Responding to a pledge by the hosts of the COP28 climate meeting to make ‘space available for climate activists to assemble peacefully and make their voices heard’, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “The fact that the hosts of this crucial climate meeting felt the need to...
Tag: Cop28
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COP28: Don’t believe ADNOC’s spin over its new climate commitments
At the beginning of 2000s, as concerns about climate change grew, some of the biggest oil companies began to modify their climate change public relations strategies. Instead of denying the evidence to sow doubt, they decided to try and spin their actions in more of a positive light. To try and co-opt the debate. They learnt their...
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Leak reveals ‘touchy’ issues for UAE’s presidency of UN climate summit
A comprehensive list of “touchy and sensitive issues” for the United Arab Emirates, which is running the next UN climate summit, has been revealed in a document leaked to the Guardian. The document sets out the government-approved “strategic messages” to be used in response to media requests about the issues, which range from the UAE’s increasing...
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UAE fossil fuel investments in the UK being pushed by climate change denier
Top UK officials had undeclared meetings with UAE ambassador at private parties hosted by billionaire Tory donor Michael Hintze, according to an Insight investigation by The Sunday Times. Hintze, a British-Australian hedge fund manager worth £1.7 billion, has given over £4 million to the Conservative party and founded the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate...
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Why is the UAE hosting COP28?
“Detention in horrific conditions, torture, deportation [and a] criminal conviction.” These are the risks climate activists could face if they protest at COP28, the international climate conference to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates in December, says human rights lawyer Ben Keith. Keith, who qualified as a UK barrister in 2004, focuses on a...
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Wagner: Sword of Damocles amid Russia’s potential troubles
The use of mercenaries dates back to 400 B.C., and they were used by ancient Greeks, Alexander the Great and Rome’s army. Since then, there have been several debates around their use for centuries, and some intellectuals argued that they are beneficial while others opposed the idea of using mercenaries. In his famous book “Utopia,”...
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The double life of Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber
This week, Climate & Capital responds to a recent COP 28 update letter from Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi Oil Company (Adnoc), the UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, and the President-Designate for the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28). My Dearest Ahmed, You don’t mind if I call you Ahmed, do you?...
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COP host UAE emissions plan ‘insufficient’: analysis
New carbon-cutting plans by this year’s UN climate talks host the United Arab Emirates were branded “insufficient” by an analysis on Thursday that slammed the oil-rich nation for undermining its own targets with plans to increase fossil fuel production. The UAE, which will host the COP28 United Nations talks in November and December, released its...
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Climate change: Which countries will foot the bill?
Record-breaking heat in China. Wildfires forcing Swiss villages to evacuate. Drought ravaging Spanish crops. As the costs of climate change rack up, a debate is surging among governments: who should pay? The question has been in the spotlight amid this week’s climate talks between the U.S. and China, where the world’s two biggest economies tried to find ways to work...
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Climate action in an era of great power competition
The writer is director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government At the foot of the Eqi Glacier in Greenland in June, I watched ice formed thousands of years ago drop into the warming ocean. With this vivid depiction of climate change in my mind, I was...