In a strategic move, the first shipment of Russian oil arrived in Karachi, after undergoing refining at an Indian refinery in Gujarat. To address sensitivities, the oil was transported via the United Arab Emirates, keeping in mind Islamabad’s concerns. Moscow’s approach serves two purposes. Firstly, it safeguards India’s relationship by avoiding any concerns over the...
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Climate change: UN to unmask fossil fuel lobbyists at climate talks
Oil, gas and coal representatives will have to disclose their industry ties at future climate meetings, the UN says. For years, fossil fuel employees have been able to attend without having to be clear about their relationship with their companies. Last year, over 600 industry participants were able to enter the COP27 meeting in Egypt....
Wheat output in Africa and South Asia will suffer severely from climate change by 2050, modelling study shows
The wheat simulation models employed — CROPSIM-CERES, CROPSIM, and Nwheat within the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer, DSSAT v.4.6 — have been widely used to study diverse cropping systems around the world, according to Pequeno. “The DSSAT models simulated the elevated CO2 stimulus on wheat growth, when N is not limiting,” he said. “Our...
COP28 progress threatened by climate finance blame game at U.N. talks
BARCELONA – As Cyclone Biparjoy approached southern Pakistan this week, top Pakistani negotiator Nabeel Munir told governments at midyear U.N. climate talks in Bonn that it felt like he was “conducting a primary school class,” amid squabbling over the meeting agenda. The evening before the two-week negotiations were due to end in the German city on...
Climate talks ahead of COP28 conclude with disappointment
BERLIN – Diplomats pushing for stronger climate action walked away from a two-week preparatory meeting for COP28 climate summit disappointed by inter-country bickering and what some said was a lack of ambition from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 2023’s host nation. Negotiators from Europe and climate-vulnerable nations were looking for two things at the Bonn...
Time is running out for the UAE to save its COP28
The world cannot afford this year’s climate summit to be a washout The United Arab Emirates is not the first petrostate to host a UN climate COP conference, nor the first authoritarian regime. Sultan al-Jaber, the oil executive it has picked to be president of this year’s COP28 meeting in Dubai, is likewise not the...
Divisions deepen at Bonn climate talks amid UAE leadership vacuum
BONN, Germany — This was supposed to be the United Arab Emirates’ chance to prove its critics wrong. The host of this year’s COP28 climate summit was under pressure to set out a clear vision at preparatory talks held at the United Nations HQ in Bonn amid growing unease over the petrostate’s fossil fuel interests. But...
Battle Lines Harden Over Big Oil’s Role at Climate Talks in Dubai
Battle Lines Harden Over Big Oil’s Role at Climate Talks in Dubai. Sultan al-Jaber leads the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company as well as the COP28 climate talks coming this November. An unavoidable tension surrounds this year’s United Nations-sponsored climate talks in November: They will take place in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, and the...
Ocean temperatures are off the charts, and El Niño is only partly to blame
In a world of worsening climate extremes, a single red line has caught many people’s attention. The line, which charts sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean, went viral over the weekend for its startling display of unprecedented warming—nearly 2 degrees (1.09 Celsius) above the mean dating back to 1982, the earliest year with comparable...
Greta Thunberg: not phasing out fossil fuels is ‘death sentence’ for world’s poor
Climate activist says only ‘rapid and equitable’ phaseout will keep temperatures within 1.5C limit Rich countries are signing a “death sentence” for millions of poor people around the world by failing to phase out fossil fuels, the climate activist Greta Thunberg has told governments. She warned on Tuesday that with annual greenhouse gas emissions at an all-time high,...