Talks at COP29 over efforts to cut emissions, including last year’s deal on “transitioning away from fossil fuels”, had to be “rescued from the brink of collapse by the COP presidency after opposition from oil-rich Saudi Arabia and some other developing countries”, Climate Home News. It says parties failed to reach an agreement on mitigation [under the subsidiary bodies of the UN climate process] over the weekend but COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev announced efforts to continue talks at yesterday’s plenary. The outlet continues: “A coalition of developed countries, small island states, the least developed countries (LDCs) and some Latin American nations want to discuss how to take forward last year’s global commitment to transition away from fossil fuels through the so-called ‘mitigation work programme’…The coalition wanted to set numerical targets for reducing methane emissions, curbing deforestation, increasing energy storage and improving grids to enable the roll-out of renewable energy. But, speaking in Saturday night’s plenary, Saudi Arabia said this was an attempt at ‘eroding the flexibility developing countries depend on’ and that there should be no new targets or goals.” Saudi Arabia was supported by the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, including Iran and India, the outlet adds. However, it says that on Monday, Babayev “said he would make efforts to prevent the talks from collapsing” and appointed ministers from Norway and South Africa to “consult countries on the way forward”. The New York Times reports that Saudi Arabia’s negotiators are “a wrecking ball” for the negotiations on energy transition, adding that they are “working to foil any agreement that renews a pledge to transition away from fossil fuels”. The Hindustan Times reports: “Developing countries refuse to commit to stronger climate action without clear financial commitments from developed nations.”

The EU has “discussed a new global target of between $200bn and $300bn in annual funding to help poorer countries address climate change, according to officials from two EU countries”, Politico reports. It says: “The private discussions offer insight into the possible landing ground rich countries could accept as part of a deal on the fund at the COP29 climate talks in Baku, which are due to conclude Friday…The figure was disclosed to Politico by two officials granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.” The Guardian reports that a group of “leading economists” say that raising $1tn in funding per year for vulnerable nations is “achievable without disruption to the global economy, and would help to generate greener economic growth for the future”. Xinhua reports that the Philippines has been “aggressively” pushing for scaled-up climate finance flows to vulnerable nations. The New York Times reports that “with just four days to go, many attendees fear that this could be the first summit since the Copenhagen talks in 2009 to conclude without a deal”. It notes that a nine-page draft agreement calling for $1.3tn per year for developing nations “has ballooned to 25 pages as countries toss in new fine print and options for consideration”. African Arguments says: “As the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan enter their second week, the theme of the first has been one of slow progress and frustration, according to many participants from Africa.” And the Guardian reports that ex-climate minister of Pakistan, Sherry Rehman, is calling on global leaders to “keep an eye on the big picture”. Other outlets covering general progress at COP29 include Nation Africa. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that ministers involved in COP29 have landed in Baku to help break the “finance stalemate”. The Press Association, the Hindu and RNZ also cover progress at COP.

Elsewhere, Inside Climate News says: “Calls to reform the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations grew louder last week as former high-level UNFCCC officials, leading scientists and other climate experts published a letter saying the annual talks “cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity”. Meanwhile, BusinessGreen reports that “the UK and the US have committed to work more closely together to speed up the deployment of innovative new nuclear technology,” under a new agreement signed on the sidelines of COP29. Reuters reports that “funding for a climate-friendly farming effort led by the US and United Arab Emirates has reached $29.2bn”. The newswire adds that under the initiative, launched in 2021, “governments, companies, and non-government organisations pledge funding for projects to reduce the climate impact of agriculture and to make farming more resilient to the impacts of global warming”. The Associated Press reports that farmers at COP29 are arguing for “a share of money dedicated to fighting climate change”. Separately, Reuters asks “can a COP29 deal clean up scandal-ridden carbon offsets?” The Times reports that “green business leaders at COP29 in Baku insist that private sector interest in climate change hasn’t cooled, despite many of their chief executives staying away from this year’s UN climate summit”.

A “wide-ranging” communiqué from the Group of 20 major economies (G20) “signals support for ‘successful negotiations in Baku’ and reiterates commitment to delivering bolder decarbonisation efforts”, BusinessGreen reports. According to the outlet, the communique stated that world leaders are looking forward “to a successful New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) outcome in Baku”. It says the declaration continues: “We pledge our support to the COP29 presidency and commit to successful negotiations in Baku…We also pledge our support to the COP30 presidency, in 2025.” It adds that the text acknowledged the need for “increased international collaboration and support, including with a view to scaling up public and private climate finance and investment for developing countries”. The Hindustan Times notes that the text “doesn’t mention ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels’ language agreed upon at CO28 in UAE”. Climate Home News reports that the communiqué’s section on the COP29 finance goal was “brief”. This comes as Reuters reports that COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev has called for G20 leaders to “use the G20 meeting to send a positive signal of their commitment to addressing the climate crisis”. According to the newswire, Babayev said “w​​e cannot succeed without them, and the world is waiting to hear from them”. The newswire adds that UN climate chief Simon Stiell “warned leaders who are set to arrive to help drive forward a deal, not to waste time with ‘bluffing, brinksmanship and premeditated playbooks’”. Separately, Reuters reports that G20 leaders will discuss “sustainable development and the transition to cleaner energy” today. It adds: “Opening their annual summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the impact of climate change was evident all over the world and needed to be addressed urgently.” Politico’s newsletter says that “COP negotiators hope [G20] leaders – who control the pursestrings – can deliver a much-needed political jolt to kickstart discussions in Baku”. CNN, the Indian Express, BusinessGreen and the Independent also report that COP29 is looking to the G20 leaders.

Meanwhile, the Guardian says that “throughout the UN climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, in recent days, US officials have maintained a studiously sunny disposition, saying that the Republican president-elect, Donald Trump, will not derail climate progress”.

Climate scientists have “gloomily concluded” that the target to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is “deader than a doornail”, the Guardian reports. The newspaper notes that three of the five “leading research groups” that monitor global temperatures find that 2024 is on track to be at least 1.5C hotter than pre-industrial temperatures. It continues: “Although a single year above 1.5C does not itself spell climate doom or break the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which countries agreed to strive to keep the long-term temperature rise below this point, scientists have warned this aspiration has in effect been snuffed out despite the exhortations of leaders currently gathered at a United Nations climate summit in Azerbaijan.” The paper quotes Carbon Brief’s climate science contributor Zeke Hausfather, along with NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt and Grahame Madge, a climate spokesperson at the UK Met Office. Separately, Forbes covers a recent Nature study, which warns that “even a temporary overshoot of 1.5C could trigger irreversible changes, including accelerated sea-level rise and ecosystem collapses”.

The Guardian covers a Nature perspectives article warning that “countries could ‘cheat’ their way towards Paris targets using naturally occurring parts of Earth’s carbon cycle to make it look as if they achieved net-zero while continuing to drive global heating”. According to the article, naturally occurring carbon sinks “never formed part of the original net-zero definition developed by scientists in 2009”, the paper says. The study underscores the need for “geological net zero” – where any future carbon emissions must be counteracted by permanent removal of the pollution from fossil fuels, and not from pre-existing natural ecosystems – the paper adds. The New Scientist quotes study author Myles Allen, who calls the paper “a call to clarify to people what was originally meant by net-zero”. It adds that many countries already count “passive land sinks” as greenhouse gas removal in their national carbon accounts, while others have set long-term net-zero targets based on this approach. The outlet continues: “The team fears this issue will become more acute as carbon markets develop and the pressure on nations to decarbonise intensifies…Nations and companies with net-zero targets in place should revise their approach to exclude passive carbon uptake from their account, the team says.”

The UK car industry is working to combat the misinformation surrounding electric vehicles, BusinessGreen reports. The outlet continues: “Auto trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), EV charging association ChargeUK, and used car market platform Auto Trader today announced that they have jointly developed a new ‘user-friendly’ set of simplified facts to offer ‘a more balanced and data-backed view of the reality of owning and driving electric cars’.” The outlet cites research from Auto Trader, which finds that 44% of people “incorrectly” believe the narrative that electric cars catch fire, while 33% believe that “EVs are not cheaper to run”. It says the new anti-misinformation drive “clarifies these myths and more by explaining how EVs are greener than fossil fuel cars, and that they are no more likely to catch fire than a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle”. The Daily Telegraph covers the story under the headline “the campaign to debunk electric car ‘myths’ as sales falter”. [EV sales are up 14% in the year to date.] It says the initiative comes “amid reports that ministers are preparing to water down EV sales targets after public uptake proved much slower than hoped”. Elsewhere, the Daily Mail says: “Electric car owners face the prospect of being left with unfixable vehicles after a manufacturing firm announced it had gone bankrupt.” And the Daily Telegraph says “pension funds have warned ministers that watering down electric vehicle (EV) sales targets will damage investment in Britain, as the government comes under pressure from carmakers to soften the regime”. 

In other UK news, the Times reports that decommissioning North Sea oil and gas infrastructure will cost £24.6bn. It adds: “The trade body Offshore Energies UK expects about £2.3bn to have been spent during 2024, up from £1.7bn last year and £1.6bn in 2022.” The Daily Telegraph says that “Ed Miliband’s wind turbine blitz threatens to leave the North Sea strewn with rusting oil rigs because of a lack of equipment needed to dismantle the retired platforms”. Separately, the Daily Telegraph says: “Nearly £2bn worth of construction contracts for Britain’s first mini-nuclear power plants will be up for grabs next year as officials prepare sites for the pioneering energy projects.” The Guardian reports on a heat pump scheme for “Edwardian social housing”, while the Daily Mail says “homeowners trying to get ‘eco-friendly’ heat pumps being pushed by the Labour government are facing a six month wait to have them installed”.  Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports on a project to capture waste heat to provide low-carbon heating under the headline “sewage to heat 40,000 British homes”. The Daily Telegraph says that “a West Midlands town has been torn apart by a ‘humming noise’ from a £2.5m heat pump installed by a local college without planning permission”. The Daily Telegraph also reports that “Britain’s biggest port operator is paying customers not to transport goods by road in an effort to meet green targets”. And the Times says that “a total of 71 Christian groups have signed up to a statement committing them to ‘consider alternative banking options wherever possible’ unless their bank stops financing new fossil fuel projects including oil fields”. 

Elsewhere, BBC News reports that consultancy Cornwall Insight has said that “high domestic energy prices are likely to be ‘the new normal’ with a slight rise predicted for January”. Reuters, the Guardian, the Times and the MailOnline also cover the story. The news is picked up in an editorial for the Mirror, which calls it a “chilling blow”.

China’s special envoy for climate change, Liu Zhenmin, says in an interview with Shanghai-based news outlet the Paper that a large number of developing countries, facing “financial and technological” difficulties, will “struggle” to achieve their climate goals “without external financial support”. Liu adds that it is “impossible” for China, as a developing country, to contribute to the new climate finance goal (NCQG) being negotiated at COP29, which developed countries are “responsible for”, adds the outlet. (A separate Paper article interviews Wen Hua, deputy director-general of the Department of Resources Conservation and Environmental Protection at National Development and Reform Commission.) Zhao Yingmin, head of China’s climate delegation, tells S&P Global that China will “only agree to make voluntary contributions to future climate finance”. Zhao adds that “developed countries should be responsible for mandatory contributions under the draft NCQG”, according to the outlet. An article by environmental news outlet Dialogue Earth says that “China is gradually becoming an important climate finance source for developing nations”, with its total climate finance contributions having reached $34.3bn as of 2021. State-run newspaper China Daily reiterates the 177bn yuan ($24.5bn) climate finance contribution stated by China’s vice premier at COP29 last week and says China has funded the “largest operational wind power project in South Africa”. China News says that “deleting the baskets” in negotiations (revising negotiation texts) is the “key word” (key task) in the second half of COP, citing opinions from Wang Yi, a key climate advisor to the Chinese COP delegates, and Gao Xiang, an official from the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation. 

Meanwhile, a separate S&P Global article quotes Zhao saying that China will “lobby for the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to be on the official agenda” for COP30, as “part of multilateral discussions ahead of the event”. State news agency Xinhua quotes an official from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment commenting on China’s national carbon market (ETS) at COP29. The unnamed official says that over three years, the impact of the ETS on “industry emissions reductions” has become “increasingly apparent”, according to the newswire. CNN quotes John Podesta, US climate envoy, saying that “while many Western nations make ambitious climate reduction targets only to miss them, China has a tendency to under-promise and over-perform. It quotes Podesta saying: “In some of their planning scenarios, they’re planning for 100 gigawatts [of new renewables] a year, but they’re building at close to 300 gigawatts a year.”

Elsewhere, Xinhua reports Chinese president Xi Jinping writes “in a signed article” published in Brazilian media outlet Folha de S. Paulo “building a sustainable planet requires the G20 to promote sustainable production and lifestyle as a way to achieve harmony between humanity and nature”. State-supporting newspaper Global Times reports that “China and Latin America have great potential for cooperation in the green and new-energy sectors”. A survey by Renmin University of China and China Global Television Network (CGTN) reveals that developing countries, including India, are “showing more commitment to tackle the climate crisis than developed countries”, Indian news outlet TV9hindi.com reports. 

Separately, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post says that the “Power of Siberia” China-Russia gas pipeline has been completed and is “set to power Shanghai” by the end of 2024. The Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily reports that China’s cumulative offshore wind power capacity has reached 39 gigawatts.

Finally, a comment by Tim Daiss, energy markets and geopolitical journalist of the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP), cites a report by Carbon Brief, saying that China’s carbon dioxide emissions have “stayed flat in the third quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year”. China Daily carries an opinion article by Henrique Couto da Nóbrega, attorney general of Rio de Janeiro State University and president of the China-Brazil Friendship Association, under the title: “Brazil, China pursue sustainable growth.”

Surangel Whipps Jr – the president of the republic of Palau – writes from COP29 that “small island states must continue to be protected by special circumstances and need access to sufficient climate-based finance”. Whipps says that COP29 is “not moving fast enough” on “key issues” such as climate finance. He continues: “We want to access sufficient, predictable, grants-based climate finance to address our climate change needs and priorities. These climate finance mechanisms should be scalable, contextual, flexible and predictable…Palau, along with all SIDS, has long been recognised by the international community, long before Paris 2015, as a ‘special case’ or a group whose unique needs and concerns must be addressed. Though we are among the least responsible for climate change, we suffer the most from its immediate effects.” He adds that “as incoming chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Palau will stand firm against any efforts to dilute the recognition of our special circumstances”. 

Elsewhere, Kristin Qui, a climate negotiator from Trinidad and Tobago and a former member of the “Article 6.4 supervisory body” which developed new UN carbon market standards, has written a comment for Climate Home News. She says that “new UN carbon market standards are a step change in protecting people and planet” and that she spent three years helping to develop “safeguards” for carbon markets, such as rules to protect indigenous groups. She says that it is important to develop a “new system under carbon markets that paves the way for more ambitious goals”, but that “this must never come at the expense of the environment or human rights”. Also in Climate Home News, Sandra Guzmán Luna – the founder and director-general of the Climate Finance Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC) – writes that “COP29 negotiators must agree a new climate finance goal that genuinely works for debt-strapped developing nations”. Economist JP Fabri writes in the New Times that “Africa is not just a victim of climate change but a proactive agent of change”. He continues: “African leaders at COP29 have collectively acknowledged that resilience is no longer an option but a necessity…Central to this transformation is the agricultural sector, which employs the majority of Africa’s workforce and is highly vulnerable to climate variability.”

Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, project lead for Earth4All, write in a comment for Reuters that “it’s time for meaningful reform of the climate COP”. They say that the COP process “has played a critical role in creating the global climate policy framework”, but argue that “the COP must evolve and shift from pledges to action; from commitments to concrete results”. They continue: “Apart from the lack of a more rigorous decision on the phase-out of fossil fuels, almost all of the legal components to solve the climate crisis are in place. They are not perfect, but they are sufficient. There is, however, a mismatch between commitment and action…In 2023, we called for COP reform in a letter to the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat. Today, we reiterate and redouble our call for reform.” They call for stronger criteria for COP host countries, smaller and more frequent meetings, better tracking for climate finance pledges, and finally, a focus on “the importance of urgent measures to address poverty and inequality as prerequisites to climate action”. Separately, Nathalie Seddon and Audrey Wagner from the University of Oxford nature-based solutions initiative argue in the Conversation for a more “integrated approach” to climate change and biodiversity policies.

In other comment, the UK’s shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho writes in Conservative Home: “Labour’s sums on the promise of cheaper energy really don’t add up.” [Her article is based on trying to pick holes in a report of the independent National Energy System Operator.] In the Daily Telegraph, financial columnist Matthew Lynn, writes that “Labour is facing a civil war over net-zero”.

The loss of Arctic sea ice might lead to a new climate system emerging, similar to the periodic weather phenomenon El Niño, a new “research briefing” says. The authors explain: “A novel type of climate oscillation might emerge in the Arctic Ocean owing to sea-ice melting. The air-sea coupling feedbacks occurring in the ice-free Arctic Ocean would trigger periodic warm-cold temperature oscillations, similar to El Niño and La Niña in the tropical Pacific Ocean.”

The weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a major system of ocean currents responsible for transporting heat around the world, could be linked to influxes of freshwater into the subarctic Atlantic, new research finds. The study uses high-resolution modelling to examine drivers of AMOC weakening, which has been observed since the mid-20the century through data collection. The authors say: “Including estimates of subarctic meltwater input for the coming century suggests that this circulation could be 33% weaker than its anthropogenically unperturbed state under 2C of global warming, which could be reached over the coming decade. Such a weakening of the overturning circulation would substantially affect the climate and ecosystems.”