One of the positive outcomes of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change back in 2015 was a pledge from the rich countries to provide USD 100 billion a year, starting from 2020, to help the poorer countries tackle climate change through both mitigation and adaptation actions. However, the year 2020 has come and gone, but this pledge was not delivered. …

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), all governments of the nearly 200 countries that have ratified the treaty meet twice a year to review progress and make decisions about next steps. These meetings are held at the level of officials only, in May or June every year in Bonn, Germany where the UNFCCC Secretariat is located, …

US President Biden’s first act upon being sworn in as President on January 20, 2021, was to officially notify the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that he was withdrawing former President Trump’s withdrawal letter from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and that the United States was rejoining the Paris Agreement. He has since followed this up …

Five years after the 2015 Paris Agreement was negotiated into existence, climate scientist Saleemul Huq says we are living in a climate-changed world. Five years on, the United Kingdom — as the incoming president of COP26 to be held in November 2021— has convened a Climate Ambition Summit. To be held on the fifth anniversary of that momentous night, it …

President-Elect Joe Biden of the United States of America recently announced his national security and foreign policy team including a significant new position of a “climate envoy” who would sit on the National Security Council, choosing former Senator John Kerry for that position. So what does this appointment mean for the US and the world and how are we to …

The election of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America has brought a great sigh of relief to everyone around the world who wants to see global action to tackle the threat of climate change. It is undoubtedly true that another term for Trump would have caused almost irretrievable harm to the ability of the …

More new initiatives, such as the Global Commission on Adaptation’s Locally Led Adaptation Action Track, are beginning to recognise the critical role of poor and marginalised people in tackling the climate emergency. From the Gobeshona conference, Andrew Norton and Saleemul Huq explain why a reimagined climate finance system that gets money into the hands of those people must be high …

The majority of developing countries have indicated capacity building as a condition for implementing their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. This is in the context of shortfalls in past initiatives on capacity building under different bilateral and multilateral agencies including bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which can be largely attributed to …

As we start the new year of 2019, we have 11 years to 2030 which is an important year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate change goals of mitigation as well as adaptation under the Paris Agreement. The issue of adaptation to climate change is still subject to controversy as it is difficult to measure accurately …

Addressing one of the UN climate talks’ most contentious issues Wildfires burn in North America, hurricanes and cyclones decimate countries in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Least developed countries and the small island states deal with the irreversible loss and damage to their states and communities on a frequent basis. Meanwhile, the Conference of Parties (COP24) is held in Katowice, …