Climate Crisis
Climate crisis: anthropocene or corporatocene?
By Dr S Faizi
The author argues that the term ‘anthropocene’ to denote the period of the modern environmental crisis is hollow and a political digression from the reality, and that the crisis is a product of corporate exploitation of the earth’s system. Putting the blame on the entire human society for the environmental crisis is a Western ideological ploy to shield the corporate culprits who have caused the destruction on the strength of their capital and technology. He therefore proposes the term ‘corporatocene’ to mark the epoch of environmental crisis. If anything it is the Western colonization and the invention of the steam engine that are the markers of the start of the pandemic assault on the earth’s natural systems. Obfuscating the debate on this by introducing politically motivated substitutes will only frustrate the efforts to forge meaningful solutions to the climate crisis.
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27th CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES (COP27) OF THE UNFCCC
STATEMENT OF DR. CARLOS CORREA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH CENTRE
We all are aware of the magnitude of the climate crisis the world is facing. We are also aware that its impact is not the same for all countries and populations. The disasters we are witnessing affect most severely developing countries which historically have not been responsible for the emissions that put at risk the life in the planet. Those countries, the most affected, have the lowest capacity to address the devastating effects of climate change events and to adapt to and mitigate them.
Climate change is a cross-cutting issue. However, the international system operates in silos and has been incapable of ensuring the adoption of the multiple and coordinated policies necessary to address it. The South Centre, as an intergovernmental organization of developing countries, attaches particular importance to and focuses its work on the intersection of climate change policies with other policy frameworks.
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Understanding the Main Elements for an Operational Definition of Climate Finance
By Luis Fernando Rosales Lozada
An operational definition of climate finance could contribute to facilitating access of developing countries to needed public and private financial resources to support them on climate action required to face the climate crisis and its impacts. The climate finance definition adopted by the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance in 2014 aimed to clarify the goals of climate finance, but it has not solved the main questions about climate finance. Although agreeing on an operational definition of climate finance in the multilateral negotiations may facilitate the flows of climate finance, achieving an outcome still faces some obstacles.
It is urgent for developing countries’ government officials and delegations to be aware of the different elements that need to be considered to achieve an appropriate definition. This policy brief analyses the different elements to be considered in the negotiation of an operational definition of climate finance, that can be effective in promoting developing countries’ interests in the context of the current international framework to address climate change.
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Comment on IPCC’s Final Climate Report
By Martin Khor
The IPCC’s final report, known as the Synthesis Report, indicates the world is doomed if present climate and emission trends continue, but the key solutions are as elusive as before. Imagine our world getting more and more polluted, and little space left for the Earth to absorb more pollutants before all kinds of disasters take place. And imagine that we have not yet found the solutions to really slow down the emissions or to prevent the catastrophe that lies ahead. This look into our scary future was evident at the recent meeting in Copenhagen to finalise the last climate change report of the IPCC (inter-governmental panel on climate change). (more…)
A Preview of the UN Climate Summit
By Meena Raman
As the United Nations hosts a Climate Summit Sep. 23, the lingering question is whether the meeting of world leaders will wind up as another talk fest. It is most likely that it could go that way. The problem is that developed countries are pressuring developing countries to indicate their pledges for emissions reductions post-2020 under the Paris deal which is currently under negotiation, without any indication of whether they will provide any finance or enable technology transfer – which are current commitments under the Convention. (more…)
