Editor and progenitor of Heat Rising. Formerly editor of too many sites to track and once a politico.
It’s only been seven weeks since COP28 closed in Dubai, but last Friday Simon Stiell, the U.N.’s Climate Change Executive Secretary laid down a marker for what needs to be accomplished at COP29. “$2.4 trillion..is needed every year to invest in renewable energy, adaptation, and
Good Morning from Chicago, It’s been just over three weeks since the end of COP28 and the dust is still settling. Probably the most immediate economic change is that following the collapse of negotiations over carbon trading rules, some international voluntary market carbon prices fell to as low as
Good Morning from Chicago, There’s a theory among COP watchers that there are Big COPs and Little COPs. Big COPs, meetings that result in major agreements, come along every few years, while the intervening Little COPs are mostly about maintenance of previous decisions. Examples would be 2015’s Paris
Good afternoon from Dubai, For the first time ever, a U.N. climate statement includes specific mentions of fossil fuels, urgings to decrease their use, and climate finance dollar targets. After two days of intense diplomatic wrangling the agreement was remarkably approved within the first four minutes of the closing
Good evening from Dubai, Today is the official last day of COP28, but there’s no agreement. So, it looks like we’re headed into an extra day, as we wait for a final negotiated statement. But now it’s late, and we don’t have answers yet. Here’s
Good evening from Dubai, After a long day of waiting and numerous false alerts that something was coming, a draft text on climate mitigation was finally revealed at the end of the day in Dubai. The missing part: The words “phase out”. Almost all of the text on climate mitigation
Good evening from Dubai, You can tell the politics are ramping up because a delegation of U.S. Senators had a press conference here. Negotiations are running out of time, to the point where some issues are simply being jettisoned as delegates focus their energies on preferred topics. Let’s
Good evening from Dubai, There’s a notable increase in tension at COP28, as hope for big changes are starting to give way to political realism. For instance, OPEC has weighed in on the negotiations (more in the Global Stocktake section) – and it was not in favor of change. Still,
Good evening from Dubai, Yesterday was a rest day, so it seemed like so much happened today to make up for it. As a result, I’ve got a super long report. So, buckle in. Also, if you like what you read here, please tell someone. Word of mouth is
Good evening from Dubai, Today’s report is a bit late because the end of the day was just plain crazytown. I explain more below, but everyone was racing to get things done and a ton of events and meetings were jammed in in the last couple hours of the
Good evening from Dubai, Everyone I know here is talking about how much their feet hurt. As I’ve said, the conference area is colossal, which means lots of walking. I’ve yet to have a day with less than 14,000 steps, and I think I’m taking it
Good Evening from Dubai, A lot happened today at COP28, much of it nothing to do with the stated theme of the day, “Climate Finance”. The COP president was caught denying climate science, tech guru turned climate financier Bill Gates said we’re not likely to even stay below 2°
Good evening from Dubai, Everyone began to settle in a bit, as the national leaders left town and the real work of negotiating began in earnest. I got a ton of sleep yesterday and consumed my first bit of caffeine this week (I’m not a regular) to power through
Good evening from Dubai, I spent a good chuck of COP28 Day 3 getting turned away from meeting rooms: “No press allowed!” I also spent about 45 minutes waiting to get into the conference center. With each day, the organizers add ever more baroque curves to the entrance queue, as