‘Where is the money?’ COP28 deal throws spotlight on funding

1 / 2
COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber (C)poses for photos with Norway's FM Espen Barth Eide (L) and Singapore's Environment Minister Grace Fu at the COP28 UN Climate Summit on Dec. 8, 2023, in Dubai. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 15 December 2023
Follow

‘Where is the money?’ COP28 deal throws spotlight on funding

  • The agreement calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner” — after three decades
  • The International Energy Agency estimates global clean energy investments need to reach $4.5 trillion a year by 2030

PARIS: After COP28’s landmark call for the world to move away from fossil fuels, experts say the pressure is on to fast-track — and fund — the global energy transition.

The agreement was a compromise wrestled out of countries with sharply conflicting interests by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, hosting COP28 in the last days of the hottest year humans have recorded so far.
It calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner” — after three decades without naming the main driver of planet-heating pollution.
With rapidly-accelerating climate impacts slamming communities across the planet, observers said this was both a major milestone and the very minimum needed to steer the world onto a safer track.
The bigger challenge will be turning the promise of the COP28 agreement into sweeping global decarbonization that comes close to the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels.
COP28’s goal to triple global renewables capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030 will require significant investment, particularly in developing countries least responsible for warming.
An editorial in Indonesia’s Jakarta Post on Thursday called on rich polluters to scale up finance.
“COP28, where is the dough?” it asked.
The Dubai text acknowledged that trillions of dollars are needed by debt-stricken developing countries to meet their climate targets this decade as they face worsening warming impacts.
But Senegal’s climate envoy Madeleine Diouf Sarr, Chair of the Least Developed Countries Group, said it “fails to deliver a credible response to this challenge,” calling for 2024 UN climate talks to work to close the gap.

Countries in Dubai were tasked with responding to a damning assessment of progress on the world’s existing flagship climate promise — the 2015 Paris deal’s commitment to limit warming to “well below” 2C and preferably to the safer 1.5C threshold.
At 1.2 degrees of warming, scientists have said climate change was a major driver of the extreme heat that has scorched across the planet this year and stoked massive fires in parts of Canada.
It increased the severity of devastating drought in the Horn of Africa — and then exacerbated catastrophic flooding in the same region.
“Until fossil fuels are phased out, the world will continue to become a more dangerous, more expensive and more uncertain place to live,” said Friederike Otto, senior Climate Science lecturer at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London.
Before COP28, Earth was heading toward disastrous heating of between 2.5C and 2.9C by 2100, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Dubai decision had not changed the reality that the world is not on track, said its Executive Director Inger Andersen.
“Now the hard work of decarbonization must begin,” Andersen said, calling for greater financial support for poorer countries in their energy transitions.
Observers said a lack of specifics on finance in the COP28 text sets the stage for the issue to dominate COP29 talks next year in Azerbaijan and ups the pressure for sweeping climate-focused reforms of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Nicholas Stern, of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics, said countries should respond to the COP28 decision with “a huge increase in investment” in clean energy and green growth.
That is particularly needed in developing countries, except China, which face an estimated $2.4 trillion annual cost by 2030 to meet their climate and development priorities.

The International Energy Agency estimates global clean energy investments need to reach $4.5 trillion a year by 2030.
That is a steep increase from the $1.8 trillion this year, helped by policies in the United States, Europe, China and India.
IEA chief Fatih Birol called on countries to follow through on COP28 with more “concrete policies,” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Nevertheless, “spectacular” growth of technologies like wind and solar, as well as electric vehicles, has enabled the IAE to forecast that world fossil fuel demand will peak this decade.
That prognosis has been shrugged off by fossil fuel producers.
They plan to continue to expand oil, gas and coal despite the message from climate scientists that this would push the world beyond the 1.5C target.
Observers say loopholes in the Dubai text include the focus on fossil fuels for energy — potentially leaving out polluting products like plastics and fertilizers — as well as a nod to gas as a “transition fuel.”
Bill McKibben, the founder of environmental campaign group 350.org, said while the COP28 call to shift from fossil fuels may seem like “the single most obvious thing one could possibly say about climate change,” it could give activists a powerful new argument.
“We need to insist that the clear, plain meaning of the language is, the fossil fuel era is over,” he wrote in his newsletter.
klm/rl


Macron to press Starmer on recognizing Palestinian state during UK visit

Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

Macron to press Starmer on recognizing Palestinian state during UK visit

  • French leader’s trip comes as Paris pushes for relaunch of UN-led process on the issue to be hosted with Saudi Arabia
  • Macron also expected to discuss ‘one-in, one-out’ migrant return deal to curb Channel crossings

LONDON: Emmanuel Macron is expected to urge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to formally recognize Palestinian statehood during his upcoming state visit to the UK, it was reported on Saturday.

The French president arrives in London on Tuesday for a three-day trip, which will include a summit with Starmer, an address to both Houses of Parliament, and a state banquet hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle.

While the centerpiece of the visit is expected to be a new “one-in, one-out” migrant returns deal aimed at curbing Channel crossings, sources say Macron will also raise the issue of Palestinian statehood during private talks with the UK leader.

“The French are trying to get us back on board with recognition. We’re reticent,” a Whitehall insider told The Telegraph.

“You do it when you think you can achieve something from it, not for the sake of saying ‘we’ve done it.’”

Downing Street and the Elysee Palace are said to be at odds over the pace and conditions under which recognition should take place, though both governments publicly support the idea in principle at the “right time.”

Paris views recognition as a possible catalyst for a two-state solution and is pushing to relaunch a proposed UN-led process to discuss the matter to be hosted with Saudi Arabia.

However, UK officials fear the move could be largely symbolic without commitments from Hamas, including disarmament and withdrawal from leadership roles.

Israel has strongly opposed unilateral recognition, warning it would amount to “rewarding” Hamas for its Oct. 7 attacks.

The bilateral summit will also cover joint civil nuclear projects and coordination on a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

Macron’s visit will be marked by pageantry, including a carriage procession through Windsor and a tour of the Royal Collection. The French president will also be presented with Fabuleu de Maucour, a horse he gifted the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.


Afghans in British defense ministry data breach to get compensation

Updated 39 min 11 sec ago
Follow

Afghans in British defense ministry data breach to get compensation

  • Individuals can claim $5,400, armed forces minister says
  • Lord Coaker promises to ‘drive improvement’ in data handling

LONDON: Afghans whose personal information was exposed in a UK Ministry of Defence data breach have been told they can claim up to £4,000 ($5,400) in compensation.

The breach, which happened in September 2021, saw the email addresses of 265 Afghans who had worked with British forces mistakenly shared in a group email sent by the ministry’s Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy team.

The message, intended to provide updates on evacuation plans, used the “To” field instead of the blind carbon copy function, which revealed names, email addresses and in some cases thumbnail profile images.

On Friday, Armed Forces Minister Lord Coaker confirmed the compensation scheme in a written statement to Parliament, saying the ministry was taking a “proactive” approach to what he described as a historical data-handling incident, The Times reported on Saturday.

“I can confirm to members the Ministry of Defence will be directly contacting those individuals who were affected by the data incident,” he said. “Once a response is received and the affected individual’s identity confirmed, a single ex gratia payment of up to £4,000 per individual will be made.”

The ministry expects the total cost to be about £1.6 million.

“Every effort will be made to ensure payments are made as quickly as reasonably practical,” Coaker said.

“I cannot undo past mistakes but I wish to assure members that in my role as minister for the armed forces I intend to drive improvement in the department’s data handling training and practices.”

The ministry’s record on such issues “must improve and I am determined to ensure it does,” he said.

The breach was condemned at the time by then shadow defense secretary John Healey, who said: “We told these Afghan interpreters we would keep them safe, instead this breach has needlessly put lives at risk.”

In December 2023, the Information Commissioner’s Office fined the ministry £350,000 over the incident.

UK Information Commissioner John Edwards described it as “a particularly egregious breach of the obligation of security owed to these people, thus warranting the financial penalty my office imposes today.”

“This deeply regrettable data breach let down those to whom our country owes so much,” he said.

Following the incident, the ministry contacted those affected and asked them to delete the original email, change their contact details and inform the ARAP team using a secure form. Concerns were raised at the time that the information could have fallen into the hands of the Taliban.


Manila mayor launches weekly clean-up drive to deal with city’s garbage crisis

Updated 05 July 2025
Follow

Manila mayor launches weekly clean-up drive to deal with city’s garbage crisis

  • Manila residents affected by rotting trash uncollected for weeks
  • Waste collection contractors have quit, citing millions of dollars of unpaid bills

MANILA: Manila, one of the world’s most densely-populated cities, launched a weekly clean-up initiative on Saturday to address its worsening garbage problem, in the same week that a state of emergency was declared in the Philippine capital due to piles of uncollected rubbish. 

For weeks, garbage has been causing problems in the city, with roads becoming impassable for cars in some areas and the stench of rotting waste inescapable for Manila’s two million residents. 

The reason behind the crisis was revealed on Monday, when Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso assumed office: the capital’s rubbish collection contractors had quit, claiming they were owed millions of dollars by the previous administration. 

“Since the beginning of 2025, it was obvious that the garbage trucks weren’t coming in regularly — unlike the year before,” Manila resident Sophie Escudero told Arab News on Saturday. “Every time I (go out), the garbage is just way more than what I normally see.” 

By Tuesday, Domagoso had declared a state of health emergency and issued an executive order mandating “every Saturday … as regular clean-up and de-clogging day throughout the city of Manila,” and highlighting the city’s “deteriorating sanitary conditions and worsening garbage collection problem” as a hazard to people’s health and safety. 

Under the order, the city’s Department of Public Services and the Department of Engineering and Public Works are directed to take part in the weekly, citywide clean-up drive. Residents are also “strongly encouraged” to participate.  

“I need everyone’s cooperation—because together, we can make Manila great again,” Domagoso said on Friday. “I humbly appeal to everyone: let’s work together to lift our city up and make it a cleaner, more livable, and more peaceful place for our fellow citizens here in the nation’s capital.”

He also claimed that he could “confidently say” the garbage crisis was “70 percent solved,” after joint efforts from city officials and having reached out to a former waste collection contractor for help. The emergency declaration also allowed his office to access “more resources and exercise broader authority,” he said.

Domagoso, a former teen idol also known by his screen name Isko Moreno, prioritized cleaning up the city’s streets during his first stint as mayor from 2019 to 2022. He won the election in May with a promise to “Make Manila Great Again.”

“The reason I voted for Isko was because, somehow, you could actually be proud that Manila was at least a bit clean (during his previous term in office). Because when (his successor, former Mayor Honey) Lacuna took over, I was so frustrated. In some streets, you couldn’t even pass through,” Manila resident Malu Rongalerios told Arab News. “Now, the improvement is huge. No joke.” 

Prior to this week, Rongalerios said garbage trucks had only been coming to his neighborhood once or twice a week. 

“That’s just not acceptable,” he said. “We even segregate our trash. We make sure to take it out properly. To step out of your house and see trash everywhere? That’s just too much.” 

On Saturday, city authorities across Manila were flushing the streets with water, hauling piles of garbage away, and de-clogging drains to comply with the executive order. 

The city’s garbage crisis would have been preventable if “waste reduction measures such as bans on single-use plastic and support for reusable packaging and refill systems were to be implemented,” claimed Marian Ledesma, a zero-waste campaigner with Greenpeace Philippines, who warned that Manila may face a similar crisis in the future if strict waste segregation from households and businesses is not enforced. 

“Right now, collectors just dump everything into one truck,” Ledesma told Arab News. “This poor collection practice of mixing waste doesn’t (reward) the good habits of people who do segregate, and cities lose valuable resources because glass and other recyclables are thrown out, and food or organic waste that can be composted are mixed with other waste.”


Several hurt in Ryanair false fire alarm

Updated 05 July 2025
Follow

Several hurt in Ryanair false fire alarm

  • “Passengers were disembarked using the inflatable slides and returned to the terminal,” Ryanair said
  • “While disembarking, a small number of passengers encountered very minor injuries”

MADRID: A false fire alarm aboard a Ryanair jet preparing for takeoff from Spain’s Palma de Mallorca airport saw several passengers injured as they left the plane via inflatable ramps, the Irish carrier said Saturday.

Friday evening’s Manchester-bound flight was suspended owing to a false fire alarm warning indication.

“Passengers were disembarked using the inflatable slides and returned to the terminal,” Ryanair said in a statement, adding that there was no fire on the aircraft.

“While disembarking, a small number of passengers encountered very minor injuries (ankle sprains, etc.) and crew requested immediate medical assistance.

“To minimize disruption to passengers, we quickly arranged a replacement aircraft to operate this flight, which departed Palma at 07:05 this morning.”

Local Mallorca media reported 18 injuries, all minor, with six requiring hospitalization and the remainder treated on site.

The low-cost airline is popular with British tourists visiting coastal destinations in Spain and southern Europe, including the Balearic island of Mallorca.

State-owned Spanish airport managing company Aena confirmed that “there was an incident on a Ryanair plane last night at Palma de Mallorca Airport.

“There was no fire and the incident did not affect airport operations.”


UN condemns Russia’s largest drone assault on Ukraine

Updated 05 July 2025
Follow

UN condemns Russia’s largest drone assault on Ukraine

  • Guterres also called for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned Saturday Russia’s biggest drone and missile attack yet in the three-year war in Ukraine.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the latest series of large-scale drone and missile attacks by the Russian Federation,” Guterres said in a statement referring to the assault Friday and also calling for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.