Latest news with #UNsummit
ABC News
5 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Delay in choosing COP31 host city poses challenge to Adelaide's preparations
Adelaide is ramping up preparations for next year's major UN climate summit despite not yet being named the host city, with experts warning that the uncertainty could pose logistical and diplomatic challenges. The South Australian government has allocated more than $8 million to prepare for COP31 and had anticipated that a host nation could be chosen as early as November last year. But Australia remains locked in a diplomatic stalemate with Türkiye over hosting rights for the November 2026 event, with the rival bidding nation yet to drop out. UN climate chief Simon Stiell has urged the two countries to resolve the impasse, saying a decision "needs to be made very quickly" both for logistical reasons and to ensure a negotiating agenda can be agreed on. "The delay in making that decision is unhelpful to the process — we need clarity," he told a Smart Energy Council Summit two weeks ago. Lasting about a fortnight, COP31 will bring together tens of thousands of delegates — including heads of state — to thrash out new climate agreements and track progress on the old ones. The "Conference of the Parties" is the main decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It includes representatives from all 198 countries that are party to the convention. But with only 15 months until the summit, the scope for organising an "ambitious" negotiating agenda is shrinking, according to Dr Wesley Morgan, research associate at the Institute for Climate Risk and Response at UNSW. "There would still be very much expectations that Australia has an ambitious agenda showing the world how to transition away from fossil fuels to the clean energy industries of tomorrow. "The runway is getting shorter, but Australia very much can still achieve a very ambitious summit." COP31, Dr Morgan added, would be Australia's "biggest event since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney". He said it was not unprecedented for a host nation to be chosen only 12 months out. Australia remains "in the box seat" for COP31, Dr Morgan said, noting that it has majority support from its regional UN grouping — the Western European and Others Group. He said Australia needs to reach an arrangement with Türkiye to convince them to drop out, as the hosting rights decision is made by consensus, not a vote. September's meeting of the UN General Assembly looms as the next potential decision point, Dr Morgan said. If not then, a decision "would definitely need to happen" this November at COP30 in Belém, Brazil. "There are provisions if there continues to be a stalemate, but let's hope it doesn't get to that point," he said. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said last week that the UNFCCC process is "pretty opaque in terms of how a dispute gets resolved between two countries". He said Australia's bid has "overwhelming support" but there is still work to do. The South Australian government says it is continuing to prepare for COP31, which Premier Peter Malinauskas has described as "unlike anything we [South Australia] have ever hosted before". The government set aside more than $8 million in June's state budget for COP31 preparations, with those funds gradually being expended despite no decision on a host city. SA Police also has a dedicated COP31 preparation team that has grown to 18 police officers, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said last week. "We can't afford to wait for the UN to make a decision regarding the host city," he told ABC Radio Adelaide. Commissioner Stevens said if Adelaide does host COP31, SA Police will be "borrowing resources from every police jurisdiction around Australia and New Zealand" to manage security and event management. Total COP attendance — comprised of delegates, observer groups and media — has fluctuated between 20,000 and 70,000 people over the past five years, according to the UNFCCC. Adding to the security challenge is the likely presence of dozens of world leaders. Sam Dighton, CEO of the Committee for Adelaide think tank, said security preparations were ""clearly ... a challenge for an event of this scale". "But we know that government is preparing both at a federal and state level, preparations are underway to deal with this certainly also from an emergency services perspective," he said. The Adelaide Convention Centre will host the bulk of COP31 events if Australia is chosen, with the government flagging that a "designated secure zone and public event area" will form part of the hosting arrangements. The premier has previously said the Convention Centre takes bookings four years in advance, creating another time challenge. "For the poor people that I have imposed this on, it is actually terrifying," he told a budget estimates committee in June. "They have got no choice but to get to work under the assumption that we may get this. "If we do not find out until later in the year, hypothetically, that we get it, then the window will almost be too small for us to start to do any preparatory work." On Wednesday the Premier said the government had "no choice" but to get on with preparations as this was "pretty much the next biggest event in a single city outside of the Olympics". "We start those preparations not presumptively, but pragmatically," he said. "Given that if we want to host the event as well as we know we can, that we're not caught out by a late decision ... about which country is going to host the event." Mr Malinauskas said "the best thing that can happen here" is a quick decision on hosting rights. "Because then it allows for the respective host city and country to get on with the task," he said. "I just hope there's a resolution soon."
ABC News
05-08-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Federal politics live: Albanese and Macron speak about Gaza and agree to meet at UN summit
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has discussed the war in Gaza with French President Emmanuel Macron during a phone call overnight. The pair have agreed to meet again on the sidelines of a UN summit in New York, which France intends to use to recognise Palestinian statehood. Follow our live blog.
Reuters
28-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
UN tells Australia, Turkey to end COP31 hosting standoff
SYDNEY, July 28 (Reuters) - The United Nations climate chief on Monday urged Australia and Turkey to resolve their long-running tussle over who will host next year's COP31 summit, calling the delay unhelpful and unnecessary. Australia and Turkey submitted bids to host the high-profile conference in 2022 and both countries have refused to concede to the other, opens new tab ever since. Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which oversees COP summits, said the deadlock was undermining preparations. 'A decision needs to be made very quickly,' he said at a Smart Energy Council event in Sydney. 'The two proponents need to come together and between themselves and within the group to make that decision. The delay in making that decision is unhelpful to the process.' The annual UN talks rotate through five regional groups. COP31's host must be unanimously agreed upon by the 28 members of the Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG) bloc. The UN had set a deadline of June for the group to reach consensus. Australia is seeking to co-host next year's summit with the Pacific to showcase its renewable energy transition. It had hoped to secure the bid, which has majority backing among WEOG members, at COP29 in Azerbaijan. But Turkey has rebuffed calls to drop out of the race, and instead doubled down on its efforts during interim talks in Bonn last month. Turkey argues its Mediterranean location would help reduce emissions from flights bringing delegates to the conference, and has pointed out its smaller oil and gas industry compared to Australia. Stiell said the deadlock was now affecting the planning of the COP process, involving thousands of delegates from 200 member countries. 'In negotiations that are as complex as they are, that lack of clarity creates tensions that are completely unnecessary at this stage,' he said. Asked for comment, the office of Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen referred to an interview where he said Australia's bid had the backing of 23 out of 28 WEOG members. Australia had also approached Turkey multiple times to find a 'win-win' solution, he said. 'We've got the votes. We could have all the votes in the world. If Turkey is not going to withdraw, that's still a challenge,' Bowen told The Conversation Politics Podcast on Thursday. At the same event, Stiell also called on Australia to set an ambitious 2035 emissions target and accelerate its clean energy transition. Australia's national climate plan, due in September, would be a 'defining moment' that could send a message that 'this country is open for clean investment, trade, and long-term partnerships', he said.
Times
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Video of seagrass devastation cut from Attenborough documentary
Filmmakers cut footage of fishing boats destroying seagrass meadows from Sir David Attenborough's Ocean film because it was deemed too shocking. Previously unseen video was shown to a small number of people at the recent UN ocean summit in Nice, revealing seagrass in the Turkish Mediterranean being affected by bottom trawling. The video shows huge plumes of sediment being thrown up as a weighted net smashes through the grass, a vital habitat for spawning fish. The Turkish conservationist and filmmaker Zafer Kizilkaya, who worked with the Ocean team, said he wanted to include the scenes in the film but they decided it was too disturbing. 'That footage I showed, that was the one that we decided to take out of the documentary. You know, it was a bit too harsh for the public,' Kizilkaya told The Times. 'I've been going out with trawlers for so long. But seeing that damage … before your eyes is a totally different thing. This is killing an entire deep-sea ecosystem.' Attenborough's film is thought to have played a key role in the government's decision last month to ban bottom trawling in around half the territory of marine protected areas (MPAs) in England. Celebrities including Stephen Fry and the White Lotus actor Theo James have called for a full ban on the destructive fishing practice in MPAs. Ocean, which was released in cinemas and on Disney+ in June, includes underwater footage of bottom trawling in the Mediterranean and in UK waters. However, the scene of seagrass being ploughed was cut. The footage was filmed in Turkish waters at an undisclosed location. The team did not know the seagrass was there until they retrieved the footage, as it was 27 metres underwater. Kizilkaya said the Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) would take a long time to recover because it grew slowly, at about 2cm a year. The damage to the habitat is bad news for fish, which use it as a nursery for their young, and for tackling climate change. 'Scientific papers have proven that it's the plant on the planet having the highest capacity of carbon storage, which is about eight kilograms per square meter, ten times higher than rainforests,' Kizilkaya said. Sophie Benbow, marine director at conservation group Fauna & Flora, who saw the footage in Nice, said: 'It's a lose-lose-lose for wildlife, the climate and for all of us who rely on a healthy ocean for our survival.' Kizilkaya said the public could play a key role in stopping bottom trawling by asking fishmongers and restaurants about where they sourced their fish and seafood. 'In a month, we can stop the whole bottom trawling industry. It's all about the end consumer,' he said. The UK government is consulting on the ban on bottom trawling in 41 of the country's 377 MPAs, but is facing a fierce pushback from fishing trade bodies. 'This ban will cause huge hardship to fishermen and their families and it will advance the cause of marine conservation no more than a far more targeted restriction would do,' the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations claimed in a blogpost. 'This is an astonishing attack on fishermen and coastal communities.' Seagrass species can be found in UK waters and several conservation efforts are under way to restore meadows.
Reuters
27-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
UN bids to salvage global development summit after US boycott
MADRID/LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Scores of world leaders will be sweltering in the summer sun of southern Spain next week at a once-a-decade United Nations development financing summit aimed at curbing global poverty, disease and the worst-case threats of climate change. Despite the scorching temperatures, though, a major chill looms over the event - the decision early this month by the United States, traditionally the world's largest aid giver and key finance provider, not to show up, opens new tab. UN countries want to close a $4 trillion-a-year funding gap they now estimate prevents the developing world achieving the organisation's Sustainable Development Goals that range from cutting infant death rates to minimising global warming. Critics say the promises at the heart of the conference - called the "Seville Commitment" - are nowhere near bold enough. The measures, agreed by consensus after a year of tough negotiations, include tripling multilateral lending capacity, debt relief, a push to boost tax-to-GDP ratios to at least 15%, and shifting special IMF money to countries that need it most. The run-up, however, has been marred by the U.S. decision to withdraw over what it said was the crossing of a number of its red lines, opens new tab, including the push to triple development bank lending, change tax rules and the use of the term "gender" in summit wording. The European Union only joined the summit with reservations, particularly over how debt is discussed within the UN. Speaking to reporters this week, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed described Washington's boycott as "regrettable", especially after its "catastrophic" recent aid cuts that she said had cost lives and livelihoods. Speaking alongside officials from summit host Spain and Zambia, which has helped organise it, she said the final outcome document, opens new tab agreed reflected both "ambition and realism" and that the U.N. would try to re-engage the U.S. afterwards. Remy Rioux, chief executive officer of the French Development Agency, said Washington's withdrawal had not been a total surprise given Donald Trump's views. The hope is that agreements next week will allow bolder action at the UN climate talks in Brazil in November. "We will push for the new framework... (and) its operationalisation from Seville to Belem," he added, referring to the Brazilian city that will host COP30. Other measures to be announced include multilateral lenders automatically giving vulnerable countries the option to insert repayment break clauses into their loans in case of hurricane, drought or flood. Another buzz phrase will be a "Global SDR playbook" - a plan where the wealthiest countries rechannel the IMF's reserve-like Special Draw Rights they hold to the multilateral banks, who then leverage them as capital in order to lend more. Campaigners warn that it will fall far short of what is needed, especially as more than 130 countries now face critically high debt levels and many spend more on repayments than on health or education. Aid and support from rich countries, who themselves have rising debts, is dropping too. In March, the U.S. slashed more than 80% of programmes at its USAID agency following federal budget cuts spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk. Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden have all made cuts in recent years too. The OECD projects a 9–17% drop in net official development assistance (ODA) in 2025, following a 9% decline in 2024. It looks set to hit the poorest countries hardest: bilateral ODA to least developed countries and sub-Saharan Africa may fall by 13-25% and 16-28% respectively, the OECD estimates, and health funding could drop by up to 60% from its 2022 peak. So what would be a good outcome in Seville, especially given the U.S. pull-out? "We should make sure we are not backtracking at this point," said Orville Grey at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, referring to funding commitments. "We should at least remain stable."
