Anti-coal Drive At UN Climate Talks Shadowed By Pro-coal Trump
Umer Jamshaid Published November 16, 2017 | 05:25 PM
Nineteen countries launched a coal phase-out initiative Thursday at UN climate talks in Bonn where America was under attack for the Donald Trump administration's defence of Earth-warming fossil fuels
Bonn, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Nov, 2017 ) :Nineteen countries launched a coal phase-out initiative Thursday at UN climate talks in Bonn where America was under attack for the Donald Trump administration's defence of Earth-warming fossil fuels.
Led by Canada and Britain, the "Powering Past Coal Alliance" commits the nations, cities, and regions to weaning themselves off a commodity that still produces about 40 percent of the world's electricity -- a major contributor to global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
The list includes Angola, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, the Marshall Islands, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden and Scotland, as well as the cities of Beijing, Berlin and Delhi, and several American states including Hawaii, California, New York Oregon and Washington.
"This is another positive signal of the global momentum away from coal, benefiting the health of the climate, the public and the economy," said Jens Mattias Clausen of Greenpeace. "But it also puts on notice the governments who lag behind on ending coal, or those who promote it, that the world's dirtiest fossil fuel has no future." Later Thursday, an American official will address the penultimate day of the annual climate gathering.
With most countries represented by heads of state or cabinet ministers at a "high-level segment" of the conference, Washington sent an acting assistant secretary of state, Judith Garber. She will address delegates just three days after White House officials drew the ire of observers and delegates by hosting a sideline event defending the continued use of fossil fuels at a forum dedicated to the pursuit of greener alternatives.
Announcing Garber's participation, the State Department emphasised that the Trump administration's position on the climate-rescue Paris Agreement "remains unchanged", and it would withdraw "as soon as it is eligible to do so, unless the president can identify terms for engagement that are more favourable to American businesses, workers, and taxpayers." - Protecting US interests - The United States ratified the hard-fought global pact, championed by former president Barack Obama, just two months before Donald Trump, who has called climate change a "hoax", was elected to the White House.
Trump announced in June that America would abandon the pact, but the rules say this cannot happen until November 2020.
The United States is the world's biggest historical greenhouse gas polluter, and second only to China for current-day emissions.
Its presence at the Bonn talks has not been universally welcomed, especially as it has taken a tough line on a demand from developing countries for a firmer commitment to climate finance. Many question why the US is here at all, given its abandonment of the Paris Agreement.
The State Department explained Washington's participation was "to ensure a level playing field that benefits and protects US interests." The 2015 Paris Agreement, which took more than two decades to negotiate, commits countries to limiting average global warming to under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over Industrial Revolution levels, and 1.5 C if possible, to avert calamitous climate change-induced storms, drought and sea-level rises.
Nations submitted voluntary emissions-cutting commitments to bolster the deal. A report Wednesday said America's withdrawal will boost global temperatures, calculated on current country pledges, by nearly half a degree Celsius by 2100, for a total of 3.2 C.
- Challenges 'nothing new' - "The Paris Agreement is a global pledge to hand over a healthy planet to future generations, and now the time has come to show that we will honour this pledge," European Union climate change commissioner Miguel Canete told delegates Thursday.
Since Monday last week, bureaucrats have haggled over a Paris Agreement "rule book", which will specify how countries must calculate and report their emissions cuts. Finance to help developing countries prepare for, and deal with, the fallout from climate change, has held up progress.
Ministers and heads of state arrived Wednesday for a closing three-day push to unlock the toughest standoffs. "Our task has been made all the more difficult with the disengagement of the world's largest historic emitter from the Paris Agreement," said Maldives environment minister Thoriq Ibrahim, representing the Alliance of Small Island Developing States.
"But political challenges are nothing new to this process, the unfortunate development should be seen as an opportunity to increase our ambition, not retreat from our responsibility."
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Under training officers visit Special Branch Headquarters Roberts Club
Industries promotion can help eliminate unemployment : Sindh Minister for Indus ..
Step afoot to ensure durable peace in Balochistan: Ziuallah
PML-N office torching cases: ATC summons PTI leaders, others for indictment on M ..
Oman, UAE deluge 'most likely' linked to climate change: scientists
CRBC tender to be floated by June; Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Ali ..
122 cases registered against accused involved in drug trafficking
Models, poster and quiz competition held at AIOU
Passco GM, deputy visit wheat procurement centers in Burewala
Non-Muslim Pakistanis enjoy freedom, state patronage: Kundi
Dengue Control Committee gathers in Jhang
BHP launches $38.8 billion takeover bid for rival Anglo American
More Stories From World
-
Oman, UAE deluge 'most likely' linked to climate change: scientists
29 minutes ago -
BHP launches $38.8 billion takeover bid for rival Anglo American
39 minutes ago -
Saudi oil giant Aramco agrees major FIFA sponsorship deal
39 minutes ago -
Putin says plans to visit China in May
39 minutes ago -
Haiti transitional council sworn in after months of violence
2 hours ago -
Ukrainian village battles mines year after Russia forced out
2 hours ago
-
China's Shenzhou-18 mission takes off bound for space station
2 hours ago -
Thousands of flights scrapped as French air traffic controllers strike
2 hours ago -
India's IndiGo to buy 30 A350 planes: Airbus
2 hours ago -
Scottish leader scraps coalition deal with Greens
2 hours ago -
Paris landmark Moulin Rouge's windmill sails collapse
2 hours ago -
155 killed in Tanzania as heavy rains lash East Africa
2 hours ago