Latest news with #COP29
Euronews
13 hours ago
- Business
- Euronews
The Qatar Economic Forum fuels ambition and innovation
In this episode, Laila Humairah interviews financial elites, policymakers and deal-making executives who showcase cutting-edge innovations that contribute to sustainable growth. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ In this episode of Energy Frontiers, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev calls for urgent climate action and accountability from world leaders ahead of COP30 in Brazil. Speaking to Euronews, Babayev stresses the need to move beyond pledges and into implementation—highlighting outcomes from COP29 in Baku, including a $300 billion climate finance target and progress on Article 6 carbon markets. With climate leadership fragmented and global emissions still rising, Babayev says 2025 must be a turning point: 'It's time for developed countries to deliver real support to the developing world.'
Euronews
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Euronews
COP29 President urges action ahead of COP30 in Brazil
In this episode of Energy Frontiers, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev calls for urgent climate action and accountability from world leaders ahead of COP30 in Brazil. Speaking to Euronews, Babayev stresses the need to move beyond pledges and into implementation—highlighting outcomes from COP29 in Baku, including a $300 billion climate finance target and progress on Article 6 carbon markets. With climate leadership fragmented and global emissions still rising, Babayev says 2025 must be a turning point: 'It's time for developed countries to deliver real support to the developing world.'
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Will COP30 turbocharge global climate change actions?
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The UN calls for clawing back the temperature rise in line with the Paris agreement signed and ratified by 195 parties and subsequent COP agreements. COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan created plenty of excitement and hopes but with limited success. Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, called for stronger and decisive actions to avert climate change on date the achievement of global emission reduction is far away from the target, necessitating timely actionable and achievable national climate plans. So, COP30 aspires to turbocharge global climate progress through implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. During COP29 the parties agreed to develop strong standards for the UN monitored international carbon targets to reinforce and realign the parties to focus on key targets of emission reduction. The world leaders agree that adverse impacts of climate change are far too many with increased occurrences. Extreme weather resulting in undesirable events negatively affecting economic growth and well-being of society. For example, untimely cyclones and floods severely damage the global food chain, which seriously hampers World data indicates that damages to global GDP caused by extreme weather events increased from 0.10 per cent in 1960 to 0.20 per cent in 2020. During the period the quantum of GDP damage in India increased from 0.04 per cent to 0.45 per cent , which is much higher than the global UN has been cohesively working on reducing the impact of climate change on the global community. The COP30 presidency started working on the leadership circles to tackle key issues 'climate finance, traditional and indigenous peoples and communities, climate governance, and global mobilisation'. The circles intend to work with multiple stakeholders to fast-track climate acknowledged the imminent challenges of managing resources, more importantly arranging funds for climate finance. So, COP30 assigned the important role to the Finance Ministers Circle to develop a roadmap and strategies to mobilize $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for meeting climate financing in developing Presidents Circle intends to draw upon the experience of past 10 presidents since COP21 to reinforce the global climate governance and involvement of academia, private players, civil society, and youth bring more inclusiveness to the decision-making process. Global community driven approaches are expected to deliver better results, however customised solutions to local problems cannot be 2024, most of the $2 trillion climate investment happened in the developed nations. COP30 calls for smooth flow of climate investment to the regions where it is the most needed. The green climate fund (GCF) so far has funded 297 projects worth $16.7 billion, out of which 133 projects executed or under execution in developing got funding of $803.9 million for 12 projects for climate mitigation and cross-cutting purposes. Additionally, $5.6 million approved from GCF for five readiness developed nations should not shy away from their commitments, especially the investment commitment and responsibilities. The developed countries are in a better position to fund their sustainable energy transition compared to the developing and the least developed countries.A handful of developed (green) economies will not be sufficient to keep the global community happy, healthy, and safe. Therefore, the UN intends to have uniformity and harmony not only for economic prosperity but also for climate is important to highlight that timely and efficient emission management is impossible without knowing emissions sources, actual quantum, and inventory. Therefore, the Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) and National Inventory Document (NID) will serve as key instruments to check global emission realities. For instance, Japan's BTR acknowledges that the energy sector contributes 87.1 per cent of the it is critical to reduce or eliminate the emissions across the energy value chain. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the oil and gas value chain is responsible for 15 per cent of total energy-related emissions. Cutting down 50 per cent emission intensities in global upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas operations by 2030 requires investment to the tune of $600-800 billion. A cash-rich industry like oil and gas can afford it, but lack of sufficient intent remains a the United States, transportation, electric power industry, industry, agriculture, commercial, and residential contribute 28.4 per cent , 24.9 per cent , 22.9 per cent , 10 per cent , 7.3 per cent , and 6.2 per cent of the total emissions. The statistics indicate that transportation, power, and industry offer the maximum scope for emission reductions not only in the United States but also in many industrialised economies. Even emerging economies like India, China, and Brazil need to tackle emission issues in the above-mentioned and COP29 emphasised reducing emissions, building climate resilience global community, facilitating fund arrangements for vulnerable nations, and assisting technology access for all to push forward sustained and accelerated actions to implement the UN driven collective decisions to achieve climate change goals by reinforcing focus on executing 'transitioning away from fossil fuels' to sustainable solutions like solar, wind, biofuel, and green hydrogen is key to timely energy transition. In this context, fixing carbon market issues can assist concerned parties to show sustainable progress. The BTR, NID, and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions reports will help develop a centralised comprehensive data acquisition, implementation, and monitoring and COP29 made pathbreaking agreements. Under Brazil's presidency COP30 might turbocharge global climate progress through multilateralism and consensus building pathways to execute action plans and achieve climate targets. Hopefully, COP30 stimulates the developed countries and wealthy developing countries like China to support the other developing and least developed countries to achieve their climate change goals.(The author is Professor at Department of Management Studies, Rajiv Gandhi of Petroleum Technology, Jais, India)
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Will COP30 turbocharge global climate change actions?
The UN calls for clawing back the temperature rise in line with the Paris agreement signed and ratified by 195 parties and subsequent COP agreements. COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan created plenty of excitement and hopes but with limited success. Simon Stiell , UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, called for stronger and decisive actions to avert climate change disasters. As on date the achievement of global emission reduction is far away from the target, necessitating timely actionable and achievable national climate plans. So, COP30 aspires to turbocharge global climate progress through implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. During COP29 the parties agreed to develop strong standards for the UN monitored international carbon market. COP30 targets to reinforce and realign the parties to focus on key targets of emission reduction. The world leaders agree that adverse impacts of climate change are far too many with increased occurrences. Extreme weather resulting in undesirable events negatively affecting economic growth and well-being of society. For example, untimely cyclones and floods severely damage the global food chain, which seriously hampers prosperity. Our World data indicates that damages to global GDP caused by extreme weather events increased from 0.10 per cent in 1960 to 0.20 per cent in 2020. During the period the quantum of GDP damage in India increased from 0.04 per cent to 0.45 per cent , which is much higher than the global level. The UN has been cohesively working on reducing the impact of climate change on the global community. The COP30 presidency started working on the leadership circles to tackle key issues 'climate finance, traditional and indigenous peoples and communities, climate governance, and global mobilisation'. The circles intend to work with multiple stakeholders to fast-track climate progress. COP29 acknowledged the imminent challenges of managing resources, more importantly arranging funds for climate finance. So, COP30 assigned the important role to the Finance Ministers Circle to develop a roadmap and strategies to mobilize $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for meeting climate financing in developing countries. Past Presidents Circle intends to draw upon the experience of past 10 presidents since COP21 to reinforce the global climate governance and implementation. Greater involvement of academia, private players, civil society, and youth bring more inclusiveness to the decision-making process. Global community driven approaches are expected to deliver better results, however customized solutions to local problems cannot be ignored. In 2024, most of the $2 trillion climate investment happened in the developed nations. COP30 calls for smooth flow of climate investment to the regions where it is the most needed. The green climate fund (GCF) so far has funded 297 projects worth $16.7 billion, out of which 133 projects executed or under execution in developing countries. India got funding of $803.9 million for 12 projects for climate mitigation and cross-cutting purposes. Additionally, $5.6 million approved from GCF for five readiness activities. The developed nations should not shy away from their commitments, especially the investment commitment and responsibilities. The developed countries are in a better position to fund their sustainable energy transition compared to the developing and the least developed countries. A handful of developed (green) economies will not be sufficient to keep the global community happy, healthy, and safe. Therefore, the UN intends to have uniformity and harmony not only for economic prosperity but also for climate prosperity. It is important to highlight that timely and efficient emission management is impossible without knowing emissions sources, actual quantum, and inventory. Therefore, the Biennial Transparency Report ( BTR ) and National Inventory Document ( NID ) will serve as key instruments to check global emission realities. For instance, Japan's BTR acknowledges that the energy sector contributes 87.1 per cent of the emissions. Hence, it is critical to reduce or eliminate the emissions across the energy value chain. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the oil and gas value chain is responsible for 15 per cent of total energy-related emissions. Cutting down 50 per cent emission intensities in global upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas operations by 2030 requires investment to the tune of $600-800 billion. A cash-rich industry like oil and gas can afford it, but lack of sufficient intent remains a dampener. In the United States, transportation, electric power industry, industry, agriculture, commercial, and residential contribute 28.4 per cent , 24.9 per cent , 22.9 per cent , 10 per cent , 7.3 per cent , and 6.2 per cent of the total emissions. The statistics indicate that transportation, power, and industry offer the maximum scope for emission reductions not only in the United States but also in many industrialised economies. Even emerging economies like India, China, and Brazil need to tackle emission issues in the above-mentioned segments. COP28 and COP29 emphasized reducing emissions, building climate resilience global community, facilitating fund arrangements for vulnerable nations, and assisting technology access for all to push forward sustained and accelerated actions to implement the UN driven collective decisions to achieve climate change goals by 2035. Further, reinforcing focus on executing 'transitioning away from fossil fuels' to sustainable solutions like solar, wind, biofuel, and green hydrogen is key to timely energy transition. In this context, fixing carbon market issues can assist concerned parties to show sustainable progress. The BTR, NID, and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions reports will help develop a centralized comprehensive data acquisition, implementation, and monitoring mechanism. COP28 and COP29 made pathbreaking agreements. Under Brazil's presidency COP30 might turbocharge global climate progress through multilateralism and consensus building pathways to execute action plans and achieve climate targets. Hopefully, COP30 stimulates the developed countries and wealthy developing countries like China to support the other developing and least developed countries to achieve their climate change goals. (The author is Professor at Department of Management Studies, Rajiv Gandhi of Petroleum Technology, Jais, India)
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Alberta government travel spending increased by nearly $1 million in 2024
Alberta's cabinet ministers and political staff spent significantly more on airfare, hotels and other travel costs last year compared to 2023, according to an analysis of government expense disclosures. The IJF analyzed over 60,000 expense claims from the previous two fiscal years. In 2024-25, Alberta government ministries spent $4.41 million on travel and hospitality, a 28 per cent increase over the $3.45 million expensed in 2023-24. Nearly 40 per cent of this increase comes from trips taken by cabinet ministers, top ministerial bureaucrats and their office staff. Ministerial office expenses related to travel totalled $1.84 million last year, up about $362,000 from 2023-24. Cabinet ministers alone racked up over $500,000 in travel expenses in 2024-25, 1.5 times more than the previous year. The highest spending members of cabinet include former minister of jobs, economy and trade Matt Jones, his successor Joseph Schow, Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf and Premier Danielle Smith. The Alberta government's delegation to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, was the single costliest international trip last year. Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz and five staff spent over $90,000 to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November 2024, including $58,535 for hotel accommodations. Other big-ticket items billed to taxpayers include $12,924 in airfare for Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean's trip to the Japan Energy Summit and Exhibition and $10,925 for the premier's chief of staff Rob Anderson's flights to the United Arab Emirates. Smith's press secretary Sam Blackett told the IJF that travel is important for promoting Alberta's interests and building relationships. 'It also allows our government to engage with business leaders, investors and organizations, showcasing the province as an attractive place for investment, trade, and economic development,' Blackett said. 'On top of the ongoing trade dispute with the United States, we have a hostile federal government that does not align or support our provincial priorities. That's why it is more important now than ever that we are directly advocating for Alberta's interests.' University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young said that with 2023 being an election year, 'politicians were very much staying close to home. They probably didn't want to be seen to be swanning around on the public dollar to the same extent. 'In 2024, we're far away from an election. And on top of that, you've got some fairly exceptional things going on internationally that might have driven at least some of the travel.' In the context of tariff threats and changing international trade relationships, the jump in travel spending by the premier's office and executive council or the trade ministry 'makes perfect sense,' Young said. Smith's brief visit to Mar-a-Lago in January to meet with then president-elect Donald Trump reportedly cost taxpayers more than $10,000 . The premier's mission to Washington, D.C., for Trump's inauguration eight days later, which included Smith and three other staff, came with a price tag of at least $15,800, according to public expense disclosures. There were 17 government ministries with travel expenditure increases of 25 per cent or more in 2024-25 compared to the previous year. While the increase in travel spending from the premier's office and the Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Trade were higher than most other departments, the largest year-over-year increase by dollar value, about $120,000, was reported by the Ministry of Health. 'The health spending actually is a bit of a head scratcher for me. I can't think of a particular reason why they would need to spend more money on travel in the health portfolio,' Young said. 'It's a very domestic kind of portfolio, and there's certainly lots going on here that you would think the minister and the minister's staff would be focused on.'
