Glasgow 2021

Carbon Trading Advocates Praise U.N. Rules’ Voluntary Market Treatment

A standards-writing group for voluntary carbon markets is applauding the international trading rules produced at the Glasgow climate talks, saying they reaffirm that voluntary trading programs continue to remain outside the scope of countries’ obligations to achieve emission cuts in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. A key focus of the United Nations climate meeting Nov. 1-12 was to develop the carbon trading rules under Article 6 of the 2015 Paris deal, after several prior failed attempts to do...

Glasgow Carbon Trading Rules Draw Praise, Promises Of More Scrutiny

Environmental and business groups are broadly praising final carbon market rules inked at last week’s Glasgow climate summit that are aimed at ensuring integrity of such markets, even as some are pledging further scrutiny of countries that rely on language allowing years-old credits to be used toward current emissions goals. The assessments come with multiple groups praising the deal on the trading provisions, the last major element of the so-called Paris Agreement “rulebook,” after years of delays in finalizing language...

Glasgow Talks Boost Push For Democrats To Enact Climate Legislation

Lawmakers, environmentalists, and others are urging congressional Democrats to enact their long-pending climate legislation to help translate the just-concluded Glasgow climate deal into concrete carbon emissions cuts domestically and abroad, and to bolster pressure on China and others to make and fulfill stronger climate pledges. The framing -- articulated before and after countries on Nov. 13 approved the largely process-oriented Glasgow deal -- underscores Democrats’ ongoing efforts to finalize the legislation, as well as widespread views that continued political and...

Glasgow Climate Deal’s Reach Hinges On Implementation Of New Pledges

Biden administration officials, environmentalists and others say the final Glasgow agreement is a starting point that formally keeps alive efforts to limit dangerous climate change but depends almost entirely on future implementation and still unrealized concrete emissions reduction actions by individual nations. “As we leave Glasgow, our code word is going to be implementation, follow up, follow through,” international climate envoy John Kerry said Nov. 13 at the conclusion of the talks. “To make this not words on a paper...

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California joins countries in ‘beyond’ fossil fuel alliance

California is joining the “Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance” launched at the Glasgow climate conference, which is a collaboration of countries and subnational governments aiming to advance a “just transition away from oil and gas production,” according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) office. Led by Costa Rica and Denmark, “the first-of-its-kind alliance will help build momentum for states and nations working to phase out oil and gas production and support efforts to build a clean energy economy,”...

Glasgow Climate Talks Likely To Miss Deadline But Deal’s Prospects Grow

Glasgow climate negotiators appear unlikely to meet a Nov. 12 deadline for securing a deal, but experts are optimistic about an agreement after a new draft “decision” increased focus on topics important to developing countries while also easing earlier calls to phase out coal use and fossil fuel subsidies and revisit emissions targets. Negotiators also appear to be moving closer to a deal on international carbon trading rules after Brazilian officials signaled a change in stance on a thorny accounting...

Glasgow Success Seen As Securing Tougher GHG Targets In 2022

Key negotiators are now saying that the success of the ongoing Glasgow climate conference should be judged on whether countries agree to come back with tougher greenhouse gas targets over the next year to “keep alive” the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals, amid widespread findings that goals submitted this year have fallen short. “Now the objective of this [conference] is to be able to say, at the end of the negotiations, we will be well below 2 degrees, we still have...

Former California Advisor Sees GHG Reporting Rules Crucial For COP26

Ken Alex, a University of California-Berkeley climate expert and former senior policy advisor to former California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), says it is critical that any agreements between countries at the COP26 climate change conference include robust new requirements for accurate and transparent greenhouse gas emissions reporting. “The Nationally Determined Contributions [NDCs] are all voluntarily entered into by countries. And the only way to turn those into an enforcement mechanism is through peer pressure and through transparency. So that’s in...

Glasgow Pledges Boost ICE Vehicle Phaseout But U.S. Declines To Join

The Biden administration has declined to join pledges by several countries, companies and subnational governments backing specific deadlines for phasing out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in favor of electrified cars and trucks, even as officials tout nearer-term electrification and company goals for doing so. The new pledges, spelled out in two separate agreements formally announced Nov. 10 at the COP26 international climate change talks in Glasgow, Scotland, contain goals including eliminating light-duty vehicle ICE sales by 2035 in leading...

‘Addendum’ to U.N. gap report says climate pledges still fall short

The United Nations Environment Program, in an “addendum” to its October assessment of the emission reduction pledges of the nearly 200 countries attending the Glasgow climate talks, is finding that recent submissions only slightly close the gap on achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Overall, it concludes the current pledges still fall far short of avoiding a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures. “Finally, when the full implementation of all net-zero pledges and announcement to date are...

CARB chair leads global clean transportation alliance

Liane Randolph, chair of the California air board, assumed the leadership of an international alliance to boost carbon-free transportation worldwide, during a Nov. 10 ceremony at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. “California is proud to now assume this important international role of leadership in sustainable mobility,” Randolph said in a Nov. 10 press release announcing that she is the new chair of the Transportation Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA), assuming the role from Steven van Weyenberg, the Netherlands’ minister for...

U.S., China Offer Surprise Glasgow Deal On Future Climate ‘Cooperation’

The United States and China in a surprise joint statement at the Glasgow climate summit are pledging to deepen their “cooperation” on climate mitigation policies in the coming months and years, creating a working group and taking other steps that the two sides hope will enable more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets in the future. The joint declaration , released Nov. 10, does not include tougher top-line goals by China, which is by far the world’s largest GHG emitter and...

Draft Deal’s GHG, Fossil-Phaseout Goals Win Praise But Disputes Remain

Draft “decisions” from the ongoing Glasgow climate summit that would, for the first time, press countries to speed a phaseout of coal use and fossil fuel subsidies, while also pressing them to offer stronger greenhouse gas targets by the end of next year are winning initial praise from environmentalists. Yet several disagreements remain in the texts released early Nov. 10 by the United Kingdom organizers of the summit, including continued objections by developing countries to pledges regarding climate-related financial support,...

Draft Glasgow ‘Decisions’ Float First-Time Phaseout For Fossil Subsidies

The organizers of the ongoing international climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, have released new draft “decisions” from the conference, including first-time language urging countries to phase out coal and fossil fuel subsidies, and to strengthen their greenhouse gas targets by the end of next year. The provisions are included in two texts released early Nov. 10 by the United Kingdom presidency of the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations climate treaty, as the meeting is formally...

Pelosi cites methane pledge to show U.S. climate leadership

Even though Democrats have not yet passed their climate-heavy budget package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a trip to the ongoing Glasgow climate summit is touting the Biden administration’s push to craft a global goal to slash methane emissions by 30 percent as a sign of renewed U.S. climate leadership. “It advances President Biden's goal to fulfill our commitments in the global methane pledge,” Pelosi said, referring to the emerging budget legislation at a Nov. 9 press conference by...

EPA Touts International Efforts To Craft Tough HFC Enforcement Plans

EPA is touting plans to work with key international trading partners, as well as industry and environmental groups, to combat illegal trafficking of climate-warming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as the agency ramps up implementation of its new program to sharply phase down the chemicals. “Efforts to phase down HFCs in many countries have had the side effect of creating markets for illegal trade of these harmful chemicals,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said during a Nov. 9 side event at the ongoing international...

Governors Tout States’ Climate Roles As Biden’s Push Faces Uncertainty

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and other Democratic governors are highlighting the unique abilities of state and local governments to take significant albeit limited steps to address climate change even as the Biden administration is facing doubts about its ability to meet its Glasgow GHG commitments in the face of legal and political uncertainties. “[I]f your house is on fire and your national government may not send in a fire truck right away, you grab a bucket,” Inslee told a...

Trump Energy Law Draws Bipartisan Senate Praise At Glasgow Meeting

Even as Democrats continue to negotiate party-line spending legislation with major climate-related investments, a bipartisan Senate delegation at the Glasgow climate talks is heaping praise on a December 2020 energy policy law by arguing it is a key step to enduring federal climate policy. That statute, known as the Energy Act of 2020, was approved in the waning days of the previous administration, and it authorizes a range of investments in carbon capture and other low-carbon technologies. Separately, a bipartisan...

Draft Glasgow ‘Decision’ Signals Long Path To Final Climate Agreement

As the Glasgow climate summit begins its final week, a recently released initial draft of the conference’s formal “decision” suggests negotiators have a long way to go on a range of issues if they are able to reach a final agreement by the end of the meeting. A “non-paper” floated Nov. 7 by the United Kingdom, the summit’s organizers, as well as early reaction to it suggests negotiators will have to win agreement on a range of issues including when...

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