Tag: climate change

Reverend Tafue Lusama knows a thing or two about the urgency to tackle climate change. Living in Tuvalu, he has seen the climate changing over the last twenty years. Rising sea levels, storm surges and ocean acidification have had devastating impacts of people’s culture, livelihoods and ability to grow food. A few months ago, Tafue […] Read more »

The climate negotiations in Durban are stuttering. There is little progress on agreement on the emission reductions needed to keep warming below 2 degrees. There is also a rumbling debate about how to fill the Green Climate Fund. We need you to urge our leaders along the path to a sustainable planet. Together with Oxfam’s […] Read more »

Dark, humid, noisy and little ventilation. This is the location of the Australian Government offices here at the UN climate talks. It is also where on Wednesday morning, some colleagues and I had the chance to meet with Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet. Although this was a very short meeting, […] Read more »

Addressing the UN Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa on behalf of Climate Action Network (a global coalition of climate organistions), I was excited, a little nervous and keen to play my part. This is what I said: Thank you Madame Chair. I am speaking on behalf of the Climate Action Network. We’d like to […] Read more »

The biggest spike in global greenhouse gas emission in recorded history occurred last year. After a brief easing of emissions in 2009, generally accredited to the global financial crisis, a lift in economic activity produced a staggering 564 million more tons of CO2 in 2010, beating the previous year’s output by 6%. That’s according to […] Read more »

“A camel is a horse made by committee and the Green Climate Fund needs to come out of the blocks like a race horse and start helping poor people”. This was the comment from Singapore in the opening negotiation session on the Green Climate Fund late Thursday at the UN Climate Summit in Durban, South […] Read more »

The climate negotiations currently underway in South Africa are particularly interesting for Australia, as we are attending with a carbon emissions tax in place. I met with Louise Hand, Australia’s Ambassador at the UN Climate talks in Durban to discuss the position Australia is taking at COP 17. This gave her the opportunity to outline […] Read more »

Today, thousands of people took the streets of Durban, South Africa demanding climate action. Trade unionists, churches, young people, farmers, women’s groups and NGOs such as Oxfam all marched from downtown Durban to the entrance of the UN Climate Summit singing, dancing and nosily calling for our leaders to make progress in the final week […] Read more »

With key discussions around the Green Climate Fund, set-up to provide life saving assistance to poor countries, and the future of Kyoto Protocol starting to sizzle. What’s more, I just addressed the talks on behalf of the Climate Action Network in a session on what the legal form of a future global climate change agreement […] Read more »

It’s now two years since the frantic campaigning and manic diplomacy that led to the Copenhagen climate change conference, and the blame games that followed its inadequate result. As the next UN climate talks get under way this week in Durban, South Africa, we need a new script to explain what has been achieved since […] Read more »