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SPOTLIGHT
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a top global certifier of corporate climate targets, was sharply rebuked last week when they changed their stance to allow for controversial carbon offsetting for supply chain emissions. The sudden about-face led to staff calls for the resignation of the executive team and technical advisors urging an immediate retraction of the decision. At the heart of the issue? A climate “solution” struggling with a legitimacy crisis while being heralded by major SBTi donor, Bezos Earth Fund.
The efficacy of carbon offsets has long been questioned, with growing evidence of fraudulence like Verra’s rainforest-based credits that were found to be “worthless.” Alongside little local evidence of revenue generation, there have also been reports of major human rights violations such as violentdisplacement and land grabs of African forests.
Only three days after the announcement, SBTi retracted its statement, clarifying that “no changes have been made to SBTi current standards.”
Azerbaijan announced the venue for COP29 yesterday, selecting the Baku Olympic Stadium. While it can accommodate nearly 70,000 spectators for sporting events, as of 2020 that’s nearly 20,000 more bed-places than the whole of Azerbaijan. The official COP29 website is set to launch this week, so keep your eyes on https://cop29.az.
COP29 is sure to be a scaled-down affair compared to last year, but expectations are still high for world leaders to commit to ambitious national climate plans and agree on climate finance to make them a reality.
And if you saw the recent, historic climate win where 2,000+ women, mostly septuagenarians, took Switzerland to court for violating their human rights by failing to act on climate, you can bet we asked an expert about the potential financial implications.
According toGerry Liston, Global Legal Action Network, "The ruling in KlimaSeniorinnen makes clear that States must act in a way that makes the 1.5C limit effective in practice. There is no possible way of doing this unless rich countries reduce their own emissions as much as possible and then provide climate finance to developing countries to enable them to do so too. So to comply with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, rich countries will need to massively increase their climate finance contributions."
NEWS
Climate Diplomacy
COP29: COP29 leader urges US to keep climate pledges even if Trump elected (Newsweek)
Elections: Climate is the new ‘must-have’ in South Korean election gameplan (Bloomberg $), Trump looms over UN plastics treaty talks (E&E $), Will Trump quit the World Bank? It would send climate shock waves (E&E $)
US-China: US, China need 'tough' conversations, Yellen tells Chinese premier (Reuters), Climate change requires US and China to cooperate not compete, experts warn (South China Morning Post $)
International Finance
Listen: Think Change episode 44: tackling debt, transforming economies - why is the IDA replenishment so urgent? (ODI)
Spring meetings: What to expect at the World Bank spring meetings 2024 (Devex $), World Bank chief pushes internal reforms at spring meetings (Reuters), World Bank sounds alarm on 'historical reversal' of development for poorest nations (Reuters)
NCQG: How much do rich countries owe in climate aid? That's the trillion-dollar question (Grist), EU and US push China to help them write big new climate check (E&E $)
US background: How the US can still meet its global climate finance pledges, NRDC
Fossil finance: Biden admin issues license for massive oil export terminal (E&E $), China’s Xi backs East African Crude Export Pipeline, Uganda says (Bloomberg $),Huge debt costs mean climate spending could make emerging nations insolvent (Reuters)
Climate finance: Climate adaptation finance must double by 2025. How will that happen? (Devex $), World Bank climate funding greens African hotels while fishermen sink (Climate Home)
Loss and damage: New obstacle to climate aid: Who signs the checks? (E&E$), Don't forget women in new UN climate fund, policymakers urged (Context)
Bad maths: UK accused of double counting £500m of aid to meet climate pledge (The Guardian)
Impacts
Human rights: World Bank’s IFC under fire over alleged abuses at Liberian plantation it funded (Mongabay)
Front lines: Louisiana communities suffer from Japan-funded LNG exports (Climate Home), Power to the people? Bolivia’s hunt for gas targets national parks – and divides communities (The Guardian), Zambians feel the personal consequences of climate change—and dream of a sustainable future (Inside Climate News)
Migration: In-depth Q&A: How does climate change drive human migration? (Carbon Brief)
At a glance: A new report examines G20 countries and multilateral development banks’ (MDBs) traceable public finance in 2020-2022 for international fossil fuel projects. Annually, they collectively backed $47 billion in oil, gas, and coal, with Canada, Korea and Japan as the largest country financiers. The World Bank provided the most direct finance of any MDB, averaging $1.2 billion annually.