Published

1 year ago

December 24, 2024

Alice Rush

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

This week

COP29 fall-out

FINANCE DEAL: Developed nations agreed to help channel “at least” $300bn a year into developing countries by 2035 to support their efforts to deal with climate change, at the end of fractured talks at COP29 in Azerbaijan. The new climate-finance goal has left developing countries bitterly disappointed, with Nigeria branding it a “joke”. Developing countries had called for developed countries to raise $1.3tn a year.

FOSSIL FUELS: Countries also failed to reach an agreement on how the outcomes of last year’s “global stocktake”, including a key pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, should be taken forward – instead shunting the decision to COP30 next year in Brazil. They did find agreement on the remaining sections of Article 6 on carbon markets, meaning all elements of the Paris Agreement have been finalised nearly 10 years after it was signed. Read Carbon Brief’s in-depth summary of all of the key outcomes from COP29.

NATURE MISSING: Despite taking place just days after a major UN biodiversity summit, COP29 produced few new commitments on food, forests, land and nature. Countries managed to negotiate a text “reaffirming” the “importance of conserving, protecting and restoring nature”. However, countries failed to adopt it by the end of COP. See Carbon Brief’s separate article on key takeaways for food, forests, land and nature.

Around the world

JAPAN NDC: Japan has published its new UN climate pledge, or “nationally determined contribution” (NDC), aiming to cut emissions by 60% by 2035, compared to 2013 levels, NHK Japan reported.
EXXON PROBE: Reuters reported that the FBI in the US “has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor’s alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics”, including environmental activists. Exxon compared the allegations to “conspiracy theories”.
IRELAND ELECTION: Against the backdrop of Ireland’s general election today, Carbon Brief examined where each party stands on energy, climate change and nature.
ELECTRIC CROSSROAD: The UK government has announced it will hold a consultation on its electric vehicle sales mandate, after the closure of a car manufacturing plant sparked industry backlash, the Associated Press reported.
AFRICA EXTREMES: Landslides caused by heavy rains in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo left nine people dead, seven houses destroyed and 31 damaged, according to Reuters. Climate experts told the newswire that the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall in Africa is increasing due to climate change.

28 years

The length of time that the Greenland ice sheet has continuously lost ice, according to a guest post by climate scientists for Carbon Brief.

Latest climate research

Ten of 16 2026 FIFA World Cup sites in North America are at high risk of experiencing extreme heat stress conditions, according to Scientific Reports research.
Research in Science Advances found that deep ocean waters are becoming increasingly acidic because of rising CO2 levels, “exposing many organisms to corrosive conditions”.
China’s forests increased in size by 4m hectares a year from 2000-2015 and by 2m hectares a year from 2015-2022, according to a Geophysical Research Letters study.

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

Captured

A treaty could curb future plastics emissions

Countries are currently gathering in South Korea with the aim of agreeing a new legally binding pact for reducing plastic pollution. Plastics account for 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon Brief analysis found that, if negotiators fail to agree on such a treaty, plastics could take up half the remaining “carbon budget” for keeping temperatures to 1.5C (see “projected emissions” on the chart above). Conversely, if the world strikes an agreement to reduce plastic production by 40% by 2040, relative to 2025 levels – as proposed by Ottawa, Rwanda and Peru earlier this year – plastics would emit 52bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2050.

Spotlight

How Belém is preparing for COP30

With COP29 over, eyes are on Brazil as it races to prepare for the next annual round of climate talks.

Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was keen to hold COP30 near the Amazon, with the rainforest city of Belém chosen to host the summit from 10-21 November 2025.

However, media reports suggest the city of 2.5 million people is “plagued by pollution and violence” and, currently, does not have enough accommodation to host the expected 60,000 delegates. Organisers have said they are building new hotels and considering bringing in cruise ships to house attendees during the summit.

Carbon Brief interviewed two experts from Brazil: Dr Patricia Pinho, deputy science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM,) and Claudio Angelo, international policy coordinator at the NGO Observatório do Clima, to explore these challenges.

Carbon Brief: What is expected to be achieved at COP30 in Brazil?

Patrica Pinho: I think the expectations are huge. Brazil is right now defining who is going to be our [COP president]. We have a few names, including [minister of environment] Marina Silva. It’s always speculation.

In my view, [COP30 will have] four huge goals: phasing out fossil fuels, [taking forward] the global stocktake, the loss and damage funds, [and] the global goal of adaptation.

Claudio Angelo: What we inherited from Baku [was] the whole global stocktake decision, meaning the discussions were stalled and taken to the next COP. Also the mitigation work programme, the whole ambition debate, the roadmap to the 1.3tn.

What civil society would really like to see is the establishment of a process or a calendar for the phase-out of fossil fuels provided in the global stocktake decision.

CB: Brazil’s government expects 60,000 attendees at COP30. What are the main challenges that Brazil is facing to host the summit and how are they being addressed?

PP: I don’t think Belém, or any other city in the Brazilian Amazon has the capacity to host such a [large] number of people. [Many] people are already booking hotels to attend the COP. This is a challenge in terms of logistics, capacity, hotels. Belém is already working to improve that.

CA: Lula could [have chosen] between Belém and [Amazon city] Manaus. Manaus has a far better infrastructure, but, since the governor of the Amazon state is a Bolsonaro supporter, Lula picked Belém as the COP30 host city.

Belém still has huge infrastructure challenges. It is a task in the hands of the Brazilian government now to deliver on the promise.

CB: What do you think of proposals to move the venue or to accommodate attendees on cruise ships?

PP: There is a solution proposed by the government of Pará state to bring large ships to the Amazon River so people can stay there. We are witnessing severe droughts in the Amazon. If we have another severe drought next year, that will be affecting the water level of the river, and it will be a challenge to bring large ships to the shore.

There was also a question on whether or not [to] have negotiators in Rio [and civil society in] Belém, but this will not work. [Carbon Brief understands that a final decision has not yet been taken on whether COP30 will, in its entirety, be located in Belém, or shared with another Brazilian city with more hotel capacity.]

CB: What could COP30 deliver to the world, besides negotiations outcomes?

PP: One of the outcomes of the COP [could be] the visibility of people, of the challenges we face and, hopefully, a mind shift of paradigms to protect the forests and people and have a resilient future.

CA: What I would like to see as a legacy of Belém is a repeated reliance on the multilateral system as a way to solve the climate crisis.

Watch, read, listen

AFRICA REACTION: BBC Africa Daily addressed the reactions of African negotiators to the COP29 finance outcome, featuring an interview with Adonia Ayebare, Uganda’s ambassador to the UN and a former lead negotiator for the largest country bloc at COP, G77.

PLASTICS FIGHT: Leaked documents revealed by the New York Times suggested that major plastics companies are waging a social-media battle “to win over” youth concerned about the environment.
TOAST TO ADAPTATION: An ABC News video explored how wine farmers in Australia have adapted to climate change by cultivating new grape varieties.

Coming up

25 November-1 December: Fifth session of negotiations for an international plastics treaty (INC 5), Busan, South Korea
2-13 December: UN Desertification Conference, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2-13 December:International Court of Justice hearings on the obligations of states in respect of climate change, The Hague, Netherlands

Pick of the jobs

Salud sin Daño, climate programme manager for Latin America | Salary: Unknown. Location: Remote
Climate Action Network International, coordinator, platform of action for renewable energy | Salary: €42,000-€48,000. Location: Unknown
European Environment Agency, expert in communications | Salary: Unknown. Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

The post DeBriefed 29 November 2024: COP29 disappoints developing countries; Plastics treaty talks; Brazil’s rocky road to COP30 appeared first on Carbon Brief.

DeBriefed 29 November 2024: COP29 disappoints developing countries; Plastics treaty talks; Brazil’s rocky road to COP30

Climate Change

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

Published

7 hours 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.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

The post DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations appeared first on Carbon Brief.

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

Climate Change

Planning For Life After Coal Cost a Montana County Commissioner His Seat

Published

7 hours ago

June 20, 2026

Alice Rush

The fiscal future of Musselshell County is uncertain after the coal mine that anchors its economy helped defeat the official working to diversify the area’s revenue streams.

By Jake Bolster

Robert Pancratz couldn’t believe it.

Planning For Life After Coal Cost a Montana County Commissioner His Seat

Climate Change

El Niño Is Here and Will Have ‘Big Consequences’ for Global Weather

Published

8 hours ago

June 20, 2026

Alice Rush

A deep pool of warm water that forms in the Western Pacific could bring strong storms to Southern California and throughout the South while increasing the risks of Western wildfires.

Interview by Jenni Doering, Living on Earth

From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Jenni Doering with author Kevin Trenberth.