Latest news with #UNClimateChangeSecretariat
Qatar Tribune
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Activists see little progress at preparatory Bonn climate talks
Bonn: Environmental organizations voiced frustration at the lack of progress during climate talks in Bonn, which wrapped up on Thursday. The negotiations were part of preparations for the UN Climate Change Conference set to take place in Brazil this November. More than 5,000 delegates took part. Bonn is home to the UN Climate Change Secretariat, which coordinates international climate policy and hosts the preparatory talks each year. At the close of the 10-day negotiations, UN climate chief Simon Stiell acknowledged the slow pace and urged greater efforts in the fight against global warming. 'The delegations in Bonn have advanced only by centimetres,' Oxfam climate spokesman Jan Kowalzig told DPA. A number of theme complexes had to be postponed to the November conference because of lack of agreement, he said. (DPA)
Observer
19-06-2025
- Science
- Observer
Study: World has three years left to stay below 1.5 degrees warming
Only three years are left to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius if climate-harming emissions remain at their current level, according to study by a team of over 60 international scientists published on Thursday. Scientists found that the carbon budget will be exhausted in a little more than three years - meaning the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted by humanity to permanently keep warming to 1.5 degrees,the limit set by the Paris Agreement to try and avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. The carbon budgets to limit warming to 1.6 or 1.7 degrees could be surpassed within nine years, according to the annual Indicators of Global Climate Change (IGCC) study presented at the annual UN climate talks in the western German city of Bonn. The talks in Bonn, where the UN Climate Change Secretariat is headquartered, are seen as a critical step in shaping the global climate agenda ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil,known as COP30, later this year. "Both warming levels and rates of warming are unprecedented," said lead author Piers Forster. "Continued record-high emissions of greenhouse gases mean more of us are experiencing unsafe levels of climate impacts," he added. "Climate policies and pace of climate action are not keeping up with what's needed to address the ever-growing impacts." Sea levels rise by over 20 centimetres Sea levels rose by an average of around 26 millimetres per year between 2019 and 2024, according to the study, meaning long-term sea level rise has more than doubled since the beginning of the 20th century. "Since 1900, the global mean sea level has risen by around 228mm," said Dr Aimée Slangen, research leader at the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. "This seemingly small number is having an outsized impact on low-lying coastal areas, making storm surges more damaging and causing more coastal erosion, posing a threat to humans and coastal ecosystems," she added. "The concerning part is that we know that sea-level rise in response to climate change is relatively slow, which means that we have already locked in further increases in the coming years and decades." The study conducted by a team comprising over 60 international researchers aims to present the latest scientific findings on climate change and the human impact on the ecosystem. Is 1.5 degrees dead? In 2015, 195 parties adopted the legally binding Paris Agreement on climate change to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, ideally to 1.5 degrees. According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2024 was the first year since measurements began that exceeded the 1.5 degree threshold on average worldwide. However, this does not mean that the limit set out in the Paris Agreement is out of reach, since the treaty allows for temperature deviations that are averaged over a period of at least 20 years. Regardless, experts believe it will be extremely difficult to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, estimating that greenhouse gas emissions would have to fall by at least 43% by 2030 to achieve the feat. Large quantities of greenhouse gases would also have to be removed from the atmosphere, scientists say. But many countries are currently back pedalling on climate protection- most notably the US under President Donald Trump, who ordered his country to exit the Paris Agreement for a second time upon taking office in January. Trump already withdrew the US from the international climate accord during his first term as president, a move that was later reversed by the Biden administration.
Al Etihad
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Etihad
Key climate talks begin in Germany ahead of COP30 summit in Brazil
17 June 2025 00:43 BONN (dpa)Environmental experts from across the world gathered in western Germany on Monday for a 10-day mid-year meeting, helping to prepare the next UN Climate Change Conference in annual talks in Bonn, where the UN Climate Change Secretariat is headquartered, are seen as a critical step in shaping the global climate agenda ahead of the main event in the Brazilian city of Belém in November, known as COP30.A central issue on the table for the 5,000 experts due to attend the summit is how to allocate billions in climate aid to developing the last major climate conference, held in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, countries agreed to significantly increase financial support for poorer nations. But disagreements persist over how that funding should be distributed and are also set to revisit long-standing and contentious topics that have stalled progress in previous Kowalzig, a climate policy expert at Oxfam Germany, noted that while there is broad consensus on the need to phase out fossil fuels, some nations continue to resist binding commitments to concrete Bonn conference is also sure to be shadowed by geopolitical tensions, particularly the decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States - for a second time - from the Paris central aim of the 2015 agreement is to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial UN's weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation, said that 2024 was the warmest year on record at about 1.55 degrees above the pre-industrial era Paris Agreement is "not yet dead but in grave danger," the WMO said in January, explaining that the accord's long-term temperature goals are measured over decades, not individual years. The 2025 UN Climate Change Conference is scheduled to begin on November 10 in Belém.
