Recent research from the Australia National University’s claims that the rate of growth of renewable energy supply sources in the power sector will lead to Australia meeting its Paris Agreement targets by 2024, five years early. Our fact check reveals that this claim does not stack up.
Germany’s coal commission proposal, announced today in Berlin, that Germany should continue to burn coal for electricity until 2038, is incompatible with Paris Agreement goals.
Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel and phasing it out is a key step to achieve the emissions reductions needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C, as enshrined in the Paris Agreement. Our research shows that the EU and OECD countries must stop burning coal for electricity by 2030, China by 2040 and the rest of the world by mid-century in order to meet commitments made in Paris in the most cost effective manner.
Since 2009 over a hundred Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and many others have been calling for limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Placing the 1.5°C limit alongside the legally binding goal to hold global temperatures “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” in the Paris Agreement was a major victory for vulnerable countries. This page is an information pool for material around the 1.5°C temperature limit.
Local SLR allows you to see how much sea levels are projected to rise around the globe at different levels of warming. The projections are available at the local level.
Loss and Damage refers to the impacts of climate change that can no longer be avoided through adaptation or mitigation. It is one of the key issues for vulnerable countries, who have contributed the least to climate change.
They call on the developed world to provide support to cope with Loss and Damage, which otherwise threatens their economies, cultures and the lives of their people.
This page provides background material and key resources, including scientific studies and briefing material and blogs with updates on the policy process under the UNFCCC and under the IPCC.
Belize has embarked on its two-year term leading the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). The Caribbean nation’s vision for the Alliance, which turns 30 this year, focuses on ambitious action on climate change, sustainable development and oceans.
The recent landmark International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) report on glacial melt in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region paints a drastic picture, indicating that the glaciers will melt by one third even if global temperature rise is limited to 1.5°C, a goal of the Paris climate agreement. However, the picture becomes even bleaker for the region’s Least Developed Countries, in which the report projects glaciers will recede by some 50% by the end of the century, spelling disaster for the poorest people living on the roof of the world.
"It really is time that governments stopped trying to find more ways to offset their fossil fuel emissions through, for example, protecting seagrass and mangroves in coastal areas," says Bill Hare, chief executive officer of Climate Analytics. "They do need protection, but if that work is then used to offset emissions, then ultimately the resulting warming will kill them. We need a clear firewall between these two activities."
In 2038, the last coal-fired power plant in Germany is to be taken off the grid. Scientists answer the key question: Is the coal commission's plan sufficient to meet the Paris climate treaty?
In an effort to fight climate change, Germany announced plans to quit coal mining and burning by 2038. It's a significant move as nearly 40 percent of Germany's electricity comes from coal-fired power plants. But some environmentalists warned that the commission's recommendations are not ambitious enough for Germany to meet its obligations under the Paris climate agreement.
Australia National University’s claim that the “electricity sector is on track to deliver Australia’s entire Paris Emissions reduction targets five years early” does not stack up
