The danger of irreversibility. This is the big message from Monday’s new IPCC report. We’re reaching irreversible tipping points that will lead to drastic changes in ecosystems with devastating effects for all life on this planet. This report is yet another wake up call and it is finally time for a different response. For some time now, many of us focused on solutions to the … [Read more...]
World “far short” of Paris climate deal goals, says UN
This Friday the UN’s climate body (UNFCCC) will release an assessment of the 48 national emission reduction plans submitted by the end of 2020. The plans account for 75 parties to the UN, as the EU27 is counted as one bloc, and cover an estimated 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While most countries have incrementally increased ambition, the combined impact puts them … [Read more...]
Future path towards sustainable cooking in the global south
The role of renewable electricity for the cooking sector in the Global South has been widely underestimated. As the costs of Renewable Energy technologies continue to decline, cleaner and more modern technologies represent an entirely new pathway towards sustainable cooking in developing countries. These are the findings of the new report ‘Beyond Fire’ launched by the … [Read more...]
Threat of running out of oxygen due to warming oceans
Falling oxygen levels caused by global warming could be a greater threat to the survival of life on planet Earth than flooding, according to researchers from the University of Leicester. A study led by Sergei Petrovskii (pictured), Professor in Applied Mathematics from the University of Leicester’s Department of Mathematics, has shown that an increase in the water … [Read more...]
Archbishop Thabo calls for worldwide climate justice prayer
The Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, has called on Anglicans everywhere to join Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and other Christians in a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on 1 September. The first day of September has become a significant date for Christians caring for the environment. The Orthodox Church has … [Read more...]
Is South Africa fudging its INDC figures?
WWF South Africa is concerned by the vague and defensive position taken by the SA government in its latest climate change statement of intent (its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution – INDC to the 21st United Nations climate change negotiations conference). There is much room for improvement, and there is still time to do this before the INDC goes to the … [Read more...]
UN Climate Talks kick off in Bonn
The UN Climate Talks got underway in Bonn Wednesday with negotiations re-opening on the design of the 2015 agreement and finding ways to raise the current level of global ambition to address climate change in the near-term. Meetings and negotiations around the UNFCCC’s ongoing work in its subsidiary, and a series of workshops, high-level meetings and special events also kicked … [Read more...]
UN Climate Talks in Bonn
United Nations climate negotiations will resume for a ten-day session in Bonn, Germany, from 4-15 of June. The negotiation session includes two 'high level' ministerial meetings, one on raising 2020 climate targets under the Kyoto Protocol, and another on the longer-term negotiations. The longer-term negotiations, known as the "Durban Platform" and expected to conclude in … [Read more...]
Curbing climate change through global governance
Reversing the devastating effects of climate change will require a more coherent and orchestrated international regime, as well as cooperation between states and other stakeholders. There seems to be growing scientific consensus that the increased number and intensity of climate change induced natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tsunamis and … [Read more...]
Fynbos fire project gets underway
South Africa has been granted US$3.5m for a three-year project to implement integrated fire management programmes in the Fynbos biome. The grant was made available through the Global Environment Facility Special Climate Change Fund, established to support adaptation and technology transfer in developing countries party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate … [Read more...]
HFC’s in your fridge is a dangerous greenhouse gas
Brazil, China and India have the dubious honor of becoming the first nations to directly contradict the pledges made at the Rio+20 summit last month. All 193 member states of the UN signed the declaration in Rio which included: “We recognize that the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances is resulting in a rapid increase in the use and release of high global-warming … [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...]
SA committed to fighting climate change
The South African government recognises that the impacts of Climate Change have the potential to undermine the major developmental gains that we have made, particularly since the advent of our democracy. The South African government is alive to this threat and has already commenced to implement the commitments made by our President in Copenhagen exactly two years ago and play … [Read more...]
