UN

OPEC push on fossil fuels draws ire at climate talks

BY LAURENT THOMET

  • - Iraq supports OPEC - A third draft deal released Friday offers various ways to phase out of fossil fuels, but it also includes the option to not mention them at all in the final text.
  • Negotiations over the future of fossil fuels heated up at UN climate talks on Saturday, with OPEC catching flak over the oil cartel's push to block any phase-out in the final deal.
  • - Iraq supports OPEC - A third draft deal released Friday offers various ways to phase out of fossil fuels, but it also includes the option to not mention them at all in the final text.
Negotiations over the future of fossil fuels heated up at UN climate talks on Saturday, with OPEC catching flak over the oil cartel's push to block any phase-out in the final deal.
The tone has veered between optimism and concern about the pace of talks as negotiators have held marathon sessions aimed at finding a compromise on the fate of oil, gas and coal.
OPEC added fuel to the fire after it emerged that its Kuwaiti secretary general, Haitham Al Ghais, sent a letter to the group's 13 members and 10 allies this week urging them to "proactively reject" any language that "targets" fossil fuels instead of emissions.
"I think that it is quite, quite a disgusting thing that OPEC countries are pushing against getting the bar where it has to be," Spanish ecology transition minister Teresa Ribera, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters.
Dramatically scaling up the deployment of renewable energy while winding down the production and consumption of fossil fuels is crucial to achieve the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The High Ambition Coalition, a broad group of nations ranging from Barbados to France, Kenya and Pacific island states, also criticised the OPEC move.
"Nothing puts the prosperity and future of all people on Earth, including all of the citizens of OPEC countries, at greater risk than fossil fuels," said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, which chairs the coalition.
"1.5 is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels," Stege added.

Iraq supports OPEC

A third draft deal released Friday offers various ways to phase out of fossil fuels, but it also includes the option to not mention them at all in the final text.
Saudi Arabia had until now been the most vocal country against a phase-out or phase-down of fossil fuels.
In the OPEC letter sent Wednesday, Ghais said it "seems that the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences".
Assem Jihad, spokesman for Iraq's oil ministry, told AFP his country supports the OPEC letter.
Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel Ghani "has rejected attempts to target fossil fuels", Jihad said.
He added that Ghani has tasked Iraq's COP28 delegation to "ensure that the wording of the final statement puts the emphasis on world cooperation on a reduction of emissions in order to preserve the environment and climate".
But another OPEC member, COP28 host the United Arab Emirates, has taken a conciliatory tone throughout the negotiations and acknowledged that a phase-down was "inevitable".

'Critical stage'

Canadian climate minister Steven Guilbeault told AFP he was "confident" that the final text would contain language on fossil fuels.
Guilbeault is among a group of ministers who have been tasked by COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber to shepherd the negotiations and find an agreement by Tuesday, when the summit is due to end.
"It's a conversation that will last a few more days," Guilbeault said.
"Different groups are talking and trying to understand on what we could agree, but it's still quite an embryonic conversation," he added.
German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said countries were "now moving into the critical stage of negotiations" but she was "concerned that not all are constructively engaging".
Fresh calls for a phase-out were made by ministers addressing a plenary session on Saturday.
"We are extremely concerned about the pace of the negotiations, given the limited time we have left here in Dubai," said Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
AOSIS has pushed hard for a phase-out, warning that their nations were on the frontlines of climate change, with rising seas threatening their existence.
"I implore you, let this COP28 be the summit where we leaders are remembered for turning the tide," Schuster said, adding that stepping up renewable energy "cannot be a substitute for a stronger commitment to fossil fuel phase-out."
lth/th/bp

Climate and Environment

Can factory chicken really help save the climate?

BY MYRIAM LEMETAYER

  • Dahirel insisted that intensive farming is "the most efficient and rational system" for producing meat "from an economical and ecological perspective". 
  • Stephane Dahirel doesn't exactly say eat chicken and save the planet, but that is what he's hinting at as he opens a shed door at his intensive farm in Brittany, western France.
  • Dahirel insisted that intensive farming is "the most efficient and rational system" for producing meat "from an economical and ecological perspective". 
Stephane Dahirel doesn't exactly say eat chicken and save the planet, but that is what he's hinting at as he opens a shed door at his intensive farm in Brittany, western France.
The 90,000 "broilers" -- chickens bred for their meat -- flapping around inside his three sheds, will more than triple in size in less than a month and their meat will have a low carbon footprint.
"The objective is to produce the best meat possible, in the least amount of time, with the least amount of food," Dahirel said.
The two million snow-white chickens he produces every year -- bred mostly for McDonald's nuggets -- will reach their slaughter weight in less than half the time it takes on a traditional farm. 
At 20 days they already weigh one kilo (two pounds) -- 20 times heavier than at birth. By the time they are slaughtered at 45 days, they will weigh over three kilos.
Chicken has the smallest carbon footprint of any meat, according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
Their latest figures reveal that chicken generates on average less than one kilo of CO2 equivalent per kilo of meat -- pork is responsible for three times that amount, while beef produces 52 times the emissions thanks to cows' potent methane burps.   
Dahirel insisted that intensive farming is "the most efficient and rational system" for producing meat "from an economical and ecological perspective". 

Animal welfare

But there are big drawbacks too. Despite the low emissions he claims for his chickens, producing the grain to feed them requires large amounts of land, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.
All have effects on biodiversity and water quality. Indeed green algae blooms on beaches in Dahirel's native Brittany -- partly caused by intensive pork, poultry and dairy production -- has caused an environmental outcry and been linked to several deaths.
Intensive farming is also in the dock on animal well-being.
Dahirel raises 20 chickens per square metre (20 chickens per 10 square feet), which are kept on a litter where droppings are absorbed by wood shavings and buckwheat hulls. 
Sick or abnormal chickens are killed to avoid further suffering and because the automated slaughterhouse requires a homogenous product.
"They are not robots of course, but we're looking for homogeneity," the farmer said from his veranda overlooking one of his three sheds, covered in solar panels.

We must 'eat less meat'

Chickens may be an optimal animal protein for carbon emissions, but not necessarily for nature, experts say.
"If we think only in terms of CO2 emissions per kilo of meat, we'd all start eating chicken. But thinking that's the solution would be a massive mistake," said Pierre-Marie Aubert, of France's IDDRI sustainable development think tank.
"If you only think in terms of carbon, a heap of things would backfire on us in the long run," he added.
Aubert said there had been a "crazy" rise in consumption of chicken in recent years, making it one of the most widely consumed meats in the world, with none of the religious and cultural taboos associated with pork and beef.
The world has become so focused on methane emissions from ruminants like cattle and sheep "that many people think substituting beef with chicken is enough, but really, we need to reduce all meat consumption," said Lucile Rogissart, of the Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE).
myl/ico/trc/fg

climate

Deforestation hits record low in Brazilian Amazon in November

  • But the good news on the rainforest -- whose carbon-absorbing trees are key to the climate race -- was offset by record-high deforestation for November in the Cerrado savanna, a biodiverse region below the Amazon that has been hit by a recent surge in clear-cutting, mainly for farming.
  • Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a record low for the month of November, according to figures released Friday, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government touted its environmental record at the UN climate talks.
  • But the good news on the rainforest -- whose carbon-absorbing trees are key to the climate race -- was offset by record-high deforestation for November in the Cerrado savanna, a biodiverse region below the Amazon that has been hit by a recent surge in clear-cutting, mainly for farming.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a record low for the month of November, according to figures released Friday, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government touted its environmental record at the UN climate talks.
Satellite monitoring detected 201 square kilometers (78 square miles) of forest cover destroyed in Brazil's share of the world's biggest rainforest last month, a drop of 64 percent from November 2022, according to data from the national space research agency's DETER surveillance program.
It was the lowest on record for the month since monitoring began in 2015.
Veteran leftist Lula, who returned to office in January vowing "Brazil is back" in the climate fight after surging deforestation under far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), proudly presented his administration's "dramatic" progress on curbing the destruction of the Amazon this week at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai.
Lula has vowed to achieve zero deforestation by 2030.
But the good news on the rainforest -- whose carbon-absorbing trees are key to the climate race -- was offset by record-high deforestation for November in the Cerrado savanna, a biodiverse region below the Amazon that has been hit by a recent surge in clear-cutting, mainly for farming.
There, deforestation rose 238 percent from November 2022, to 572 square kilometers.
Increased environmental policing by Lula's government has "drastically reduced deforestation in the Amazon, though many challenges remain," said Ana Carolina Crisostomo of the World Wildlife Fund's Brazil office.
But "it is urgent to prioritize action in the Cerrado," she told AFP.
mls/jhb/jh

UN

UN talks look for deal on winding down fossil fuels

BY SHAUN TANDON AND LAURENT THOMET

  • While China has sided with the camp opposed to a phase-out so far, the country is seen as a constructive partner in the talks, negotiators said.
  • Negotiators strived for a compromise on phasing out fossil fuels at UN climate talks Friday as momentum gathered to strike a historic deal in Dubai.
  • While China has sided with the camp opposed to a phase-out so far, the country is seen as a constructive partner in the talks, negotiators said.
Negotiators strived for a compromise on phasing out fossil fuels at UN climate talks Friday as momentum gathered to strike a historic deal in Dubai.
After the arrival of ministers for the summit's final stretch, a new draft was released with more options on the most difficult part of an emerging deal -- cutting fossil fuels to tame the planet's soaring temperatures.
The third version of the draft, which represents views of various countries, offers five options. One that remains from previous versions calls for not mentioning fossil fuels at all.
Other options include phasing out "unabated" fossil fuels -- those whose emissions cannot be captured -- with a goal of peaking consumption this decade and aiming for the world's energy sector to be "predominantly free of fossil fuels well ahead of 2050".
A new line calls for ramping up renewable energy to displace fossil fuels -- oil, gas and coal -- with a goal of "significantly reducing global reliance on non-renewable and high-emission energy sources".
That language is in line with an agreement between the United States and China, the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases, at talks in California last month.
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber wants to wrap up the talks on schedule at 11 am (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, which means that all the nearly 200 nations will have to come to a consensus.
"Let us please get this job done," he said.

'Never closer'

Romain Ioualalen, global policy manager of the advocacy group Oil Change International, said that the latest text "shows we have never been closer to an agreement on a fossil fuel phaseout."
But he voiced alarm over "large loopholes" under consideration for the fossil fuel industry.
The most vocal holdout to calls to end fossil fuels is Saudi Arabia, which like summit host United Arab Emirates has grown wealthy on oil.
While China has sided with the camp opposed to a phase-out so far, the country is seen as a constructive partner in the talks, negotiators said.
"We won't reach a deal without China," said a French delegation official.
In a sign that oil-rich countries are growing worried, OPEC chief Haitham Al Ghais sent a letter to members of the cartel and their allies on Wednesday, urging them to "proactively reject" any COP28 deal that "targets" fossil fuels instead of emissions.
"It seems that the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences," Ghais wrote in the letter seen by AFP.
Climate campaigners have viewed Jaber with deep suspicion as he is head of the UAE national oil firm ADNOC.
But he has sought to reassure doubters by stating that a phase-down of fossil fuels is "inevitable".
Wopke Hoekstra, the European Union's climate commissioner, acknowledged that the fossil fuel question was the most difficult at COP28.
He voiced doubt about technologies promoted by energy producers -- including the US -- to rely on new technologies when extracting fossil fuels, so-called carbon capture and storage or CCS.
It is "crystal clear that CCS is part of the solution. But make no mistake -- we cannot CCS ourselves out of this problem," Hoekstra said.
The level of technology "simply doesn't exist. We need to drive down emissions."

'Credibility' on line

Scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions -- the bulk of which come from burning fossil fuels -- must fall by 43 percent by 2030 for the world to reach the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"I think many countries at the end might be able to agree to phase-out if the word unabated is included because unabated will weaken the phase-out and make it more of a phase-down," John Verdieck, director of international climate policy at The Nature Conservancy, told AFP.
This would still "create a good signal because the word phase-out could be in there", said Verdieck, a former climate negotiator at the US State Department.
Ugandan climate justice activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Vanessa Nakate said there were a record 2,400 fossil fuel lobbyists at the talks and the whole process was at stake.
"If after all of this, leaders still don't have the courage to agree upon a fossil fuel phase out, then it will put in question the credibility not only of COP28 but of the entire COP process," she said.
lth-sct/pvh

layoffs

Stellantis warns thousands in US of potential job cuts

  • The European automaker on Thursday notified 2,455 workers in Detroit and 1,225 in Ohio of potential job loss under the federal Warn Act, which requires early notification of major layoffs.
  • Stellantis has notified thousands of workers in the US states of Ohio and Michigan of potential layoffs, attributing the move partly to California rules that limit where vehicles can be sold.
  • The European automaker on Thursday notified 2,455 workers in Detroit and 1,225 in Ohio of potential job loss under the federal Warn Act, which requires early notification of major layoffs.
Stellantis has notified thousands of workers in the US states of Ohio and Michigan of potential layoffs, attributing the move partly to California rules that limit where vehicles can be sold.
The European automaker on Thursday notified 2,455 workers in Detroit and 1,225 in Ohio of potential job loss under the federal Warn Act, which requires early notification of major layoffs.
The company expects the actual number of layoffs to be "much lower" than the Detroit figure and "slightly lower" than the Ohio number, said Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson.
"Due to the complexity of our bargaining agreement related to the placement of affected employees, Warn notices were issued to more employees than will ultimately be impacted out of an abundance of caution to give employees notice even if not legally required," Tinson told AFP in an email.
The notification hits the Midwestern states only weeks after workers at Stellantis and fellow Detroit giants General Motors and Ford ratified sweeping new wage increases following a roughly six-week strike organized by the United Auto Workers union.
The job cuts affect Stellantis' Mack assembly plant in Detroit, where the Grand Cherokee and hybrid Grand Cherokee 4xe are assembled; and the Toledo Assembly plants where the Jeep Wrangler and hybrid Jeep 4xe are put together. 
The moves at the plants are to "manage sales of the vehicles they produce to comply with California emissions regulations that are measured on a state-by-state basis," said a Stellantis statement.
On Wednesday, Stellantis filed a formal challenge with the California Office Administrative Law of state air board policies that it argues unfairly disadvantage the European company.
Stellantis is currently sending only the hybrid versions of its vehicles to dealer lots in California and 13 other states that follow the mandates set down by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
This has meant that in certain periods, Stellantis has only sold internal combustion engine vehicles in California in response to customer orders, Stellantis attorneys said in the December 6 letter to the administrative board.
Conversely, the company has at times limited hybrid models to customer orders, meaning "dealers could not place certain vehicles on their lots for customers to view and test drive," Stellantis said in the letter.
In July 2019, California announced an agreement with four Stellantis rivals -- Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW -- in response to then President Donald Trump's effort to freeze emissions rules.
CARB's "continuing exclusion" of Stellantis subjects the company to a "double standard," which also threatens "the livelihoods of our 56,000 US employees," the company said.
str-jmb/md

Christmas

Rent-a-tree firm helps Londoners have a sustainable Christmas

BY JESSICA HOWARD-JOHNSTON

  • "It started off as I think what some people would have said was a crazy idea -- but it has grown over the years and more and more people are interested in renting a Christmas tree," he told AFP at the centre in Dulwich in south London.
  • On a crisp, winter's day at a London scout centre, seasoned customers picked their way along muddy rows of Christmas trees in pots labelled with their names while newcomers mulled over which one to rent.
  • "It started off as I think what some people would have said was a crazy idea -- but it has grown over the years and more and more people are interested in renting a Christmas tree," he told AFP at the centre in Dulwich in south London.
On a crisp, winter's day at a London scout centre, seasoned customers picked their way along muddy rows of Christmas trees in pots labelled with their names while newcomers mulled over which one to rent. "It's a big decision", said one.
With a rise in popularity of artificial trees for environmental reasons, Londoners who prefer a real Christmas tree can now be equally sustainable.
Instead of throwing away their tree in January they can instead return it -- having watered it in its pot over the festive season -- to a new rental firm that will look after it until the following year.
"We just say it's 'rent, water, return'. After Christmas, return it and we put it back into the irrigation," said Jonathan Mearns, who runs London Christmas Tree Rental.
Mearns, who in another life was a police officer working in counter-terrorism, started the business in 2017 and now has a loyal band of customers who come back year after year.
The business uses a farm located in the Cotswolds in central England, where the trees are irrigated and looked after before being returned for another Christmas.
"It started off as I think what some people would have said was a crazy idea -- but it has grown over the years and more and more people are interested in renting a Christmas tree," he told AFP at the centre in Dulwich in south London.
"There's big growth, big growth in it. We're not saying we have perfect trees what we say is we have real trees," he added.
Publishing worker Jess Sacco and doctor Rachel Gordon Boyd, both in their mid-thirties, said the green aspect of renting a tree was appealing.

Cutting waste

"We're trying to be more sustainable in general I guess in our lives... we thought it's just a nice alternative to buying a tree and throwing it away," Sacco said.
Mearns says he finds it dispiriting every January to see so many lifeless brown trees abandoned and destined to decompose.
"You will see on the streets of London in January or anywhere around the country, there will be lots of cut trees strewn on the roadside.
"Now those trees are dead, once they're cut they're dead, recovering them is impossible," he said.
The entrepreneur and motivational speaker, who says he is on a mission to reduce waste at Christmas, says that a three-foot (one-metre) tree from his company could be a four-foot tree next year.
The idea has tapped into Londoners' concerns about the amount they throw away and adopting a sustainable lifestyle.
"Because there's so much waste that goes on with chucking them every year. I wanted to have a real Christmas tree but something more sustainable," said Joe Potter, a 36-year-old policy manager said.
"It's something that's on our mind a lot as a family, he added.
vid/har/jwp/pvh

agriculture

'We need information' plead Peru farmers battling drought, climate change

BY HECTOR VELASCO

  • With about 1.2 million inhabitants -- about one in five of whom live in poverty -- the Junin region is one of Peru's main producers of non-genetically modified potatoes.
  • A light rain barely moistens the soil in the drought-stricken region of Junin in central Peru.
  • With about 1.2 million inhabitants -- about one in five of whom live in poverty -- the Junin region is one of Peru's main producers of non-genetically modified potatoes.
A light rain barely moistens the soil in the drought-stricken region of Junin in central Peru. It does nothing to bring relief to farmers in Latin America's biggest potato producer.
"We cannot fight on our own against climate change," said 40-year-old Lidber Ramon, one of about 4,500 crop and livestock farmers around the region.
Once brimful, the lakes dotting this mountainous region -- some 4,700 meters above sea level -- are now depressingly dry -- a "rain deficit" caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, said Luis Romero, climate change advisor for the NGO Save the Children.
El Nino is a naturally-occurring climate pattern characterized by warming Pacific waters and typically associated with increased heat worldwide -- drought in some parts and heavy rains elsewhere.
Climate change, Romero told AFP, "accelerates these processes, reducing intervals" between one extreme event and another.
Citing a study carried out by Save the Children, he said people born in Peru after 2000 will experience nine El Nino events over their lifetime -- three times as many as their parents.
Ramon and other Junin farmers rely heavily on natural indicators such as the migration of birds, the presence of parasites or even cloud movements to plan for planting and harvesting.
But with the fast-changing local conditions, "this knowledge is no longer enough, we need (other) information," he told AFP.
Information in these parts can be as vital as water. And given the difficulties, many farmers have given up and migrated to cities, said Ramon. 

'Word of mouth'

Save the Children is working with the government in Lima to set up a weather warning system updated every ten days with three-month projections for rain, frost or drought.
It will allow farmers like Ramon to "take appropriate steps to cope with weather conditions" -- storing extra water or strengthening animal shelters, said Romero.
But one hurdle is the farmers' limited access to electricity and the internet, which means the information needs to be disseminated by word of mouth, he said.
With about 1.2 million inhabitants -- about one in five of whom live in poverty -- the Junin region is one of Peru's main producers of non-genetically modified potatoes.
The farmers here also raise sheep, alpacas, cows and small camelids called vicunas -- but in this endeavor, too, the lack of rain can be devastating.
In 2022, in a Junin community of 200 people, nearly 400 of a herd of 1,000 alpacas starved to death due to drought, said local leader Jaime Bravo.
Other farmers sold their animals to grow food that the drought also killed, said Naida Navarro, 54, owner of six cows.
Between January and September, Peru's agricultural production plummeted by 3.6 percent compared to the same period in 2022, according to official data.
The Central Bank expects the sector to experience its worst contraction this year since 1997, with potatoes one of the hardest-hit crops.
Manuela Inga, 44, says three years ago a severe drought ruined her potato crops and in 2022 a hail storm destroyed the roof of her house. 
His only son, Keyton, 14, wanted to leave school to work in a restaurant in the city of Jauja.  
"He said: 'The ram dies, the potato yields very little, we work hard for little money. Mom: I'd better go find work'," she recounted.
She managed to persuade him to stay in school.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian organization, some 660,000 people were displaced in Peru between 2008 and 2019 due to natural disasters.
The figure represented about two percent of the country's 33 million inhabitants. 
vel/cm/lbc/sf/mlr/md

nature

Wild birds analyze grunts, whistles made by human honey-hunters

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • Once a nest is found, the humans crack it open, harvesting the honey and bee larvae, while the birds feast on the exposed beeswax.
  • In parts of Africa, expert honey-hunters call out to a species of bird known as the greater honeyguide, which leads them to wild bee nests -- a mutually beneficial practice.
  • Once a nest is found, the humans crack it open, harvesting the honey and bee larvae, while the birds feast on the exposed beeswax.
In parts of Africa, expert honey-hunters call out to a species of bird known as the greater honeyguide, which leads them to wild bee nests -- a mutually beneficial practice.
In a new study published Thursday in Science, researchers have found that honeyguide birds in Tanzania and Mozambique distinguish between honey-hunters' calls, responding more readily to signals used in their local area.
"The assignment of meaning to arbitrary or semi-arbitrary sounds is one of the features that characterizes human language," joint lead author Claire Spottiswoode, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Cambridge, told AFP.
The new research shows this phenomenon "extends to our interactions with other species, showing how continuous we really are with the rest of the natural world."
The Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania, use a melodic whistle to initiate a partnership with honeyguides, while the Yao people of Mozambique use a trill followed by a grunt that sounds like "brrr-hmm!"
Once a nest is found, the humans crack it open, harvesting the honey and bee larvae, while the birds feast on the exposed beeswax.
Using mathematical models and audio playback, Spottiswoode and her co-author Brian Wood, a UCLA anthropologist, studied these signals, how helpful they were for people, and their effects on the birds.
They found the honeyguide birds of Tanzania were more than three times more likely to cooperate after hearing local Hadza whistles compared to "foreign" Yao calls.
Conversely, the honeyguides of Mozambique were almost twice as likely to seek a partnership after hearing a Yao trill-grunt than a foreign Hadza whistle.
The authors called this an example of "cultural coevolution," with humans of an area more likely to be successful if they stick to the local tradition, just as the birds of that region keep their ears out for the specific local call.
As for why such stark differences arose between the communities, practical considerations may be at play.
The Hadza hunt mammals using bows and arrows, and using a bird-like whistle reduces the chances of frightening away the other prey they are also after.
The Yao, meanwhile, don't hunt mammals and their trill-grunt might be a good way of scaring off elephants or buffaloes whom they don't wish to startle in a close encounter.
"Not just among the Hadza, but in hunting cultures around the world, people use whistles as a form of encrypted communication --  to share information while avoiding detection by prey," Wood said.

A dying practice

How exactly honeyguides learn localized human calls is an area for future study.
Perhaps they watch and copy the behavior of older birds, or perhaps they form positive associations between the human signal and a reward.
Nor is it known just how far this partnership goes back.
Our pre-Homo sapien ancestors acquired mastery of fire and stone tools between 1.5 - 3 million years ago, respectively, and so "it's plausible that this relationship could be really ancient," said Spottiswoode.
It wasn't until a seminal study published in 1989 that the scientific world was convinced the honeyguide-honey hunter relationship was real, not just a folktale or superstition.
But the practice is slowly dying out, partly as a result of changes in the way people obtain sweet food, and partly because people are prevented from interacting with honeyguides in protected nature parks.
"The birds still call to us, but we don't necessarily follow them," said Spottiswoode.
"We should really treasure these remaining places where the relationship still thrives and where this rich interspecies culture still exists."
ia/bgs

carbon

Current carbon dioxide levels last seen 14 million years ago

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • "It really brings it home to us that what we are doing is very, very unusual in Earth's history," lead author Baerbel Hoenisch of the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory told AFP. Among other things, the new analysis finds the last time the air contained 420 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide was between 14-16 million years ago, when there was no ice in Greenland and the ancestors of humans were just transitioning from forests to grasslands.
  • The last time carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consistently matched today's human-driven levels was 14 million years ago, according to a large new study Thursday that paints a grim picture of where Earth's climate is headed.
  • "It really brings it home to us that what we are doing is very, very unusual in Earth's history," lead author Baerbel Hoenisch of the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory told AFP. Among other things, the new analysis finds the last time the air contained 420 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide was between 14-16 million years ago, when there was no ice in Greenland and the ancestors of humans were just transitioning from forests to grasslands.
The last time carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consistently matched today's human-driven levels was 14 million years ago, according to a large new study Thursday that paints a grim picture of where Earth's climate is headed.
Published in the journal Science, the paper covers the period from 66 million years ago until the present, analyzing biological and geochemical signatures from the deep past to reconstruct the historic CO2 record with greater precision than ever before.
"It really brings it home to us that what we are doing is very, very unusual in Earth's history," lead author Baerbel Hoenisch of the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory told AFP.
Among other things, the new analysis finds the last time the air contained 420 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide was between 14-16 million years ago, when there was no ice in Greenland and the ancestors of humans were just transitioning from forests to grasslands.
That is far further back in time than the 3-5 million years that prior analyses have indicated.
Until the late 1700s, atmospheric carbon dioxide was about 280 ppm, meaning humans have already caused an increase of about 50 percent of the greenhouse gas, which traps heat in the atmosphere and has warmed the planet by 1.2 degrees Celsius compared to before industrialization.
"What's important is that Homo, our species, has only evolved 3 million years ago," said Hoenisch.
"And so our civilization is tuned to sea level as it is today, to having warm tropics and cool poles and temperate regions that have a lot of rainfall."
If global CO2 emissions continue to rise we could reach between 600 - 800 ppm by the year 2100.
Those levels were last seen during the Eocene, 30-40 million years ago, before Antarctica was covered in ice and when the world's flora and fauna looked vastly different -- for example huge insects still roamed the Earth.

Ancient plants

The new study is the product of seven years of work by a consortium of 80 researchers across 16 countries and is now considered the updated consensus of the scientific community.
The team didn't collect new data -- rather, they synthesized, re-evaluated and validated published work based on updated science and categorized them according to confidence level, then combined the highest-rated into a new timeline.
Many people are familiar with the concept of drilling into ice sheets or glaciers to extract ice cores whose air bubbles reveal past atmospheric composition -- but these only go back so far, generally hundreds of thousands of years.
To look further into the past, paleoclimatologists use "proxies": by studying the chemical composition of ancient leaves, minerals and plankton, they can indirectly derive atmospheric carbon at a given point in time.
The researchers confirmed that the hottest period over the past 66 million years happened 50 million years ago, when CO2 spiked to as much as 1,600 ppm and temperatures were 12C hotter, before a long decline set in.
By 2.5 million years ago, carbon dioxide was 270-280 ppm, ushering in a series of ice ages.
That remained the level when modern humans arrived 400,000 years ago and persisted until our species began burning fossil fuels at large scales.
The team estimates that a doubling of CO2 is predicted to warm the planet by 5-8 degrees Celsius -- but over a long period, hundreds of thousands of years -- when increased temperatures have rippling effects through Earth systems. 
For example, melting the polar ice caps would reduce the planet's ability to reflect solar radiation and become a reinforcing feedback loop.
But the new work remains directly relevant to policy makers, stressed Hoenisch. 
The carbon record reveals that 56 million years ago, Earth underwent a similar rapid release of carbon dioxide, which caused massive changes to ecosystems and took some 150,000 years to dissipate.
"We are in this for a very long time, unless we sequester carbon dioxide, take it out of the atmosphere, and we stop our emissions sometime soon," she said.
ia/bgs

Kenya

Heavier rains in East Africa due to human activity: study

  • The rains have displaced more than two million people in East Africa, almost half of them in Somalia alone. 
  • Climate change caused by human activity made torrential rains that have lashed East Africa since October and killed more than 300 people up to twice as intense, a scientific study said Thursday.
  • The rains have displaced more than two million people in East Africa, almost half of them in Somalia alone. 
Climate change caused by human activity made torrential rains that have lashed East Africa since October and killed more than 300 people up to twice as intense, a scientific study said Thursday.
Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are grappling with heavy rainfall that has caused flooding in the latest devastating climate disaster to strike the region after a record drought. 
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said the current rainfall "was one of the most intense ever recorded in the region" between October and December. 
"Climate change also contributed to the event, making the heavy rainfall up to two times more intense," they said, adding that the exact contribution of global warming was unknown.
The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) -- a climate system defined by the difference in sea surface temperature between western and eastern areas of the ocean -- also added to "unusually extreme" rainfall, the WWA report said.
"The scientists note that as long as the planet continues to warm, heavy rainfall events such as this one will be more frequent in East Africa," the report warned.
The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change -- even though the continent's contribution to global carbon emissions is a fraction of the total.
"The prolonged hardship caused by the drought meant many people struggled to cope with the devastating rainfall" in the region, the report said.
The scientists called for the urgent phasing out of fossil fuels and reduction of emissions as the extreme weather "has the potential to overwhelm the response of governments and humanitarian organisations" in East Africa. 
According to a separate report published on Thursday by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), "devastating floods threaten to worsen food insecurity across eastern Africa as heavy rains lash a region that less than a year ago was in the grips of drought".
According to the WFP, rainfall in the region was 140 percent above average and this "destroyed property, infrastructure, and crops, and washed away livestock".
Extreme weather events are occurring with increased frequency and intensity.
The rains have displaced more than two million people in East Africa, almost half of them in Somalia alone. 
The disaster has killed more than 100 people in Somalia, at least 165 in Kenya and 57 in Ethiopia.
In one of the hardest-hit areas, the Somali region in eastern Ethiopia, cholera has claimed the lives of at least 23 people, with more than 700 confirmed cases.
dyg/pvh/imm

conflict

Putin, Saudi leader urge oil cooperation as prices flag

  • Cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia on supply cuts has at times drawn the ire of Washington. 
  • The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia used a rare face-to-face meeting to urge oil producers to stick to pledged supply cuts, a joint statement said Thursday.
  • Cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia on supply cuts has at times drawn the ire of Washington. 
The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia used a rare face-to-face meeting to urge oil producers to stick to pledged supply cuts, a joint statement said Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to the Saudi capital a day earlier came as oil prices continued to slide, with US oil finishing below $70 per barrel for the first time since July.
Analysts have begun to consider the possibility that Saudi Arabia could abruptly decide to open the spigots, recalling a move by the kingdom in 2014 to counter rising US production. 
Meeting in Riyadh, Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf kingdom's de facto ruler, highlighted the work of the 23-member OPEC+ group of oil producers "in enhancing the stability of global oil markets."
"They stressed... the need for all participating countries to adhere to the OPEC+ agreement, in a way that serves the interests of producers and consumers and supports the growth of the global economy," said a statement from the official Saudi Press Agency.
The OPEC+ bloc unveiled fresh supply cuts after a virtual meeting last week, with Russia saying it would slash oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day between January and March, having already introduced a cut of 300,000 barrels a day earlier this year. 
Saudi Arabia said it would it would extend its voluntary production cut of one million barrels per day over the same period. 
Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman agreed to make smaller cuts. 
Cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia on supply cuts has at times drawn the ire of Washington. 
Putin's trip on Wednesday, which also included a stop in the United Arab Emirates, was only his third outside the former Soviet Union since he invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 
Putin and Prince Mohammed also expressed "deep concern about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza", where Israel launched military operations to eradicate Hamas after the Palestinian militants staged the deadliest attack in Israel's history on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostage, according to Israeli officials. 
The death toll in Gaza has soared above 16,200, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
rcb/bro/er

agronomy

To the moo-n: cow dung fuels Japan's space ambitions

BY HIROSHI HIYAMA

  • Biogas derived from cow manure is already being used for fuel around the world, including to run buses in the Indian city of Indore, instead of more polluting conventional sources.
  • Japan's space industry opened potentially an udder-ly new chapter on Thursday with a start-up testing a prototype rocket engine that runs on fuel derived purely from a plentiful local source: cow dung.
  • Biogas derived from cow manure is already being used for fuel around the world, including to run buses in the Indian city of Indore, instead of more polluting conventional sources.
Japan's space industry opened potentially an udder-ly new chapter on Thursday with a start-up testing a prototype rocket engine that runs on fuel derived purely from a plentiful local source: cow dung.
The experiment saw the engine blast out a blue-and-orange flame 10-15 metres (30-50 feet) horizontally out of an open hangar door for around 10 seconds in the rural northern town of Taiki.
The liquid "biomethane" required was made entirely from gas derived from cow manure from two local dairy farms, according to Interstellar Technologies chief executive Takahiro Inagawa.
"We are doing this not just because it is good for the environment but because it can be produced locally, it is very cost effective, and it is a fuel with high performance and high purity," Inagawa told AFP.
"I do not think it is an exaggeration to assume this will be replicated ...all over the world," he said. "We are the first private business to do this."
Interstellar, which hopes to be able to put satellites in space using the fuel, teamed up with industrial gas producer firm Air Water.
It works with local farmers who have equipment on their farms to process their cow dung into biogas which Air Water collects and turns into the rocket fuel.
Resource-poor Japan "must secure domestically produced, carbon-neutral energy now", said Tomohiro Nishikawa, an engineer at Air Water. 
"The raw material from this region's cows has so much potential. Should something change in international affairs, it's important that Japan has an energy source that it has already in hand," he added.

'Moon Sniper'

Japan's space agency JAXA launched in September its "Moon Sniper" mission but the sector has been plagued by problems in recent years with two failed missions -- one public and one private.
Japan has also had setbacks with its launch rockets, with mishaps after liftoff of the next-generation H3 in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon last October. 
In July, the test of an Epsilon S rocket, an improved version of the Epsilon, ended in an explosion 50 seconds after ignition.
Biogas derived from cow manure is already being used for fuel around the world, including to run buses in the Indian city of Indore, instead of more polluting conventional sources.
It helps mitigate the enormous environmental footprint of agriculture, which Greenpeace says is responsible for 14 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Burning biogas also releases greenhouse gases, but so does leaving it to degrade naturally, while runoff from farm animals pollutes waterways and soil.
Air Water's biomethane is already being used by a local dairy and other factories, to heat local homes and to run trucks and ships as pilot programmes.
Among participating local farmers is Eiji Mizushita, 58, who raises some 900 milk cows that collectively generate over 40 tons (80,000 pounds) of dung every day.
His farm has an industrial system to automatically collect the waste, ferment it, and turn it into biogas, fertiliser and recycled bedding materials for his animals.
Sales of biogas expands Mizushita's income by about one percent, but he said the effort is worth it.
"I'm excited to think that our cow waste could be used to make it fly," he said of the rocket.
"We need to properly dispose of and use manure. I also think that the government and society should take a more serious look at the importance of natural renewable energy and encourage its production."
hih-stu/sn

disaster

Insured disaster losses to again top $100 bn: Swiss Re

  • Insured losses from severe thunderstorms reached an all-time high of $60 billion in 2023, while the February earthquake in Turkey and Syria was the costliest natural catastrophe to date for the year, it said.
  • Insured losses from natural catastrophes will pass the $100-billion threshold for the fourth year running in 2023, reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Thursday.
  • Insured losses from severe thunderstorms reached an all-time high of $60 billion in 2023, while the February earthquake in Turkey and Syria was the costliest natural catastrophe to date for the year, it said.
Insured losses from natural catastrophes will pass the $100-billion threshold for the fourth year running in 2023, reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Thursday.
Insured losses from severe thunderstorms reached an all-time high of $60 billion in 2023, while the February earthquake in Turkey and Syria was the costliest natural catastrophe to date for the year, it said.
"With 2023 expected to be the warmest year on record, the effects of climate change are becoming apparent," said the company. 
Nevertheless, the estimated total amount of insured losses in 2023, at $108 billion, is down by 23 percent from $141 billion recorded in 2022. 
Total economic losses were estimated at $269 billion, a nine percent drop from 2022.
Natural catastrophes accounted for the overwhelming majority of the insured and total losses.
Swiss Re noted in particular the impact of a rising number of low-to-medium severity events.
"The cumulative effect of frequent, low-loss events, along with increasing property values and repair costs, has a big impact on an insurer's profitability over a longer period," Swiss Re's Group Chief Economist Jerome Haegeli.
"The high frequency of severe thunderstorms in 2023 has been an earnings' test for the primary insurance industry," he added.
Swiss Re has calculated that losses from severe thunderstorms have steadily increased by seven percent annually over the last 30 years. 
Severe thunderstorm losses in 2023 were more than double the previous 10-year average of $27 billion.
The United States has been particularly vulnerable to severe thunderstorms, experiencing 18 events causing more than $1 billion in insured losses so far this year and total insured losses surpassing $50 billion for the first time. 
noo/rl/yad

UN

'Unabated': a word to split the world at COP28

BY IMRAN MARASHLI AND KELLY MACNAMARA

  • Among the menu of hotly contested options negotiators have picked over this week include an agreement to accelerate "efforts towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels" and to cut their use to reach net-zero by around mid-century. 
  • The outcome of the most important climate negotiations in years could rest on the ambiguity surrounding one linchpin term, according to experts: "unabated fossil fuels".
  • Among the menu of hotly contested options negotiators have picked over this week include an agreement to accelerate "efforts towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels" and to cut their use to reach net-zero by around mid-century. 
The outcome of the most important climate negotiations in years could rest on the ambiguity surrounding one linchpin term, according to experts: "unabated fossil fuels".
With the world experiencing its hottest year on record and devastating heat, wildfires and flooding battering communities across the planet, negotiators at the COP28 talks must hammer out a response to a UN assessment that countries are far from meeting their climate targets.  
Ditching coal, oil and gas for cleaner energies is essential if the world is to meet its goal of limiting global warming and avoiding the most catastrophic climate impacts.
Among the menu of hotly contested options negotiators have picked over this week include an agreement to accelerate "efforts towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels" and to cut their use to reach net-zero by around mid-century. 
There is also an option of a "rapid phase out of unabated coal power" this decade.
The problem, experts say, is in specifying what this actually means.
"Terms like unabated, they have no clear meaning at the moment," Lisa Fischer, an analyst with the think tank E3G said at a briefing this week.

 Tech fix?

Abated is generally understood as capturing emissions before they go into the atmosphere.
A footnote in the most recent benchmark report of the UN IPCC scientific advisory body said unabated fossil fuels are those "without interventions that substantially reduce" greenhouse gas emissions.
That can include capturing at least 90 percent of carbon dioxide from power plants, or up to 80 percent of the methane that leaks during energy production and transport, the report suggested.
Discussions of abatement largely centre around Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies that trap emissions from power stations or industrial facilities.
This is touted by the fossil fuel industry and major producing countries, including oil-rich COP28 host the United Arab Emirates.
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, who also leads the UAE's national oil company ADNOC, has said climate diplomacy should focus on phasing out emissions -- not necessarily the fossil fuels themselves.
His stance clashes with nations seeking a commitment to phasing out oil, gas and coal altogether, such as Pacific island nations that could be swallowed by rising seas.
In the near-term, the IPCC says greenhouse gas emissions need to be slashed almost in half this decade to meet the Paris deal's more ambitious -- and safer -- limit of 1.5C warming. 
That means rapidly replacing fossil fuels with renewables, say experts, noting that CCS has little role to play in this crucial decade. 
In 2022, 35 commercial-scale facilities worldwide applying CCS isolated a total of 45 million tonnes of CO2, according to the International Energy Agency. 
By comparison, Jaber has said the world needs to cut emissions amounting to 22 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases "in the next seven years". 

'Distraction tactic'

Even in the longer term, scientists project there will be only limited use of abatement technology, focused in sectors that are particularly hard to decarbonise, like cement.
In a statement released before the climate talks, the High Ambition Coalition of countries -- including France, Kenya and Colombia -- said abatement technology has a "minimal" role to play in decarbonising energy.
"We cannot use it to green-light fossil fuel expansion," they said.
There are also concerns that the technology will not stop enough emissions from reaching the atmosphere. 
An analysis by the group Climate Analytics this week found that an overreliance on large-scale CCS -- and an underperformance of the technology -- could lead to 86 billion tonnes of excess greenhouse gas emissions between 2020 and 2050.
Fischer said the focus on CCS was "very much a distraction tactic," adding it is unlikely ever to be useful in some significant areas of fossil fuel consumption, particularly oil.
"You can't really fit a little carbon capture device onto every exhaust pipe of a car," said Fischer. 
CCS is not new. The fossil fuel industry has been using it since the 1970s, not to prevent CO2 from leaching into the atmosphere but to inject the gas into oil fields to extract more crude. 
Historically, bolting CCS facilities onto coal- and gas-fired power plants and then storing the CO2 to reduce emissions has proven technically feasible but uneconomical. 
A new report from Oxford University's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment found that heavy dependence on CCS to reach net zero targets around 2050 would cost at least $30 trillion more than using mainly renewables, efficiency and electrification.
"Using CCS to facilitate business-as-usual fossil fuel use, even if feasible, would be highly economically damaging," it said.
imm-klm/dl

UN

'National circumstances' key to COP28 fossil fuel deal: S.Africa minister

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • Q: Does the world need to agree on the phase-out of all fossil fuels at this COP28? 
  • Any eventual agreement on a fossil fuel phase-out at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai must take into account "different national circumstances", South Africa's environment minister Barbara Creecy told AFP. Creecy has been appointed by the Emirati presidency to facilitate discussions on how countries are making progress on meeting their Paris Agreement climate goals.
  • Q: Does the world need to agree on the phase-out of all fossil fuels at this COP28? 
Any eventual agreement on a fossil fuel phase-out at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai must take into account "different national circumstances", South Africa's environment minister Barbara Creecy told AFP.
Creecy has been appointed by the Emirati presidency to facilitate discussions on how countries are making progress on meeting their Paris Agreement climate goals.
The 2015 Paris deal saw nearly 200 nations agree to limit global warming to "well below" two degrees Celsius since the preindustrial era, and preferably a safer threshold of 1.5C. 
Here Creecy talks to AFP about the challenges facing her country and her role in negotiations.
QUESTION: How is South Africa affected by the climate crisis?
ANSWER: We are already living through the climate crisis in our country. 
The African continent is warming at twice the global average rate. 
In our country we've already warmed by an average of 2.2 degrees (Celsius) and we are experiencing extreme weather events: we've had floods, we've had droughts, we've had wild fires, we've got storm surges and sea level rise.
We are committed to making the best contribution that we can make in the light of domestic circumstances, to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
But we are also calling on the international community and in particular the developed countries to assist us in achieving our mitigation objectives, but also to assist us in building climate resilience.
Q: What are the challenges facing South Africa in its energy transition?
A: South Africa currently has energy insecurity and an energy shortfall. 
We are 90 percent dependent on coal-fired generation. With the underperformance of coal-fired power stations, it's very difficult to continue with the scheduled decommissioning of coal-fired units.
However, we remain committed to the energy transition, but it will be very important to make sure that we have more megawatts of energy on the grid before we can decommission sites. 
Q: Does the world need to agree on the phase-out of all fossil fuels at this COP28? 
A: COP26 Glasgow agreed to a coal phase-down, so I suppose one would recognise that we need a fossil fuel phase-down, not just coal. 
But I think the question that we confront as developing countries is the question of national circumstances: we have common responsibilities, but we have different national circumstances and different capabilities.  
There are two issues here: developing countries shouldn't have to choose between building climate resilience and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. We need to do both. 
And the second issue is that we need assistance to achieve both. New, predictable finance at scale for achieving both is not forthcoming. 
Q: Alongside your Danish counterpart, you have been appointed to facilitate negotiations between the ministers of almost 200 countries. What will your task be over the next few days?
A: From Friday we will have to be consulting with the different countries and different negotiating groups on their approach to the Global Stocktake (of the world's progress in respecting the Paris Agreement). 
It's got to take account of the best available science and equity. 
Like everything in COP, the devil's in the detail. 
We will have to be sitting and listening very hard so that we can try and identify landing sites so that we have an agreement that is extremely ambitious, but also promotes the maximum equity that is required by developing countries.
bl/ico/cm/bc/acc

UN

COP28 head presses nations to reach climate 'compromise'

BY LAURENT THOMET AND BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • But the first week of negotiations ended on Wednesday with delegations unable to produce an updated version of a draft agreement that was published the previous day.
  • The Emirati head of the UN's climate conference pressed countries on Wednesday to strive for common ground and reach a "historic" deal by early next week, giving negotiators days to untangle disagreements over the fate of fossil fuels.
  • But the first week of negotiations ended on Wednesday with delegations unable to produce an updated version of a draft agreement that was published the previous day.
The Emirati head of the UN's climate conference pressed countries on Wednesday to strive for common ground and reach a "historic" deal by early next week, giving negotiators days to untangle disagreements over the fate of fossil fuels.
It is rare for UN climate talks to end as scheduled but COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber set the ambitious goal of having a deal in place by 11:00 am (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, the last official day of the conference.
He urged the nearly 200 nations represented at COP28 to work with a "spirit of compromise", step out of their "comfort zones and find common ground to deliver a high ambition and balanced outcome".
COP28 kicked off last week with the landmark launch of a loss and damage fund for nations devastated by climate change.
But the first week of negotiations ended on Wednesday with delegations unable to produce an updated version of a draft agreement that was published the previous day.
The text includes language on phasing out fossil fuels, which the European Union, the United States, island nations and African countries support.
But it also has an option to leave the issue off the final text, a position backed by China, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations.
Scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions -- the bulk of which come from burning fossil fuels -- must fall by 43 percent by 2030 from 2019 levels for the world to reach the ambitious goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"I will continue to ask parties to bring bridging proposals on fossil fuels, renewables and energy efficiency, in line with the science," Jaber said at the end of a plenary session capping the first week.
Climate campaigners have viewed Jaber with deep suspicion due to his position as the head of UAE national oil firm ADNOC, but he has sought to ease concerns by stating that a phase down of fossil fuels was "inevitable".

'Heavy on posturing'

The COP28 conference takes an official day off on Thursday before resuming on Friday, with ministers taking over the final days of negotiations.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell complained that the draft text was a "grab bag of... wish lists and heavy on posturing".
"At the end of next week, we need COP to deliver a bullet train to speed up climate action. We currently have an old caboose chugging over rickety tracks," he added.
The Alliance of Small Island States, which includes some of the world's most climate-vulnerable countries, called for "major emitters to enhance their commitments".
"If we fail, the consequences will be catastrophic," the alliance's chairman Cedric Schuster said.
The latest text includes a new phrase calling for an "orderly and just" phase-out.
One person familiar with the talks said the word "orderly" came from Jaber.
The language could signal a consensus candidate as it would give countries different timelines to cut emissions depending on their level of development and reliance on fossil fuels.
During closed-door talks on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia again opposed any mention of fossils, saying it would avoid "the trauma of explaining our position... that is well noted and clear", according to meeting participants.

'Temperature will keep rising'

With flagrant divisions coming to the fore, Europe has called for a harder line.
"I want this COP to mark the beginning of the end for fossil fuels," European climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said on Wednesday.
Germany's climate envoy Jennifer Morgan told AFP that "it is necessary that every party move away from their red lines (and) into solutions".
"We need to roll up our sleeves and get it done."
US climate envoy John Kerry said there were still "complicated issues" to resolve but it was "time for adults to behave like adults and get the job done".
A new report by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service provided a stark reminder of what is at stake as it reported that 2023 will be the hottest on record.
November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row.
It smashed the previous November heat record, pushing 2023's global average temperature to 1.46C warmer than the pre-industrial era, the service said.
Copernicus head Carlo Buontempo said that "as long as greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising we can't expect different outcomes".
dep-bl-jmi/ho-lth/imm

advertising

UK slams three airlines over greenwashing ads

  • Lufthansa meanwhile indicated that travellers choosing the German airline would "fly more sustainably", while Etihad claimed it offered "environmental advocacy" to passengers.
  • A UK watchdog on Wednesday banned three online adverts from airlines Air France, Etihad Airways and Lufthansa for "misleading" claims over their environmental impact.
  • Lufthansa meanwhile indicated that travellers choosing the German airline would "fly more sustainably", while Etihad claimed it offered "environmental advocacy" to passengers.
A UK watchdog on Wednesday banned three online adverts from airlines Air France, Etihad Airways and Lufthansa for "misleading" claims over their environmental impact.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the announcement was "part of a wider piece of enforcement work on climate change and the environment" as it cracks down on greenwashing or misleading climate-related statements designed to boost company reputations.
The ads, which were all published on Google in July, stated Air France was "committed to protecting the environment" and urged customers to "travel better and sustainably".
Lufthansa meanwhile indicated that travellers choosing the German airline would "fly more sustainably", while Etihad claimed it offered "environmental advocacy" to passengers.
The ASA ruled that the advertisements failed to show the impact all three airlines have on the environment and on the climate.
The regulator said Air France did not provide a "substantive response" to its investigation.
The airline told AFP that the ad "was generated by an artificial intelligence tool based on keywords entered by a user".
"This targeted ad was only visible online from the UK, and only 80 people saw it," it added.
"As soon as the ASA's decision was announced Air France changed the parameters for creating online advertisements to ensure that such an event could not happen again."
Lufthansa told AFP that its advert had referred to its so-called "green fares" option, whereby flights can use sustainable aviation fuel and offer carbon offsetting to lower emissions.
The German carrier "regrets that the Google advertisement in question lacked the explanation," it said in a statement. 
Etihad said it had subsequently removed all references to "environmental advocacy" from its Google adverts. 
The ASA, which said the offending ads were picked up by its own AI software to identify possible rule-breakers, added on Wednesday that air travel clearly impacted climate change.
"We understood that air travel produced high levels of both CO2 and non-CO2 emissions, which were making a substantial contribution to climate change," the watchdog stated.
"We also understood that there were currently no initiatives or commercially viable technologies in operation within the aviation industry that would adequately substantiate absolute green claims."
ode-rfj/phz/bc

Climate and Environment

Got to have faith: religion finds its moment at COP28

BY NICK PERRY

  • On a recent day at the pavilion, Panamanian indigenous leader Jocabed Solano performed a spiritual song of her Guna people that extols respect and stewardship for the planet.
  • From meditation to spiritual guidance to indigenous hymns, the vibe in the "faith pavilion" at COP28 is a little different to elsewhere at the high-stakes UN climate talks in Dubai.
  • On a recent day at the pavilion, Panamanian indigenous leader Jocabed Solano performed a spiritual song of her Guna people that extols respect and stewardship for the planet.
From meditation to spiritual guidance to indigenous hymns, the vibe in the "faith pavilion" at COP28 is a little different to elsewhere at the high-stakes UN climate talks in Dubai.
Orthodox priests rub shoulders with Emiratis in flowing white robes and Jewish rabbis in the quiet, air-conditioned calm of the pavilion, the first ever dedicated to religion at a COP conference.
Housed in a building of dark glass and geometric triangles, the pavilion offers a space for quiet reflection away from the frenetic diplomacy and flashy business shows that accompany the marathon climate negotiations.
It also offers something else sorely needed at COP -- unity and optimism.
"This testifies to the willingness to work together," Pope Francis said in a video message at the pavilion's inauguration on December 3 in a united call to action with senior Muslim cleric Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al Azhar.
"Today, the world needs alliances that are not against someone, but for the benefit of everyone."
Visitors joining daily "ritual relaxation" sessions or engaging with religious leaders in a lounge room are invited to consider the role of faith in addressing the challenge of global warming.
"For a fairer and more sustainable world, we trust and pray," one visitor wrote on a paper cut-out tree pinned alongside other messages of hope and solidarity to the pavilion wall.

Spiritual crisis

Organisers say more than 300 faith leaders from all major religions and traditional beliefs are expected to participate in the pavilion during the two-week-long conference being held in the glitzy Gulf city.
This is the first time in nearly 30 years of global climate talks that religion has been given its own venue, and the striking space has prime real estate in the buzzing heart of an enormous complex.
This COP is the largest ever and thousands of people walk by the pavilion every day, whether en route to meetings and expo shows, or to buy ice cream from a stall doing brisk trade out front.
The COP can be an overwhelming experience, and faith leaders hope attendees of all creeds embrace the pavilion as a respite from the haggling, heat, and anxiety over the planet's future.
Organisers say attendance at daily meditation sessions has so far been small but could uptick as negotiations toward a final climate deal intensify in the coming days.   
On a recent day at the pavilion, Panamanian indigenous leader Jocabed Solano performed a spiritual song of her Guna people that extols respect and stewardship for the planet.
"It's not only the crisis of the climate, it's a crisis of the spirituality too," she told AFP after enrapturing audiences at the pavilion.

Bridge the gap

Behind the scenes, organisers say the pavilion is supporting progress toward an ambitious pact to limit global warming, that also ensures financial aid for the world's poorest on the frontlines of climate change.
Faith leaders are offering moral and pastoral services to diplomats working around the clock on the agreement, and for the first time have interfaith representatives attending the formal negotiation sessions.
"We want to bring that spiritual understanding to the decision-making process," Iyad Abumoghli, the director for Faith for Earth, an initiative within the UN Environment Programme, told AFP. 
Panels at the pavilion have explored difficult themes including the climate-related loss of homeland, mining in Africa, and ethical investing, and speakers have included government ministers, academics and business leaders.
Faith leaders also issued an interfaith statement in support of reducing and eventually exiting fossil fuels -- a flashpoint issue at the conference overseen by an Emirati oil executive.
The pavilion seeks to foster trust -- a vital element at any COP -- between scientific and religious communities that haven't always seen eye-to-eye.  
"I know it's all about science," Mohamed Bahr from the Muslim Council of Elders, told AFP. "But we're trying here to bridge the gap between science and faith."
np/sah/yad

Vietnam

Southeast Asia banks on aviation boom

BY ALEXIS HONTANG WITH SUY SE IN SIEM REAP

  • Analysts expect growth to be powered by the growing Chinese and Indian middle classes -- as well as a younger generation more keen to travel than their parents.
  • Major airport expansion projects are taking off across Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and a new airline is set to launch next year -- all banking on an expected boom in air travel in Southeast Asia, fuelled by Chinese and Indian tourists.
  • Analysts expect growth to be powered by the growing Chinese and Indian middle classes -- as well as a younger generation more keen to travel than their parents.
Major airport expansion projects are taking off across Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and a new airline is set to launch next year -- all banking on an expected boom in air travel in Southeast Asia, fuelled by Chinese and Indian tourists.
But there are doubts about whether it will materialise in an uncertain economic environment and as worries about the impact of travel on climate change deepen. 
Thailand's Really Cool Airlines is expected to start flying between Bangkok and Japan around mid-2024, but CEO Patee Sarasin -- a veteran of the region's cutthroat budget sector -- says it has been a battle to launch a new carrier just after a pandemic.
"It's a lot of money. It has been quite gruelling to raise the funds," he told AFP.
"There are some points (where you say) 'why am I doing this?' It crossed my mind many, many times."
Patee ran budget carrier Nok Air for more than a decade, but while he is coy about the finer details of the new venture, he claims it may yet "change the aviation paradigm".
He added: "Southeast Asia is going to be probably one of the centres of the universe in the future, with the slowdown in Europe, and in the US."
Flying took a hammering globally during the pandemic as international travel all but shut down, but the industry is bullish about its bounceback, evidenced by a flurry of big-ticket orders at this month's Dubai Air Show and bumper profit jumps for the likes of Air France-KLM and Ryanair.
- Airport boom - 
Southeast Asia is becoming a hot property, with private and public players competing for an expanding market.
The region currently accounts for 10 percent of global traffic -- more than 500 million passengers in 2019. 
And Boeing expects this figure to grow around 9.5 percent a year over the next two decades, well above the global average of 6.1 percent.
Across the region from Bangkok to Hanoi, governments are splashing billions of dollars to update and expand airport infrastructure.
A new terminal opened at Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok's main international airport, in September, and a third runway is being built.
There are plans for a third terminal at the city's other airport, Don Mueang, as well as a doubling of capacity at Chiang Mai in the north, and expansion in the major island tourism hub Phuket.
Cambodia has grand plans to make Phnom Penh's new $1.5 billion airport, expected in 2025, a regional hub to compete with Bangkok and Singapore, with about 50 million passengers by 2050.
Further evidence of the kingdom's ambitions came earlier this month with the opening of the new Chinese-funded $1.1 billion airport at Siem Reap, the gateway to the Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia's biggest tourist draw.
Built as part of Beijing's sprawling "Belt and Road" infrastructure scheme, the Siem Reap airport is designed to handle 12 million passengers a year by 2040 -- double the total number of foreign tourists who visited the country in 2019.
Philip Kao, president of a Siem Reap tourism association, hailed the new airport as a "game changer" because its longer runway means it can handle bigger planes flying long-haul.
But while some are hoping for a tourism bounceback, others are grappling with the environmental impact of the construction boom.
Outside Ho Chi Minh City, work on what will be Vietnam's biggest airport, the $15 billion Long Thanh terminal, has blanketed nearby neighbourhoods in thick red dust.
- Turbulence ahead? - 
Tourist numbers are not yet hitting pre-pandemic highs, and Mayur Patel, Asia Director for aviation data consultancy OAG said they are unlikely to do so before late 2024 or early 2025.
"It's fragmented from an economic perspective, but there is a coordinated effort to bring tourism back. Complexities will ease out in the years to come," he told AFP.
Thailand, where tourism accounts for around a fifth of gross domestic product, has stepped up measures in recent weeks to boost numbers by granting visas on arrival to visitors from China and India -- two huge reservoirs of customers.
Analysts expect growth to be powered by the growing Chinese and Indian middle classes -- as well as a younger generation more keen to travel than their parents.
But OAG warns the region's tourism has sometimes been over-reliant on China, and for now Chinese visitor numbers are still way below pre-pandemic levels as the Asian superpower grapples with a challenging economic slowdown.
In Thailand's deep south, Betong International Airport stands as a monument to misguided expansion.
Opened in 2022 in a remote spot near the Malaysian border, the airport struggled for passengers, and now stands idle as airlines halted operations within a few months. 
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