{"id":41236,"date":"2020-02-07T13:10:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T13:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=41236"},"modified":"2020-02-07T13:10:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T13:10:32","slug":"miles-off-track-climate-weekly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2020\/02\/07\/miles-off-track-climate-weekly\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Miles off track\u2019 \u2013 Climate Weekly"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was the week efforts to bolster climate action ahead of critical UN climate talks in Glasgow, UK, in November were due to get afoot. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With nine months to go before the summit, or Cop26, the UK faces a steep climb to provide the confidence and diplomatic lift the world needs<\/a> to galvanise political leaders into taking more ambitious action and curb greenhouse gas emissions growth.<\/p>\n

But preparations for the summit have been off to a rocky start \u2013 and the job of rallying countries into bolder action could prove to get tougher yet.<\/p>\n

Last week, UK prime minister Boris Johnson sacked former clean growth minister Claire O\u2019Neill as Cop26 president<\/a>. Her replacement is expected to be announced as part of a cabinet reshuffle in the coming days.<\/p>\n

As she went, O\u2019Neill slammed Johnson for showing no leadership over preparations for the summit, which she said were \u201cmiles off track\u201d. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get it,\u201d she told the BBC of the summit\u2019s diplomatic gravitas.<\/p>\n

Johnson launched Cop26 on Tuesday without a president to oversee the summit, nor a clear strategy to leverage the world\u2019s largest emitters into submitting tougher climate plans before the Glasgow talks.<\/p>\n

He urged all countries to follow the UK\u2019s lead in setting net zero emissions goals before the end of the year<\/a> \u2013 a goal that the UK itself is not on track to meet and that none of the world\u2019s large emerging economies have signed up for so far.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is also failing to show enthusiasm for upgrading their climate plans.<\/p>\n

Under a UN decision to implement the Paris Agreement, February 9 is the theoretical deadline<\/a> for countries to communicate new or updated climate plans this year. Only the Marshall Islands and Suriname have so far met the deadline.<\/p>\n

In a must-read report<\/a>, Alister Doyle looks at the legality and implications of the missed deadline.<\/p>\n

Back in the UK, Johnson does have a vision, one of a \u201cglobal Britain\u201d after Brexit.<\/p>\n

How the government balances this double act<\/a> of re-defining its place in the world while calling on leader to take greater climate action will be key to the success of its leadership this year.<\/p>\n

Indeed, some confidence remains that the UK\u2019s diplomatic leverage could still deliver a positive outcome at Cop26. But in private, negotiators are expressing concerns that time for action is now strikingly tight.<\/p>\n

African youths\u2019 call <\/strong><\/p>\n

When African youth activist Vanessa Nakate was cropped out<\/a> from a picture at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it was one example too many of the lack of attention to the voices of those that are most affected by climate impacts.<\/p>\n

The incident, which sparked outrage across the world, also led young African activists to highlight the lack of action by both African and world leaders<\/a> to tackle the climate crisis on the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest threat to action in my country and in Africa is the fact that those who are trying as hard as possible to speak up are \u2026 not able to tell their stories,\u201d\u00a0warned Nakate.<\/p>\n

Turbines <\/strong><\/p>\n

A record 3.6 gigawatts of new offshore wind capacity\u00a0<\/strong>was installed across Europe in 2019. As the cost of building offshore wind farms continues to fall, the economic incentive for the continent to embrace wind power should be a given.<\/p>\n

But the pace of deployment is too slow to meet the EU\u2019s 2050 net zero emissions target, <\/a>according to the industry.<\/p>\n

The EU Commission estimates Europe will need between 230 and 450 GW of offshore wind by 2050 to decarbonise its energy system. At the end of 2019, total capacity reached 22 GW. Still a long way to go.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s top stories<\/strong><\/p>\n