Region Archives: International

Renewable energy leader Drax has launched a new three-part documentary, in partnership with The Yorkshire Post, to celebrate 50 years since Drax Power Station started generating electricity. The series, titled 50 years of Drax Power Station, reflects on the power station’s achievements alongside Drax’s vision for the future, exploring energy security, jobs and skills, and decarbonisation. Since Drax Power Station first began generating power in 1974, it has become a cornerstone of the UK’s energy infrastructure, now producing 9% of the nation’s renewable electricity – the largest single source of renewable power in the country. The documentary shows how Drax has kept the country’s lights on for half a century and continues to play a pivotal role in ensuring energy security for the UK. Watch episode 1 below or view the full series here.

Negotiations over hundreds of billions of dollars in new climate funding for developing countries had staggered into overtime at COP29 in Azerbaijan. Bitter recriminations had thrown a desperate, closed-door session on Saturday into what looked like a fatal impasse. …As talks stagnated, a group of envoys from some of the most vulnerable nations abruptly walked out. …Instead of triggering a total breakdown, however, the frustrated envoys came back to the table with new resolve to secure even a disappointing final agreement. …Poor countries had won a few key concessions from their wealthy counterparts, including a promise of at least $300 billion in yearly support for combatting climate change. …Even before the ink was dry on the COP29 agreement, there was skepticism about what was actually achieved. …Still, the plan formally adopted just before dawn Sunday represents the biggest-ever finance commitment produced by UN climate talks.

COP29 is over, with developing countries complaining that the $300bn a year in climate finance they will receive by 2035 is a “paltry sum”. …It is an improvement – on the current contribution of $100bn a year. However, the developing world, which had pushed for more, had many genuine issues with the final sum.

• There were complaints it simply was not enough and that it was a mixture of grants and loans.
• Shepherding 200 countries to an intricate deal on climate finance was always going to be a tough task.
• The quiet ascent of China – With the role of the US in doubt because of Trump, attention shifted to who might become the real climate leader.
• The need to ensure that a second Trump administration would not upend years of careful climate negotiations.
• One very noticeable trend at COP29 was the sometimes more aggressive stance taken by many environmental NGOs and campaigners.

The small island nations considered among the world’s most vulnerable to climate change say they are “deeply disappointed” with what they are calling a pitiful offer of cash in the latest proposal. “We cannot be expected to agree to a text which shows such contempt for our vulnerable people,” the Alliance of Small Island States group said. It includes countries like Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu in the Pacific, and Barbados and Bermuda in the Caribbean. All massively at risk from sea-level rise . They say the proposed $250bn a year by 2030 is a cap that will “severely stagnate climate action efforts”. They say it does not represent a real increase from the previous agreed cash goals of $100bn. …One important group here is the African Group, made up of 54 nations. Ali Mohamed, who chairs the group, says the $250bn (£199bn) figure floated in the text is “totally unacceptable and inadequate”.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish lawmakers on Monday agreed on a deal to plant 1 billion trees and convert 10% of farmland into forest and natural habitats over the next two decades in an effort to reduce fertilizer usage. The government called the agreement “the biggest change to the Danish landscape in over 100 years.” “The Danish nature will change in a way we have not seen since the wetlands were drained in 1864,” said Jeppe Bruus, head of Denmark’s Green Tripartite Ministry, created to implement a green deal reached in June among farmers, the industry, the labor unions and environmental groups. …Danish forests would grow on an additional 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres), and another 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres), which are currently cultivated on climate-damaging low-lying soils, must be converted to nature. Currently, 14.6% of land is covered by forests.

Japan’s Enshu Forest Energy started commercial operations at its 7.1MW biomass-fired power plant in Fukuroi city of Shizuoka prefecture on 16 November. The Enshu plant will burn 90,000t/yr of wood chips made from unused forest materials and gathered mainly from Shizuoka prefecture. It can generate around 53GWh/yr of electricity, which will be sold under the country’s feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme for 20 years. The plant was initially scheduled to come on line in December, but started two weeks earlier as Enshu Forest Energy, the operating company, completed its safety check and test runs earlier than expected.

The battle to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius has been a rallying cry for climate action for nearly a decade. Now, with the planet almost certain to blow past the target, diplomats and campaigners at the COP29 summit have found themselves awkwardly clinging to a goal that no longer makes sense. The evidence has become harder and harder to ignore. This year will once again be the hottest on record as greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar and Earth will likely register an average reading of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. A study released this month using a new technique for measuring the rise in temperatures suggests the world was already 1.49C hotter at the end of 2023. …The mood in Baku has not been hopeful. Leaders from most major economies, consumed by domestic political struggles, failed to turn up. 

Related coverage in the NY Times: At COP29, Climate ‘Optimism Has Been Dampened’

Bill Hare

BAKU, Azerbaijan — For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven’t lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — even as countries gather for another round of talks to curb warming, according to an analysis Thursday. At the United Nations climate talks, in Azerbaijan, nations are trying to set new targets to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task. But Earth remains on a path to be 2.7 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group of scientists and analysts who study government policies and translate that into projections of warming. If emissions are still rising and temperature projections are no longer dropping, people should wonder if the United Nations climate negotiations — known as COP — are doing any good, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare.

At COP29 in Azerbaijan, the stakes surrounding climate change have never been higher. Unprecedented forest fires are ravaging landscapes globally and drought-stricken parts of the Amazon face severe consequences. Sea-level rise, extreme heat and shifting weather patterns, all of which are direct consequences of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, compound the urgency. The United Nations Environment Programme’s latest Emissions Gap Report, highlights forests as one of the top three sectors that can deliver a third of the emissions reductions needed to meet the 2030 climate goals. Forests also play a critical role in providing sustainable livelihoods, regulating water cycles, reducing extreme weather and protecting human health. Destroying them risks crossing irreversible tipping points, from which we may not recover. Despite countless pledges … deforestation and degradation continue unabated. The time for talk has passed. Action is overdue and COP29 provides us with a timely opportunity to start the fightback with real purpose.