Hello and welcome to the second edition of our new International Climate Briefing! This biweekly product aims to highlight the most important, recent stories on international climate diplomacy, finance, loss and damage, and more. If you have any colleagues you think may be interested in receiving this update every other Wednesday morning, please forward them this email tosubscribe here.
Consider us also as a resource to help uplift your stories, reports, actions, and events. Contact Daela Taeoalii-Tipton at dtaeoalii-tipton@climatenexus.org!
SPOTLIGHT
In India, host of this year’s G20, prominent activists, academics and politicians from opposition parties found their “We20” counter-summit shut down by police over the weekend. The nearly 400 participants were able to meet the day before and debated many of the same issues the G20 Summit will cover in New Delhi next month. “We are shocked that we need to have permission to practice democracy,” a statement by the organizers said.
This incident is part of a worrying trendof cracking down on environmental activists using “counter-terrorism” language. Along with these developments in India, rights groups warnthat European countries are increasingly employing “repression, criminalisation, and stigmatization” to stymie climate activism, while repression of Indigenous land defendersin Guatemala provide a harrowing example of how far polluting industries and governments will go to silence activists. Between 2012 and 2022,according to Global Witness, at least 1,733 people around the world were killed while trying to protect their land. That’s an average of one death every two days.
ON OUR RADAR
Nations meet in Vancouver this week for the Seventh Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly, where they’ll ratifythe Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. The fund was agreed tolast year as part of the UN Biodiversity Conference and has a targetof mobilizing at least $200 billion per year by 2030 to protect species and ecosystems. While no country has pledged money prior to its launch, GEF will accept donations from countries, philanthropies and the private sector, along with stimulating schemes such as payment for ecosystem services, green bonds, biodiversity offsets and credits, and benefit-sharing mechanisms to reach their goal. In the wordsof Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, GEF CEO, “The political challenge is not mobilizing resources, it’s something more complicated, [it’s to] stop investing in those activities that destroy nature.”
In the context of the ongoing conversations on the Loss and Damage Fund, it will be interesting to see if this influences the Transitional Committeemeeting in Santo Domingo next week.
NEWS
Climate Diplomacy
100 days until COP: A big year for climate negotiations … or not? (Devex)
UAE: UN climate summit host UAE failed to report methane emissions to UN (The Guardian), Wealthy oil nation lays groundwork for ‘eye-popping’ climate fund (Politico), UAE-owned company hires lobbyists to deflect climate talks criticism (Financial Times $)
Ecuador: Ecuadorians vote down Amazon oil drilling, ending operations (AP)
International Finance
Global shipping delays:Drought affecting Panama Canal threatens 40% of global cargo ship traffic (CBS News,Reuters,Bloomberg$)
Africa climate summit: Large investments expected at first Africa climate summit (Reuters)
Indonesia’s JETP: Indonesia delays $20bn green plan, after split with rich nations on grants and new coal plants (Climate Home)
Background: What are Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) and how do they work (Bloomberg $)
Debt-for-climate: A $500 million deal to restore Gabon's coast reignites climate finance debate (AP, Financial Times $, Bloomberg $)
Impacts
Loss and damage: US seeks focused, efficient fund for climate disasters (Reuters), To design the Loss and Damage Fund and funding arrangements, look back to the Green Climate Fund (World Resources Institute)
Early warning systems: A billion people in Africa are at a climate risk blind spot (The Conversation), An early warning system for disasters takes shape in Timor-Leste (UNEP)
Slow onset events: "Climate change is controlling everything, let them compensate us": Stories of loss and damage in Kenya (Climate Refugees)
At a glance: Anticipated revenues from fossil fuels are often overinflated, requiring huge investments to reach expected returns. When countries rely on fossil fuel revenues to repay debt, this lack of revenue erodes long-term development prospects, causing devastating environmental and human harms.