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What went down internationally on climate action in 2023
What went down internationally on climate action in 2023
Image: Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels
2023 was a massive year for climate events. From wild fires to environmental summits such as the much-awaited COP28, climate change has been a topic of significance. The dusk of 2023 closed with the COP28 in Dubai. At STAND News we look at all the noteworthy climate events and documents from 2023 and see what the future holds for climate goals.
Climate anomalies and disasters
2023 was the world’s hottest year on record yet according to NASA, America’s NOAA NCEI, Copernicus Climate Change Service and the UK Met Office. The Americas and Africa reported 2023 to be the hottest year in the respective continents, while Europe, Asia and Africa claim it to be the second warmest year on record. Record-breaking high temperatures were reported in parts of Asia (Laos, Bangladesh, Thailand and India), South America (Chile), US and Europe. Heatwaves were reported during the spring in Australia. Ocean temperatures around Turkey, Spain, Italy and Greece rose to unsafe levels.
Wildfires were reported in Italy, Greece and Chile. 2023 saw the century’s deadliest wildfire in the US, occurring on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It also shattered the record for most acres burnt in Canadian and North American history, burning over 45.7 million acres and causing widespread air quality deterioration across the continent. The deadliest and costliest cyclone of 2023 occurred in Libya.
COP 28
This international meeting was held in Dubai, UAE from 30th Nov to 6th December. The main highlight of the event was the Global stocktake (GST1). The Global stocktake was the first of its kind, where the global progress of achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement was evaluated and a new course of action was drafted based on the findings.
Two reports were released from the stocktake; the synthesis report and technical report. The synthesis report highlighted that to reach the targets agreed to in the Paris agreement, nations must be more ambitious with their plans, that is, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions need to be cut down to 43% by 2030, 60% by 2035 from 2019 levels and net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. It also called for developed countries to achieve net-zero much earlier than their counterparts and the global average. The technical report called for the enhancement of access to climate financing in developing countries, scaling up renewables with simultaneous phasing out of fossil fuels and an end to deforestation. The next Global stocktake will be carried out after 5 years, and so on every 5 years.
Health at COP28
There was a greater focus on the impact on health than in previous COP meetings. Over 40 million health professionals joined forces with civil organisations to push for greater focus on Climate related health issues. Currently, only 0.5% of global climate budgets are allocated to the health sector. The health workers pushed for allocation of a greater portion for health. For the first time in COP summit history, a whole day was allocated for health. WHO and Wellcome Trust hosted the COP28 Health pavilion.
Timelines for important global goals from COP28
2030
Triple Global renewable capacity
Reduce global GHG emissions by 43% compared to 2019 levels
Stop and reverse deforestation
2035
Reduce global GHG by 60% of 2019 levels
Global Net zero
Climate Change and Epidemics report 2023
The Climate Amplified Diseases and Epidemics (CLIMADE) consortium released a synthesis report which acts as a summary for policy makers. According to the report, a concerning range of pathogens have surfaced less than two years since the COVID 19 pandemic because of temperature rise, extreme climatic events and climate migration. Climate change has the potential to aggravate over 50% of known human pathogens. The global south suffers the largest health impacts due to climate change despite contributing less than 10% of GHG emissions. Increasing global temperatures facilitate survival of disease vectors like mosquitoes, rodents and ticks and allow their move into previously unaffected areas.
Some climate change associated epidemics in 2023 include :
- Following Pakistan’s devastating floods in 2022, malaria cases increased four-fold.
- Malawi had its worst outbreak of Cholera in 2023.
- There were massive outbreaks of Cholera in Zambia, Mozambique and Pakistan. The rates of infection were much higher than that in previous years because of flooding incidents.
- The largest outbreaks of chikungunya and dengue ever recorded was seen in South Asia and South America.
- Chikungunya and dengue epidemics were seen in previously unaffected areas such as Paraguay and Uruguay.
- Tiger mosquitoes are increasing in Southern Europe, with outbreaks of Dengue in France and Italy, and chikungunya in Italy.
- The USA saw its first local case of malaria.
State of the Energy Union report 2023
The European Commission released the State of the Energy Union report in October 2023. It laid out all energy achievements of the EU in 2023. The EU diversified energy imports away from Russia and expanding imports of natural gas and LNG from Norway and the US, avoiding a major energy crisis and collapse of economy. In May 2023, the EU produced more energy from two renewable sources: wind and solar, than from fossil fuels. EU’s GHG emissions have fallen by 32.5% compared to 1990.
The document identified significant gaps with EUs action on climate challenges such as poor progress of climate action in agricultural sector, and a drew out a new path for energy transition. Circular economy is a key strategy to move towards environmental sustainability by reducing global material extraction and use by one third. EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act will incentivise recycling of critical raw materials in order to cover 15% of EU’s demand using secondary raw materials.
Climate Change Performance Index report 2024
What is it?
The Climate change performance index ranks 63 countries and the EU based on their performance on 4 climate action parameters: GHG emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy. These countries account for 90% of the global GHG emissions. CCPI report for 2024 was unveiled at the COP28 on 8th December 2023 .
In 2024, Denmark ranks highest, EU made it to 16thand Ireland ranks number 43. The worst performer for the year goes to the oil nation of Saudi Arabia, the neighbour to COP28’s host. The G20 members account for more than 75% of the global GHG emissions but only 3 regions are among high performers (India, Germany and the EU), while Canada, Russia, Korea and Saudi Arabia are the among the worst performing G20 countries.
EU performance
The EU received a medium ranking on all 4 categories, moving up 3 spots compared to last year thanks to its climate policy document ‘Fit for 55’ package, adopted in April 2023. It aims to achieve 55% net emissions reduction from 1990 by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. The EU policy for promoting renewable energy, ‘Renewable energy directive’ (RED) was revised in Fit for 55, increasing share of renewable energy to 42.5% by 2030. The expert panel advises that EU should accelerate efforts to reduce energy demand. To increase EU’s fair contribution to fit the climate crisis, 90-95% emission cuts are required by 2040 according to the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC).
Denmark
Denmark maintained its position as the 2023’s highest performer this year as well. According to Denmark’s Climate act, it aims to reduce emissions by 70% by 2030 compared to 1990. However, CCPI experts claim that Danish climate action has been stagnant since October 2022. To reach the global 1.5-degree compatible carbon budget requires tightening of the 2030 target to 80% and moving net-zero target from 2050 to 2040.
One reason for its Denmark’s high ranking is that the country combines diplomacy with concrete climate partnerships. The CCPI demands that Denmark updates climate target sector wise to reflect Denmark’s share of carbon budget, land-use to support the country’s 2030 target, intact agricultural carbon tax and return of Danish politics to ambitious climate initiatives.
Ireland
Ireland ranks 43 this year, moving lower than last years’ 37th place, dropping 6 points. It performed medium in Renewable energy and Energy Use, and low in Climate Policy and GHG emissions. The report emphasises that Ireland lacks a long-term strategy for phasing out fossil fuels. The CCPI welcomes Ireland’s medium-term offshore wind and solar plans and advice that existing policies on climate be implemented rapidly.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is the worst ranked country in 2024 among those surveyed. Renewable energy in primary energy supply is close to zero in the country. Its targets are too low. The Saudi Green Initiative of 2021 includes a target of planting 10 billion trees by 2030, however not much progress has been made with implementation so far. Saudi Arabia should seek to reduce its emissions by, for example, using its high potential for renewable energy production.
2024
So, what do we have to look forward to in 2024? There is a one-in-three chance that 2024 will be hotter than 2023 and a 99% change that it will be among the top five warmest years according to America’s NOAA National Centres for Environmental Information (NCEI). Scientists anticipate that 2024 will be an even warmer because of the El Niño event, which may likely produce severe drouths in some regions globally, causing further climate induced migrations of humans and animal life. The Amazon has been predicted to be the source of massive disease outbreak in the future because of deforestation induced migration of wildlife into cities resulting in a spillover effect of zoonotic pathogen to humans.
An event is to be held this year to provide parties to discuss plans for the next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) according to the findings of the global stocktake. The COP28 technical report calls on ministers to present updated 2030 NDCs and plans for 2035 NDCs at the 2024 UN general assembly. The next COP meeting, COP 29, will be held in Nov 2024 in Azerbaijan. Hopefully the world figures out how to stay on track to achieve the Paris Agreement by then.
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