Posted on 25 November 2023 by John Hartz

 Story of the Week

World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief 

Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop dawdling’ and act before crucial summit in Dubai

World leaders must “stop dawdling and start doing” on carbon emission cuts, as rapidly rising temperatures this year have put everyone on the frontline of disaster, the UN’s top climate official has warned.

No country could think itself immune from catastrophe, said Simon Stiell, who will oversee the crucial Cop28 climate summit that begins next week. Scores of world leaders will arrive in Dubai for tense talks on how to tackle the crisis.

“We’re used to talking about protecting people on the far-flung frontlines. We’re now at the point where we’re all on the frontline,” said Stiell, speaking exclusively to the Guardian before the summit. “Yet most governments are still strolling when they need to be sprinting.”

Global temperatures have broken new records in recent months, making this year the hottest on record, and perilously close to the threshold of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels that countries have agreed to hold to. Temperatures are now heading for a “hellish” 3C increase, unless urgent and drastic action is taken, but greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise.

Stiell said it was still possible to cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to stay within the crucial limit, but that further delay would be dangerous.

“Every year of the baby steps we’ve been taking up to this point means that we need to be taking … bigger leaps with each following year if we are to stay in this race,” he said. “The science is absolutely clear.”

The fortnight-long Cop28 talks will start this Thursday in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, a major oil and gas-producing country. Scores of world leaders, senior ministers and officials from 198 countries will be in attendance, along with an estimated 70,000 delegates, making it the biggest annual conference of the parties (Cop) yet held under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change.

Click here to access the entire article as originally posted on the The Guardian website.

World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop dawdling’ and act before crucial summit in Dubai by Fiona Harvey, Environment, The Guardian, Nov 24, 2023

Articles posted on Facebook

Sunday, Nov 19, 2023

• Brazil: Health warnings as country gripped by 'unbearable' heatwave by Kathryn Armstrong & Leonardo Rocha, World, BBC News, Nov 15, 2023
• Climate change: Is the world warming faster than expected? by Matt McGrath & Mark Poynting, Science, BBC News, Nov18, 2023
• Human Brains Aren't Wired to Fight Climate Change Society knows it’s doing things that will do immense harm to the environment for many generations to come. So why can’t it change? We like donuts too much. Opinion by Mark Gongloff, Bloomberg News, Nov 18, 2023
• The great carbon divide We are not equally to blame for rising temperatures, and recognising that is an important step in identifying possible solutions by Jonathan Watts, sEnvironment, The Guardian, Nov 19, 2023

Monday, Nov 20, 2023

• Gripped by drought, this island is running out of drinking water by Claudia Colliva, World-Climate, CNN, Nov 19, 2023
• Richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than poorest 66%, report says ‘Polluter elite’ are plundering the planet to point of destruction, says Oxfam after comprehensive study of climate inequality by Jonathan Watts, Environment, The Guardian, Nov 19, 2023
• Earth passed a feared global warming milestone Friday, at least briefly Average global temperatures were more than 2 degrees Celsius above a pre-industrial benchmark on Friday, preliminary data show by Scott Dance, Climate-Environment, Washington Post. Nov 19, 2023
• Twelve billionaires’ climate emissions outpollute 2.1m homes, analysis finds Research shows impact from lifestyles and investments of likes of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk by Sandra Laville, Environment, The Guardian, Nov 19, 2023
• World facing ‘hellish’ 3C of climate heating, UN warns before Cop28 ‘We must start setting records on cutting emissions,’ UN boss says after temperature records obliterated in 2023 by Damian Carrington, Environment, Nov 20, 2023
• Who wants what out of COP28 Our scorecard of what the most powerful factions of countries will be fighting over at the climate summit — and the obstacles they face. by Sara Schonhardt & Zia Weise, Political, Nov 20, 2023.

Tuesday, Nov 21, 2023

• 2023 Just Notched Its Most Ominous Climate Record Yet We all just lived through our first 2-degree Celsius day. by Zoë Schlanger, Planet, The Atlantic Magazine, Nov 2023
• Q&A: What is the ‘global stocktake’ and could it accelerate climate action? by Aruna Chandrasekhar & Josh Gabbastiss, UN Climate Talks, Carbon Brief, Nov 17, 2023
• Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back by Stephan Lewandowsky & John Cook, The Conversation UK, Nov 20, 2023
• Anti-green backlash hovers over COP climate talks War, a fossil fuel boom and populist revolts are sapping the optimism from the fight agains climate change. And then there’s Trump. by Karl Mathiesen, Charlie Cooper & Zach Colman, Politico, Nov 20, 2023
• At a glance - How sensitive is our climate? by John Mason & Baerbel Winkler, Skeptical Science, Nov 21, 2023
• "Where did I go wrong?" The scientist who tried to raise the climate alarm Fifty years ago Australian researcher Graeme Pearman travelled the world with six flasks of air to help prove CO2 in the atmosphere was rising by Graham Readfearn, Australia News, The Guardian, Nov 20, 2023 c

Wednesday, Nov 22, 2023

• After the Storm, Malawi’s Farmers Face a Precarious Future When Cyclone Freddy walloped southern Africa last March, Malawi’s farmers — mostly women — lost their land, livestock, and livelihoods. Already desperately poor, they are struggling to recover in a nation considered one of the world’s most affected by extreme weather events. by Jenipher Changwanda & Freddie Clayton, Yale Envvironment 360, Nov 20, 2023
• Ad industry grapples with role selling consumption in climate crises Does being an effective agency mean helping sell more products or can it mean helping mitigate climate emergency? by Amy Westervelt, Environment, The Guardian, Nov 21, 2023
• Q&A: Why deals at COP28 to ‘triple renewables’ and ‘double efficiency’ are crucial for 1.5C, Guest Post by Dave Jones, In Focus, Carbon Brief, Nov 21, 2023
• ‘Hope has to be a strategy’: the scientist who refused to let the climate warmongers win As one of Australia’s most influential voices on climate, Lesley Hughes has thought deeply about how to talk about the crisis and says hope has a key role to play by Graham Readfearn, Australia News, The Guardian, Nov 21, 2023 [Note: This aricle is part of the series Weight of the world: a climate scientist’s burden.]
• Here’s how many fossil fuel lobbyists have attended U.N. climate talk The industry has increased its presence at the negotiations over the past two decades, according to new research by advocacy groups by Maxine Joselow, Climate-Environment, Washingto Post, Nov 21, 2023
• We cannot wait for climate action — climate change will not wait for us, Opinion by John Oppermann, Opnion, The Hill, Nov 22, 2023

Thursday, Nov 23, 2023

• The EU Parliament Calls For Fossil Fuel Phase Out Ahead of COP28 As the world’s largest oil and gas producer, the U.S. could be a spoiler in global efforts to wind down the use of oil, gas and coal. by Bob Berwyn, Fossil Fuels, Inside Climate News, Nov 22, 2023
• Why resolving how land emissions are counted is critical for tracking climate progress, Guest Post by Dr Matthew J Gidden  Dr Thomas Gasser & Dr Giacomo Grassi, Carbon Brief, Nov 22, 2023
• Explainer: Global fossil fuel subsidies on the rise despite calls for phase-out by Sarah Mcfarlane, Business, Reuters, Friday, Nov 23, 2023
• New Data Shows a Global Surge in Searches Related to ‘Climate Anxiety’ by Mallory Moench, Climate, Time Magazine, Nov 22, 2023

Friday, Nov 24, 2023

• The climate emergency really is a new type of crisis – consider the ‘triple inequality’ at the heart of it Global conferences such as the upcoming Cop28 may seem like staid and ritualistic affairs. But they matter, Opinion by Adam Tooze, Comment Is Free, The Guardian, Nov 23, 2023
• Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back by Stephan Lewandowsky & John Cook, The Conversation UK/Skeptical Science, Nov 24, ,2023
• Suing the world to save it. Children pioneer a right to a secure future. by Stephanie Hanes, Environment, The Christian Science Monitor, Nov 20, 2023
• The scientist who was branded alarmist for exposing the fate of coral reefs Australian researcher Ove Hoegh-Guldberg takes no joy in being proven right about coral bleaching. He says there’s still time to act – but only just by Graham Readfearn,  Australia News, the Guardian, Nov 25, 2023 [Note: This aricle is part of the series Weight of the world: a climate scientist’s burden.]

Saturday, Nov 25, 2023

• What Happens When You Put a Fossil Fuel Exec in Charge of Solving Climate Change by Justin Worland, Time Magazine, Nov 15, 2023
• The ‘inevitable’ fossil fuel fight set to dominate Cop28 Could petrostate UAE be the climate summit host that lands an international agreement to exit coal, oil and gas? by Matteo Civillini, Politiucs, Climate Home News, Nov 24, 2023
• World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop dawdling’ and act before crucial summit in Dubai by Fiona Harvey, Environment, The Guardian, Nov 24, 2023
• Oil and gas industry needs to let go of carbon capture as solution to climate change, IEA says by Spencer Kimball, Oil & Gas, CNBC, Nov 23, 2023