Published

3 years ago

November 5, 2023

Alice Rush

Pete Betts, a veteran British climate negotiator and one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, has died aged 64.

His 35-years-long career in the UK civil service, culminated in him taking on the role of the EU’s lead negotiator – at a time when the UK was still in the EU.

Widely praised for his ability to build bridges and challenge entrenched positions, Betts is credited by some as having laid the foundations of the Paris Agreement.

“He had a huge influence on international negotiations”, recalls Kaveh Guilanpour, who worked closely with Betts for nearly a decade. “If Pete had not been involved, it is questionable whether the Paris Agreement would have happened at all. He put in place the conditions to rescue the climate process at a critical time.”

Spain’s deputy prime minister Teresa Ribera, Germany’s deputy climate envoy Norbert Gorissen, the UK’s Cop26 president Alok Sharma and Belgian ambassador Claudia Salerno Caldera were among many tweeting tribues.

“One thing I do hope: I led the EU climate negotiating team for 6 years,including in Paris.I always served the EU loyally.I hope that the EU and the UK can be close partners.Somehow we need to build a new relationship”.
Pete Betts
Bye bye, dear friend
Txs for all.We’ll miss you

— Teresa Ribera (@Teresaribera) October 21, 2023

Bridging divisions

Betts’ behind-the-scenes efforts were credited with putting international climate diplomacy back on track after the disappointment of the Copenhagen Cop in 2009, when countries failed to agree on basic targets to cut emissions.

As disillusionment began setting in, a small group of negotiators, including Betts, set up the Cartagena Dialogue, a network designed to help developed and developing countries heal deep divisions on tricky issues.

The initiative became one of Betts’ proudest achievements, as he himself told the Outrage and Optimism podcast earlier this year.

So sorry to hear the news about Pete Betts, a masterful diplomat and relentless force for climate ambition.

Here is two pics from how I will remember him, in full flow at Paris with

⁦@AmberRuddUK⁩…. pic.twitter.com/hmcOmUc5Hk

— guynewey (@guynewey) October 23, 2023

“We didn’t always agree, but we trusted the other side enough to know that if they said something, it was because they had reasons to say it and you had to listen,” Betts said. “And when you did listen, it was amazing how often you found common ground. Either you ended up being convinced by the other side or you could find win-win solutions”.

Road to Paris

In the lead-up to the Paris agreement, Betts played a role in the creation of a group calling themselves the ‘High Ambition Coalition’, founded by the Marshall Islands in 2014 to make sure the Paris Agreement was as ambitious as possible.

When the gavel eventually came down the following year to mark the approval of the landmark treaty, Betts was in the EU negotiator’s seat.

V sad to learn about the passing of Pete Betts – who for many years led the UK and EU negotiations at the COPs.

My sympathies to Fiona and the rest of his family

It was a delight for me, personally, to hand him the #CBQuiz trophy in 2018 when he captained the winning quiz team https://t.co/ubNgqOsdgp

— Leo Hickman (@LeoHickman) October 23, 2023

“I’m approaching the age Pete was at the time of the Paris Agreement and I wonder where he got his energy from,” says Guilanpour. “He had a huge amount of energy. He was always asking “how can we do more?” – that was always the question. He never settled on assumptions on how things could be done.”

Betts also had a great and very famous sense of humour that livened up the marathon-long negotiations, Guilanpour added.

Post-civil service life

After leaving the civil service in 2018, Betts advised a range of international bodies including the International Energy Agency (IEA) as it produced its landmark net zero report.

The UK government called him back in 2021 as a strategic advisor helping prepare for Cop26 hosted in Glasgow.

Alok Sharma, president of that climate summit, tweeted on Monday that “Pete was a hugely experienced source of wide advice and a good friend of the Cop26 team”.

So very sorry to hear about the loss of Pete Betts – deepest condolences to his family

Pete was a hugely experienced source of wise advice and a good friend to the 🇬🇧 @COP26 Team

He will be hugely missed https://t.co/w8k5C4Dry4

— Sir Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) October 23, 2023

Betts was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2022 and was given 15 months to live.

“Pete was always asking: ‘How can we do more to fight climate change?’, even up to a few weeks ago, despite being unwell,” says Guilanpour. “We owe it to him to make sure that COP28 answers that question.”

The post Climate diplomats pay tribute to Pete Betts, EU negotiator who helped land Paris Agreement appeared first on Climate Home News.

Climate diplomats pay tribute to Pete Betts, EU negotiator who helped land Paris Agreement

Climate Change

Greenpeace’s Dutch Anti-SLAPP Case Against Oil Pipeline Giant Advances

Published

11 hours ago

June 21, 2026

Alice Rush

But a $345 million U.S. verdict against the environmental group hangs over the case.

By Dana Drugmand

A lawsuit filed by Greenpeace International against the U.S.-based fossil fuel company Energy Transfer in the Netherlands is moving forward after a Dutch court recently ruled in favor of the environmental organization in rejecting the company’s bid to toss out the case.

Greenpeace’s Dutch Anti-SLAPP Case Against Oil Pipeline Giant Advances

Climate Change

The Search for Super Reefs

Published

11 hours ago

June 21, 2026

Alice Rush

Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and oceans correspondent Teresa Tomassoni as they discuss the search for heat-resilient coral reefs that are somehow defying the odds to survive a warming planet.

By Teresa Tomassoni

The world has already lost more than half of its coral reefs, and most of what remains is at risk of disappearing in the next 25 years.

The Search for Super Reefs

Climate Change

DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations

Published

1 day ago

June 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.

This week

Bonn talks close

‘SIDE-STEPPING AND STALLING’: UN climate talks in Bonn have ended in “gridlock”, according to Climate Home News. The outlet reported on the failure to balance developing countries’ need for climate-adaptation finance with “richer nations’ desire to move forward” on emissions cuts. It added that both topics were subject to “rule 16”, meaning no agreement could be reached and work will be pushed to the COP31 summit in Turkey. Inside Climate News quoted UN climate executive secretary Simon Stiell, who said the talks had seen “side-stepping and stalling”.

JUST TRANSITION: One “glimmer of hope” came from negotiations on achieving a “just transition”, reported Euronews. The news outlet said negotiators “made headway on operationalising the Belém-Antalya mechanism”, intended to support people in the shift to a low-carbon economy. However, Politico concluded that much of the focus in Bonn had “shift[ed] to efforts outside diplomatic talks – raising questions about the future of global climate negotiations”.

‘ATTACKING SCIENCE’: Agence France-Presse reported on the EU, Switzerland and “dozens of developing nations” warning of “attacks on science” by a “small group of fossil-fuels interests” in Bonn. Table Briefings explained that “the 1.5C target is increasingly being challenged” and the role of the UN climate-science panel – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – in an upcoming assessment of global climate progress “remains controversial”. See Carbon Brief’s full write-up of the talks for more detail.

US-Iran deal

PRICE DROP: The US and Iran announced that they have reached an interim agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz, reported Bloomberg. Oil prices have fallen, as the “long-awaited deal” began the process of “eas[ing]” the global energy crisis triggered by the conflict, according to the New York Times. The Associated Press noted that high fuel prices will “likely outlast the Iran war”.

‘OIL GLUT’: The Financial Times reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a “glut of oil” emerging next year, if the peace deal holds. The IEA said this would allow countries to build new strategic reserves, as they “review their energy strategies and policies in response to the crisis”, according to Reuters.

‘NEW ERA’: Agence France-Presse reported that oil and gas companies have “few illusions about a return to normal for the Gulf energy industry after more than three months of blockage”. One analyst told the newswire that the war “showed the oil and gas industry that Hormuz risk is no longer just a geopolitical headline”.

Around the world

OCEAN MONITOR: The Trump administration is “abandoning its plan” to dismantle a $368m ocean monitoring system key for tracking climate change after a “bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill”, reported the New York Times.
CORAL HAVEN: The New York Times covered preliminary research, presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, suggesting there could be three times as many “coral refugia” – where corals are relatively safe from climate change – than previously thought.
BAD CREDIT: Down to Earth reported that the first carbon credits issued under the Paris Agreement’s new Article 6.4 mechanism are “facing scrutiny over alleged links to institutions controlled by Myanmar’s military junta”.
OIL BACKTRACK: Reuters reported that oil-and-gas company Equinor has dropped a renewable-energy target and scaled back clean investments, while another Reuters story noted that Shell is selling off its offshore wind assets.

1.1 billion

The number of children facing “at least three overlapping climate hazards”, according to a new Unicef report covered by Agence France-Presse.

Latest climate research

Including the “permafrost carbon-climate feedback” in climate models increases the chance of exceeding “tipping elements” – such as the Greenland ice sheets, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or Amazon rainforest – by up to 50% | Environmental Research Letters
The intensity of influenza outbreaks could decline in temperate regions, but increase in tropical areas over the next century, as the climate warms | PNAS Nexus
European snow cover has declined by 20% for December and January since the start of the industrial era, revealing an “unprecedented ongoing shrinkage of European winters” | Communications Earth & Environment

(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)

Captured

The more than 2m battery electric vehicles (BEVs), 1m “plug-in” hybrids (PHEVs) and 100,000 electric vans on UK roads are already saving drivers a total of around £3bn a year, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This amounts to savings of more than £1,100 a year in fuel costs for each BEV driver in the UK. The analysis comes amid reports in UK media this week that the government is considering “watering down” its EV sales targets.

Spotlight

Oceans rising at UN climate talks

The state of the world’s oceans is inextricably linked to the changing climate – and many delegates at UN climate talks want to see more focus on this issue, reports Carbon Brief.

Oceans are often described as the world’s “greatest ally” against climate change – absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and most of the heat generated by those emissions.

They are also the site of important climate solutions, such as huge offshore windfarms and the shipping industry’s transition to cleaner fuels.

At the same time, the oceans themselves present a growing danger to coastal communities and sea life due to sea level rise, marine heatwaves and ocean acidification.

These diverse issues have led to growing calls within the UN climate process for more focus on oceans. During climate negotiations this week in Bonn – known as SB64 – nations and civil society had a chance to air these views during an “ocean and climate change dialogue”.

‘Elevate action’

Oceans first entered UN climate outcomes in 2019, when the final COP25 negotiated text requested a new “dialogue” on “the ocean and climate change to consider how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action”.

The following years saw this dialogue established as an annual event. However, the political weight of these discussions has been limited.

COP31 is being co-led by Turkey and Australia, but with Pacific islands playing a supporting role. These small islands sometimes self-identify as “large ocean states”, stressing the ocean’s centrality in their societies.

In Bonn, figures from across the presidency threw their weight behind this issue. Chris Bowen, an Australian minister and incoming COP31 “president of negotiations”, told attendees:

“Australia, Turkey and the Pacific see an important opportunity to elevate ocean-based climate action.”

Ocean dialogue breakout group. Credit: IISD/ENB, Maja Schmidt-Thomé.

Strategies and finance

The two-day dialogue in Bonn involved a series of panels, statements and breakout groups.

One of the main topics was how oceans are integrated into national climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).

Three-quarters of the latest round of NDCs mention oceans, with conservation of “blue carbon” ecosystems the most frequently described action. (Landscapes such as mangroves can both absorb CO2 and protect coastal areas.)

Delegates also discussed alignment with the UN biodiversity process, as well as ocean finance, which currently makes up less than 1% of all climate finance.

(As discussions were taking place in Bonn, country officials also gathered in Mombasa, Kenya for the 11th Our Ocean Conference. Carbon Brief’s associate editor Giuliana Viglione attended the conference and will publish a full summary shortly.)

Developing countries were clear that many of the ocean-related actions in their NDCs would depend on receiving more financial support.

‘Political momentum’

With the backing of the COP31 presidency, delegates were hopeful about where this year’s dialogue could lead.

Charles Hamilton, an advisor for the Bahamas who spoke for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the dialogue, told Carbon Brief that island representatives “are not traveling thousands of miles to just talk and pat ourselves on the back”. He added:

“A dialogue that just remains a dialogue is just more talk – no action.”

Given that, he said “discussions in the dialogue must move into COP decisions and the decisions must be actioned”, noting the importance of finance.

Marina Corrêa, oceans lead at WWF-Brazil, pointed to an upcoming UN climate change Standing Committee on Finance forum as a space to ramp up pressure on ocean finance.

More broadly, she wanted to see the presidencies translate their support into a “leader-level ocean initiative” that could “mainstream” oceans across negotiations.

“We have a really interesting opportunity, in terms of political momentum,” Corrêa told Carbon Brief.

Watch, read, listen

‘HOTTER THAN HELL’: An episode of the BBC’s Rare Earth podcast titled “hotter than hell” considered the issue of extreme heat, with input from experts and “people facing up to the hottest temperatures on the planet”.

NOT BROKEN?: John Drake, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, wrote an essay for Aeon – also re-published as a Guardian “long read” – questioning the framing of ecosystems and climate systems “breaking down”.

ON COURSE: On his Volts podcast, US climate journalist David Roberts interviewed UK climate minister Katie White, quizzing her about whether the UK will “stay the course with its climate plans”.

Coming up

20-28 June: London climate action week
21 June: Colombia presidential runoff
24 June: UK Climate Change Committee progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to parliament

Pick of the jobs

Mongabay, managing editor – Africa | Salary: Unknown. Location: Global
Contexte, environment reporter – Brussels | Salary: €45,000-€60,000. Location: Brussels
Climate 200, communications director | Salary: Unknown. Location: Australia
Energy Tracker Asia, energy transition correspondent | Salary: $3,000-$4,000 per month. Location: South-east Asia (remote)

DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.

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