références en Anglais

A huge leak of documents seen by BBC News shows how countries are trying to change a crucial scientific report on how to tackle climate change. The leak reveals Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia are among countries asking the UN to play down the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels.

At COP26 this week, some of the world’s biggest corporate polluters sent huge delegations to proclaim the need for climate action. They’re presenting themselves as the new climate saviors, but averting disaster won’t come from those who make a profit from killing the planet.

After two weeks of talks in Glasgow, diplomats from almost 200 countries have agreed to ramp up their carbon-cutting commitments, phase out some fossil fuels and increase aid to poor countries on the front lines of climate change.

This was filmed at a UN press conference during the final days of COP26.

Now it’s a straight fight for survival. The Glasgow Climate Pact, for all its restrained and diplomatic language, looks like a suicide pact. After so many squandered years of denial, distraction and delay, it’s too late for incremental change.

How Big Polluters are using “net zero” to block meaningful action at COP26

Some of the worst financiers of the worts polluters helped write the script - and more, they will implement the decisions after the summit in Glasgow.

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In Paris, all governments solemnly promised to come to COP26 with more ambitious 2030 commitments to close the massive 2030 emissions gap that was already evident in 2015. Three years later the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C reinforced the scientific imperative, and earlier this year it called a climate “code red.” Now, at the midpoint of Glasgow, it is clear there is a massive credibility, action and commitment gap that casts a long and dark shadow of doubt over the net zero goals put forward by more than 140 countries, covering 90% of global emissions.

And yet, their leaders continue to avoid making strong commitments on climate action. Heatwaves, droughts, fires and floods will increase in severity and frequency, creating risk and instability for today’s G20 growth models. Most G20 countries share one trait: long and densely populated coastlines, replete with vital infrastructure that will, over time, stand in the way of dangerous turbulence.

Sustainable food systems are a cornerstone to cutting emissions but have been largely absent from the agenda in Glasgow. Farming is a complex issue on the journey to net zero, as it is both a source and sink for emissions. About 20% of global emissions come from agriculture and land use, and this rises to more than 25% for the food system as a whole, which includes processing, packaging and transport.

If Cop26 were to be staged, it would be as a political drama in two long acts. Act one would see the leaders of wealthy countries such as Britain, the US and Australia smiling broadly as they strut the Glasgow stage with their friends, wring their hands and manage the world’s expectations. Act two would see them knifing each other offstage and kicking poor countries hard before running away.

Temperature rises will top 2.4C by the end of this century, based on the short-term goals countries have set out, according to research published in Glasgow on Tuesday. That would far exceed the 2C upper limit the Paris accord said the world needed to stay “well below”, and the much safer 1.5C limit aimed for at the Cop26 talks.

Net zero is popular among polluters for good reason – it’s toothless compared to emissions restrictions and a carbon tax

At Cop26 the wealthy countries cast themselves as saviours, yet their efforts are hopelessly inadequate and will prolong the injustice. the story of the past 500 years can be crudely summarised as follows. A handful of European nations, which had mastered both the art of violence and advanced seafaring technology, used these faculties to invade other territories and seize their land, labour and resources.

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, on Monday issued a blistering critique of the world’s failure to rein in global warming, calling on countries to return every year to review their climate targets — not every five years, as the Paris climate agreement spells out. “Even if the recent pledges were clear and credible — and there are serious questions about some of them — we are still careening towards climate catastrophe,” he said at the opening ceremony of COP26, the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow.

Last month, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its latest report, sounding a “code red for humanity.” The IPCC stressed the need for drastic emissions cuts immediately if we want to maintain a habitable planet and warned that we are running out of time to act to avoid climate catastrophe.

The astonishing story of how the US entered the second world war should be on everyone’s minds as Cop26 approaches

The scientific consensus that humans are altering the climate has passed 99.9%, according to research that strengthens the case for global action at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.

The UN Conference of the Parties (COP26) for the Framework Convention on Climate Change will be in Glasgow 1-12 November. There is a chance that Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister and meeting host, might make this COP more effective than prior COPs, as discussed below.