The UN's most senior climate official has said “torrents not trickles” of finance are needed if the world is to achieve its Cop goals.
In a keynote speech in Baku, Azerbaijan, which will host the Cop29 UN Climate Conference in November, Simon Stiell said it will take an “Olympian effort” over the next two years to get the world back on track with its climate-change promises.
Mr Stiell, head of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, said finance will be crucial and he envisages that more than $2.4 trillion will be needed so the commitments made at Cop28 in Dubai can be met.
The talks in Dubai ended with a compromise agreement that the world should “transition away from fossil fuels”.
Alongside deals on expanding low-carbon energy, the pledges of Cop28 are set to keep hopes alive of curbing global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
To build on the success of Dubai, Mr Stiell said the Olympic motto “faster, higher, stronger” should be Cop's motto.
“I stand before you at 1.1 degrees of warming, coming out of the hottest year on record by a huge margin,” he said.
“It will take an Olympian effort over the next two years to put us on track to where we need to be in 2030 and 2050.
“In fact, the action we take in the next two years will shape how much climate-driven destruction we can avoid over the next two decades, and far beyond. The Olympic motto “faster, higher, stronger” should be our shared climate mantra.
“We must spend the year working collectively to evolve our global financial system so it’s fit for purpose, with a clear plan to meaningfully execute the climate transition.
“Looking at the numbers, it’s clear that to achieve this transition, we need money, and lots of it – $2.4 trillion, if not more.
“Whether on slashing emissions or building climate-resilience, it’s already blazingly obvious that finance is the make-or-break factor in the world’s climate fight – in quantity, quality, and innovation.
“In fact, without far more finance, 2023’s climate wins will quickly fizzle away into more empty promises.
“We need torrents – not trickles – of climate finance.”
He said the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance must be agreed so nations can be confident that they will be able to rapidly access sufficient concessional support.
“Climate finance must not be quietly pilfered from aid budgets. And it must be designed to be leveraged, driving and protecting development gains, whilst delivering concrete implementation of climate action,” he said.
“2024 is the year multilateral development banks must demonstrate – with concrete actions – their centrality in the world’s climate fight, and their determination to deliver impact at scale.
“They should take bold steps towards financial innovation that will double, if not triple, their collective financial capacity by 2030 – particularly with respect to grants and concessional finance.”
Mr Stiell added: “It is my earnest hope that by 2050, this organisation will be rendered redundant, in a net-zero, climate-resilient global economy, consigned to a place in the history books: a chapter about how humanity saved itself and its only home.
“To citizens around the world, I say directly, we need you. Your voices – demanding bolder climate actions now – need to be heard clearly by your representatives.
“At UN Climate Change, we will not rest in pushing for the highest ambition – in accordance with the science – working side by side with all governments, businesses and community leaders.”
Azerbaijan will take over the Cop presidency from the UAE in November, when thousands of government officials, delegates and ministers will meet for the 12-day summit.
In his speech which traced backwards from a vision of success in 2050 to the actions of the next two years, Mr Stiell said the changes over the coming decades would be "comparable in scope to the industrial revolution" or the growth of the digital economy.
It comes as the world is currently far off track in delivering on its cornerstone climate deal, agreed in Paris in 2015.
Under the Paris Agreement, world leaders pledged to keep the rise in Earth's average temperature to "well below" 2.0 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level and preferably the much safer threshold of 1.5C.
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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The biog
Name: Abeer Al Bah
Born: 1972
Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992
Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old
Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
