The Swiss government on Friday, November 15, 2024, announced its updated 2021-2030 climate action plan, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), which features a topline target of 50% reduction in emissions by 2030, based on 1990 levels.
Viola Amherd, President of the Swiss Confederation
However, environment watchdog, 350.org, has picked holes in the document, saying that it is not an improvement to the country’s existing NDC.
“While in principle enhancing ambition this decade is critical, the updated 2030 target does not do that and is a disappointment,” the group stated.
According to the IPCC, emissions need to be halved by 2030 – this means rich countries and big historic emitters must go further and faster to cut carbon emissions in this timeframe.
“For a country like Switzerland, one of the richest places on the planet, a 50% cut is far from sufficient,” the group added.
Nicolò Wojewoda, Europe Director at 350.org, said: “Countries, particularly wealthy, historically significant emitters like Switzerland, must not only submit their 2035 climate targets but also take bold action within this critical decade.
“Yet, Switzerland’s updated 2030 target fails to include more ambitious emissions reductions, offering instead a bureaucratic ‘eager beaver’ response to various UN decisions in relation to NDCs.
“Without stronger ambition and clear, sector-specific targets, progress will falter. Moreover, at this ‘Finance COP’, Switzerland must put greater climate finance on the table to pay its fair share and support global efforts to combat the climate crisis.”
A global coalition of civil society organisations from social movements, environmental and development NGOs, trade unions and faith groups on Friday, November 15, 2024, released a new report. Titled: “Fair Shares, Finance, Transformation – Fair Shares Assessment, Equitable Fossil Fuel Phase Out, and Public Finance for a Just Global Climate Stabilisation”, the report is said to be endorsed by well over 300 organisations from around the globe.
Climate finance
The 2024 edition marks the 10th year since the first Civil Society Equity Review of countries’ climate ambition was released in the lead up to the 2015 Paris Climate Summit.
The report detailed the profound damage caused by the global north’s unwillingness to do their fair share of climate effort, especially related to climate finance, and how that damage is further exacerbated by the organised obstructionism of the fossil fuel industry and the parasitism of the global rich.
It also detailed that there is plenty of money to fund a just, ambitious, effective and equitable global climate transition, even without implementing the deep systemic changes that are also needed. The report further details these systems change reforms, divided into more immediate reforms and the longer-term objectives, needed to actually allow the world to address growing inequities and stop the climate crisis.
The Report stated: “The Global North’s negotiators are refusing to engage with numbers of this scale, and by so doing are playing a very dangerous game. In this refusal, they imagine themselves realists, but they are in fact refusing to engage with numbers that have real empirical bases, and by so doing are endangering the UNFCCC regime and, indeed, the entire multilateral system, not to mention any remaining possibility of a stable climate and all that depends on it. True realism lies in the recognition that we actually have the money to save ourselves, and that the reallocation and redistribution of that money is now an existential necessity.”
Building on previous Civil Society Equity Reviews, the 2024 report includes:
An updated look at NDCs for 2035, including key fossil fuel phaseout demands for the next round of NDCs,
An examination of the danger of developed countries falling so far short of their fair shares, especially their unwillingness to engage with climate finance discussions on the needed scale of trillions not billions,
Discussion that the money for climate finance is available and several areas for possible funding,
The need for system change, with reforms divided between the short term and the long term, needed in order to fully transition away from the fossil fuel addicted and increasingly inequitable society we have today.
Lidy Nacpil of Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development said: “The delivery of adequate, additional, non-debt creating climate finance is absolutely vital, but it does not stop there. For countries in the global south to be able to meet the challenges of solving the climate crisis while building resilience and the strength for dealing with the impacts and losses, we need many immediate, major reforms in the international and national financial architecture. This is essential for the whole world to transition successfully to a zero carbon, equitable and just world.”
Tom Athanasiou of EcoEquity said: “This report takes a step back from the scrum and theater of the Baku COP, and asks us to look at the big picture. Even in the unlikely best case, Baku will only deliver a small step forward, and many others will be needed if we’re to stabilise the climate system in time. Obviously, we haven’t got a chance without geopolitical transformation, which has to begin with a finance breakthrough. As this report demonstrates, such a breakthrough is more than possible – despite everything, we have the money, science, and technology to save ourselves.”
Amiera Sawas, Head of Research and Policy, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said:“A just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels is not only the direction set by the UNFCCC process and the Summit for the Future – but it’s also a moral responsibility. This is going to require systemic change – particularly of our global economic system which is putting up numerous barriers for countries across the global south.
“These countries not only need but also deserve trillions to make this transition. This report shows us that the gap in making this finance happen is not about the money. The money is there. It’s about the political will to make better choices and push back on the obstructive fossil fuel industry which is only interested in maintaining its own profits and existence at the expense of humanity.”
Kelly Stone, Senior Policy Analyst, ActionAid USA, said: “A fair shares approach is not only a moral imperative, but a practical requirement. The longer action is delayed, especially by rich, developed countries, the greater the challenge becomes to meet the targets in the Paris Agreement. The failure of these countries to do their fair share so far, especially the refusal to deliver sufficient levels of grant-based climate finance, has profoundly broken trust in this process and stalled badly needed progress.
“Everyone needs to do their fair share, but it’s the developed countries’ failure to do that is currently blocking action. The money is there, and there are clear actionable reforms that can be taken to help unlock climate finance, create fiscal space and begin the needed transformation for a more just, sustainable world. We cannot wait any longer. COP29 needs to deliver an ambitious, grant-based climate finance goal as a first step.”
Asad Rehman, Director, War on Want, said: “The hollow words and empty promises of rich developed countries to keep 1.5°C alive are a literal death sentence for the planet and many of its people. The super rich are guzzling their way through what little remains of the carbon budget and grabbing trillions of the world’s wealth, with the fossil fuel giants laughing all the way to the bank. Wealth taxes must fund a just transition that will guarantee everyone the right to live with dignity and in harmony with the planet.”
The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) has condemned the November 11, 2024, decision by the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP29). States Parties voted unanimously, although some expressed concern, to approve long delayed and controversial carbon market rules contained in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
The International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change held a preparatory strategy meeting November 9-10 in Baku, Azerbaijan before COP29. Photo credit: Bryan Bixcul
IITC joined with the other participants of International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) which represents over 150 Indigenous Peoples from around the world attending COP29. The IIPFCC was unified in warning that these market-based mechanisms threaten Indigenous Peoples’ ecosystems and rights and enable continued pollution under the guise of “climate action”.
The IIPFCC’s opening statement, approved by consensus, and presented in the COP29 plenary on November 13, 2024, affirmed: “States have failed to take necessary action to phase out fossil fuels and implement a Just Transition to sustainable, non-carbon-based energy sources. At the same time, States are imposing false solutions enabled by Article 6, including geo-engineering, as well as extraction of so-called transition minerals, which do not reverse the climate crisis.”
The decision to adopt carbon removal guidelines developed by the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body in October 2024 also opens the door for increased exploitation of Indigenous territories. Under 6.4 States and corporations can offset their emissions by funding projects in other regions, including those that target Indigenous Peoples’ lands. Indigenous Peoples in various countries have already experienced the devastating consequences of these carbon market projects, resulting in land dispossession and forced displacement from their ancestral territories.
“The UN now opens the door to unproven carbon removal technologies with little to no Indigenous rights protection,” said Ghazali Ohorella, Maluku, IITC’s Human Rights and Climate Change Legal Consultant, who is coordinating work on Article 6 for Indigenous Peoples at COP29.
“These removal mechanisms will directly threaten Indigenous Peoples who have been the traditional guardians of their ecosystems since time immemorial. The rush to implement these standards shows a dangerous prioritisation of economic interests over Indigenous Peoples rights, UN governance and real climate action,” added Ghazali.
The newly approved mechanisms also promote dangerous technologies like Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) and geoengineering, rather than addressing the root causes of climate change.
Andrea Carmen, IITC Executive Director, who is attending the COP29 with an IITC delegates from North, Central and South America and the Pacific, stated: “Indigenous Peoples are asking for recognition of our own time-tested methods and practices for ecosystem protection, restoration and resiliency to address and minimise the climate crisis. Instead, we’re seeing the fast-tracking of carbon market schemes that allow states to evade accountability while putting Indigenous Peoples’ health, safety, and rights at risk.”
At the COP29 negotiations in Baku, IITC said it would continue to advocate for climate action that respects Indigenous rights and promotes real global solutions by calling on State Parties to:
1. Recognise the distinct collective rights of Indigenous Peoples and end the harmful practice of combining and conflating Indigenous Peoples with “local communities” in all UNFCCC bodies and decisions. Indigenous Peoples have unique rights, identities, and knowledge, as affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These must be upheld in all climate actions.
2. Halt Market-based false “solutions” including Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), forest offsets, geoengineering, and extraction of so-called transition minerals” such as lithium. These pose serious risks to our rights, Peoples, lands, food systems and waters. We insist that any proposed carbon credit project affecting Indigenous Peoples must comply with our right to free, prior, and informed consent.
3. Provide Direct, Equitable Public Climate Financing rather than promoting volatile market-based approaches like carbon trading. Indigenous Peoples are asking for secure, predictable financial support to implement their own strategies for climate resilience and the protection and restoration of vital ecosystems.
The IITC called on COP29 to change its course and focus on supporting effective rights-based climate action grounded in Just Transition, and full respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, expertise, and knowledge systems as an urgent priority.
IITC further called upon the State Parties at COP29 to renew their commitment to limit global temperature rise to no more that 1.5°C by dramatically reducing their extraction and use of fossil fuels. The survival of Indigenous Peoples – and our planet – depends on implementing genuine solutions without delay.
The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) has called for a balanced regulatory framework for digital content produced by Nigerian creatives.
Deputy General Secretary of GOCOP, Olumide Iyanda
Deputy General Secretary of the Guild Olumide Iyanda made the call on Thursday, November 14, 2024, while delivering a goodwill message at the opening ceremony of the 4th Peace Anyiam-Osigwe Nigeria Digital Content Regulation Conference (NDCRC) organised by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) in Lagos.
The theme of the two-day conference is “Film and Video Regulation in the Digital Age, Balancing Creativity and Responsibility.”
Mr Iyanda conveyed GOCOP’s commendation to the Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, for her support of the NFVCB under the leadership of Dr Shaibu Husseini.
According to him, the conference not only serves as a tribute to the visionary contributions of the late Peace Anyiam-Osigwe but also as an essential forum for collaboration, learning and strategising to shape the future of digital content responsibly.
“The NFVCB’s commitment to creating a balanced regulatory framework that respects creativity while upholding societal values is commendable and deeply aligns with our mission at GOCOP which was established to promote professionalism among online publishers and uphold the ethical standards of journalism in the digital space,” Iyanda said.
As a member of the Nigeria Press Organisation (NPO) and one of the drivers of the National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC), also known as the media Ombudsman, GOCOP plays a crucial role in ensuring that online publications maintain high standards of integrity and professionalism, thereby contributing positively to the media landscape in Nigeria.
“The legacy of Peace Anyiam-Osigwe is a reminder to us all of the transformative power of content that respects cultural heritage and inspires positive change.”
Speaking earlier in his welcome address, Executive Director of the NFVCB, Dr Husseini said: “As we gather to exchange ideas, forge new partnerships, and chart a course for Nigeria’s digital content regulation future, I want to emphasise the importance of collaboration and cooperation in our shared goal of promoting a vibrant and responsible creative sector.
“The whole idea of the digital content regulation conference was named after the late iconic writer, filmmaker and producer, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, and which I must credit my predecessor, Alhaji Adedayo Thomas.”
He noted that since the industry had the power to shape minds and influence culture, stakeholders needed to balance artistic expression with sensitivity and respect for the audience.
“By doing so, we are not only upholding the integrity of our industry but also contributing to a more informed and empathetic society,” Husseini said.
In her keynote address, Founder of EbonyLife Group, Mo Abudu, emphasised the importance of changing the narrative about Africa through content.
“As creatives, we must understand that with great power comes great responsibility. We must balance our creative freedom with the need to protect our audiences, particularly children, from harmful or inappropriate content.
“We can change the narrative about Africa with content. We must create stories that resonate with global audiences, stories that showcase our unique perspectives and experiences as Africans,” she said.
Hannatu Musawa, who was represented by General Manager of the National Theatre, Tola Akerele, commended NFVCB for organising the conference.
“I commend the NFVCB for organising this conference, which is a vital platform for discussing pressing issues in the digital space.
“It’s a great opportunity for stakeholders to come together and explore ways to promote the growth and development of the creative industry in Nigeria,” Musawa said.
The Kano State Government has vowed that funds appropriated for remediation of ecological impacted areas will be used judiciously.
The State Commissioner of Environment and Climate Change, Nasiru Sule Garo, stated this in an interview with journalists at the Nigerian Pavilion at the ongoing COP29 Summit In Baku, Azerbaijan.
He said the state would work with the House of Representatives to ensure the objectives of the Ecological Funds are not derailed.
“It was established to address specific challenges of erosion in Nigeria and people are supposed to access that fund just for the control of erosion but at some point the state governments put some pressure and that money was shared equally to the states, so we are now collaborating with the House of Representatives through the Ecological Funds so that a focus will be on the states not just in Kano but the states that really need ecological fund so that they can be able to control erosion.
‘Apart from the ecological fund, we are also working with AcRESAL Project for the benefit of the good people of Kano State. We are also partnering with the Great Green Wall (GGW) project in terms of desert encroachment.”
The Commissioner said the delegation is in Baku to establish partnerships with different organisations around the world to see how to make Kano environs better for the people of the state.
“In the area of financing, Kano is at the tail end of producing its own climate change policy draft and we have almost concluded that project and we will still do the plan on how we can implement the policy and that is a pedestal for us to be able to partner with different organisations to attract climate financing.
“For climate financing you need to have the policy for you to be able to attract all the funds and that is where we are now. We have gone far and we are trying to collaborate with different organisations to actualise the plan and access climate funding.
“Waste is another area of concern to us. It is one of the major distributors of greenhouse gases as it produces methane and so our concern is to be able to get a partnership to deal with the issue.
“Like they say ‘waste is wealth’, so the administration of Alhaji Abba Kabiru Yusuf is very keen in making sure that we have a proper waste management.
“Kano a few years ago went into partnership with a company called Cape-Gate for them to manage waste but unfortunately they were unable to do that project for Kano State, so when this administration took over, we have to set up an adhoc arrangement for us to clean up Kano.
“Secondly, on the issue of land degradation, recently we are in partnership with a Federal Government establishment in Abuja in making sure that we are able to get resources for us to manage land degradation that we have which is very enormous in Kano.”
Dr. Musa Ali Kachako, Chairman, Environment Committee, Kano State House of Assembly, said the legislature is solidly behind efforts to tackle climate change and other environmental issues.
“As a representative of the people, we are very keen in making sure we partner with the government to make sure that relevant policies and legal frameworks are developed in addressing critical challenges of climate change.
“Our appearance at the ongoing COP29 gave us the opportunity to partner with the Global Legislative Forum for Climate Change, we are in the Pavillion to discuss with them on issues that pertain to our state.The Director, Environment and Climate Change at Kano Watershed Erosion and Climate Change Management Agency (KN-WECCMA), Umar Saleh Anka, commended the state for support to participate in COP29.
“It shows our governor’s commitment to addressing climate challenges and other environmental issues.”
Wealthy countries must more than double the amount of climate finance paid from taxpayers’ money annually by 2030, UN-appointed experts said.
A session at the COP29 Summit
The Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance (IHLEGCF) assessed how much money would be needed to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goals, which aim to limit dangerous global warming.
The new report was launched on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at the UN COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, as world leaders and delegates seek to iron out a new finance agreement.
Richer countries previously pledged $100 billion a year in private and public finance to help developing nations green their economies and adapt to inevitable climate change impacts, as part of efforts to secure the Paris Treaty.
But countries agreed that a new agreement on climate finance should be set before 2025.
As nations now hammer out those details at COP29, the IHLEGCF said a total of $1 trillion needs to be flowing into developing countries each year by 2030, bar China, to meet the Paris Agreement goals.
Within this, the group outlined the amount of public money richer governments will need to give developing countries.
At the moment, the analysis said, around $43 billion in this “bilateral public funding” is flowing yearly from developed to developing countries.
Still, according to the experts. this needs to increase to $80 billion to $100 billion by 2030 per year for the world to meet the Paris Agreement goals.
But that is not all, as bilateral funding is not the only public money that richer governments pay as climate finance.
They also contribute money to multilateral development banks – like the World Bank – which then direct climate finance to developing countries.
For example, the UK government has pledged to spend £11.6 billion ($14.7 billion) over five years to 2026, mostly through bilateral climate finance but also including money it pays to multilateral banks.
To meet their share of the $1 trillion, the IHLEGCF said that multilateral banks will need to triple financial flows to developing nations by 2030 – to around $250 billion to $300 billion.
Beyond this, the report said: “The large and rapid scale-up of finance to support a big investment push can only be achieved by harnessing all pools of finance.”
It said around half of the $1 trillion – so between $450 billion and $550 billion – should be flowing into developing countries from private investment.
Professor Nick Stern of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and co-chairman of the high-level group said this is “what’s necessary to deliver on Paris.”
The report warned that any shortfall in investment before 2030 will place added pressure on the years that follow and therefore create “a steeper and potentially more costly path to climate stability.”
“The less the world achieves now, the more we will need to invest later,” the report noted.
“Delayed action means we will need to mobilise even larger sums in shorter timeframes to catch up on critical targets.
“Additionally, investment needs for adaptation and resilience, as well as loss and damage and restoration of nature, will rise sharply as climate and nature risks escalate.”
The high-level group, also co-chaired by Amar Bhattacharya and Vera Songwe, has been supporting the deliberations on the climate finance agenda under successive COP presidencies since COP26.
It was tasked to help develop and put forward policy options and recommendations to encourage and enable the public and private investment and finance necessary for the delivery of the commitments, ambition, initiatives, and targets of the Paris Agreement.
The report was on Thursday officially launched at COP29 at a special event with Simon Stiell, the head of UN Climate.
Pay now to help poorer countries cope with climate change or pay more later, negotiators were warned on Thursday, November 14, 2024, as experts said poor states need at least $1 trillion per year by the end of the decade to move to greener energy and protect against extreme weather.
Global leaders at COP29 Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan
Money is a central focus of the COP29 climate talks being held in Azerbaijan and the success of the summit is likely to be judged on whether nations can agree a new target for how much richer nations, development lenders and the private sector must provide each year to developing countries to finance climate action.
A previous goal of $100 billion per year, which expires in 2025, was met two years late in 2022, the OECD said earlier this year, although much of it was in the form of loans rather than grants, something recipient countries say needs to change.
Setting the tone at the start of the day, a report from the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance said the target annual figure would need to rise to $1.3 trillion a year by 2035, or potentially more if countries drag their feet now.
“Any shortfall in investment before 2030 will place added pressure on the years that follow, creating a steeper and potentially more costly path to climate stability,” the report said.
“The less the world achieves now, the more we will need to invest later.”
Behind the scenes, negotiators are working on draft texts of a deal, but so far early-stage documents published by the United Nations climate body only reflect the huge range of different views around the table, with little sense of where the talks will end up.
Some negotiators said the latest text on finance was too long to work with, and they were waiting for a slimmed-down version before talks to hammer out a deal could begin.
Any deal is likely to be hard fought given a reluctance among many Western governments – on the hook to contribute since the Paris Agreement in 2015 – to give more unless countries including China agree to join them.
The likely withdrawal of the United States from any future funding deal by incoming President Donald Trump has also overshadowed talks, raising pressure on delegates to find other ways to secure the needed funds.
Among them are the world’s multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, bankrolled by the richer countries and which are in the process of being reformed so they can lend more.
A group of 10 of the largest have already flagged a plan to ramp up their climate finance by roughly 60 per cent to $120 billion a year by 2030, with at least an extra $65 billion from the private sector.
A push to raise fresh money by taxing polluting sectors such as aviation, fossil fuels and shipping, or financial transactions, received a boost as more countries said they would consider it, but any agreement is unlikely this time around.
On Thursday, Zakir Nuriyev, head of the Association of Banks of Azerbaijan, announced a commitment by the country’s 22 banks to commit nearly $1.2 billion to finance projects that help Azerbaijan transition to a low-carbon economy.
Three days in, the conference has already included a handful of diplomatic spats.
French climate minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, on Wednesday cancelled her trip to COP29, after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev accused France of “crimes” in its overseas territories in the Caribbean.
“The voices of these communities are often brutally suppressed by the regimes in their metropolis,” Aliyev told the conference.
France and Azerbaijan have long had tense relations because of Paris’ support of Azerbaijan’s rival Armenia.
This year, Paris accused Baku of meddling and abetting violent unrest in New Caledonia.
“Regardless of any bilateral disagreements, the COP should be a place where all parties feel at liberty to come and negotiate on climate action,” European Union climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said in response, in a post on X.
“The COP Presidency has a particular responsibility to enable and enhance that,” he said.
That came after Aliyev used his opening speech at the conference on Monday to “accuse” the United States and EU of hypocrisy for lecturing countries on climate change while remaining major consumers and producers of fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s government has withdrawn its negotiators from the COP29 talks, two diplomats at the event told Reuters, although neither knew the reason for the decision.
Argentina’s embassy in Baku declined to comment.
Argentina’s President, Javier Milei, has previously called global warming a hoax.
Deputy Director of Chad’s National Meteorological Agency, Hamid Abakar Souleymane, waggled his finger up and down to demonstrate how a motionless humidity gauge at the agency’s headquarters should have been working.
Flooding in N’Djamena, Chad
The broken hygrothermograph was among the dustblown outdoor equipment in the capital N’Djamena that is meant to help the agency known as ANAM to track weather patterns.
The situation in Chad is replicated across much of Africa, a continent sorely lacking the reliable forecasts that are a keystone of disaster management as climate change makes extreme weather more frequent.
At COP29 climate talks on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for urgent action to overcome a shortage of data and funding.
The aim is to meet a target for universal protection by end-2027 from early warning systems to help preparation for extreme weather events.
For Chad, that appears a particularly ambitious goal.
Around 80 per cent of the devices at the agency’s site in N’Djamena are not operational, Deputy Director Hamid Abakar Souleymane told Reuters in October, as Chad battled another season of devastating floods.
“The reliability of weather information depends on the resources invested in producing it,” he said, describing a relentless push for more funding and trained personnel.
Africa, a continent of 1.5 billion people, has the world’s least-developed weather and climate observation network with fewer stations operating to global basic standards than Germany, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
“There are many declared stations that exist or may not exist.
“Many of them are not sharing data,” said Albert Fischer, director of the WMO Integrated Global Observing System division.
As of the third quarter of 2024, only two out of 53 African WMO countries were compliant with basic requirements for ground-level observation stations, Fischer said.
Being unprepared has deadly consequences. Floods not only happen more often across Africa than in Europe and North America combined, but they kill four times more people on average due to a lack of preparedness and warnings, a 2023 article in the journal Nature said.
Good weather data alone is not enough, as evidenced by deadly floods in October in Spain when some local authorities were blamed for failing to raise the alarm in time.
Chad’s plight nevertheless shows the scale of what can happen when disaster strikes one of the most vulnerable and data-poor regions on earth.
Heavier-than-usual seasonal rains in parts of West and Central Africa drove rivers to break their banks in recent months, leading to floods in every one of Chad’s provinces with 1.9 million people affected, over 570 killed, and 72,000 heads of cattle swept away.
“Everywhere is flooded. We have lost our fields of sorrel, beans, and grain.
“Everything is destroyed now because no one warned us of such a catastrophe,” mother-of-four Josiane Allasra said, speaking at a makeshift camp for displaced people on the outskirts of N’Djamena in late October.
“We’re hungry and we have nowhere to shelter our children.”
ANAM did not have the resources to track the worsening conditions as the disaster unfolded across a country the size of France and Spain combined.
“We have significantly less than we need.
“We need stations and we need funding,” Souleymane said during a tour of ANAM’s N’Djamena facilities, where stacks of old weather data spilled out over the floor of the archive and packaged equipment gathered dust.
A 2023 review of Chad’s hydromet capacity, found that it had just two trained forecasters, making round-the-clock forecasting and warning impossible.
The agency also lacks the financial and technical means to maintain a network of new automatic weather stations from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which anyway only covered the south and centre of the country, the report said.
“There’s a lot of wasted investment and infrastructure that is scattered … around Africa,” said Ana Heureux, programme management officer at a UN fund that supports countries like Chad to close their vast data gaps.
Under a five-year programme, the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) plans to help Chad upgrade or launch 34 weather stations to global observation standards.
Chad currently has one surface-land weather station.
To avoid a situation in which authorities find themselves with technology they do not have the expertise and funds to maintain, SOFF’s strategy includes making use of advisers from developed countries.
Once up-and-running, countries will continue to receive SOFF support provided they share their data internationally, Heureux said.
“Finally, we have one fund that’s dedicated to long-term support,” said the WMO’s Fischer.
Since mid-2022, SOFF has supported 23 African countries.
However, its funding outlook is uncertain. Since 2020, it has raised 94 million dollars out of a target of 200 million dollars by 2025.
There “has been a bit of a challenging fundraising donor environment, with everything happening in the world,” said Heureux, adding that SOFF hoped to close the gap including via a big fundraising push at COP29.
Global climate activists on Thursday, November 14, 2024, took over Baku’s Olympic stadium – the venue for the United Nations climate talks – to urge world leaders to commit to a strong climate finance deal this year.
The “Pay Up!” message at Baku’s Olympic Stadium
The message “Pay Up!” unfolded across the stadium seats, in perfect sight from the COP29 presidency offices located on the opposite side of the arena. A large swath of seats was converted with massive banners declaring “Pay Up!” demanding world leaders get climate finance done.
The action comes on the COP29 thematic day for finance when the stakes are high for securing financial commitments to support the global transition away from fossil fuels and protect countries from worsening climate impacts.
COP29 has been dubbed the “finance COP” as the new global climate goal is the big battleground issue at this year’s talk. Many call for the new goal to drastically increased from its present $100 billion to at least $1 trillion per year, in order to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts worldwide.
“Finance is the greatest barrier to the resilience of our peoples, but it is also our greatest opportunity. It is the bridge to climate action and climate justice. Finance is not just about arbitrary numbers. It’s about freedom, self-determination, and prosperity, and you can’t put a price tag on that. It’s time for climate culprits to hear our message, take responsibility, and pay up,” said Joseph Sikulu, coalition member and delegate from the Pacific, Tonga.
Global climate policy experts underscore this year’s conference as one of the most critical since COP26 in 2021. Without significant climate finance contributions, new national climate plans from vulnerable countries could fall short of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal, threatening the efficacy of international climate action.
“There is no time to lose. It’s urgent that developed countries take responsibility and leadership and provide sufficient public finance to attend to the needs and priorities of developing countries, particularly the adaptation needs. Not having a fair, equitable and ambitious NCQG means not having a clear future for most developing countries. But ultimately, the NCGQ is key to keeping 1.5°C alive – which is crucial to all of us. Let’s make the polluters pay for their historical responsibilities,” said Sandra Guzman, coalition member and delegate from Mexico.
Activists are also calling for the funds to be raised through taxes levied on fossil fuel-intensive industries. Last year, three fossil fuel companies made a combined $120 billion in profits from global oil and gas production – which is more than the combined GDP of the 11 poorest countries most threatened by climate disaster.
“As communities in the Global South bear the brunt of climate disasters, it’s past time for the Global North to pay their share – without saddling us with more debt. Real climate action means financing solutions that uplift, empower, and sustain our communities, free from the chains of fossil fuels and debt traps.
“The world needs leaders who are committed to justice and fairness; this starts with honoring climate finance commitments, taxing the super-rich, phasing out fossil fuels, and holding polluters accountable. The climate crisis doesn’t pause for politics or profit; it demands swift, decisive, and equitable action, now,” said Marinel Ubaldo, coalition member and delegate from the Philippines.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has approved changes in the leadership of the state’s climate change team with a view to ramp up the push against the negative effect of climate change in the state.
Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun State
The Governor subsequently directed the abolition of the office of Senior Special Assistant on Climate Change and the redeployment of the SSA on Climate Change, Prince Moruf Adedapo, out of the sub sector to the pool of SSAs.
The Governor also directed the movement of the office of the Consultant to the State on Climate Change and Renewable Energy from the Ministry of Environment to the Governor’s Office.
The consultant, Prof Chinwe Obuaku, will henceforth be reporting to the Governor directly as a strategy to give bite to the administration’s push to fast-track the implementation of adaptation and mitigate climate actions.
As part of the leadership reforms, Governor Adeleke further directed that liaison between the state government and federal agencies as well as development partners on climate matters should be coordinated by the state consultant.
Stakeholders are also advised to relate with the state consultant on climate related matters as the office of SSA on Climate Change no longer exists.
