- Formal negotiations
- Finance
- Global review
- Global report
- Digital sequence information
- Harmful subsidies
- Marine biodiversity
- Planning, monitoring, reporting and review
- Article 8(j) implementation
- Biodiversity and climate change
- Links with other bodies
- Around the COP
- Armenian presidency
- Protests
- Lobbying and influence
- Carbon and biodiversity markets
Katherine Quinn is policy lead at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
BP has ditched its pledge to curb oil production by 2030 – a plan that was once the most ambitious in the industry – switching instead to developing more fossil fuels in the Middle East.
The new approach means we’ll see 2 million more barrels of oil per day by the end of this decade, Reuters reported earlier this month.
You might think the energy giant would be lambasted for the decision, but BP shares jumped following the news. Insiders confirmed the move was designed to “regain investor confidence”.
Shell also weakened its 2030 carbon reduction target earlier this year, selling renewable assets by divesting its leases for developing floating wind farms off the coast of Scotland, among others.
Now it is doubling down on natural gas – another fossil fuel which it keeps trying to tell us is ‘clean’, even though burning and extracting it releases carbon dioxide, methane and particulate matter.
It’s a bit like that classic meme from the Princess Bride, when Inigo Montoya says, ‘You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’
Climate advocates have long urged for humans to care more about the Earth we inhabit – even in the face of sceptics – hoping that common sense would prevail.
But it’s only recently that market conditions are starting to make fossil fuels less profitable. Last year’s COP28 UN climate conference marked the ‘beginning of the end’ of the fossil fuel era – with a phase-down agreement, although it could have gone a lot further.
Fossil fuels still king
Closer to home, the UK closed its last coal-fired power plant at the start of this month. But there’s no denying that fossil fuels still dominate our planet. In 2023, they accounted for 81.5% of the global energy mix.
Managing climate change holistically is a marathon – not a sprint – and we need to get in the right headspace for the long run. In fact, we need to run like our lives depend on it, because they do.
Despite solar surge, world off track for COP28 renewable energy target
We’re already seeing extreme weather that is both more intense and more frequent than many of the predictions of climate science. Just look at recent floods, wildfires and droughts in Austria, Myanmar, Poland, Germany, Australia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nigeria. We saw the catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in the US. And that’s just in the last month.
Things are so dire that meteorologists are crying as they report the weather.
So how do we shift the wider economy to change at the pace we need it? We need to accept that businesses and investors are primarily driven by financial returns. Many CEOs are prone to saying, “you get what you incentivise”.
Change through legal reform
You get what you incentivise – and you also get what you mandate. Introducing strong policies to accelerate the implementation of renewables, coupled with the rapid, legally implemented phase-out of fossil fuels, may be our best hope for ensuring global warming doesn’t rocket off the charts.
We must get this message across. The new model of ‘competitive sustainability’ is one way.
Forward-thinking businesses – those that get the reality of climate change – need to support changes in the market, while at the same time they compete to be the greenest. That way they can help prompt the changes needed, get ahead of upcoming regulations and mitigate a set of huge risks they won’t be able to avoid.
Climate godfather Al Gore was shouting about this as early as 2008, when he told business leaders gathered in Davos that beyond individual actions, “it is far more important to change the laws and to change the treaty obligations that nations have”.
The Global South is surging ahead in the renewables revolution
We need law reform that is simultaneously widespread and targeted. At the international level, we need strong treaty language on renewables. We need to look at agreements and commitments around investor protection and make sure they can’t be weaponised unreasonably to protect an unsustainable status quo at the cost of a green future.
At both national and subnational levels, we need to expedite permitting and grid access, phase out fossil fuel subsidies and redirect money towards clean fuels. Across the board, a legal framework is also crucial to ensure that climate, nature and human rights are embedded in environmental impact assessments.
We need carrots, but we also need sticks.
Instead of clobbering those lagging behind on climate action, we’re throwing protestors in jail for (often peacefully) raising awareness of the gravity of this crisis. Meanwhile, the majority of nations still financially incentivise oil and gas through record high fossil fuel subsidies.
Things need to change – and fast. Only by holding fossil fuel companies accountable and demanding urgent climate action can we secure a liveable future for generations to come – because the cost of inaction is far greater than the price of change.
The post Why we need new laws to end coal, oil and gas – now appeared first on Climate Home News.
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Prepared by a coalition of nine Western Australian union, industry, conservation, and community organisations—including UnionsWA, the Conservation Council WA, and the Smart Energy Council—the WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan provides a practical roadmap to transform Western Australia into a clean energy powerhouse while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
Western Australia stands at a pivotal crossroads: lead the global clean energy economy or watch investment, future industries, and secure jobs go elsewhere. The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan outlines a transformative blueprint to harness the state’s world-class solar and wind resources. Discover how legislated renewable targets, green iron manufacturing, and a dedicated regional training strategy can generate tens of thousands of local jobs, lower household bills, and build a resilient, net-zero future for all Western Australians.
WA needs a clear and forward-thinking plan if it is going to become a competitive renewable energy powerhouse and maintain its economic strength through the energy transition.
“Western Australians know a faster renewable energy transition will lower their household expenses and prevent harmful climate pollution. But the community also needs clear direction to ensure this transition will create jobs, lower costs and not cause undue environmental harm.
“Here, sectors representing a broad range of interests have laid the groundwork for those outcomes, clearly outlining what is needed to create a future for WA that is good for the environment, for the climate, for workers and for the economy.
Summary
The WA Clean Energy, Jobs & Industry Plan sets out a strategic roadmap to position Western Australia as a global clean energy superpower while creating thousands of secure local jobs.
The report establishes three overarching goals:
- Creating local employment.
- Maintaining industrial competitiveness.
- Lowering household energy costs
To realize this vision, the framework details actionable measures to follow on from the recent WA Government announcement of a 75% Renewable Energy Target by 2031 for the South West Interconnected System. This includes developing a statewide Renewable Energy Target, coordinating statewide workforce and training pipelines, strategically planning regional infrastructure to safeguard high-value biodiversity and cultural heritage, and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing through household electrification incentives and First Nations equity partnerships. Ultimately, the plan highlights that establishing clear policy and regulatory certainty will unlock lower energy bills, boost power reliability, and secure the state’s global competitiveness in emerging green commodity export markets.
Key Findings
- Statewide Renewable Energy Target and Emissions Reduction Targets: The report calls for a statewide RET and 1.5°C aligned emission reduction targets to remove policy risk, lower capital costs, and attract clean energy investment.
- Transformative Job Creation: Accelerating the transition offers massive employment prospects, including up to 8,800 solar and battery jobs by 2050, as well as 24,000 ongoing and 11,000 construction jobs in a commercial green iron industry.
- Industrial Electrification & Competitiveness: Requiring large gas users to adopt binding electrification timetables and providing concessional financing will protect existing energy-intensive manufacturers from rising energy costs and impending domestic gas shortfalls.
- Green Commodity Export Leadership: Western Australia can build new export markets in green iron, green ammonia, and offshore oil/gas decommissioning by constructing shared common-user infrastructure and setting dedicated Green Commodity Export Targets.
- Coordinated Workforce & Training Pipeline: To address critical skill shortages the plan recommends establishing a WA Clean Energy Jobs Plan 2050, three regional training hubs, and dedicated pathways for female and under-represented apprentices.
- Environmental Safeguards & Community Benefits: Fast-tracked development must be paired with State Planning Policies that avoid high-biodiversity and cultural heritage lands, mandate new data centres to run on additional renewable power, and deliver household electrification rebates and First Nations equity partnerships.
What you can do
WA has an opportunity to lead on sustainable, clean energy and associated industries. You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
Countries have completed the first “global review” of their progress towards reversing nature loss by 2030 at the COP17 biodiversity talks in Yerevan, Armenia.
The review “notes with deep concern” that, unless action is “rapidly accelerated”, the goal to reverse nature loss and meet a set of 23 targets by 2030 “will not be achieved”.
It “urges” countries to accelerate action, including by “increased ambition in addressing the gaps”.
Much of the discussions in Yerevan focused on how to raise the necessary funds to help developing countries protect nature.
Some major economies pushed to expand the range of nations that are expected to provide finance, with countries agreeing at the end of the two weeks of talks that non-donors that want to contribute can “signal interest” before COP18.
This came after developed countries failed to meet a target to significantly ramp up nature finance over the last few years.
It also came as a landmark fund agreed at COP16 in Colombia to pay communities for the genetic resources derived from nature stands nearly empty two years on.
The Yerevan talks marked the halfway point of the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), the “Paris Agreement for nature” first made in 2022 and due to be achieved by 2030.
During the nearly 12-hour-long final plenary, countries voted for Quito, Ecuador, to host the COP18 nature talks, which will be held in 2028.
Countries managed to sign off on all the major negotiation texts, marking a stark contrast to COP16, which ran so far over time that the Colombian presidency lost “quorum”, forcing talks to resume in Rome months later.
Below, Carbon Brief has detailed analysis of all of the key outcomes from COP17.
Formal negotiations
Finance
Finance, predictably, was at the heart of the discord and deadlock at the Yerevan talks.
At COP17, discussions on finance had to achieve several outcomes.
The first part – to take stock of biodiversity finance mobilised so far to meet the nature deal’s goals – fell under the global review.
As the global report noted, developed countries failed to meet their commitments to raise “at least $20bn a year by 2025” for nature. Delegates pointed to falling aid levels and a sharp 27% decline in environmental funding for the 2026-30 period.
The second part was to agree on how to mobilise resources for the next four years, to meet the GBF’s goals and targets.
Calls to “broaden the contributor base” of who pays to protect nature – and whether that should include emerging economies – became the most fraught element of the talks.
Eventually, countries agreed on what Switzerland described as a “super, mega-delicate” text. It hinged on major “political compromises”, with “no major winner or loser”, according to Kenya.
Per the decision, countries that want to be included on a list of developed country donors can “signal interest” through bilateral, confidential consultations before COP18 and every alternate COP after.
Finally, countries also agreed on