The following speech was delivered by Minister Barbara Creecy during a Parliament debate on climate change, at the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, Cape Town, Western Cape Province on 11 March 2020: Allow me at the outset, to once again welcome the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to establishing the Presidential Climate Change Commission to lead our just … [Read more...]
Climate change is now reality
As governments meet for climate talks in Doha, Greenpeace warned on Monday that they must wake up to the reality that climate change is already gripping the planet and take urgent action to avoid catastrophic global warming. This year has already seen devastating storms, droughts and floods causing significant loss of life, including in the US, China, India, Africa and … [Read more...]
UN climate talks set to agree: do nothing
Members of the civil society have reacted angrily at the manner at which the latest round of UN climate talks in Bangkok ended and said it is apparent that the annual UN summit in Doha later this year would approve a plan to take no further action on climate change this decade. Coming after a series of devastating extreme weather events linked to climate change, such as … [Read more...]
Building on Durban’s climate change momentum
Ministers and high-level officials from 32 countries that met informally in Bonn on 4-5 May have expressed determination to build on the strong momentum of the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban to curb greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change. One of the central outcomes of the meeting in South Africa, at the end of last year, was … [Read more...]
Co-chairs elected for climate finance programme
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane, has announced the appointment of Zaheer Fakir (South Africa) and Georg Børsting (Norway) as co-Chairs of a work programme on long-term climate finance. 100 Billion Dollars Per Year In the context of meaningful mitigation and adaptation actions and transparency on implementation, … [Read more...]
Shipping emissions still in the hands of IMO
The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, the key outcome of the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2011, has been dubbed by many as the platform for inaction, with the decision to find agreement by 2015 being seen as the agreement to disagree at a later date. COP17 did little to directly answer the … [Read more...]
An African COP to prevent a global flop
As the first week of negotiations at the so-called “African COP 17” drew to an end and the final week begins, it is perhaps a poignant time to ask: What could possibly be meant by calling COP 17 “an African” COP? It’s becoming clearer as the negotiations draw on that Africa can play an important role in pushing the negotiations forward, and that many of their proposals can … [Read more...]
COP17: Working Together, Losing Tomorrow Today?
As countries such as the US, Canada, Russia and Japan push to delay agreement to a legally binding framework for climate change to 2020 - a delay which will likely push our ability to reduce climate change to 2 degrees Celsius out of our hands – it is either sadly ironic or apt (I can’t decide) that COP17 commemorated Youth and Future Generations Day today. The focus of many of … [Read more...]
Plastics ready for COP17
All eyes are on South Africa this year. COP17 is upon us and the world is hoping for global agreement and participation in order to stop the undeniable effects of global warming. This mark the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and it is being held in Durban from 28 November to 9 December. At the … [Read more...]
More climate action needed at durban
Governments recognize that they need to speed up and scale up their efforts to combat climate change and they know that negotiations this week in Panama are important to prepare the ground for the next successful step towards that goal in Durban, the UN climate change chief said. 'During this year, governments have been steadily building the pillars that will support the … [Read more...]
No ceiling in ongoing climate negotiations
What is your assessment of the outcomes of Cancun and how much progress has been achieved in following up and in implementation of the decisions that were made, particularly as relates to adaptation and finance? The Cancun Outcome must be commended as one that contributed to keeping the climate change negotiations process alive after Copenhagen where trust in the process was … [Read more...]
