|
By John Dennehy |
Greetings from Baku, Azerbaijan
Day one of Cop29 began with a handover plenary, protest, and plenty of discussion about what success will mean at the end of the two-week summit, which is expected to receive up to 50,000 people.
The leadership of the climate talks has now been transferred to Cop29 President Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Ecology and Natural Resources Minister, who previously worked for the state oil company Socar.
Cop28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber in his handover speech urged delegates “to prove once again that we can unite, act and deliver”. Meanwhile, Mr Babayev said Azerbaijan understands the need to adapt because our region faces significant challenges as its neighbouring Caspian Sea is shrinking.
Climate action groups, indigenous leaders and representatives from vulnerable communities called for less talk and more action to ensure funds flow to those most at risk of climate catastrophes.
An early win for the summit was the greenlight for a carbon credit quality standard - which is deemed essential for the formation of a UN backed carbon market.
Over the next two weeks, finance will continue to lead the agenda at Cop29, with hopes that a new financial goal can be achieved.
Coming up on the agenda for day two of Cop29 – senior delegates from around the globe will arrive before the opening of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit which is expected to include an address from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Later on in the day, the US, Azerbaijan, and China will co-host a summit on methane and non-CO2 greenhouse gases which is expected to include new announcements on the implementation of the global methane pledge.
Read John Dennehy’s full story on the Cop29 handover here.
Key leaders skip Cop29 as they deal with net-zero backlash
The opening days of a UN climate change summit are when royals, presidents and prime ministers take the podium and proclaim the green ideals that set the tone for two weeks of talks.
But big names will be missing from the stage at the Cop29 talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, with even environmentally minded leaders in the West distracted by domestic troubles, as major green pledges hit political and economic challenges.
The Baku talks are the bridge between the consensus reached on climate goals at Cop28 in the UAE last year – such as trebling clean energy by 2030 – and countries coming forward with concrete plans to fulfil them before Cop30 in Brazil, in 2025.
Tim Stickings' full story is here.
Irena: Cop29 is ‘make or break’ for global renewables targets
Francesco La Camera, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) hopes there will also be documentation on how member nations can raise ambitions for their National Determined Contributions (NDCs).
“We are now at a critical ‘make or break moment’. The NDC 3.0 provides the last opportunity this decade for countries to step up their stated ambitions [to achieve the targets outlined by the Paris Agreement],” Mr La Camera told The National on the first day of the world’s largest climate meeting.
Rachel Kelly’s full story is here.
The big fact
The first Conference of the Parties took place in Berlin, Germany, in 1995.
The host country for each Cop rotates among the five UN regional groups: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and Others. Within each region, member countries decide which nation will submit a bid to host the conference.
Next year’s Cop will take place in Brazil.
Jargon buster
NDC: Nationally Determined Contributions is a term you will hear a lot of over the next two weeks at Cop29.
NDCs are each country’s climate action plans under the Paris Agreement. These detail how a country intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to contribute to the global objective of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, while also outlining strategies for adapting to the effects of climate change.
Our full guide to understanding climate jargon is here.
Saudi endurance swimmer Mariam bin Laden has made history again
A teenage girl is leukaemia-free after a world first in cell therapy - 13-year-old Alyssa said she felt that volunteering for the experimental new treatment for the disease would help others. “Of course I’m going to do it,” she said. Scientists have described the treatemnt as the most sophisticated cell engineering to date. Without the treatment, which came after chemotherapy and an initial bone marrow transplant failed to clear her cancer, Alyssa’s only alternative would have been palliative care.
The teenager, from Leicester, received base-edited T-cells in the first ever use of a base-edited cell therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Pre-manufactured cells from a healthy volunteer donor were edited to enable them to hunt down and kill cancerous T-cells without attacking each other. T-cells are white blood cells that move around the body, finding and destroying defective cells.
Alyssa, who was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or T-All, in 2021, was given all the conventional treatments including chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant, but the disease returned. She then became the first patient enrolled on to a new clinical trial, funded by the Medical Research Council, during which she was given universal Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells that had been pre-manufactured from a healthy volunteer donor in May this year.
P.S. Do you know someone who is doing remarkable things to change the world? Tell me about it for a chance to be featured in the newsletter and our Impact Instagram account. Email: theyman@thenationalnews.com
— this time as the first woman and first Arab to swim from Saudi Arabia’s Tiran Island to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Bin Laden, a dentist and advocate for Syrian refugees, joined fellow endurance swimmer and UN Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh in the Coral Swim event in the Red Sea. They were aiming to bring attention to the devastating effects of climate change on coral reefs ahead of Cop27.
State honour for ‘selfless’ donors
Ramadan cannons will mark the time of iftar during the holy month from locations in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Al Dhafra, Ras Al Khaimah, and Umm Al Quwain.
The cannons, known as midfa al iftar, are typically fired at sunset to signal the end of the day’s fasting.
“During the holy month, cannons will be in place to maintain the traditional customs and practices of Ramadan while embracing modernity,” said the Ministry of Defence.
In Abu Dhabi, the cannons have been placed at locations including the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Qasr Al Hosn, Mother of the Nation Park, and Formula One car park in the Al Shahama area. Read the full story here.
SNAPSHOT
The cannons, known as midfa al iftar, are typically fired at sunset to signal the end of the day’s fasting.
“During the holy month, cannons will be in place to maintain the traditional customs and practices of Ramadan while embracing modernity,” said the Ministry of Defence.
In Abu Dhabi, the cannons have been placed at locations including the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Qasr Al Hosn, Mother of the Nation Park, and Formula One car park in the Al Shahama area. Read the full story here.
See more of this week’s best pictures
HIGHLIGHTS
