Paris Agreement Archives

How Extreme Weather is Testing Tanzania’s $2 Billion Electric Railway Dream

On a rainy Wednesday morning, in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) terminal bustled with a steady flow of passengers. Women ushered toddlers along. Snack bags dangling on their hands. Tourists dragged wheeled suitcases across the floor. Students scrolled through smartphones as they returned to campus. Each had been attracted by the speed, reliability and comfort of the electric train.

What Next? United States Exits Key Entities, Vital Climate Treaties in Major Retreat from Global Cooperation

By Joyce Chimbi

President Donald Trump has escalated efforts to further distance the United States from international organizations and entities focused on climate, the environment, and energy. This strategy is in step with his administration’s established approach to undermine and redirect funds and international cooperation away from climate and clean energy programs.

Turning Indigenous Territories From ‘Sacrifice’ Zones to Thriving Forest Ecosystems

By Umar Manzoor Shah

A report by the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) and Earth Insight paints a stark picture of how extractive industries, deforestation, and climate change are converging to endanger the world’s last intact tropical forests and the Indigenous Peoples who protect them.

G20 Puts More into Fossil Than Green Energy in Covid-19 Recovery Packages

By Fermín Koop

As the world’s leading economies direct trillions of dollars towards Covid-19 recovery packages, a significant proportion is going to fossil fuel industries without climate stipulations, according to the 2020 edition of the Climate Transparency Report – which has assessed the climate performance of G20 countries.

Climate Summit Kicks Off, Caught Between Realism and Hope

By Emilio Godoy

Tens of thousands of delegates from state parties began working Monday Dec. 2 in the Spanish capital to pave the way to comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change, while at a parallel summit, representatives of civil society demanded that the international community go further.

Our Forests Provide the World With Oxygen But We Need More Climate Change Finance – HFLD Countries

By Desmond Brown

Suriname, the most forested country in the world, is this week hosting a major international conference on climate financing for High Forest Cover and Low Deforestation (HFLD) countries.

COP24: Sum and Substance of Climate Diplomacy

By Chandra Bhushan

As I was attending the 24th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—to create a rulebook to operationalise the Paris Agreement—in Katowice, Poland, it dawned on me, like never before, that the negotiations were taking place in a make-believe world.

Africa Remains Resolute Heading to COP 24

By Friday Phiri

In December 2015, nations of the world took a giant step to combat climate change through the landmark Paris Agreement. But African experts who met in Nairobi, Kenya at last week’s Seventh Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA VII) say the rise of far-right wing and nationalist movements in the West are threatening the collapse of the agreement.

“Running Out Of Time” – Local Communities Mobilise for the Climate

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage

Local communities across the globe have risen up to demand commitments on climate change, as frustration mounts over the lack of action.

Unlocking Private Finance for Developing Countries’ Green Growth

By Friday Phiri

Climate finance has never been more urgently needed, with massive investments in climate action required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and avoid the devastating effects of a warmer planet.

Africa Gains Momentum in Green Climate Solutions

By Sam Otieno

Promoting the widespread use of innovative technologies will be critical to combat the hostile effects of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and many African countries are already leading the way with science-based solutions.

Climate Finance: The Paris Agreement’s “Lifeblood”

By Friday Phiri

As negotiators concluded ten days of climate talks in Bonn last week, climate finance was underlined as a key element without which the Paris Agreement’s operational guidelines would be meaningless.

Coal Pollution Continues to Spread in Latin America

By Emilio Godoy

Despite growing global pressure to reduce the use of coal to generate electricity, several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean still have projects underway for expanding this polluting energy source.

Economic Development vs. Climate Action: Rebutting Deniers and Wafflers

By Friday Phiri

As negotiators meet in Bonn to put together a deal to implement the Paris Agreement, John Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, stressed that economic development and climate change mitigation and adaptation are not ‘either-or’ but must be pursued together.

Conservation Agriculture: Zambia’s Double-edged Sword against Climate Change and Hunger

By Friday Phiri

As governments gather in Bonn, Germany for the next two weeks to hammer out a blueprint for implementation of the global climate change treaty signed in Paris in 2015, a major focus will be on emissions reductions to keep the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C by 2020.

Latin America Heads to Climate Summit with Uneven Progress

By Emilio Godoy

Difficult to measure and unequal in their scope are the advances that the countries of Latin America will have to show, regarding their voluntary commitments to greenhouse gas emissions, during the climate summit to be hosted by Bonn, Germany in November.