Loss and damage fund approved at COP28 summit
On the opening day of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change has been officially launched. The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million — host UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union promised $275 million, $17.5 million from the US, and $10 million from Japan.
The loss and damage fund was first announced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last year.
India’s role at the climate conferences over the years, key promises, red lines
As a large economy and the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, India is an influential voice for developing countries at the annual COP events. Over the years, New Delhi has become more assertive and proposed some key measures.
Urging countries to rise above self-interest and deliver on all their climate obligations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here Friday that developing countries must get appropriate access to the remaining global carbon budget.
Speaking at the high-level segment of the COP28 meeting here, Modi also proposed to host the 2028 climate change conference, COP33, in India.
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India has hosted this annual climate change conference once earlier, COP8 in 2002. Then, the scale of this conference used to be much smaller unlike the most high-profile annual event that it has evolved into now, attracting the attendance of over 100 heads of states and governments, topmost global business leaders, celebrities and others. Read More
Addressing the LeadIT session on the sidelines of COP28 Summit, Prime Minister Modi said, "We all are bound by a common commitment - global net-zero. Partnership of government and industry is imperative to achieve the targets of net-zero."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday launched LeadIT 2.0 on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai with a focus on inclusive and just industry transition.
He said LeadIT 2.0 focuses on co-development and transfer of low-carbon technology and financial assistance to emerging economies.
On the opening day of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change has been officially launched. The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million — host UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union promised $275 million, $17.5 million from the US, and $10 million from Japan.
The loss and damage fund was first announced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last year. However, it was not until a few weeks before COP 28 that rich and poor countries managed to iron out some of their differences and agree on key points of the fund.
Here is a look at the fund, why it is needed by vulnerable countries, and how it will operate. Read our explainer
At the COP28 Presidency’s session on Transforming Climate Finance, PM Narendra Modi also welcomed the decision to operationalise the 'Loss and Damage Fund'.
"India welcomes the historic decision to operationalise the 'Loss and Damage Fund'. This has released a new energy into the COP28 Summit. We hope that concrete results will be yielded on other issues related to climate finance," he said.
On the opening day of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change was officially launched. The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million — host UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union promised $275 million, $17.5 million from the US, and $10 million from Japan.
Addressing COP28 Summit's session on Transforming Climate Finance, Prime Minister Friday urged developed countries to completely reduce carbon footprint intensity by 2050.
He added that India expects multilateral development banks to make available affordable climate finance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met UN Secretary General António Guterres on the sidelines of COP28 and discussed subjects covering G20 under India's Presidency, India's progress in achieving climate goals, priorities and concerns of Global South related to climate action, climate finance, technology and reforms of multilateral institutions.
Guterres affirmed to work with India to take forward the achievements of G20 under India's Presidency at the UN Summit of the Future 2024.
Jordan's King Abdullah said on Friday that war makes threats of water and food scarcity more severe, in his address to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Reuters reported.
"This year's conference of the parties must recognize even more than ever that we cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us," he said.
"In a region already on the front lines of climate change, the massive destruction of war makes these environmental threats of water scarcity and food insecurity even more severe," he said, in a clear reference to fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza that resumed on Friday after a seven-day truce.
The COP28 climate summit needs to finalize an exit from fossil fuels, rather than just aiming at reducing fossil fuel emissions, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said at the summit on Friday.
She said Germany aimed at tripling the use of renewable energy by 2030, doubling energy efficiency and finalizing its exit from fossil fuels.
In his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also proposed Green Credit Initiative, which focuses on creating carbon sinks through people's participation.
In his address at the opening session of the COP28 Summit in Dubai, Prime Minister Narendra said India has set targets to bring emission intensity down by 45 per cent by 2030 and increase share of non-fossil fuels to 50 per cent.
"We do not have much time to correct mistakes of last century,' he added.
In his opening remarks, Modi said India had achieved its emission intensity targets 11 years ahead of the committed timeframe. He went on to say that India is on track to achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution targets.
In his address, Modi told world leaders that with collective efforts, the belief has increased that for the welfare of the world, it is necessary to protect everyone's interests. "You have continuously supported the issues of climate justice, climate finance and green credit raised by me."
Addressing the opening session of the COP28 Summit in Dubai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said India contributes less than 4 per cent to global carbon emissions.
In an opening address to the COP28 summit, Britain's King Charles Friday said the world was 'dreadfully far off track' on addressing climate change and that the global economy would be in peril unless the environment was rapidly repaired, Reuters reported. He told world leaders the dangers of climate change were no longer a distant risk, and urged them to take more action.
'Harmony with nature must be maintained. The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth,' he said.
The king, whose role is ceremonial but is attending the summit on behalf of the British government and after an invite from host nation the United Arab Emirates, did not single out any group in his speech, his first major climate address as Britain's monarch. Instead, he spoke about how to involve multilateral organisations and the private sector, the role of the insurance sector and speeding up innovation in renewable energy.
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed announced on Friday the establishment of a $30 billion climate fund for global climate solutions that it hopes will lead to $250 billion of investment by the end of the decade, Reuters reported.
Dubbed ALTÉRRA, the fund will allocate $25 billion towards climate strategies and $5 billion specifically to incentivise investment flows into the Global South, according to a statement by the COP28 Presidency.
In collaboration with global asset managers BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG, ALTÉRRA has committed $6.5 billion to climate-dedicated funds for global investments, including the Global South, the statement said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he was looking forward to meaningful dialogues and collaborations for a sustainable future at the COP-28 Summit in Dubai.
Modi was welcomed warmly by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the venue.
“Glad to join the COP-28 Summit, a pivotal platform for global climate action. Looking forward to engaging in meaningful dialogues and collaborations for a sustainable future,” Modi said on X.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with and shook hands with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during the COP28 U.N. climate summit in Dubai, Herzog's office said today.
Qatar, which helped mediate a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas that ended on Friday, does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Reuters
Britain's King Charles met Israel's President Isaac Herzog on Friday on the sidelines of the COP28 U.N. climate summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Buckingham Palace said.
International climate talks turned to a power game on Friday as dozens of world leaders including the Saudi crown prince and India's prime minister were to speak, but two of the world's most powerful men — President Joe Biden of the U.S. and China's President Xi Jinping — were glaringly absent. More than 130 world leaders are set to address the United Nations climate conference in Dubai over the next two days.
The idea is to try to keep the planet from heating too much because of humankind's actions. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was expected to provide an overarching perspective about the need to cut down on fossil fuel use and turn to renewable energies, among other things, to greatly reduce the churn of carbon emissions into the atmosphere that is trapping excess heat near Earth. AP
On the opening day of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change has been officially launched. The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million — host UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union promised $275 million, $17.5 million from the US, and $10 million from Japan.
The loss and damage fund was first announced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last year. However, it was not until a few weeks before COP 28 that rich and poor countries managed to iron out some of their differences and agree on key points of the fund.
All you need to know
PM Mod, speaking to the UAE-based Aletihad newspaper, has called for ensuring requisite climate financing and technological transfer to developing countries, asserting that it must be recognised that they have not contributed in creating the climate problem but are still willing to be a part of the solution.
In Dubai to attend the COP28 meeting, Modi in an interview told that he has always maintained that climate change is a collective challenge that demands a unified global response. Rising ambitions on climate action must see matching progress on climate finance, he asserted.
India, he said, is optimistic that the meeting will inject fresh momentum into effective climate action.
PM Modi will have seven bilateral meetings, deliver four speeches and be part of two special initiatives on climate events during his stay in Dubai for around 21 hours, officials said on Friday.
He is also expected to attend informal meetings with world leaders besides a few pull-asides, they added.
Modi will attend the World Climate Action Summit on Friday during the United Nations 'Conference of the Parties' on climate, known as COP28.
Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Dubai late Thursday for the COP28 climate meeting, India reiterated it was not in a position to abandon its reliance on coal for electricity generation anytime soon even as it rapidly ramps up renewable energy supplies to ensure quick transition to green energy.
“Coal is and would remain an important part of India’s energy mix, it has always been, as we move forward to meet our developmental priorities in our country,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said at a press conference in New Delhi, ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to Dubai for the conference where use of coal is once again expected to come up during discussions.
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Britain's King Charles will give an opening address to the UN COP28 climate summit on Friday where he is expected to tell world leaders that the repeated warning signs of the impact of climate change are being disregarded, with devastating consequences.
In his first major speech on climate change since he became monarch in September 2022, the king is expected to advocate for greater global action and accountability, telling delegates that the "the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth".
"I pray with all my heart that COP28 will be a critical turning point towards genuine transformational action," he is expected to tell world leaders and other delegates. Reuters
The world wants more nuclear energy as a means to fight climate change and supply an ever-growing demand for electricity, part of a generational shift in thinking on atomic power, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press at the COP28 climate talks. He called the inclusion of nuclear power at the summit, where he said a major nuclear agreement was likely, showed just how far the formerly “taboo” subject had come decades after the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
However, he acknowledged the challenge still posed for his agency in monitoring nuclear programs in countries, particularly in Iran after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Pressure to phase out fossil fuels mounted Thursday on the oil company chief who took over fragile international climate negotiations that opened in Dubai on Thursday in what some say are contradictory dual roles.
United Nations and climate talks leaders might have relieved some of the pressure when negotiators unanimously approved much-fought over plans to launch and fund a program to compensate poorer nations hit by floods, storms, drought and other climate extremes. Several nations, led by host United Arab Emirates, immediately pledged more than $420 million for the fund, which took 30 years to approve.
Leaders said they hope the quick win on a key financial issue would set a new tone for negotiations that had put the climate talks newly installed boss on the hot seat and not just because the planet keeps smashing heat records.
Days before the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) began, meeting preparation notes were published that linked efforts by the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC to push fossil fuel sales at the same time its CEO and new COP president, Sultan al-Jaber, was meeting to curb climate change. AP
"During our G20 Presidency, climate was high on our priority. The New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration includes numerous concrete steps on climate action and sustainable development. I look forward to the COP-28 taking forward the consensus on these issues," PM Modi said in a statement ahead of his visit to Dubai.
He added: "COP28 will also provide an opportunity to review progress made under the Paris Agreement, and chart a path for future course on climate action. At the Voice of Global South Summit convened by India, the Global South spoke for the need for climate action based on the principles of equity, climate justice, and common but differentiated responsibilities, as well as a greater focus on adaptation. It is important that efforts of the developing world be supported with adequate climate financing and technology transfer. They must have access to equitable carbon and development space to achieve sustainable development."
PM Modi, who landed in Dubai late Thursday will make an appearance at the World Climate Action Summit for the third time, after his visits to Paris in 2015 and Glasgow in 2021. He was welcomed by the Indian community in Dubai.
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