Joseph Confino

Crucial UN nature talks are about to reopen in Rome – but will enough countries turn up? After last year’s Cop16 biodiversity talks in Cali left key issues unresolved, the extra summit will attempt to seek consensus, especially over funding

Im hearing from NGO colleagues in Rome that COP16 is currently falling short of a quorum, again! It would send a terrible message around the world if we failed to operationalise the Global Biodiversity Framework due to a lack of interest #RestoreNature www.theguardian.com/environment/...

How Whales Found Peace in War - bioGraphic A forgotten museum collection reveals how a pause in industrial whaling during World War II changed whales at the molecular level.

In the midst of one of the most gruesome periods of modern human history, whales experienced a rare moment of peace.

Now, a long-forgotten post-war museum collection is revealing how the slaughter has literally been etched into the very fibers of those whales.

www.biographic.com/how-whales-f...

World’s addiction to fossil fuels is ‘Frankenstein’s monster’, says UN chief António Guterres issues warning at Davos, days after Donald Trump pulled US out of Paris climate agreement

World’s addiction to fossil fuels is a “Frankenstein’s monster’, warns UN chief

- ‘The monster has become master’ António Guterres told Davos leaders, says after Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement

#climatecrisis
story by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Why, Amid The Horrors Of War, Ukraine Is Fighting For Nature Ukraine's minister of environmental protection has a seemingly impossible task: defending nature in a country at war. She explains how her fight gives her hope.

🚨NEW from me: "We plant trees in shell craters and collect honey from mined fields." Read my interview with Ukraine’s minister of environmental protection, Svitlana Grynchuk.

Estimated climate finance in 2030, based on funds that have already been pledged, and target set at COP29 for 2035 (red). Dark blue bars show historical climate finance recorded by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2013-2022 (grey). The light blue bars indicate an estimated trajectory to reach the 2030 and 2035 levels. These figures do not account for inflation. Source: OECD, NRDC, NCQG text.

NEW – Analysis: Why the $300bn climate-finance goal is even less ambitious than it seems | @joshgabbatiss.bsky.social w/comment from @joethwaites.bsky.social Li Shuo @cgdev.org

Read here: https://buff.ly/4fUmwVX

Is a plastic production reduction target on the cards at #INC-5?

The PSIDS group submitted a proposal on Tues that calls for a 40x40 target (40%⬇️ on 2025 levels by 2040): https://buff.ly/4eUAXrs

We show that 40x40 could cut plastics cumu. emissions between 2024-50 by half* wrt to BAU.

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Plastics currently cause triple the emissions of aviation. Greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, in billion tonnes of CO2e. Source: Carbon Brief analysis of Karali et al (2024), the OECD and the UNEP Emissions Gap Report (2024).

Five charts: Why a UN plastics treaty matters for climate change | @vernerviisas.carbonbrief.org @ayeshatandon.carbonbrief.org w/ comment from Daniela Durán González

🎨 @jjgoodman.bsky.social Kerry Cleaver @tomoprater.carbonbrief.org

Read here: https://buff.ly/40XL63u

Plastic waste is everywhere. Countries have one more chance to agree on a solution Negotiations over a U.N. treaty to cut plastics have been bogged down. Environmental groups blame the oil and gas industry.

Negotiations over a U.N. treaty to cut plastics have been bogged down. Environmental groups blame the oil and gas industry.

Time to Seal the Deal: The World Must Deliver a Strong Plastics Treaty in Busan Countries from around the world gather this week in Busan, South Korea, in a bid to finalise negotiations on a binding global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. The outcome could have profound implic...

The outcome of INC-5 talks in Busan will have profound implications for natural ecosystems, climate, & human health.

Despite mass awareness of the devastating impact of plastic pollution & four previous rounds of global talks, plastic production is currently projected to surge by over 300% by 2060.

UN plastic pollution treaty talks kick off talks in Busan Delegates from 175 countries will finalise a new UN treaty aimed at tackling plastic pollution in Busan, South Korea.

It feels like we just left Baku - but now we're reporting from Busan!

Delegates from 175 countries have descended on South Korea’s second-largest city for what’s supposed to be the final round of talks aimed at clinching an international treaty on plastic.
www.climatechangenews.com/2024/11/25/u...

Thirty-five million Africans driven from homes by war and climate disasters – report Data shows a threefold increase in internal displacement across the African continent since 2009, with flooding and drought posing a growing threat

"[L]ast year saw a sixfold increase in climate disaster-induced displacements...'Sometimes conflict and disaster overlap, such as in Nigeria, where people fleeing the violence of Boko Haram find themselves fleeing again from floods that come almost every year.'"

Amidst #COP29, you might have missed it but, the most important environmental treaty since the #Paris is being negotiated THIS week!

At the #INC-5 in Busan, countries are hoping to strike an agreement on a global treaty to reduce #plastic pollution.

But why is this relevant for climate? A 🧵

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This is the moment for decisive action to deliver a plastics treaty. Delays risk the process being dismissed as another protracted negotiation with no meaningful outcomes or enforcement.

A deal can be refined, but securing agreement now is essential to lay the foundation for meaningful progress.

Now is the time for the high ambition coalition & forward looking businesses to step up.

A binding treaty will send a clear market signal to reduce uncertainty, level the global playing field, and foster an environment that enables long-term investment in alternatives and solutions.

Saudi Arabia, Iran & Russia - suppliers of raw materials used to make plastics - were among those seeking significant amendments, including deleting language aimed at limiting new production.

Saudi Arabia warned supply restrictions "extend beyond" the treaty's focus on plastic pollution.

Fossil fuel and chemical lobbyists taken together form the largest delegation at INC-5, surpassing the combined delegations of the EU & its Member States, as well as those from Latin America and the Caribbean.

They outnumber Pacific Small Island Developing State delegations by more than 2 to 1.

So why so much opposition to a treaty?

The key lies in who has the most to lose. The fossil fuel industry sees plastics as a lifeline. As the transition to renewables accelerates in energy & transport, oil giants pour investment into petrochemical plants to secure a market for their products.

Plastic is also indivisible from climate. At current growth rates plastic production will account for around 25% of the greenhouse gas budget the world can afford to emit while staying within 1.5 degrees.

Without curbing production, avoiding the worst impacts of climate change will be impossible.

Plastics have infiltrated every part of the human body, raising alarms over their impact on fertility, immunity, & other toxic effects.

One study found microplastics in all 62 placenta samples tested, suggesting unborn foetuses are exposed to plastic pollution before they take their first breaths.

Over 170 trillion plastic particles now pollute the ocean - an incomprehensible figure, almost 450x the number of individual trees in the Amazon rainforest.

These ubiquitous particles leach toxins into water. Many are consumed by & work their way up the food chain, & ultimately onto our plates.

Even today we produce an absurd amount, over 1.1 million metric tons each day.

This is enough to produce approximately 110 billion 500ml plastic bottles. Thirteen for every man, woman, and child on the planet - per day. Placed end-to-end, they would reach the moon and back 28 times.

Time to Seal the Deal: The World Must Deliver a Strong Plastics Treaty in Busan Countries from around the world gather this week in Busan, South Korea, in a bid to finalise negotiations on a binding global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. The outcome could have profound implic...

The outcome of INC-5 talks in Busan will have profound implications for natural ecosystems, climate, & human health.

Despite mass awareness of the devastating impact of plastic pollution & four previous rounds of global talks, plastic production is currently projected to surge by over 300% by 2060.

At the Shangri-La Dialogues in 2022, Fiji's Chief of Defense noted, "“In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, gray ships, and green battalions are not our primary security concerns. The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change.”

Great explanatory🧵 from @joshgabbatiss.bsky.social

Other ways of putting the #COP29 $300B "mobilisation" goal in perspective:
💣it amounts to just "45 days of global military spending" ($6.7 B/day in 2023)
💣it's "the price tag for all the crude oil used by the world in a little over 40 days"

Is Deforestation Supercharging Cyclones? | Hakai Magazine The airborne water cycle, destabilized by industrial logging and other land use, may be a hidden force behind growing superstorms.

The airborne water cycle, destabilised by industrial logging and other land use, may be a hidden force behind superstorms.

As forests decline, atmospheric moisture shifts oceanward, intensifying cyclones & underscoring the broader systemic risks of ecosystem degradation.

Via @hakaimagazine.com

Here’s what I learned at Cop29. Rows aside, an unstoppable transition to clean energy is happening | Ed Miliband Britain wanted much better outcomes on many issues, but seeing the ambition at the conference gives me hope for the future, says energy secretary Ed Miliband

"The clean-energy transition is happening and it is unstoppable because economic prosperity and tackling the climate crisis now point in the same direction" - @edmiliband.bsky.social in @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Can the World Unite to End the Plastic Pollution Crisis? As the last negotiations for a global plastic treaty begin in South Korea, countries are divided over whether to cap production of the ubiquitous material.

A global treaty to curb plastic pollution is on the line as final talks begin in South Korea. Countries are divided over the best solution

I'm glad we got a deal at Cop29 – but western nations stood in the way of a much better one | Mukhtar Babayev My negotiating team tried in vain to push up support for the global south. Lessons must be learned before the next summit in Brazil, says Mukhtar Babayev, president of Cop29

COP29 president has written an op-ed about how the deal came about. First time I've seen something like this. Have you seen anything like it?

An attempt at telling the truth or an attempt to take hold of the narrative? You decide: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

it's day 1 of the final negotiations for a global plastics treaty and 2 US senators and an influential representative have called out Big Oil's tactics using mine and @emmahoward.bsky.social's investigation

@whitehouse.senate.gov @edmarkey.bsky.social @repjayapal.bsky.social

“Some plastics can take up to one thousand years to decompose. Even then, they break down into ever smaller particles that persist, pervade and pollute.”

At #INC5 opening, @ingerandersen.bsky.social called for urgent action to deliver a #PlasticsTreaty to end pollution: www.unep.org/news-and-sto...