The World Trade Organisation launched its Trade Policy Tools for Climate Action during the COP28 conference. International economic law expert Olabisi D. Akinkugbe discusses whether the new Trade Policy Tools benefit Africa. What are the WTO’s new Trade Policy Tools? The new tools offer opportunities for countries to mitigate the climate change effect of their trade practices....
A recent opinion poll rocked the world of the Big Oil lobbyists in their proverbial thousand-dollar suits and alligator shoes. The Pew Research Center found that 37% of Americans now feel that fighting the climate crisis should be the number one priority of President Joe Biden and Congress, and another 34% put it among their highest priorities,...
The individuals who spoke to DeSmog said they were ‘deeply disappointed’ by the summit and had not fully understood the relationship between UAE and the organisers. Social media influencers were paid to boost the UAE’s climate credentials in and around COP28 in what appears to be a coordinated PR effort by the oil-dependent host nation,...
Our second series investigates the rise and fall of a Dubai-based super cartel. The Financial Times’ award-winning podcast series Hot Money is back. In this series our reporter Miles Johnson investigates a mysterious murder in a small town that leads to a web of drugs, money laundering and state-sponsored assassinations stretching from Dublin to Dubai....
WASHINGTON—Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) led a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken today seeking additional information about U.S. strategies for atrocity prevention and justice in Sudan. The signers specifically ask the status of the Department’s efforts to make atrocity determinations and its impact on U.S. policy. The letter is...
Certain conditions, such as pre-existing armed conflict, latent conflicts and conditions that predispose the population to armed conflict are necessary for climate change to increase the risk or probability of armed conflict. Climate change is the latest entrant to the long list of challenges that have strained Africa’s peace and security architecture (APSA). Other challenges...
The desert dust of Dubai is slowly settling as we reflect on the outcomes of COP28 in the United Arab Emirates. What does the “Dubai Consensus” actually mean for Pacific Small Island Developing States and the communities that they represent? The fact that the so-called consensus was gavelled before AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island...
COP28 was a success—but only if we’re grading on a very lenient curve. The United Nations’ climate summit known as COP28 concluded last Wednesday in Dubai, and the results represented a landmark—only observers can’t seem to decide if it was good or bad. President of COP28, Emirati official, and UAE state oil concern chief Sultan Al-Jaber was...
‘Climate anxiety’ has gained increasing traction in the media, but the relationship between climate change and mental health is a relatively new study, especially in higher education. According to a new report from Student Minds, the UK’s student mental health charity, the impact of the climate crisis on students’ mental health and wellbeing is significant. The...
Its government seems eager to exacerbate problems, only then to present itself as a reasonable arbiter. It is a fireman-arsonist. Who in their right mind would support Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the camel-trading Sudanese general who rose through the ranks during the genocide in Darfur? What kind of government would provide arms to his Rapid Support...