Marissa Santikarn

The provisional participants list for #COP29 is out and it suggests that Baku is the second-largest climate COP in history. Here, Carbon Brief has analysed the data: https://lnkd.in/eRQxXwVC More than 70,000 delegates have registered for the summit (67k to attend in person and 4k online). That’s a drop of ~15,000 from the record-breaking COP in Dubai last year – and marks the first time in seven years that a COP is not larger than its predecessor. Unsurprisingly, the largest party delegation is from host country Azerbaijan with 2,229. This is a far cry from Azerbaijan’s pre-COP28 typical delegation of just six people. The next-largest delegations come from Brazil (1,914), Turkey (1,862), UAE (1,011) and China (969). As ever, there is a lot in our analysis to dive into – see our article for more!

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$250 billion per year in #ClimateFinance by 2035 as proposed in the latest #COP29Baku draft is woefully inadequate. The #Adaptation Gap Report shows $400 billion is needed annually just for adaptation alone. This shortfall jeopardise our planet’s future. The draft also Invites developing country parties to make additional contributions. The world deserves real ambition, not diluted responsibility.

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New Payne Institute for Public Policy Financial Flow blog post! Observations from The World Bank about potential growth in #carboncredits demand to pay #carbontaxes or for #emissions allowances. (In other words, compliance demand growth may not have to wait for resolution of seemingly never-ending Article 6 negotiations.) #carbonoffsets #sustainablefinance #netzero #carbonemissions #carbonmarkets https://lnkd.in/eX8aQYbh

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We have another call for experts! https://lnkd.in/e8tSTtVs. Carbon management technologies and infrastructure aim to address climate change by capturing, transporting, converting, and sequestering CO2. Federal agencies and industry are making large investments in research, development, and demonstration of carbon management and new facilities and technologies are being planned and built. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requested this study to assess safety, societal considerations, and environmental and health impacts associated with implementation of carbon management at scale. The committee will examine technologies and their potential harms and benefits to human health, the environment, and communities; document and address impacts on burdened communities; examine the implications of carbon management policy on emissions and fossil fuel use; assess regulatory systems; and suggest approaches to reducing harm and increasing benefits of carbon management technologies. We are looking for nominees with expertise in the environmental, societal, and technological dimensions of carbon management, particularly: Environmental and energy justice, including impacted community perspectives Public health and exposure risks from industrial emissions Public safety of carbon management technologies Life cycle and techno-economic assessment Regulatory and policy aspects of carbon management Public engagement and accountability, including community benefits agreements Engineering and science of carbon management technologies, including point source carbon capture for industry and power, direct air capture, biomass carbon removal and storage, CO2 transport, CO2 conversion, and carbon sequestration

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How should food systems be reflected in the next round of NDCs? Check out our latest paper: "NDCs 3.0: Critical Demand-Side Action to Reflect Existing Food and Climate Commitments" https://lnkd.in/gEyKX6Mm Special thanks to my colleagues who made this work possible, Amelia Linn and Sebastian Osborn from Mercy For Animals, Mariana Bernal from The Good Food Institute, and Stefanie McNerney from Humane Society International #UNFCCC #ClimateChange #SB60

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At the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, Global Strategy Group (GSG) and a coalition of leading environmental organizations – NRDC Action Fund, Climate Power, EDF Action, and LCV – presented polling that simulated a debate between Democrats and Republicans on climate and clean energy issues and showed Democrats are positioned to win on these issues at the ballot box. For us at NRDC Action Fund and NRDC Action Votes, this research validates a strategy that helped Democrats in tough races win on environmental issues in 2020 and 2022. Climate denialism will cost Republicans votes because it is seen as a significant character flaw, not just a policy difference. Voters simply do not trust candidates who deny the reality already hitting their pocketbooks with soaring insurance premiums and other fallout from unprecedented severe weather events.  NRDC Action Votes ads have highlighted the weirdness of climate denial, helping defeat candidates who side with Big Oil over science, health, and common sense. So many thanks to Melissa Bell, PhD at Global Strategy Group for her and her team's amazing work on this project. https://lnkd.in/e6DaXmNR

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Ahead, of COP29, a quick overview on three sticking points of negotiating the new climate finance goal (NCQG) in the Lowy Institute Interpreter: https://lnkd.in/gncZVivh 1. The contributor base: realities, economic circumstances and green house gas emissions have changed since the establishment of the climate change convention (UNFCCC) in 1992. Developed countries want this to be reflected in the goal, potentially expanding the contributor base. 2. The quantum: developed countries have not brought forward a figure yet while some developing countries suggest an annual goal within the trillions. The new goal needs to be ambitious and a serious step up from its predecessor of 100bn annually but also has to be achievable to be meaningful. 3. The time frame: countries have diverging opinions on when the new goal should be achieved by. A goal to be reached too far in the future could potentially mean limited financial flows now and delay urgent action. Georgia Hammersley Michai Robertson Roland Rajah Alexandre Dayant Ryan Neelam

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🌍 The latest UN Environment Programme Emissions Gap Report reveals a concerning reality: current climate pledges would only reduce emissions by 4-10% by 2030, far below the 42% reduction needed for 1.5°C pathway. However, the upcoming 2025 NDC revision cycle offers a crucial opportunity to bridge this gap. Some thoughts on three key strategic priorities emerging in this short piece, Closing emissions gap with 2025 NDC Revisions: Critical Opportunities for Climate Action. The tools exist - now we need unprecedented political will to deploy them. Read more to discover how countries can develop NDCs that both raise ambition and create practical implementation pathways. #ClimateAction #Sustainability #ParisAgreement #ClimatePolicy #EmissionsGap #ClimateFinance

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Great news from CalPERS this week that it has committed more than $53 billion toward investing in climate solutions as part of a growing global transition toward a low-carbon economy. The milestone comes one year after they launched its $100 Billion Climate Action Plan. The plan is a key component of their Sustainable Investments 2030 Strategy which – in addition to identifying opportunities for growth – seeks to reduce investment risks by cutting the emissions intensity of the fund’s portfolio in half by the end of 2030 and achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050. #Investors #Leadership #RiskManagement #ClimateSolutions #ClimateInvestments #ClimateRisk

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Two takeaways from this announcement: (1) voluntary carbon markets are a key element of the Biden Administration's overall climate strategy - the Administration affirmatively wants bigger VCMs; and (2) while the principles don't endorse any particular standards program they do track the work of the The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) and VCMI

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If you want to understand why the first generation of Verra REDD+ methodologies for unplanned deforestation have been so heavily criticised by scientists, this new paper in Global Environmental Change is a must-read. 👇 https://lnkd.in/e8uPwa8U The authors Thales A. P. West, Barbara Bomfim, PhD and Barbara Haya conclude that VM6, VM7, VM9 and VM15, which have been used to produce tens of millions of offsets, are inconsistent (see the below graphic), fail to measure additionality, and are "more akin to storytelling and arbitrary modeling choices than to genuinely accounting for the threats of deforestation." It also includes clear recommendations for the new REDD+ methodology: "It is imperative that baseline methodologies (1) ensure parameter selection leads to conservative offset estimates, i.e., at the lower bound of uncertainty, (2) meticulously eliminate conflicts of interest from modeling decisions, and, most importantly, (3) adopt rigorous ex-post methods to credibly measure performance and additionality."

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CalSTRS expects all portfolio companies to: 1) Publish a report on sustainability-related disclosures that aligns with the International Financial Reporting Standards, which took over the monitoring of companies’ progress on climate-related disclosures from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD). 2) Disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Scope 1 emissions come from a company’s operations and Scope 2 emissions are from the generation of power a company uses. #RiskManagement #ClimateDisclosureNow #CorporateGovernance #IFRS #ISSB #TCFD #Emissions

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🤝 Participants at the #COP29 climate conference next month will likely hear a familiar term bandied around: “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities” (or CBDR-RC, or CBDR, or similar). The principle sounds righteous, and its core idea, that countries more liable for causing global warming and better resourced do more to tackle the problem, is hard to assail. But CBDR is amassing political baggage. Its application has also been extremely inflexible. So the principle will both underlie and haunt crucial talks on boosting climate financing and slashing carbon emissions at COP29. A key issue lies in how nations had been grouped into which are developed and must provide climate funding, and which are less well-off and get to receive the money. Such lists were created in 1992, and several developing states then have since become economic powerhouses. The old rich world is unhappy that these countries don't have more obligations when there is a giant green finance gap to fill; none of the new guard appear keen to be bound by such duties. Any change in a country’s status requires a steep 100% approval from all parties. No countries have ever moved up to the paying category after the system’s inception. Short of a good solution for everyone, countries have been approaching CBDR based on how it best suits their interests. Observers say developed countries have shied away from the principle, while emerging economies like China and Saudi Arabia harp on it to deflect responsibility over their massive emissions. Yet others accuse the Global North of continuing to approve fossil fuel projects while acknowledging the responsibility to transition faster to clean energy. The squabbles over whether the term CBDR should be included in negotiation texts or not could often feel pedantic. The UN said this week that global warming could reach twice the safety threshold of 1.5°C by the end of the century if we do not hasten emissions cuts. Accelerating global climate efforts requires willing cooperation and shared principles, since strict international laws have proven hard to formulate and harder to enforce. So experts worry that discord over the CBDR credo could paralyse countries when urgent climate action is most needed. This is a somewhat long story; hope it makes for a decent weekend read. Thanks for the insights Binyam Yakob Gebreyes, Kuki Soejachmoen, Meena at Third World Network and Timo Leiter!

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Excellent primer on the use of the "#polluterpaysprinciple" under #ClimateSuperfundBills by Vermont, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts that could "collectively require large fossil fuel producers and refiners to pay for hundreds of billions of dollars of state-level climate adaptation infrastructure." Also provides a good overview of potential legal challenges and hurdles. The question for us: who is going to pay for #climateadaptation - the #taxpayer (FEMA, disaster declarations) or the #polluter? As an aside given my past posts on EPA's regulation of #PFAS clean-up by major manufacturers under #Superfund, it will be interesting to see how the #polluterpaysprinciple is applied to different forms of pollution and damages. https://lnkd.in/e-gNK_sT

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Glad to see this needed guidance about voluntary carbon markets. Integrity is the key word Fact sheet: https://lnkd.in/eepsSt7z Joint policy statement & principles: https://lnkd.in/eawpg_C3

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*Wonk alert* As a comms professional, I closely follow the work of Yale's Anthony Leiserowitz. I was super excited to read that Tony and colleagues recently published an article in Nature, 'The evolving climate change investing strategies of asset owners,' a deep dive into #assetowners engagement with climate change. This dovetails with CPI's recent analysis of #pensionfunds progress on aligning portfolios with climate change realities, 'State of European Pension Funds’ Net-Zero Transition.' After banks, pensions funds are the largest source of investable capital, and other asset owners like foundations and family offices are hugely influential in investment trends. We need more active engagement from asset owners to address the climate emergency. #climatefinance Both studies find ample opportunity for asset owners to engage with advisors, asset managers, portfolio investments, and each other to overcome barriers and accelerate efforts. Learn more: The evolving climate change investing strategies of asset owners https://lnkd.in/gt5ixy_w State of European Pension Funds’ Net-Zero Transition https://lnkd.in/gnhu-JXp

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auctusESG presents to you an exciting line-up of webinars on pertinent topics at the Climate Week New York 2024 this week! We have one aimed at drawing in more finance for nature-positive climate action, specifically in EMDEs. Figures show that nature-based solutions have received less than one-third of the required investments despite having environmental, social and economic benefits across the globe. Multiple dialogues take place on reducing CO2 emissions, however do you know that non CO2 gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and flourinated gases trap much more heat within the atmosphere? These overlooked contributors to the exacerbating climatic impacts need to be tackled, and finance needs to also be directed towards non-CO2 GHG emission reduction. We have an exciting panel of seasoned practitioners offering different perspectives on these critical topics. Do join us on the 23rd and 27th of September to find out more! Register here: Nature financing (23rd Sept): https://lnkd.in/df_4marB Beyond carbon (27th Sept): https://lnkd.in/dAcVxNyC

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