His speech was a stark contrast to calls in Davos by Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg for drastic action by world leaders to shift to cleaner energies to avert a worsening climate crisis of more heatwaves, droughts and floods.

At a session titled “averting a climate apocalypse” by the Davos organisers, Thunberg, 17, said people were rightly outraged at Trump for withdrawing the US from the 2015 Paris climate agreement and faulted other world leaders for failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, Trump told the world´s political and business elite: “This is a time for optimism.”

“The US is in the midst of an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen before,” he said.

He urged other nations to follow the US lead in promoting deregulation of energy to ensure cheaper gasoline and electricity that he said saved American families on average $2,500 a year. He added that, by contrast, European consumers suffered “crippling” energy costs.

“To embrace the possibilities of tomorrow we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse,” Trump said.

Trump said that modern “alarmists” were heirs of those who wrongly predicted an over-population crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the 1970s and that oil would run out in the 1990s.

Thunberg says only ‘eight years left’ to avert 1.5°C warming

Trump, who did not mention the words “climate change” or “global warming” in his speech, is the only world leader pulling his nation out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Extreme weather, climate action failure, natural disasters, biodiversity loss and human-made environmental disasters top most likely long-terms risks to the global economy in 2020, according to the survey for the World Economic Forum among business leaders, investors and policy-makers.

Last year was the second warmest on record and average global temperatures are about 1.1°C above pre-industrial times, according to the UN.

Thunberg called for immediate action.

“The fact that the USA is leaving the Paris accord seems to outrage and worry everyone and it should. But the fact that we are all about to fail the commitments you signed up for in the Paris Agreement doesn’t seem to bother the people in power even the least,” she said.

Thunberg warned business and political leaders the tougher 1.5C goal of the Paris Agreement risked slipping out of reach with the world rapidly consuming the remaining carbon budget identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to remain within the 1.5C temperature goal by the end of the century.

She warned the world had only eight years left to limit warming to 1.5C at the current rate of greenhouse emissions.

“Let’s be clear,” she said, “we don’t need a low-carbon economy, we don’t need to lower emissions, our emissions have to stop if we are to have a chance to stay below the 1.5C target.” “Any plan or policy of yours that doesn’t include radical emissions cuts at the source starting today is completely inefficient” to meet the Paris goals, she added.

Trump said his policies to promote energy – including “clean coal, next generation nuclear power and gas hydrate technologies” – meant the US “no longer needs to import energy from hostile nations” and that US exports could also help its allies ensure energy security.

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On the environment, Trump said US air and water were cleaner than at any time on record. He also said that the US would join a one trillion tree planting project being launched at Davos.

Trump, visiting Switzerland on the day his impeachment trial begins in earnest in the US Senate, said that Americans were thriving with low unemployment, high growth and investment.

Before the start of the Davos meeting, Thunberg and a number of young climate activists called on banks, investors, companies, institutions and governments to immediately halt all investments in fossil fuels exploration and extraction, end all fossil fuel subsidies and completely divest from fossil fuels.

“So either you do this or you’re going to have to explain to your children why you are giving up on the 1.5C goal – giving up without even trying,” she said. “People will not give up. You are the ones who are giving up.”

The post Trump criticises ‘prophets of doom’ in Davos and touts fossil fuels appeared first on Climate Home News.

Business leaders, investors and policy-makers have ranked climate and environmental risks the top five most likely long-term threats to the global economy.

The findings published in the World Economic Forum’s global risks perception survey come as the rich and powerful are due to gather in the Swiss resort of Davos next week.

Climate action is high on the summit’s agenda and Greta Thunberg is one of a number of youth activists travelling to Switzerland for the occasion. Watch out for a possible showdown on climate change with Donald Trump, who is also due to attend.

Business and political leaders will need to have more than ‘saying-the-right-thing’ speeches if their climate concerns are to be taken seriously.

Some of the world’s most influential companies have already taken the jump.

BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, named climate change a key factor in affecting economic growth and financial markets and pledged to put sustainability at the centre of its investment strategy.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has promised to be “carbon negative” by 2030 and hopes to remove enough carbon to account for all the direct emissions the company has ever made by 2050.

The pledges speak to the growing pressure investors and employees are putting on companies to take meaningful climate action. Will the Davos circus bring new commitments to action? Let’s see.

Biodiversity goals

Can countries agree to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030 to halt the destruction of biodiversity?

That’s the goal outlined by the Convention for Biological Diversity in a draft global framework to protect the planet’s plants and wildlife. A biodiversity summit in China in October will decide what goals to adopt for 2030.

Biodiversity talks are not immune from political positioning. Expect tough negotiations ahead.

Bridging climate polarisation

Australia’s bushfire crisis has exposed the difficulty of battling environmental hazards when politicians are split about how much to blame climate change.

Bushfire experts are calling for a nation-wide conversation about building resilience to anticipated prolonged and more intense fire seasons.

“We need to re-invent and re-think the management of our landscape,” Peter Kanowski, professor of forestry at the Australian National University told CHN. “In the face of climate change, land management will require more intervention not less.”

Australia’s scientific community is not short of propositions to mitigate the impacts of future bushfires. But can that conversation overcome the political divide?

Blame-game

Cop25 president Carolina Schmidt has accused Brazil, Australia, China and the US for the low-ambition outcome of the climate talks.

During a grilling at Chile’s Congress, environment minister Schmidt said she was not satisfied by the final Cop decision but “did not feel shame”.

Opposition lawmakers accused Schmidt of having personally bungled the negotiations – a sentiment echoed by some climate campaigners who accused Chile of “weak leadership”. Francisco Parra reports.

Cash to switch

The EU Commission has put money where its mouth is and unveiled a €100bn plan to put flesh on the bone of its Green Deal.

The money, which includes a €7.5bn Just Transition Mechanism fund, is designed to help communities across Europe move away from fossil-fuel intensive industries.

Poland is on track to be the fund’s largest recipient, with an allocated €2bn – a large carrot for Warsaw to back the union’s carbon neutrality goal by 2050.

Under the plans, Germany would receive the second biggest trunk of cash as Angela Merkel’s government agreed a €40bn coal phase-out deal with the country’s coal-producing regions.

Costly coal

China’s growing role as the source of coal projects in the Balkans could impede Bosnia and Serbia’s efforts to join the EU.

Documents obtained by Unearthed show the costs of two Chinese-backed coal power plants have been hugely under-estimated, potentially leaving taxpayers on the hook to pay for future carbon costs, Eleanor Rose reports for CHN.

Quick hits

• Australia’s climate change polarisation hampers long-term bushfire fixes
• Climate change tops risks for world in 2020 – Davos report
• Cop25 president Carolina Schmidt blames big emitters for low-ambition climate talks
• Germany agrees pay-out to states and companies in coal phase-out deal
• EU reveals climate fund details as critics worry cash won’t be enough
• China-backed coal plants on EU’s doorstep hide huge carbon costs
• UN outlines 2030 goals to save planet’s biodiversity

The post The Davos effect – Climate Weekly appeared first on Climate Home News.

For the first time, environmental concerns dominated the top five long-term global risks for business leaders, investors and policy-makers surveyed in the WEF’s annual report, published on Wednesday.

In its 50^th edition, the WEF in Davos will focus on preventing the erosion of international solidarity – a principle that underpinned the WEF’s  foundation – and seek ways to build political and societal cohesion that can drive a global response to issues such as climate change.

US President Donald Trump, who is pulling out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg are among those due to attend the 21-24 January event.

The 750 respondents to the WEF’s 2020 Global Risks Perception Survey ranked extreme weather events, climate action failure, natural disasters, biodiversity loss and human-made environmental disasters the top five most likely risks for the global economy this year – ahead of data fraud, cyberattacks, water crisis, global governance failure and assets bubbles.

UN outlines 2030 goals to save planet’s biodiversity

The world’s elite also identified climate action failure as the risk with the greatest impact on the global economy. In the short-term extreme heatwaves and the destruction of natural ecosystems were ranked third and fourth as the risks most likely to rise in 2020.

“The horizon has shortened for preventing— or even mitigating—some of the direst consequences of global risks,” wrote Børge Brende, WEF president. “It is sobering that in the face of this development, when the challenges before us demand immediate collective action, fractures within the global community appear to only be widening.”

The United States is the only nation quitting the Paris Agreement with Trump doubting that man-made emissions are the main cause of worsening climate change. He wants instead to bolster jobs in the US coal industry.

Policy fractures also appeared strongly at the UN climate talks in Madrid, Spain, in December when large emitters blocked progress despite a growing alliance of vanguards among small, vulnerable and progressive European countries calling for ambition.

Teresa Ribera, Spain’s minister of the ecological transition, warned countries that while “the rule-based multilateral order is being challenged,” the world needed “global cooperation to face the global challenge of climate change”.

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“The good news is that the window for action is still open, if not for much longer,” Brende wrote in the report’s preface, citing growing commitments from businesses to “look beyond their balance sheets”.

And indeed, concerns of climate and environmental risks’ negative impact on the global economy are on the rise.

In the last year, a growing number of businesses and investors have committed to more ambitious climate action and the decarbonisation of their operations and investments.

On Tuesday, BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager with $7tn in assets, revealed changes to the fund’s investment in a letter to clients, naming climate change a key factor in affecting economic growth, asset values, and financial markets.

The fund said it will end direct investments in companies generating more than a quarter of their revenues from thermal coal production. However, it will remain one of the largest investors in fossil-fuel companies.

“Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects,” wrote Larry Fink, BlackRock chairman and CEO. “The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance.”

China-backed coal plants on EU’s doorstep hide huge carbon costs

BlackRock has previously come under fire from climate campaigners for backing fossil fuel investments and failing to shift its investment strategy in the face of mounting climate emergency. Now, the decision could push other fund managers and companies across the world to consider climate risks in decision-making.

“Climate change is almost invariably the top issue that clients around the world raise with BlackRock,” Fink added.

But for climate activists, commitments and promises alone won’t do. While the Davos elite is seeking solutions on ways to mitigate global warming’s negative impacts on the world’s economy, campaigners are demanding governments and the private sector stop profiting from the fossil-fuel economy.

Writing in the Guardian, Thunberg and 21 other young climate activists demanded all companies, banks, institutions and governments attended the Davos summit “immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies and immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels”.

They wrote: “Young climate activists and school strikers from around the world will be present to put pressure on these leaders.”

The post Climate change tops risks for world in 2020 – Davos report appeared first on Climate Home News.

In an influential 2017 proposal, the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, led by Nobel-laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern, put forward a globally coordinated carbon tax as the best policy to address climate change.

The basic idea of carbon taxation is that the costs of carbon emissions would be added onto the cost of a gallon of gas, or a BTU of heating gas, or a kilowatt hour of electricity. Currently fossil fuels receive huge subsidies, especially as their costs don’t include the health impacts, ecological damage, acid rain, and most ominously, the trillions of euros in damage from rising seas, droughts and storms that are expected.

Most economists agree: raising the price of fossil fuels and lowering the relative cost of renewables would efficiently shift consumption and investment towards low carbon of energy more cost-effectively other policies. If carbon taxes are as appealing as these economists say, then why is this so hard?

First, developing countries have argued that they did not create the problem of climate change, so such a tax should fall on those who did – the wealthy countries of the world. In turn, in some wealthy nations it is impossible to propose different burdens that could put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Stiglitz: ‘Green economy’ route out of financial slump

This was expressly resolved by the US Senate in 1998 with the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, which said that the US should not enter into any binding treaty on emissions reductions that didn’t place similar limits on India and China.

Second and even more fundamentally, many nations bristle at the idea of any globally-imposed initiative – they fear loss of sovereignty and control over their national economic policy.

Back in 2010, a “high-level panel” led by former British prime minister Gordon Brown investigated financing options to deliver “scaled -up, new and additional, predictable and adequate” climate finance. They considered carbon taxes of several sorts, including airline levies and those on international shipping (bunker fuels). A group of justice-focused NGOs have been putting forward proposals for these kinds of international financing mechanisms to meet the huge “finance gap” that exists each year between what is believed is necessary to address climate impacts in developing countries and for greening their energy sources.

The report wrote off nearly all approaches as politically unfeasible. In particular, airlines and the shipping industry have resisted taxation, as we saw when the EU attempted to institute a levy on airline passengers. Oil producers fear such taxation, and often unleash strong political campaigns to stop them. Globally there are highly different levels of appetite or tolerance for this kind of taxation, meaning that it would be difficult to establish a common price.

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There’s another problem. Carbon taxes have the potential to raise massive amounts of revenue. But often there’s disagreement regarding the uses of that income. Should other taxes, including to corporations, be cut by an equal amount? Should the money be reinvested into climate projects? Or should the funds be rebated to citizens and companies? Some carbon tax bills have failed over these disagreements. Hybrid bills are a potential way forward on revenue allocation.

Finally, there’s another form of pricing carbon that is not a tax. Cap and trade systems involve auctioning off permits to pollute, so that those companies which can more easily reduce their footprint will do so first, and make a nice profit. Would a global cap and trade system, based say on the global carbon budget as its cap, be more effective and palatable?

Subnational units are trying to initiate carbon pricing mechanisms of both of these sorts. Regional units such as the EU are doing the same. Corporations are also taking up the torch of carbon pricing: over 1200 businesses have implemented internal carbon taxes, and many, including oil companies, are lobbying for their enactment, both on the national and global levels.

The question is whether they have the potential to break through the gridlock that has characterised carbon pricing discussions on the global, national, or even international levels. Even though the prospects for a globally-uniform carbon tax are vanishingly remote right now, in the future it is possible that haphazard local actions might make the case to large corporations that a consistent rate would facilitate business by levelling the playing field. This could make a globally coordinated carbon tax all the more appealing.

Ian Lefond is a researcher in Brown University’s Climate and Development Lab. Timmons Roberts is professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Brown University and co-founder of the CDL.

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The post The climate solution no-one in Davos will be talking about appeared first on Climate Home News.

Its annual Global Risks Report lists extreme weather, water shortages, natural disasters and a failure to prepare for climate change as four of the top five perils of 2017 in terms of impact.

“Weapons of mass destruction” topped the list – a nod to rising tensions on the Korean peninsula and fast-cooling relations between Russia and Europe.

Despite agreement on a  UN climate pact in 2015, the “pace of change is not fast enough” said the report, released every year ahead of the two-day World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

What is the WEF?
It’s an annual talking-shop for 3,000 delegates who include world leaders, business executives and the media to discuss how the global economy is shaping up. Held in a swanky skiing resort, it’s famous for its parties, huge egos and conspicuous wealth on show. But it does attract big hitters: this year China’s president Xi Jinping, US vice president Joe Biden, secretary of state John Kerry and a member of the Trump transition team will attend.

Changing weather patterns and a lack of access to clean water could “trigger or exacerbate societal risks such as domestic or regional conflict and involuntary migration,” it added.

“The World Bank forecasts that water stress could cause extreme societal stress in regions such as the Middle East and the Sahel, where the economic impact of water scarcity could put at risk 6% of GDP by 2050.

“The Bank also forecasts that water availability in cities could decline by as much as two thirds by 2050, as a result of climate change and competition from energy generation and agriculture.”

Extreme weather, water shortages, natural disasters and a failure to prepare for climate change top 2017 @wef risk study pic.twitter.com/XD3e6bgQoA

— Climate Home News (@ClimateHome) January 11, 2017

Underlining fears that climate change is already impacting countries, the report said global impacts from extreme weather are more likely than those from migration, terrorism or data theft.

And it pointed to legal action in the US, UK and Netherlands as evidence of a threat to governments who do not appreciate the risks linked to environmental degradation.

“With power and influence increasingly distributed, however, there is a growing recognition that the response to environmental risks cannot be delivered by international agencies and governments alone.

“It requires new approaches that take a wider ‘systems view’ of the interconnected challenges, and that involve a larger and more diverse set of actors.”

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The post WEF: environment dominates threats to global economy appeared first on Climate Home News.

By Ed King

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon says he finds the lack of focus on investments green infrastructure among world leaders “troubling”.

Speaking at a televised event at the World Economic Forum, Ban said forums like Davos and the G20 had failed to treat sustainable development seriously.

“We see this at the G20 and even here – we need to address this troubling disconnect,” he told a panel which included IMF chief Christine Lagarde and Rwanda president Paul Kagame.

“If we do not we will lock ourselves to bad long term investments which will make it impossible to hit the sustainable development goals and put ourselves at risk of costly climate change.”

Last year a panel including climate economist Lord Stern and former Mexico president Felipe Calderon reported US$ 90 trillion would be invested in infrastructure by 2030.

Without greater focus on greening financial flows from governments and business, the panel warned it was “near certain” that global temperatures would pass 2C, a level deemed dangerous by scientists.

Report: Climate still a niche issue at World Economic Forum 

Ban urged finance ministers to start ensuring that their domestic budgets allocated significant sums of capital to low carbon investments over the next three decades.

And he repeated his belief that countries will deliver a “robust climate change agreement” at a scheduled UN meeting in Paris at the end of 2015.

The UN’s chief impassioned plea came on the penultimate day of the annual summit, which attracts leaders from business, government and civil society to the Swiss resort.

Speaking at the same event, the chief executive of consumer goods multinational Unilever Paul Polman said economic growth was already being stifled because of climate change.

Polman – whose business reported a 2.7% downturn in sales for 2014 – said business leaders had a responsibility to declare their commitment to low carbon growth.

“We’ve been too long the silent majority – we have given the voice to the vocal minority,” he said.

The post Ban Ki-moon: Lack of focus on green investment “troubling” appeared first on Climate Home News.

By Sophie Yeo

Tackling climate change will take a show of unity similar to that seen in Paris following recent terrorist attacks, according to French president Francois Hollande.

“The fight against climate change is also a question of solidarity,” he said, speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos. “Without solidarity there will not be an effective answer from Paris.”

The French capital, where world leaders took part in an historic march to demonstrate their unity after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, will host the UN’s climate conference in December.

Heads of state and government are expected to gather to sign off a global agreement, designed to keep the world below 2C of warming.

Hollande, France’s first Socialist president to attend this annual gathering of the wealthy and powerful, highlighted that failure in Paris would have a disproportionate impact on the world’s poor.

“We are faced with a moral responsibility, a political responsibility, because a botched solution to a crisis might result in exacerbating the consequences of climate change,” he said.

Finance

But he pointed out that it was not just a question for politicians, and he urged business leaders to join a “Paris alliance against climate change” in order to finance the transition towards a green, low carbon economy.

“It is absolutely essential that the lifeblood of the world economy is fully involved in developing a response to climate change,” he said.

Hollande particularly emphasised the role of the private sector in raising the $100 billion a year by 2020 that developed countries have pledged towards helping the poor reduce their emissions and adapt to the changes that global warming will impose.

The French government has so far made one of the largest donations – $1 billion – to this Green Climate Fund, which just exceeded its $10 billion target for the end of 2014. But public funding will not be enough if the world is going to reach its much larger 2020 goal, said Hollande.

He promised a year of outreach between the government, NGOs and business ahead of the conference in December.

“I’ve come here to urge you to participate in this alliance. We need huge investments of capital,” he told a packed room of leading investors, businessmen and politicians.

“On the one hand you need to create a demand, capital ready to be invested; on the other hand the opportunities that would be part of this new green economy.”

Central to this will be a carbon price, which Hollande said was essential to creating the stability that investors need to start financing a cleaner world, and helping to overcome the doubt and instability created by the dramatic drop in the price of oil.

“You might say the drop in the oil price will be an impediment to the understanding of a gradual phasing out of fossil fuels, but if you ask me I think the opposite is the case,” he said.

“The drop in the oil price creates an opportunity for investment because what we can do is make the investments that are absolute essential in the energy transition.”

The post Hollande calls for global “solidarity” in fight against climate change appeared first on Climate Home News.

Christiana Figueres and COP20 president Manuel Pulgar Vidal led the UN talks in Lima (Pic: H.E. Mr. Sam K. Kutesa/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

The UN has invited countries to start submitting their contributions to the 2015 climate treaty.

Nations can upload their draft plans – known as “intended nationally determined contributions” – onto a website launched by the UN’s climate body on Thursday.

These will set out how governments plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, forming the backbone of a deal due to be signed off in Paris in December.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres stressed the importance of being able to adopt clear goals in the new agreement.

“If we don’t start this ball rolling we won’t get to a destination… but we need to know where we are going,” she said. “When I get in my bike or my car…I usually know where I am going.”

Report: EU plans diplomatic offensive ahead of Paris climate deal

So far, no countries have uploaded their contributions onto the site, but time is tight. Those who are “ready to do so” must present their strategies by the end of March. This is expected to include all major economies.

The information that must be contained in the contributions turned into one of the most controversial issues during the UN’s latest round of climate talks, held in December in Lima.

The idea is that each submission should be comparable, with each country bound to provide the same set of information.

Countries decided that this information should include time frames, the method of counting emissions and justification for why the proposal is fair and ambitious.

They may also choose to describe how they plan to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Comment: Seven stairs to Paris

The UN will prepare a report by 1 November outlining whether the contributions it receives are enough to keep global temperature rise below an internationally agreed threshold of 2C.

Also speaking yesterday from Davos, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who will chair the Paris conference, said that if the pledges put the world above this target, then there would be a “mechanism” to increase the level of ambition.

There have been some early indications of what targets may contain.

The EU is expected to base its contribution on a domestic pledge to reduce emissions “at least” 40% on 1990 levels by 2030. The US has said it will reduce emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, and China says it will peak its emissions by 2030.

Analysis: Modi to seek US backing for India clean energy

It is possible that India will announce new actions on climate change when US president Barack Obama visits the country next week.

All nations will have to write up their pledges in the knowledge that climate change is expected to get worse unless drastic action is taken to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

US federal agencies NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) announced last week that 2014 was the hottest year on record.

It confirmed a warming trend, with 14 out of the 15 hottest years occurring since 2000.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon encouraged countries to come forward quickly with their contributions.

He said: “I encourage all of you to offer new commitments and a race to the top. Show the world it’s not just the right thing to do, but also a smart choice.”

The post UN ready to receive national climate plans for 2015 deal appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: World Economic Forum/Flickr)

By Ed King 

For a week every January, the small Swiss town of Davos is home to the world’s rich and powerful.

An estimated 2,500 head to the World Economic Forum each year, made up of chief executives, government officials, diplomats and a few heads of state.

It’s branded as the Glastonbury of networking festivals, a chance to influence global policymaking, exchange ideas and build contacts.

And it can offer a clue on how seriously big business is taking certain issues. For the past few years the global financial crisis has dominated the halls and corridors.

This year, says World Bank climate chief Rachel Kyte, talks on Ukraine, Russia, oil prices, Middle East security concerns and – yes – the embers of the financial crisis, are dominating.

“In terms of the sense of urgency there’s a lot crowding in on people’s minds,” she says in an interview from Davos.

It can be hard for an issue like climate change – however existential – to break into the “tracks” of debate that determine what is discussed by delegates.

That’s not to say it’s being ignored.

A strand of high-level discussions on climate risk and low carbon growth are happening daily, involving the likes of Al Gore, Richard Branson, Unilever chief Paul Polman and musician Pharrell Williams.

Paris deal

The question is: are WEF attendees taking the issue seriously?

It is an important consideration, given over 190 countries are scheduled to sign off on a UN agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Paris later this year.

“The challenge here is to really have climate understood as a systemic risk across all the different tracks – and I don’t think we’re there yet,” says Kyte.

There are “multiple” conversations about the impact of low oil prices, the need to tax pollution, and she believes most CEOs are aware of the risks posed to supply chains.

But so far these strands are not pulling together in an over-arching debate on the trajectory of the world economy: “Davos has not found a solution to silos,” Kyte says.

@rtcc_edking all of the above but no doubt that a serious effort to focus on climate this year is present, visible and mobilised.

— James Cameron (@Jamesogradycam) January 22, 2015

Some panels do brush upon the impacts of a climate deal.

On Wednesday, an oil and energy presentation saw the head of Saudi Aramco admit he had met fellow fossil fuel chiefs for dinner to flesh out their response to a possible Paris deal later this year.

But he steered clear of offering any solutions to the audience, instead urging fellow producers to invest in new technologies to boost oil flows.

New enthusiasm

It’s a different story in the set of talks devoted to green and low carbon issues.

“The conversation is getting very nitty-gritty about need for better pricing, insurance industry pricing risk correctly, and the serial market failures that climate change is exposing,” says Kyte.

“Economists and financial heavy hitters are having conversations on this – that’s in a climate track which has gone from being just gurus to financial and economic leaders.”

In particular, industry leaders are starting to talk about carbon pricing with more enthusiasm.

Costing carbon is an issue that Kyte and the World Bank have pushed for the past year – and one that gained substantial support from over 1,000 businesses last September at a UN climate summit in New York.

Momentum seems to be growing – albeit slowly – and prices are unlikely to hit the US$220 that Stanford academics suggest is the true social cost of carbon pollution.

This month saw South Korea launch its carbon market, the Canadian state of Ontario release plans for a carbon price and former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers call for a small tax on oil and gas use.

“Business is really focusing on where it needs to show up and what it needs to say to support success [in Paris] this year, certainly on carbon pricing,” says Kyte.

Further announcements are expected on Friday, the designated ‘climate day’ in Davos.

Earlier this week UN climate chief Christiana Figueres told RTCC she will warn delegates of the dangers of investing in fossil fuels that cannot be burnt if the world is to limit global warming, known as the “carbon bubble” theory.

Clouded outcomes

But will this message resound across the whole meeting and infiltrate the minds of the 1,500 bosses of the planet’s top companies?

New ‘green’ leaders appear hard to spot for now. Instead it’s the seasoned veterans Polman, Branson, Al Gore and Lord Stern who are dominating the headlines.

It’s almost impossible to quantify the meeting’s impact. The beauty of Davos is that attendees are under no obligation to negotiate an agreed outcome. Everyone leaves looking good.

What the meeting does offer is a useful insight into how the world is run, which business leaders are pulling the strings, a sense of their priorities and how slow systemic change actually is.

One way of measuring this is by looking at the composition of delegates. They are predominantly from North America or Europe, white, and over 80% are men.

Power – and attitudes to the major challenges facing the planet – are still vested in a small proportion of the world’s population.

In that sense, this gathering is as much a forum for solutions as it is a looking glass on the problems facing society.

It’s a situation that has to change if climate change and other existential risks are going to be taken seriously, says Kyte.

“It’s noticeable they have not made progress in advancing the numbers of women who are here [in Davos]. It’s absurd,” she says.

“If you think you need diversity – this is a significant non-diverse gathering that will not be able to understand risk – based on science, and that’s a big question mark.”

The post Climate still seen as niche issue at World Economic Forum appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: WEF/Webcast)

By Ed King

Oil and gas industry leaders met for a private dinner on Tuesday evening at the World Economic Forum to discuss how they can rise to the challenge posed by climate change.

Saudi Aramco chief Khalid Falih revealed that senior executives had come together in Davos to chart a path forward for fossil fuel producers amid a backdrop of plunging oil prices.

Falih, whose company owns the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, acknowledged a planned global emissions cutting deal, set to be signed at in December 2015, was on the mind of major producers.

“We need to respond to climate change challenges and the climate regime we will face after the COP [UN climate talks],” he said at a WEF panel on Wednesday, focused on the “geo-economics of energy”.

COP stands for Conference of the Parties, the UN forum where over 190 countries will gather to negotiate the terms of any climate pact.

Zero net emissions

Some governments want the deal to set a 2050 date for a target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions, which would either require vast investment in carbon capture facilities or an end to burning oil, gas and coal.

Falih appeared to dismiss this proposal and suggested the industry would need to develop “50 to 60 billion barrels of oil capacity” in the coming decades.

He said “every” supplier would need to extend their capacity and confirmed reports that Saudi Aramco planned to invest in unconventional gas exploration in the Middle East.

But he admitted there would be less appetite for financially risky fossil fuel projects, which he said could cause longer term problems.

“Investment flows will be much more careful in the future. People will be careful before committing large sums of money in mega projects to the oil and gas industry,” he said.

We lose 5-6% of oil production unless we invest. Investment shouldn’t be scared away – Khalid Falih #futureinvest http://t.co/chhRWYvemc

— World Economic Forum (@Davos) January 21, 2015

“In the long term it’s a worry to my colleagues because we know we have to invest and we have to invest big to meet rising demand… we’re losing 5-6% amount of production unless we invest large amounts of capital.”

Upstream oil and gas investments could fall by 15% in the coming year, around US$ 100 billion, according to International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol.

Fellow panellist Arkady Dvorkovich, Russia’s deputy prime minister, predicted a strong future for oil and gas but admitted the new reality had forced domestic producers to scale back planning.

“We will not enter into projects which have huge risks,” he said.

Russia has lost around $2 billion in revenues for every dollar knocked off the oil price, and growth in 2015 could slump by as much as 0.7%, said the World Bank.

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Al Gore (Pic: Flickr/World Economic Forum)

By Megan Darby

Al Gore warned of climate change denial in the oil sector at a summit of business chiefs on Wednesday.

The former US vice president and climate campaigner flagged up the risks of “unburnable carbon” at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He became the latest in a long line of leading figures to warn most fossil fuels need to stay in the ground to combat dangerous climate change.

Gore said in a panel discussion: “I think it is just wishful thinking on part of oil company executives to say it’s all going to be burnt. It can’t be.

“Even if there was no government action look at the constraints of Mother Nature, look at coal burning in China – people are choking. It’s going to change.”

He added that oil companies “want to promote a variety of different forms of denial” in a bid to keep their businesses going.

REPORT: Carbon bubble is a reality, says UN climate chief

The remarks followed a call by more than 150 investors on BP and Shell to disclose their exposure to climate change risks.

The Church of England, local authority pension funds and charities filed a resolution urging the oil majors to check whether their business plans are compatible with a safe climate.

Specifically, that means exploring the impact of limiting temperature rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels – an internationally agreed goal – on their profitability.

A recent UCL study concluded a third of known oil reserves, along with half of gas and more than 80% of coal, were “unburnable” in the next forty years.

REPORT: Shell makes climate pitch as UN targets zero carbon planet

In the past, oil companies have played down the risks, casting doubt on the will or ability of politicians to curb growing demand for their product.

The investors, coordinated by ShareAction and ClientEarth, pressed the firms to reduce their emissions and divert funds into renewable energy.

Catherine Howarth, chief executive of ShareAction, said: “We welcome the leadership shown by this international list of investors in BP and Shell, in a crucial year for climate change decisions and diplomacy.

“Millions of pension savers worldwide will want their pension funds to vote in support, demonstrating true commitment to protecting their members from the risks of climate change. These resolutions put the global investment community to the test on climate change.”

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Pharrell Williams: “I am very happy and proud to be a part of this moment for our species.” (Pic: Screenshot, WEF webcast)

By Megan Darby

Pharrell Williams is to lead Live Earth concerts across all seven continents on 18 June, he revealed at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The platinum-selling musician behind smash hit Happy told business leaders in Davos “we are literally going to have humanity harmonised all at once”.

The gigs are expected to reach an audience of 2 billion people, both live and through worldwide broadcasts, and mobilise support for climate action.

Williams, who performed at 2007’s Live Earth concert in Rio, said he had been ridiculed by commentators who did not agree with the message.

But following a speech by Al Gore, Williams said: “After seeing such an incredible presentation and watching the news, I think you guys know how serious the global warming thing is.”

The purpose is “to have a billion voices saying: ‘climate action now,’” Gore chipped in. It is hoped this will build momentum for a strong global climate deal this December in Paris.

.@algore, @Pharrell & Kevin Wall have announced @LiveEarth #ClimateAction concerts in 7 continents, June 18 #WEF15 pic.twitter.com/xCEH8CcCKX

— Christiana Figueres (@CFigueres) January 21, 2015

There will be concerts in cities including Paris and New York, which last year saw the biggest ever climate march. A band has even been signed up to play in Antarctica.

Gore, a former US vice president turned climate campaigner, set the scene for this announcement with a series of images of the devastation climate change is wreaking and the opportunities to address it.

He highlighted the link between burning fossil fuels and extreme impacts, from the deadly Typhoon Haiyan to droughts leading to food riots.

On an upbeat note, Gore showed that renewable technology growth had outpaced predictions and many countries were introducing carbon prices.

“This is the year of climate,” he said. “The Paris negotiation is crucial. In order to secure its success, we need political will – but political will is a renewable resource.”

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Pic: UNFCCC

By Sophie Yeo

The idea that investors may lose money sunk into fossil fuel projects is no longer just a theory—according to to UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, it is now a reality.

Green groups have warned that huge reserves of oil, gas and coal are overvalued and could lead to a “carbon bubble”. This is because increasingly stringent climate policies will require around half of known fossil fuels to stay in the ground, instead of returning a profit to investors.

Many, including oil giant Exxon Mobil, have shrugged off the threat. But Figueres, who leads the UN’s climate body, said that low oil prices are already affecting the market.

“A lot of the stranded asset conversations we’ve been having for a long time are now coming true,” she told RTCC, speaking in an interview from the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

“Those expensive oil projects — deep sea, Arctic, tar sands — those are actually beginning to be taken off the table because of the low oil prices.”

Cancelled projects

Norwegian oil major Statoil, for instance, has handed back three exploration licenses on the west coast of Greenland, where the costs of drilling are high. The dramatic drop in oil prices — which have more than halved to $45 per barrel since June 2014 — renders these kinds of projects unviable, said Figueres.

Statoil is not alone. In December, Chevron delayed plans to drill in the Canadian Arctic, citing “economic uncertainty” as oil prices fall. Last week, Shell announced it was abandoning plans for a $6.5 billion petrochemical project with Qatar Petroleum, while the UK-based Premier Oil deferred projects off Norway and in the South Atlantic.

This is only the beginning of the troubles which loom ahead for the fossil fuel industry, warns the Carbon Tracker Initiative, the group which coined the term “carbon bubble”.

The group warns of “systemic risks” to investors as governments take action to curb fossil fuel emissions and accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy.

“If the 2C target is rigorously applied, then up to 80% of declared reserves owned by the world’s largest listed coal, oil and gas companies and their investors would be subject to impairment as these assets become stranded,” wrote the group in their report Unburnable Carbon.

The 2C target is the internationally agreed limit to global warming, after which the impacts become much more severe. This December, Figueres will lead negotiations in Paris aimed at stimulating the action needed to avoid this threshold.

Davos pressure

Figueres said that the threat of stranded assets will be a message that she takes to the world’s leading financiers and heads of state during a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

But she doubted that she will have been the only one there who has taken notice of the threat. If her expectations play out, it will be a sign that the carbon bubble notion has moved from the niche to the mainstream.

“When you begin to see very specific examples of a concept that was previously only a concept, I do think it’s going to be taken much more seriously on the part of investors,” she said, adding that she expected an “exciting conversation” on the impact that falling oil prices will have on the potential for investments in renewables.

Report: Oil majors face climate grilling at World Economic Forum

The stability offered by the clean tech industry should be a comfort to investors in the wake of oil’s evident volatility, she adds.

“That volatility in prices is one that incrementally and gradually makes investment in oil and gas more risky than investment in renewables, where it is very predictable what the upfront cost of infrastructure is, and then the price of fuel from then on is very predictable and certain.”

Meanwhile, she said that cheap oil offers a key opportunity to cut fossil fuel subsidies and invest accruing savings into renewable infrastructure.

Nonetheless, the immediate threat of stranded assets need not spell the end of the oil and gas industry, which can be part of the solution if they want to be, said Figures, pointing in particular to German utility E.ON which announced in November that it would split the company to focus on renewables.

She predicted: “That kind of a division is probably one that will be looked at by several other companies because they can see the demand — not just the supply — but the demand for fossil fuels is flattening out, and there is every day more demand for renewable energy because of the many benefits that it brings.”

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The annual World Economic Forum takes place in the small Swiss town of Davos (Pic: Flickr/moonstar909)

By Ed King

The chief executives of Saudi Aramco, Pemex and Total will face questions about their future in a warming world at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.

Crumbling oil prices and soaring greenhouse gas emissions feature heavily in the agenda for the annual event in the Swiss Alps, which attracts national leaders, heads of business and civil society representatives.

According to the WEF, the fossil fuel chiefs will be joined by Abdalla Salem El Badri, head of the OPEC oil cartel and will discuss, among other issues, the impact of falling oil prices on climate change.

Speaking at the media launch of the meeting, Richard Samans, a former White House official who runs the WEF’s Global Agenda arm said the group had been asked by the French government to help drive momentum ahead of this year’s UN climate summit in Paris.

“Over the last several years we’ve been working closely with the UN and governments who have a stake in this issue to encourage specific economic and technology cooperation on matters that would make a difference with emissions,” he said.

The role of oil and gas producers in efforts to slow global warming has come under increased scrutiny in the last year.

A draft version of a global climate deal, due to be signed off in Paris at the end of 2015, includes references to a complete phase-out of fossil fuels by 2050.

Research from UK scientists published this month suggests a third of oil, half of gas and nearly all coal reserves will have to remain below ground if the world is to avoid dangerous temperature rises.

Private sector

Central to the 2015 WEF meeting are efforts to encourage business leaders to embrace low carbon energy sources and a “circular economy” – where resources are reused rather than binned.

According to a major economic study released last year and backed by seven governments, an estimated $90 trillion will be invested in infrastructure by 2030. How that money is spent will determine whether the world avoids dangerous levels of warming.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and former US vice president Al Gore are slated to explain to finance chiefs how they can encourage green investments.

@rtcc_edking @CFigueres This is the year to get prices right. Oil price slump brings opportunity and action on carbon pricing growing.

— Rachel Kyte (@rkyte365) January 16, 2015

Other delegates expected to participate in the climate debate include US secretary of state and climate hawk John Kerry, IMF chief Christine Lagarde and the World Bank’s climate envoy Rachel Kyte.

At last year’s summit World Bank president Jim Kim appealed to investors and fund managers to ditch some fossil fuel assets and embrace a global carbon price.

He also called on governments and business to back the nascent green bond market, suggesting it could grow to US$20 billion by September 2014. By the end of the year $36.6bn of bonds had been issued.

Earth under strain

Extreme weather events, environmental degradation and inter-state conflict dominated the WEF’s 2015 Global Risk report, according to 900 of its members surveyed in 2014.

Released this week, it warned governments and businesses were “woefully underprepared” for future extreme weather events linked to climate change.

Axel Lehmann, head of risk at the Zurich Insurance Group, which helped produce the report, said rapidly expanding city populations could face the brunt of climate impacts.

“When cities develop too rapidly, their vulnerability increases: pandemics; breakdowns of or attacks on power, water or transport systems; and the effects of climate change are all major threats,” he said.

A separate study, which will also be presented at Davos, warned that humans have pushed the planet’s ecosystems to breaking point.

Four of the nine so-called environmental boundaries have been pushed beyond their limits, said scientists in the research, published in the journal Science.

Climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change and altered biogeochemical cycles could all push the Earth into a “new state” they said.

Global levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have soared past the 350 parts per million (ppm) “safe” level. In December, the measurement was 399ppm.

“Our analysis suggests that, even if successful, reaching this target contains significant risks for societies everywhere,” said co-author Professor Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

“Two degrees must therefore be seen not only as a necessary but also a minimum global climate target.”

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(Pic: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)

By Ed King

The head of one of the world’s most powerful financial institutions says governments and business should consider withdrawing funding from oil, gas and coal companies.

“Through policy reforms, we can divest and tax that which we don’t want, the carbon that threatens development gains over the last 20 years,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in an address at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland.

Jim added financial regulators should set this agenda by forcing companies to reveal their exposure to climate-related impacts. He said: “The so-called “long-term investors” must recognize their fiduciary responsibility to future pension holders who will be affected by decisions made today. Corporate leaders should not wait to act until market signals are right and national investment policies are in place.”

World Bank Group vice president and special envoy for climate change Rachel Kyte described his call as “prudent”. It is believed to be the first time he has publically backed moves to cut investments in industries responsible for releasing large quantities of climate warming gases into the atmosphere.

The remarks are significant and a sign the institution is “ratcheting up its position”, according to Craig Mackenzie, Head of Sustainability at Lloyds Banking Group.

He told RTCC: “The World Bank is one of the top five financial institutions, so for its leader to call for divestment and challenge the pension funds to think more widely about fiduciary duty and come up with another $30 billion of green bonds in the next 12 months…I’m not aware of that happening before from the head of the World Bank.”

Jim Kim call to double size of green bond market to $20bn by Sept leaders summit well received by financial leaders at #WEF14 Can be done.

— Rachel Kyte (@rkyte365) January 23, 2014

Under Jim’s tenure as President, the bank has steadily reduced its level of support for fossil fuel power stations in developing countries, announcing last year it would not back any new coal-fired energy plants “except in rare circumstances.”

Momentum and research into divestment from the fossil fuel sector has gathered pace in the past year. Greenpeace has warned of 14 ‘carbon bombs’ that could tip global warming off the scale if planned drilling and mining goes ahead.

HSBC says coal assets in Australia could see their value halved in the next 24 months, while the Carbon Tracker Initiative says $674 billion annual investments in oil, coal and gas are at risk because they cannot be used if governments agree an emissions reduction deal at a UN summit scheduled for December 2015.

James Leaton, head of research at Carbon Tracker, told RTCC Jim’s remarks demonstrate the need for investors and regulators to work harder at identifying the implications of tackling climate change, and review their long-term capital expenditure.

“Divestment can occur at several levels – investors avoiding high cost, high carbon activities (eg coal or tarsands), or fund managers adjusting the weightings in their portfolios, or companies cancelling capital expenditure or selling off assets,” he said. “All of these are responses that reflect the direction of travel needed to deliver a low carbon energy system.”

Jim’s statement is the latest in a series of warnings from senior intergovernmental and UN figures about the need to focus on climate change. Last week UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on governments to deliver their plans to reduce climate-warming gases to him by September, ahead of a world leaders’ climate summit he has planned in New York.

Two weeks ago UN climate chief Christiana Figueres told a meeting of leading investors they could be breaking the law if they fail to embed climate risk analysis in their long term planning.

“Investment decisions need to reflect the clear scientific evidence, and fiduciary responsibility needs to grasp the intergenerational reality: namely that unchecked climate change has the potential to impact and eventually devastate the lives, livelihoods and savings of many, now and well into the future,” she said.

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(Pic: WEF)

By Ed King

The levels of public and political agreement that climate change needs to be addressed are higher than ever before, Al Gore told delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Speaking on a panel that included UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Unilever boss Paul Polman and Bill Gates, the former US Vice President argued that extreme weather events like typhoon Haiyan and superstorm Sandy were driving awareness around the world.

“I think that is a gamechanger. It comes about, of course, because we continue to put 90 million tonnes of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every day, as if it’s an open sewer.” He added: “We’re getting closer to a political tipping point”.

Friday in Davos was labelled ‘climate day’, a chance for political leaders, industry executives and the heads of intergovernmental organisations like the World Bank to explain how and why they seen climate change being addressed.

2014 has added significance because Ban Ki-moon has scheduled a climate summit in September, inviting leaders from politics, business and civil society to explain how they can contribute to a UN-sponsored carbon emissions reduction deal slated for 2015.

.@UN #SecGen Ban at #wef14: “Political leaders, please come to my September #climate summit with a decisive vision for the future” @Davos

— Christiana Figueres (@CFigueres) January 24, 2014

Unilever’s Polman told the audience the challenges posed by global warming were a “unique opportunity to rally the business community,” suggesting that recent extreme weather events were now making the costs of not investing in climate resilient supply chains and low carbon energy “higher than the costs of not doing the investment.”

Gates called on governments and business to reverse a decline in investment in research and development, warning that energy use was likely to soar in Africa and Asia. “As the poorest are being lifted up, as they’re getting lights and refrigerators, we are going to use more energy. There’s not a scenario here where we use less energy. We have to make the energy we use not emit any greenhouse gases, particularly CO2.”

Speaking from Davos, British solar entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett told RTCC climate change had been taken far more seriously at this year’s event than in previous years. “My experience both in sessions and conversations [at the event] is that the great majority of people take it as a real dynamic that needs to be acted on,” he said.

The Solarcentury chairman also sits on the board of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, aimed at highlighting the financial risk of backing fossil fuels that would drive the planet’s temperature above 2C. After a series of what he described as “private meetings with senior people” on Friday, Leggett said he was confident investors would start to take action: “I predict we will see a lot of action around this during the course of the next year. And that is something that stands to help getting a good climate outcome in 2015,” he said.

Trade and waste initiatives

Minutes before Gore, Gates and Polman started speaking, a coalition of multinational businesses including Philips, Kingfisher, Veolia, DSM and Indorama launched a drive to save US$ 500 million in materials and prevent 100 million tonnes of waste globally.

Project Mainstream, the brainchild of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, aims to push leading manufacturers towards a ‘circular economy’, where products are reused once their lifespan comes to an end, rather than thrown away.

“We’re looking at three billion middle class consumers in the next few decades,” said MacArthur. “We need to shift the system to allow those resources to flow back into the system. If you remanufacture you actually take the energy use down to only 25% in a re-manufactured engine compared to a new one.”

Earlier in the day the US, EU, Japan and 10 other leading economies issued a statement outlining plans to cut trade barriers for the $1.4 trillion market in green goods and services.

This would cover areas as diverse as air pollution, managing waste, or generating renewable energy like wind or solar. In a statement the EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said this would benefit developing countries, who could gain better access to low carbon technologies.

“Today’s commitment is an important trade contribution towards addressing key environmental challenges as part of our broader, ambitious sustainable growth agenda,” he said.

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(Pic: World Water Week/Flickr)

Introducing a price for carbon and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies are two vital measures that can help the planet address climate change.

That’s the view of Angel Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a forum for 34 of the world’s most developed countries.

Addressing delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Gurria told leaders to “get to grips” with what he says it the “huge risk” posed by rising levels of carbon emissions.

“Most businesses do not take governments seriously when it comes to climate, primarily because many governments have inconsistent and incoherent policies and then often keep changing them, sometimes retroactively,” he said.

“This makes businesses reluctant to invest in greener technologies.”

Gurria presented the WEF with what he called an ‘action agenda’ (below) to reverse the trend  of rising levels of climate warming gases.

He added: “We are on a collision course with nature. Now is the time for us to take bold decisions. Cherry-picking a few easy measures will not do the trick.”

A plan for zero emissions

Action 1: Put a price on carbon. This can be done through a carbon tax or an emissions trading system (ETS). Here, governments have made important progress, with more than 40 countries having implemented some form of carbon tax or emission trading scheme. The “flexibility” of ETS’s makes them politically attractive, although their design and implementation can be improved.

However, not all governments have shied away from explicit carbon taxes. There are some strong success stories of introducing carbon taxes smoothly and incrementally over time.

Action 2: Reform fossil fuel subsidies. We have to reconsider our approach to subsidies. The OECD recently inventoried support to fossil fuel consumption and production in our Member Countries. The support we uncovered is in the range of US$ 55-90 billion per year. This is in addition to the US$ 544 billion provided as subsidies to fossil fuel consumers in developing and emerging economies estimated by the IEA.

Urgent reform is needed in all countries to phase out fossil fuel subsidies that encourage carbon emissions. While the subsidies are often used to fight poverty, their poor targeting makes them an inefficient way of achieving this goal. Fossil fuel already has a huge advantage as the energy resource of choice. It doesn’t need more help.

Action 3: Address incoherent and inconsistent policies. Governments need to stand back and consider the entire range of signals they are sending to consumers, producers and investors. A key question is whether non-fossil energy investments can currently compete with fossil fuels in terms of their risk-return profile with the policy settings in place domestically and internationally.

To help get a consistent picture and to compare country’ performances, carbon pricing and climate policies will soon be a key element of our OECD Economic Surveys. Thus, by mid-2015 we will have a good idea of the progress and remaining challenges in both OECD countries and key emerging economy partners.

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The Swiss town of Davos hosts next week’s World Economic Forum (Pic: WEF)

By Ed King

Women and the under 30s are more concerned about the potential impacts of climate change than men and older generations.

That’s one of the findings of a report published today by the World Economic Forum (WEF), a week ahead of its annual meeting in Davos.

It rates environmental crises linked to climate impacts in its top ten global risks of 2014, based on a survey of 700 global experts.

“Female respondents perceived almost all global risks as both more likely and more impactful than did males, especially in the environmental category,” the study says.

“Younger individuals gave higher scores for the impact of almost all of the risks, particularly environmental risks, such as water crises, greater incidence of natural catastrophes, the loss of biodiversity and greater incidence of extreme weather events.”

Extreme weather events and climate change both scored highly in the WEF’s analysis of the most likely and impactful risks over the next 10 years.

The report’s authors say this underlines the need for governments to agree on ways to urgently reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for rising global temperatures.

But they also suggest that a legally binding treaty on climate change may not be the best strategy for addressing the problem, arguing that simpler and regional agreements may be more effective.

“Such a heterogeneous and diverse intergovernmental and public-private response to the climate-change risk could offer more resilience and flexibility to the dynamic challenge of climate change than a homogenous, single global framework,” they say.

The report also warns against banking on adapting to climate impacts as a ‘Plan B’ if talks at the UN break down. It says this strategy is likely to hurt emerging markets and hit developing countries the hardest.

“According to the latest Notre Dame-Global Adaptation Index, it will take more than 100 years for the world’s poorest countries to reach the current adaptive capacity of higher-income OECD countries,” it says.

“The World Bank estimates the cost of climate change adaptation for developing countries at US$ 70-100 billion per year through to 2050.”

The organisers of next week’s meeting in Davos plan to dedicate a full day’s discussion to climate change, which is starting to rise up the agenda of political and business leaders ahead of next year’s scheduled UN climate agreement.

WEF Chief Economist Jennifer Blanke says today’s report underlines the importance of better forms of global governance, given the links between the world’s leading economies.

“Each risk considered in this report holds the potential for failure on a global scale; however, it is their interconnected nature that makes their negative implications so pronounced as together they can have an augmented effect,” she said.

“It is vitally important that stakeholders work together to address and adapt to the presence of global risks in our world today.”

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Obama gives his 2013 State of the Union address (Source: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

By Sophie Yeo

1 – Obama’s State of the Union address
On January 28, the world’s most powerful leader will have the attention of the largest audience he is likely to command all year. How President Barack Obama chooses to broach the subject of climate change in his 2014 State of the Union speech will set the tone and guide the actions of US attempts to tackle climate change over the coming year. “If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” Obama said in his 2013 speech – a promise which he fulfilled with his Climate Action Plan. This year is his chance to bring those seeds into bloom.

2 – European Union 2030 climate package
The EU’s 2020 climate goals – already practically achieved – are due to expire in six years, and this is the year the EU will decide how to replace them. The first draft of its 2030 package is due to be released on 22 January. It is expected to prove an emissions reduction target of anywhere between 35 and 45% – but will it also provide renewable energy and energy efficiency goals? Many, including Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, have spoken out in favour of their inclusion, though the UK is firmly in the opposite camp.

Belgium’s environment minister Melchior Wathelet told RTCC: “We have to make real investment, we have to make progress. That’s true in CO2 emissions, but especially maybe in energy efficiency because we know what we can do.”

3 – Greece takes on EU presidency
Greece, still plagued by its economic troubles, took on the presidency of the EU on New Year’s Day, which means Athens will chair high level EU meeting for the first half of 2014. While its financial position is already dominating headlines, the country is also planning on putting its unique slant on climate change policy, prioritising renewable energy and marine resources – or “blue growth”.

“In Greece, our most valuable asset is climate and nature… We do think Europe could be a leader in a low carbon economy if Europe and the neighbouring countries adapt even more and better strategies of renewable sources of energy,” Greek MP Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou told RTCC.

4 – World Economic Forum annual meeting
The World Economic Forum will have its annual meeting from the 22-25 January, with one full day dedicated to climate change. The forum aims to address the challenges posed by a rapidly shifting global system, including politics, economics, social issues and technology.

Christiana Figueres, chief of the UN’s climate change body, told RTCC: “They have chosen topics where they believe there can be transformational change, in particular in those areas that require the coordination or collaboration of both private and public sector. It’s asset owners that can truly make a difference and must make a difference where substantial capital is going to flow over the next 10-20 years.”

5 – World Future Energy Summit
The World Future Energy Summit will take place from the 20-22 January in Abu Dhabi, where world leaders, international policy makers, industry experts and more will gather to discuss renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean technology. In 2013 France President Francois Hollande told delegates the planet faced an environmental “catastrophe” if countries failed to invest in renewables.

Speakers this year include IEA director Maria van der Hoeven and World Energy Council president Marie-Jose Nadeau. As well as talks, an exhibition of the latest technology will see the launch of dozens of new renewable energy and energy efficiency products, including an electric plane.

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Writing in the first report of the World Economic Forum’s Green Growth Action Alliance (GGAA), Calderon warns that continuing today’s investment patterns would mean missing climate change targets and compromising sustainable development.

“Delivering such inclusive development in a sustainable way, however, requires that we remain within the boundaries of what our planet can safely deliver,” writes Calderon.

“Economic growth and sustainability are inter-dependent, you cannot have one without the other, and greening investment is the pre-requisite to realizing both goals.

With infrastructure investment for sectors such as agriculture, transport, energy and water at about $5tn a year till 2020, the scale of the required changes are huge.

The report cites the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy as one of the largest shifts required together with a transport revolution.

Felipe Calderon passed ambitious climate change legislation during his time in office. (Source: Flickr/World Economic Forum)

“This ‘business-as-usual’ investment will not lead to a stable future, however, unless it achieves environmental and sustainability goal,” said Calderon, who oversaw the creation of the GGAA when Mexico hosted the G20 meeting in 2012.

This development needs to be greened by re-evaluating investment priorities, building capacity, investment-grade policies and improving governance, among other activities.”

While in office, President Calderon passed ambitious climate change legislation including strict vehicle efficiency standards, that were recently relaxed following pressure from car manufacturers. the country is also investing heavily in public transport.

The report also calls for $700bn of additional investment in order to avoid the 2°C level of dangerous warming with renewables, forestry, energy efficiency and sustainable transport the recommended beneficiaries.

This figure is far beyond the annual $100bn goal by 2020, set by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which will become the main UN finance vehicle once it is operational.

According to the report, produced by consultancy Accenture, only around a fifth ($132bn) of the $700bn would need to be public money in order to stimulate this investment.

“Greening the economy is the only way to accommodate 9 billion people by 2050,” said Thomas Kerr, director of Climate Change Initiatives at the World Economic Forum.

“There are many successful cases where governments have strategically targeted their public funds to mobilize significant sums of private investment for green infrastructure. It’s time to scale up these proven solutions.”

The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland runs from January 23-27.

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The recession is making it harder to cope with climate change, increasing our vulnerability, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey.

The poll of 1000 experts, academics and industry leaders ahead of the annual meeting in Davos identifies the ongoing financial crunch, the potential for a global governance crisis, water scarcity and a failure to adapt to climate change among the key risks facing the world.

“These global risks are essentially a health warning regarding our most critical systems,” warned Lee Howell, the editor of the report and managing director at the WEF.

“National resilience to global risks needs to be a priority so that critical systems continue to function despite a major disturbance,” added Howell.

Continuing poor economic conditions are exacerbating environmental problems as governments struggle to find the money for necessary low carbon infrastructure and climate adaptation projects, both at home and abroad.

Bushfires, drought and tropical storms have challenged government’s ability to cope with the new normal. (Source: Flickr/Electricnerve)

A new system to address the financial burden of climate loss and damage was put on the table at the UN climate talks in Doha.

Rising greenhouse gases was the top concern in the environmental category last year – this year failed climate adaptation and urban planning strategies topped the bill, although the report does conclude that continued rises in greenhouse gases is the most likely of these threats to occur.

“With the growing cost of events like Superstorm Sandy, huge threats to island nations and coastal communities, and no resolution to greenhouse gas emissions, the writing is on the wall. It is time to act,” said Axel P. Lehmann, chief risk officer at Zurich Insurance Group.

Munich Re estimated the cost of natural disasters in 2012 at $160bn, underlining the potential cost of inaction.

The top societal risk for 2013 is a water supply crisis which leapt ahead of population growth – severe droughts in 2012 reduced crop yields significantly.

The US alone generated $20bn of losses from agriculture as a result. Brazil is currently facing an energy shortage after a hot summer saw hydropower reservoirs drained by heavy air conditioning use and dry weather fail to replenish them.

The first WEF Global Risk survey in 2007 gave climate change middle billing with civil wars, the collapse of China’s economic growth and price shocks for oil and other commodities more of a concern.

WEF 2013 Top Environmental Risks

Failure of climate change adaptation 26.2%

Rising greenhouse gases 17.2%

Mismanaged urbanisation 14.9%

Persistant extreme weather 9.5%

Land use and waterway mismanagement 9.3%

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