DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Former Vice President Al Gore railed against COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber on Tuesday after a leaked video showed the UAE climate envoy telling former Republic of Ireland President Mary Robinson there's "no science" behind the push to phase out fossil fuels.
What he's saying: "Do not ever try to mansplain to Mary Robinson — it doesn't work," Gore said at an Axios event on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai.
Deputy Energy Secretary David Turktold Axios the Biden administration takes industry feedback "incredibly seriously" after a reported leak of draft rules for hydrogen tax credits.
Why it matters: The highly anticipated guidance is the subject of an intense lobbying fight between industry and environmental groups.
Shareholders in Origin Energy, one of Australia's largest power producers, have rejected a A$15 billion takeover offer from Canadian investment giant Brookfield.
Why it matters: This is the second major energy deal loss in Australia for Brookfield, which just announced participation in a $30 billion climate fund launched by United Arab Emirates.
Taken together, three new analyses highlight the relentless march of climate change — and what's in store without much stronger policies.
Driving the news: TheGlobal Carbon Project (GCP) estimates fossil-related carbon dioxide emissions rose another 1.1% to a new record.
That's despite surging renewables, and falling emissions in developed economies like the U.S. and EU, the researchers found. Axios' Rebecca Falconer has more.
And a World Meteorological Organization report concludes the rate of climate change "surged alarmingly" from 2011-2020.
What they found: Not only was it the warmest decade on record, but glacier and sea ice loss were "unprecedented," the UN weather agency said.
Glaciers thinned by roughly 1 meter per year, while more countries reported record high temperatures than in any other decade.
Zoom in: "The Antarctic continental ice sheet lost nearly 75% more ice between 2011-2020 than it did in 2001-2010," a WMO summary notes, calling this "ominous" for sea-level rise.
What's next: Climate Action Tracker projects warming sailing dangerously past Paris targets, even if nations implement their current pledges.
Their latest estimate ticked up slightly, to 2.5°C above preindustrial levels by 2100, thanks to increasing emissions in countries with "weak" targets.
It's worse when you look at real-world actions based on current policies, which bring an estimate of 2.7°C — no improvement from their 2021 estimate.
Yes, but: Researchers see some bright spots.
GCP sees China's emissions rising 4% this year (not good!), but strong renewables deployment is preventing even higher growth.
U.S. coal emissions are falling sharply, while EU fossil emissions are down 7.4% this year.
What we're watching: Who knows whether this grim choose-your-own-adventure of threat metrics will influence COP28 negotiations.
These reports certainly underscore the urgency of the need for very steep emissions cuts, which are nowhere in evidence yet.
But government policies and investments are motivated by all kinds of considerations and national interests. And scary data is nothing new.
The bottom line: The window to meet Paris goals is shutting fast.
The University of Exeter'sPierre Friedlingstein, a GCP co-author, said in a statement that "it now looks inevitable we will overshoot the 1.5°C target."
"Leaders meeting at COP28 will have to agree [to] rapid cuts in fossil fuel emissions even to keep the 2°C target alive."
As world leaders gather for the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are soaring to record levels.
The big picture: That's according to new Global Carbon Project, which estimates fossil carbon dioxide emissions of 36.8 billion tonnes in 2023 — 1.1% more than last year, driven in large part by China and India emitting more CO2 as they use large amounts of coal.
Increasingly intensive and frequent wildfires in the western U.S. are deteriorating air quality and causing more premature deaths, a new study found.
The big picture: Fires have damaged federal efforts from the Environmental Protection Agency to improve air quality mainly through reductions in automobile emissions, per the study published Monday in The Lancet Planetary Health.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told Axios on the sidelines of COP28 on Monday that she is "very concerned" about the ability of U.S. adversaries to spread disinformation and sow distrust in the wake of natural disasters in the U.S.
Driving the news: She pointed to misinformation and disinformation spread by nation-state actors — namely, China and Russia — following this year's devastating fires in Maui and train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.
Driving the news: At the global climate summit this weekend, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled final rules to cut methane from oil and gas operations.
The first several days of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai have gone relatively smoothly, with a deal on providing aid to developing countries to better withstand climate change impacts, along with a blitz of side agreements.
Yes, but: The tasks that lie ahead could prove far harder to resolve.
Why it matters: The news indicates that CEF is continuing to deepen its roots in Hollywood, a key source of funding and inspiration for the direct actions it supports.
Running AI is much more energy-intensive than other forms of computing, but as leaders gather for the COP28 global climate summit in Dubai, we know relatively little about AI's net impact on climate change.
Why it matters: Increasing adoption of AI may make it one of the biggest uses of energy globally — putting pressure on AI providers to measure and publish data on energy use and energy sources.
What he's saying: "The reality is the climate crisis and the health crisis are one and the same," Kerry said at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai, citing a study that found coal "doubles the number of deaths" compared to other sources of air-carried pollution.
COP28 president Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber's newly reported comments that there's "no science" behind the push to phase out fossil fuels were criticized by activists at the U.N. climate summit in Dubai on Sunday.
Context: The UAE climate envoy and CEO of state oil firm ADNOC made the comments during a Nov. 21 online discussion while being challenged to take a lead on the matter by former Republic of Ireland President Mary Robinson, a longtime climate activist, per video that The Guardian published Sunday.
