This is my digital diary of Australia at COP29 in Baku. I will be following whats going on at in Baku online. Follow with me. I'll be updating this blog post regularly up to the end of November 2024.
President-Designate for COP 29 is Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources. Azerbaijan is a repressive state with a poor human rights record according to Human Rights Watch in leadup to a meeting in Bonn in June.
Australia will likely be represented at the ministerial level by Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. See Tracking Australian Ministers and Australian pledges at COP29. Australia is lobbying to hold COP31 in 2026, and an announcement of host is likely in Baku. The city of Belem in Brazil is holding COP30 in 2025.
I'll be including detail from IISD Earth Negotiating Bulletin for each day. I might pluck details from the full report, especially relevant to Australia, and will post the 'In the Corridors" section which provides a concise 'vibe' summary on the negotiations. I might include details from other sources as needed.
Links: UNFCCC COP29 website for documents. Azerbaijan COP29 website. Civil Society COP28 Climate Justice Hub, DCCEEW international climate action page. Australia at COP29. Carbon Brief Negotiating Text Tracker | Fossil of the Day awards leader Board
8 October 2024 - Latest science assessment says World is in deep peril with the Climate Crisis. "We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis." William J Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Jillian W Gregg, Johan Rockström, Michael E Mann, Naomi Oreskes, Timothy M Lenton, Stefan Rahmstorf, Thomas M Newsome, Chi Xu, Jens-Christian Svenning, Cássio Cardoso Pereira, Beverly E Law, Thomas W Crowther, The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth, BioScience, 2024;, biae087, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae087 Summary at (The Conversation)
8 October 2024 - Environment Minister announces ‘Huge environmental win’: Australia to protect 52% of its oceans, more than any other country, Plibersek says. Sub-Antarctic marine park expansion welcomed but scientists say some areas important to penguins and seals missed out on sanctuary-level protection (Guardian), and under the Biodiversity convention definition only about 25% is now adequately protected according to Dr Ian Cresswell.(Guardian) Meanwhile 400km from the Nature Positive Summit The NSW Forestry Corporation has started logging in Bulga state forest, inland from Port Macquarie,in habitat of threatened species including endangered koalas and the endangered greater glider. (Guardian)
7 October 2024 - Australian Government spends around 50 times more on subsidising activities that harm the environment than it spends on helping biodiversity each year argues the Biodiversity Council. The assessment found that around 4% of the federal budget goes to subsidising activities that are likely to have a medium to high adverse impact on biodiversity; a total of $26.3 billion per year. (Biodiversity Council)
7 October 224 - Japan backs fossil fuels in Southeast Asian “zero emission” initiative. Japan’s Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) supported 56 projects using fossil fuel technologies in Southeast Asia — including LNG and carbon capture (Climate Change News) Zero emissions or fossil fuels? Tracking Japan’s AZEC projects (Zero Carbon Analytics)
7 October 2024 - Australian Security Leaders Climate Group calls for overhaul of federal government's climate threat preparedness strategy (ABC News)
6 October 2024 - Australia claims progress in climate action, while fossil fuel expansion for export continues under Labor claims Energy analyst Ketan Joshi - The blurred self image of progressive climate villains. It includes some analysis of the effectiveness of the Safeguard Mechanism: "there hasn’t been any change in total emissions since the time it became active in July 2023" (KetanJoshi)
4 October 2024 - Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal, major study finds. Research challenges idea that sending liquefied natural gas around the world is cleaner alternative to burning coal (Guardian) "Overall, the greenhouse gas footprint for LNG as a fuel source is 33% greater than that for coal when analyzed using GWP20 (160 g CO2-equivalent/MJ vs. 120 g CO2-equivalent/MJ). Even considered on the time frame of 100 years after emission (GWP100), which severely understates the climatic damage of methane, the LNG footprint equals or exceeds that of coal." (Energy, Science and Engineering Journal) Debunked: All those speeches rolled out over the last decade, especially by Labor politicians, justifying gas expansion as a lower emissions 'transition fuel'.
4 October 2024 - Ex-carbon offsetting boss charged in New York with multimillion-dollar fraud (Guardian) Wonder if the same could happen in Australia? Given integrity issues and supervision of Carbon Offsets? See The Age 16 Sep 2024, ‘Extreme risk’: Carbon watchdog mismanaged conflicts, ‘intimidated’ scientists
3 October 2024 - Australia sees a rise in "greenhushing," where carbon-neutral firms underreport their sustainability efforts. This silence stems from fears of scrutiny and low consumer interest. (Groundreport.In)
3 October 2024 - Gas power in future grid will be “tiny” and its cost exorbitant, IEEFA report finds (RenewEconomy). IEEFA claims while the capacity of gas generating capacity increases, its use in the generation mix actually falls significantly. Future role of gas in the NEM is likely overstated (IEEFA)
2 October 2024 - Two cancer doctors highlight Beetaloo gas fracking and Middlearm petrochemical hub could generate a 'cancer alley' in the Northern Territory in a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia. "Australia risks creating its own “sacrifice zone”, harming the health of its people and contributing irrevocably to the climate crisis." (MJA)
2 October 2024 - WA Labor government accused of shelving climate laws as emissions continue to rise (Guardian) "WA is the only Australian state without a 2030 emissions reduction target. National data says climate pollution in the five eastern states fell by at least 27% between 2005 and 2022 while rising 8% in WA, largely due to the state’s expanding liquified natural gas (LNG) export industry"
1 October 2024 - Tuvalu climate minister declares Australia’s coalmine decision ‘immoral’, akin to drowning Pacific neighbours (Guardian) “I have made my view on new coal projects very clear at last month’s Pacific Islands Forum: fossil fuels are killing us, all of us. It is therefore immoral and unacceptable to any country to open new fossil fuel projects, as Australia has recently done with the three coalmine expansion projects it has just approved,” Talia told Guardian Australia.
1 October 2024 - Azerbaijan is using Cop29 to ‘peacewash’ its global image (The Conversation) See also Climate Action Tracker 25 September assessment rating Azerbaijan as Critically Insufficient. "Azerbaijan appears to have abandoned its 2030 emissions target, moving backward instead of forward on climate action. Its renewable energy targets remain weak. Azerbaijan’s economy is dependent on fossil fuel production and the government plans to increase fossil gas extraction by more than 30% over the coming decade. Emissions from exported fossil fuels are twice as high as domestic emissions. (Climate Action Tracker)
1 October 2024 - Highest Annual Growth of Renewables Jobs in 2023, Reaching 16.2 Million (IRENA) The levelised cost of electricity produced from most forms of renewable power continued to fall year-on-year in 2023, with solar PV leading the cost reductions, followed by offshore wind according to a new report on renewable generation costs (IRENA)
30 September 2024 - Nature Positive market? Economics editor Ross Gittins nails the problem of nature market offsets and credits and the solution: "how else can we pursue nature positive? Well, here’s a radical thought: governments could stop logging native forests, stop further land clearing, stop subsidising fossil fuels, stop permitting new mines and gas fields, and start spending a lot of money restoring land and habitat." (The Age)