launch of the Forests and Climate Leaders' Partnership at COP27 UK PM Rishi Sunak.(photo:Twitter)
The Downing Street has made no statement on the incident…reports Asian Lite News
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was allegedly rushed out of a stage at the ongoing UN COP27 climate summit in Egypt’s coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh, the media reported.
A video of the incident on Monday was captured by Leo Hickman, the director/editor of UK climate change website, Carbon Brief, reports the London World news outlet.
Hickman shared the video on Twitter in which he mentioned that “UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just arrived at launch of the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership at COP27”.
According to London World, Sunak “was on stage with other world leaders for a climate change event when his aides interrupted him”.
There was however, no information on what the aides conveyed to thee Prime Minister.
Even the Downing Street has made no statement on the incident.
In a keynote address to the summit on Monday, Sunak said that “climate security goes hand in hand with energy security” and that the ongoing war in Ukraine and rising energy prices are reasons to act faster to tackle climate change.
This was his first appearance in an international arena since he took office last month.
Leaders from 120 countries are meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh to discuss next steps in curbing climate change.
Key topics are compensation and support for the most-affected countries.
The Executive Action Plan for the Early Warnings for All initiative calls for initial new targeted investments between 2023 and 2027 of $3.1 billion….reports Asian Lite News
It will cost the equivalent of just 50 cents per person per year for the next five years to reach everyone on Earth with early warnings against increasingly extreme and dangerous weather, according to a plan unveiled by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Supporting the Secretary General’s agenda, India said there was an urgent need for the world to acknowledge the cascading natural hazards that cause substantial losses around the world.
The Executive Action Plan for the Early Warnings for All initiative calls for initial new targeted investments between 2023 and 2027 of $3.1 billion — a sum which would be dwarfed by the benefits.
This is a small fraction (about 6 per cent) of the requested $50 billion in adaptation financing. It would cover disaster risk knowledge, observations and forecasting, preparedness and response, and communication of early warnings.
Guterres announced the plan at a meeting of government and UN organisation leaders, financing agencies, Big Tech companies and the private sector during the World Leaders Summit at the UN climate change negotiations, COP27, on Monday.
The plan was drawn up by the World Meteorological Organisation and partners, and it was supported by a joint statement signed by 50 countries.
“Ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions are supercharging extreme weather events across the planet. These increasing calamities cost lives and hundreds of billions of dollars in loss and damage. Three times more people are displaced by climate disasters than war. Half of humanity is already in the danger zone.
“We must invest equally in adaptation and resilience. That includes the information that allows us to anticipate storms, heatwaves, floods and droughts. To that end, I have called for every person on Earth to be protected by early warning systems within five years, with the priority to support the most vulnerable first,” said Guterres.
The Executive Action Plan sets out the concrete way forward to achieve this goal.
The need is urgent. The number of recorded disasters has increased by a factor of five, driven in part by human-induced climate change and more extreme weather. This trend is expected to continue.
And yet, half of the countries globally do not have early warning systems and even fewer have regulatory frameworks to link early warnings to emergency plans.
Coverage is worst for developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, namely Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Responding to the Early Warnings for All initiative, Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said, “We fully support the Secretary General’s agenda to achieve Early Warnings for All. The global pace of climate mitigation is not enough to contain the rate of climate change. There is an urgent need for the world to acknowledge the cascading natural hazards that cause substantial losses around the world.”
“With climate finance still scarce, climate adaptation in the form of early warning dissemination is key in safeguarding lives, and livelihoods. Early warnings for all play a part in not just containing the immediate physical impacts, but also mitigating the far-reaching long-term socio-economics implications that follow.
“Climate finance is still a mirage, and effective climate adaptation such as Early Warnings For All helps us collectively in our region toward reducing vulnerabilities and ensuring preparedness and swift and timely response to natural hazards.”
Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, said, “The Early Warnings for All initiative offers an opportunity for countries to significantly increase their understanding of risk, which is the foundation for all resilience-building efforts.
“For these reasons and more, implementing this Action Plan is critical to saving lives. Secretary-General Guterres provided us with the vision and WMO has provided us with athe how.’ It is up to us all now to make this a reality.”
A long-standing demand of poor and developing countries, including India, is for financing or a new fund to handle loss and destruction, such as the money required to relocate people affected by floods…reports Asian Lite News
The 27th iteration of the Conference of Parties (COP27) began in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on Sunday with the inclusion of ‘loss and damage’ finance in the official agenda and India is hoping that this will be followed by fair negotiations on it.
Loss and damage are a term used to describe the effects of climate change that are beyond what people can cope with or when there are solutions available, but a community lacks the resources to access or take advantage of them.
A long-standing demand of poor and developing countries, including India, is for financing or a new fund to handle loss and destruction, such as the money required to relocate people affected by floods. But for more than 10 years, wealthy nations have shunned the idea.
At COP26 in Glasgow last year, high-income countries opposed the idea of a loss and damage financing body and supported a three-year dialogue for funding discussions instead. These countries included the United States and the European Union.
Addressed the Middle East Green Initiative Summit 2022 on the sidelines of COP27 in Egypt.
Underlined that, led by PM Shri @narendramodi ji, India is committed to clean and green energy sources and the National Hydrogen Mission is a leap in that direction. pic.twitter.com/RsiEHBI2ep
The Indian delegation to COP27 is being led by Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav.
In a blog, he wrote, “Adaptation funding is highly inadequate, and loss and damage funding have been almost negligible. Taking note of the situation, India along with other countries had been pursuing adoption of an agenda item on Loss and Damage finance. With the inclusion of this agenda item, India will be engaging constructively and actively on the subject during the course of discussions at COP27 and hoping that fair negotiations on Loss and Damage follow.”
“India welcomes adoption of agenda item ‘Loss and Damage’ at COP27,” the Union Minister added.
According to him, financial tools established by the UNFCCC, such as the Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund, and Adaptation Fund, are underfunded and unable to mobilise or provide funding for losses and damages brought on by climate change. These channels are difficult to use and take time to access financing. Support for adaptation is very insufficient, and funding for losses and damage has been incredibly meagre.
The minister added that, taking note of the circumstances, India had been working to get a topic on loss and damage finance adopted along with other nations.
India also anticipated that wealthy nations would take action in the areas of climate finance, technological transfer, and enhancing the ability of emerging and underdeveloped nations to address climate change.
“India believes COP27, themed ‘Together for Implementation’, should turn out to be the ‘COP for Action’ in terms of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. The scale of the problem facing the world is huge. Action cannot be delayed, and hence concrete solutions must come up and implementation must start with COP27,” Yadav said in his blogpost.
The Union Minister also inaugurated the India Pavilion at COP27 with the theme of LiFE, or Lifestyle For Environment, that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of United Nations Secretary-general Antonio Guterres in Gujarat last month.
#India is hosting a pavilion with the theme of LiFE- Lifestyle for Environment at #COP27
The Pavilion has been designed to send out the message of LiFE through various audio-visuals, logos, 3D models, décor, and side events
“The India Pavilion has been set up with the aim to serve to remind the delegates from across the world gathered at COP27 that simple sustainable lifestyles changes can help protect Planet Earth,” Yadav wrote in his blog.
Yadav also attended the ceremonial opening of COP 27 where Egypt took over the COP Presidency from the UK…reports Asian Lite News
Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Sunday inaugurated India Pavilion at the 27th Session of Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.
“I am confident that, throughout the duration of COP, India Pavilion will continue to remind the delegates that simple lifestyle and individual practices that are sustainable in nature can help protect Mother Earth,” he said while inaugurating the pavilion.
“India believes climate action starts from the grassroots, individual level and hence designed the India Pavilion with the theme of LiFE- Lifestyle for Environment.”
India also pushed forward the idea of climate finance, introduction of new technologies, and new collaborations to facilitate technology transfers, he added.
Yadav also attended the ceremonial opening of COP 27 where Egypt took over the COP Presidency from the UK.
Meanwhile, the 27th session of COP27 has kicked off introducing for the first time the loss and damage funding into the agenda.
Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian Foreign Minister and president of COP27, said during the opening press conference on Sunday that he is pleased to see the Parties agreed to introduce loss and damage funding as an agenda item, adding that the world needs a “qualitative leap to confront climate change’s challenges”, reports Xinhua news agency.
The term “loss and damage” in UN climate negotiations refers to expenses already incurred as a result of climate change impacts, such as rising sea levels or extreme heat waves.
While current climate funding focuses on cutting carbon emissions to prevent climate change in the future, establishing a “loss and damage” fund means compensating countries that can’t avoid or “adapt” to the changes that have already happened.
The Egyptian diplomat also noted that numerous burdens and crises are brought on by the current global geopolitical environment, adding those need to be handled so that they will not affect progress in achieving commitments related to combating climate change.
Shoukry said that the countries of the African continent are among the countries that suffer from problems and issues of climate change.
“The countries of the African continent have shown their willingness to confront climate change, but they need support,” he said.
The Foreign Minister presided over a meeting earlier in the day to finalize the COP27 agenda, which included numerous items that aim to adapt to the effects of climate change, mitigate its negative repercussions, and ways to provide climate finance.
During the meeting, Shoukry stressed the need to confront the negative effects of climate change during the two-week conference, where over 40,000 participants from over 190 countries and dozens of international and regional organisations will try to work together and seek possible solutions to one of the biggest challenges the world is facing.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that COP27 comes at a very sensitive time in which the world is exposed to “existential dangers”.
“There is no doubt that these dangers and challenges require quick action by all countries to lay down a rescue roadmap that protects the world from the effects of climate change,” Sisi said in an official statement on his Facebook page.
The details for the mechanisms and pathways for implementing its strategic initiative to achieve climate neutrality 2050 will be revealed at COP27 summit…reports Asian Lite News
The UAE’s participation in the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt will set a milestone in its path to climate action and an affirmation of its pioneering model regionally and globally in facing the challenge of climate change, said Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment.
Almheiri, in an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM), affirmed that during COP27, the UAE intends to reveal the details for the mechanisms and pathways for implementing its strategic initiative to achieve climate neutrality 2050, as part of its support for sustainable financing solutions for all sectors. This is alongside a comprehensive assessment of the status and movement of sustainable financing solutions, including green bonds.
She added that while the current session of the conference focuses on financing and ensuring the fair and equitable participation of developing countries in climate action efforts, the UAE will invite the world to participate in the efforts to spread and use renewable energy by joining the platform for accelerating the energy transition, which the country launched with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and allocated an initial investment of US$1 billion.
Almheiri stated that the focus would be on intensifying efforts to promote climate-smart initiatives to benefit the private sector, through a set of reports and evidence. This will enable the private sector to view the most important technologies available to raise operational efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of many activities while addressing the Green Business Guide and the Green Sukuk and Bonds Guide.
“The UAE will be keen to transfer and present its expertise in many areas within environmental and climate work during COP27. This includes solutions to enhance the research and development system through the ‘UAE Climate Change Research Network’ model, sustainable financing and investment solutions and the expansion of reliance on Nature-based solutions,” she added.
Almheiri said that the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) represents the most important annual event for discussing and following-up efforts for climate action globally.
“Therefore, the UAE is keen to periodically emphasise its voluntary commitment to climate issues by announcing its directions and initiatives to raise climate ambitions and highlight the green initiatives and projects implemented regularly in line with international trends.”
On the new steps to enhance food security, Almheiri said that the UAE had achieved success thanks to the wise leadership’s vision and support in ensuring the availability of food and the continuity of supply chains during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. “This affirms the extent of the strategic priority placed on enhancing food security in the UAE.”
She added, “According to the National Food Security Strategy 2051, we are working to enhance food security through an integrated system that includes more than one axis.” Foremost among these is strengthening the capabilities of sustainable local agricultural production based on innovation. This contributes to raising the efficiency in the consumption of natural resources and increasing agricultural productivity. This is in addition to ensuring the flexibility and continuity of supply chains by strengthening infrastructure and logistics services, searching for new sources of sustainable import, and expanding responsible foreign investment in sustainable agricultural systems. One also needs to promote the adoption of sustainable practices in the production and consumption of food and reduce and eliminate waste and loss.”
Almheiri indicated that the UAE ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa on the Global Food Security Index 2022, issued by the Economist Impact, compared to third place on the index for 2021, and ranked 23rd globally, advancing 12 places compared to last year. The food trade also witnessed a rapid recovery after the pandemic, as the daily food import rate reached more than 41,000 tons of food, which represents a growth of 21 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
#MOCCAE is proud to represent the UAE at #COP27 alongside other distinguished delegates.
On the new project in the “Food Tech Valley” to promote reliance on innovative solutions and modern technologies in enhancing food security, she said the project constitutes a qualitative step within the UAE’s national endeavour to enhance food security and develop the prospects for the agricultural technology sector, which is witnessing increasing importance. The agricultural technology market is expected to grow from US$13.5 billion to $22 billion over the next four years.
Almheiri added that the project area, when completed, will reach 18 million square feet and will provide more than 14,000 job opportunities. It is expected to attract more than 4,000 visitors and will be home to more than 1,150 residents. Work is underway to complete the necessary infrastructure works for the project.
Instead of attending COP27, Sunak will speak at a reception for business and environmental leaders to be hosted by the king at Buckingham Palace this Friday, two days before COP27 begins…reports Asian Lite News
Rishi Sunak’s decision to snub the COP27 UN climate talks has angered countries around the world.
Several countries are in dismay. Carlos Fuller, Belize’s ambassador to the UN, said: “I can understand why the king was asked not to attend – keeping him out of the fray. However, as the principal UK policymaker and the COP26 president, the PM should have led the summit. It seems as if they are washing their hands of leadership.”
Sunak’s reason for not going – to concentrate on Britain’s economic statement – was questioned. Mohamed Nasheed, speaker of the Maldives parliament and former president, said: “[It’s] very worrying that the UK thought there was anything more serious than climate change. You can count the pennies but might lose the pounds.”
Developed countries were also concerned. One senior government aide said: “It appears as if the new UK prime minister wants to wash his hands of the previously strong role the government played on international climate action. It’s another stab in the back for [COP26 president Alok] Sharma.”
The COP26 talks in Glasgow last November, headed by Boris Johnson and chaired by cabinet minister, Alok Sharma, ended with a global consensus on limiting temperature rises to 1.5C for the first time, a major diplomatic achievement that was widely lauded. Sunak attended and led discussions on climate finance, likely to be a major issue at COP27.
Instead of attending COP27, Sunak will speak at a reception for business and environmental leaders to be hosted by the king at Buckingham Palace this Friday, two days before COP27 begins. But his failure to attend the talks has raised concerns over the UK’s stance on the climate crisis, with the government handing out new oil and gas licences and tax breaks for increasing fossil fuel production.
Sunak could also be upstaged in his absence by his former boss: the Observer revealed that Johnson hopes to attend the COP27 summit, following the precedent set by formers leaders including Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
One Commonwealth diplomat said: “For all Boris Johnson’s ills, no one can reasonably accuse him of ignoring or not prioritising climate action. The UK has benefited from the leadership of Alok Sharma and Lord Goldsmith.
“One hopes [Sunak’s stance] is not a backsliding of the positions the UK has taken in recent years on both areas.”
It is unusual for the head of state of an important Cop not to attend the handover. After convening the landmark Paris agreement of 2015, French president François Hollande was warmly received at the following UN climate Cop, in Marrakech, the Guardian reported.
The UK still holds the presidency of the UN negotiations, until the reins are handed over to the Egyptian government at the COP27 summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. This puts the British government in a key position in the long-running climate talks, and the prime minister would normally be expected to hold closed-door bilateral meetings with counterparts around the world, focusing on the climate but including other subjects, such as the Ukraine war and the global economic crisis.
Rachel Kyte, a former senior World Bank official who is now dean of the Fletcher school at Tufts University in the US, and a close observer of Cops, said the war in Ukraine and the UK’s geopolitical relations were also key reasons to go.
“A lot of the world is sitting on the sidelines, impacted by the war but not throwing in its lot with our defence of values in Ukraine,” she said. “We need to be with them on what is important for them if we want them with us on what is important for us. You can’t build relationships unless you turn up.”
Leaders including Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Emmanuel Macron of France, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and UN secretary-general, António Guterres, will play key roles at Cop27. There is a question mark over US president Joe Biden, who faces midterm elections, but his special envoy John Kerry will be at the talks throughout.
The Egyptian government voiced “disappointment” at Sunak’s decision.
Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser now with the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington DC, pointed to a global failing by right-wing leaders on the climate crisis. “No priority is more important than climate change, which is a meltdown of the actual world, not just the vanity of Tory politics,” he said. “Conservative governments around the world, especially America’s radical Republican party, have got to get their heads out of the sand.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with the Australian prime Minister, Anthony Albanese on the phone from his office within No10 Downing Street. 10 Downing Street. Picture by Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street
“The UK will be fully represented by other senior ministers, as well as COP President Alok Sharma.”…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pulled out of attending the COP27 climate summit which begins in Egypt next month to focus on domestic issues, his office said on Thursday.
Sunak became prime minister on Monday, and has delayed an autumn fiscal statement to Nov. 17 as he looks to tackle a cost-of-living crisis and restore credibility damaged in the short tenure of his predecessor Liz Truss.
“The Prime Minister is not expected to attend the summit in Egypt due to other pressing domestic commitments, including preparations for the autumn statement,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The UK will be fully represented by other senior ministers, as well as COP President Alok Sharma.”
