COP28: More than 110 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030

More than 110 countries commit to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030

More than 110 countries have committed to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements. The deal came as world leaders gathered for a third day of the COP28 summit in Dubai.

Brazil to join OPEC+ and push for reduction in fossil fuels

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the country is joining OPEC+ in 2024, but it will tell oil producers to get ready to “reduce fossil fuels”, he warned at the COP28 climate talks on Saturday.

Brazil, one of the world’s top 10 producers, hit a record 3.7 million barrels per day in September. It was this week invited to join the 23-member group of OPEC and OPEC+ nations from January.

“I think it’s important for us to participate in OPEC+, because we need to convince the countries that produce oil that they need to prepare to reduce fossil fuels,” Lula said in Dubai. “And preparing means taking advantage of the money they make from oil and making investments, so that a large continent like Latin America can produce the renewable fuels they need.”

More than 100 nations commit to tripling renewable energy capacity

More than a hundred countries have committed to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements.

G20 nations, which account for nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, paved the way for a deal when they endorsed the renewable energy goal in September.

While supporters are expected to push for the pledge to be included in the final outcome of the talks, there are fears that the COP28 hosts were willing to shunt the more ambitious targets into voluntary deals.

Colombia joins call to end new fossil fuel development

Colombia on Saturday became one of the largest fossil fuel producers to join a group of climate vulnerable island nations calling to end new development of planet-heating coal, oil and gas.

According to a statement from the initiative, Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said it was “frightening” that governments around the world continued to plan to expand their fossil fuel exploitation.

Scientists, as well as the International Energy Agency and the UN’s Environment Programme, have warned that significant new development of coal, oil and gas is incompatible with the international community’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

Calls for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty have been championed by a group of island nations, mainly in the Pacific, Caribbean and Asia.

Colombia’s announcement brings the group’s membership to 10 countries, while it also lists cities, the European Parliament and World Health Organization among its supporters.

US pledges $3 billion to green climate fund

US Vice President Kamala Harris told the UN’s COP28 conference that the United States will contribute $3 billion to a global climate fund – its first pledge since 2014.

“Today, we are demonstrating through action how the world can and must meet this (climate) crisis,” Harris told world leaders at the summit.

‘Find a breakthrough’, Pope Francis tells UN climate summit

Pope Francis, unable to attend the COP28 climate summit in person, called on world leaders on Saturday to find a breakthrough to tackle global rising temperatures, calling the destruction of the environment “an offence against God”.

In a speech read out by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin due to the pope’s ill health, he said: “I am with you because the destruction of the environment is an offence against God”.

“Brothers and sisters, it is essential that there be a breakthrough that is not a partial change of course, but rather a new way of making progress together.”

More than 110 countries join pledge to triple renewable energy

More than 110 countries have joined a pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy by 2030, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Von der Leyen called on “all of us to include these targets in the final COP decision”.

Whether governments and companies will rally the huge investments needed to hit the goal is an open question. While deployment of renewables like solar and wind has been surging globally for years, rising costs, labour constraints and supply chain issues have forced project delays and cancellations in recent months, costing developers like Orsted and BP billions of dollars in write-downs.

Getting the deal into the final UN climate summit decision would also require consensus among the nearly 200 countries present. While China and India have signalled support for tripling global renewable energy by 2030, neither has confirmed it will back the overall pledge – which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.

South Africa, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados are among the countries already on board, officials said.

More than 20 nations call for tripling of nuclear energy

More than 20 countries have called for the tripling of world nuclear energy capacity as part of efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

A declaration endorsed by nations including the United States, Ghana, Japan and several European countries said nuclear energy plays a “key role” in reaching the goal of carbon neutrality.

The use of nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is controversial as environmental groups are concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste.

“We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source,” US climate envoy John Kerry said. “But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can’t get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear,” he said.

The aim is to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels.

The other countries that signed up to the declaration include the UK, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, South Korea, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.

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