coverage as it is happening,” said Mike Eliason, one of the department’s public information officers. “If Twitter goes under, we will have to rethink how we get our urgent messages out.”
International climate
As it becomes a major food exporter, the Netherlands relies on clean technology
The Netherlands has become a global leader in producing food with a smaller impact on the planet, spearheading innovations that focus on reducing water usage as well as carbon and methane emissions, Laura Reiley reports for The Post.
Over the past two decades, the Dutch have made significant advances in cutting-edge cell-cultured meat, vertical farming and seed technology. The country has also dedicated nearly 24,000 acres — almost twice the size of Manhattan — to crops growing in greenhouses that use much less land, fertilizer and water than traditional dirt farming.
But there are challenges: Energy costs for the greenhouses are rising as Western Europe faces an energy crisis amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, a conservative government coalition this summer promised to halve nitrogen emissions by 2030, which would require a steep reduction in the number of animals that can be raised in the country.
In the atmosphere
- Can Big Tech’s layoffs help mitigate climate change? — Pranshu Verma, Danielle Abril and Shannon Osaka for The Post
- The climate-friendly way to furnish your home — Scott Kirkwood for The Post
- Almost all species in global shark fin trade to be protected — Kelly Kasulis Cho for The Post
- Race to secure gas for Europe’s future winters has already begun — Jenny Strasburg and Benoît Morenne for the Wall Street Journal
Viral
Alternate caption: Delegates waking up after dozing off at the COP27 closing plenary.
Thanks for reading!
