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A new report from Oxfam, Let Them Eat Coal, has pointed out that all seven countries remain bound to coal - one of the most polluting fossil fuels. Using modelling by Climate Analytics, which assumes all governments implement their existing policies, the report says that emissions from G7 coal plants will cause $84bn per year in climate-related costs in Africa by the end of the century, based on the expected the costs resulting from adaptation and damage.

Coal plants in the G7 are on track to cost the world $450 billion a year by the end of the century and reduce crops by millions of tonnes as they fuel the gathering pace of climate change, according to Oxfam' new report.In the report, Let Them Eat Coal, which uses modelling by Climate Analytics, endorsed by business leaders, academics and climate experts, Oxfam warns that coal is the biggest driver of climate change, which is already hitting the world’s poorest people hardest and making the fight to end hunger tougher. The G7 countries remain major consumers of coal.

Four leading developed countries have been singled out as “free riders” on climate change by a panel chaired by former UN chief Kofi Annan. “This is not a moment for prevarication, short-term self-interest, and constrained ambition, but for bold global leadership and decisive action,” he said. The independent analysis group Climate Action Tracker rates climate pledges made by Canada, Australia, Russia and Japan as “inadequate”.

Many of the world's leading economies have submitted to the United Nations their plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The plans are part of an international effort to keep temperature rise within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-Industrial Age levels. But the pledges are so far inadequate for accomplishing that goal, according to an analysis by the non-profit Climate Analytics, and will only delay reaching a 2°C rise by two years. Rather than occurring in 2036, the group says, temperature increase will surpass 2°C in 2038.

Australia has been challenged at UN climate talks in Bonn about the 'fairness' of its climate policies and its ability to achieve bigger carbon cuts than the current 2020 target of five per cent. Climate Analytics' Bill Hare talks to ABC Radio National about the Climate Action Tracker's analysis released ahead of the G7 meeting in Germany, which warns that there is 'an extreme risk' of locking in high emissions levels for the next 15 years.

Depuis la conférence de Copenhague de 2009 (COP15), les 2 °C sont devenus la base des négociations climatiques en cours. Le niveau de sécurité garanti par ce seuil est pourtant largement sujet à caution. C’est le sens d’un rapport technique de la Convention-cadre des Nations unies sur les changements climatiques (CCNUCC) discrètement apporté, mardi 2 juin, en appui des négociations qui se tiennent du 1er au 11 juin à Bonn (Allemagne), dans la perspective de la conférence de Paris (COP21) en décembre. Dans une brève note d’analyse du rapport, publiée par la société Climate Analytics, les climatologues Bill Hare et Carl-Friedrich Schleussner (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) ne s’embarrassent pas de circonlocutions et estiment simplement que la teneur du rapport de la CCNUCC « montre que la limite des 2 °C est trop haute ».

Brazil, China, South Africa and the US have questioned whether Australia’s current climate policies will see the country able to make future greenhouse gas cuts. In response, Australia’s Ambassador Peter Woolcott insisted the country would meet its 2020 goal, a view not shared by analysts at the Climate Action Tracker, who say emissions will likely rise 12-18% above 2000 levels.

Australian delegates have been questioned about the government’s climate policies at a United Nations conference in Germany. Countries questioned Australia’s scrapping of the carbon tax and whether the federal government’s $2.55bn direct action policy will be enough to meet Australia’s emissions reduction target of five per cent by 2020. Further work is needed to ratchet up commitments, said a report of the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) initiative, issued on the sidelines of the Bonn talks.

Nessuno degli impegni sul clima resi pubblici fino a questo momento è coerente con il target dei 2 °C. Anzi: le promesse arrivate fino ad oggi da 38 Paesi per ridurre le emissioni di CO2 in vista della COP 21 di Parigi, potrebbero al massimo allontanare il tipping point (punto di non ritorno) mondiale di soli due anni. Sono le conclusioni sconvolgenti di una nuova analisi diffusa oggi da Climate Analytics, organizzazione no profit con sede a Berlino. La ricerca, guidata da Bill Hare, un ex componente dell’IPCC, ha scoperto che gli impegni assunti davanti all’ONU fino ad ora potrebbero ritardare la soglia critica dal 2036 al 2038.

In March, the White House pledged that, by 2025, the United States would reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by at least twenty-six per cent. The centerpiece of the Administration’s plan is a set of new power-plant regulations expected to reduce demand for coal by compelling utilities to shift toward less carbon-intensive fuels, mainly natural gas, and carbon-free energy sources like wind and solar. Independent analysis (Climate Action Tracker) suggests that the White House’s plan is insufficient to produce the cuts it has promised, but we’ll leave that issue aside for the moment.