26 September 2014
Dozens of governments, businesses, civil society and indigenous peoples that participated in the UN Climate Summit in New York pledged to halve deforestation by 2020 and to end within the following decade. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | Governments, corporations pledge at UN summit to eliminate deforestation by 2030
24 September 2014
Multinational oil and gas companies, major producing states, and over two dozen cities joined forces to slash methane emissions in a partnership that can have an immediate impact in reducing global warming as part of UN Secretary-General’s strategy to tackle climate change. (more…)
17 January 2014
A leaked draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that the reluctance of states to take measures to battle climate change has made that the situation has grown critical, and the risk of severe economic disruption is rising. It also finds that another 15 years of failure to limit carbon emissions could make the problem virtually impossible to solve with current technologies.
The report finds that if states permit continued high emissions growth until 2030, the agreed target that the warming of the planet should be limited to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels will most likely be impossible to meet. Future generations then would have to develop ways to pull greenhouse gases out of the air. But it is not clear whether such technologies will ever exist at the necessary scale, and even if they do, the approach would probably be wildly expensive compared with taking steps now to slow emissions.
Source: The New York Times | U.N. Says Lag in Confronting Climate Woes Will Be Costly
30 September 2013
Dutch foundation Urgenda is planning to sue the Dutch state for its failing climate change policy. The court summons (Dutch only) will be presented to the state on 23 October. The plaintiffs claim there rests an obligation upon the Netherlands to reduce its CO2-emissions with 25-40 percent by 2020 compared to emission levels in 1990, in order to prevent damage to the global environment and violations of international human rights law. Various reports suggest that a 25-40 percent reduction is required of all industrialised states in order to have a real chance at limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.
Urgenda will ask of the Dutch courts to declare that the Netherlands is acting wrongfully by failing to take the necessary measures to achieve a reduction percentage of 25-40 percent, and to order the Netherlands to (i) take the necessary measures to achieve this reduction percentage and (ii) inform Dutch citizens about the risks of climate change.
Source: NOS | Klimaatorganisatie klaagt staat aan (in Dutch)
Source: Wij willen actie | Over de rechtszaak (in Dutch)