US, UK, Canada and Australia have fallen billions of dollars short of their “fair share” of climate funding

Support for developing countries will be a critical issue at Cop27, but new data shows rich countries are lagging. Rich countries pledged to provide US$100bn a year by 2020, although this target has been missed. The US share of this, based on its past emissions, would be $40bn yet it provided only $7.6bn in 2020, the latest year for which data is available. Australia and Canada gave only about a third of the funding indicated by the analysis, while the UK supplied three-quarters but still fell $1.4bn short.

And Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, has criticised industrialised nations for failing the developing world on the climate crisis, in a blistering attack at the Cop27 UN climate talks.

Meanwhile, the dramatic vanishing of polar ice sheets will cause catastrophic sea level rise that will threaten cities, according to a major new study. Even if planet-heating emissions are radically cut, the world’s vast ice sheets at the poles will continue to melt away for hundreds of years, causing up to three metres of sea level rise that will imperil coastal cities.

Revealed: US and UK fall billions short of ‘fair share’ of climate funding
The US, UK, Canada and Australia have fallen billions of dollars short of their “fair share” of climate funding for developing countries, analysis shows. The assessment, by Carbon Brief, compares the share of international climate finance provided by rich countries with their share of carbon emissions to date, a measure of their responsibility for the climate crisis.

Barbados PM launches blistering attack on rich nations at Cop27 climate talks
Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, has criticised industrialised nations for failing the developing world on the climate crisis, in a blistering attack at the Cop27 UN climate talks. She said the prosperity – and high carbon emissions – of the rich world had been achieved at the expense of the poor in times past, and now the poor were being forced to pay again, as victims of climate breakdown that they did not cause. “We were the ones whose blood, sweat and tears financed the industrial revolution,” she said. “Are we now to face double jeopardy by having to pay the cost as a result of those greenhouse gases from the industrial revolution? That is fundamentally unfair.

World faces ‘terminal’ loss of Arctic sea ice during summers, report warns
The climate crisis has pushed the planet’s stores of ice to a widespread collapse that was “unthinkable just a decade ago”, with Arctic sea ice certain to vanish in summers and ruinous sea level rise from melting glaciers now already in motion, a major new report has warned. Even if planet-heating emissions are radically cut, the world’s vast ice sheets at the poles will continue to melt away for hundreds of years, causing up to three metres of sea level rise that will imperil coastal cities, the report states. The “terminal” loss of sea ice from the Arctic during summers could arrive within a decade and now cannot be avoided, it adds.

COP27: ’Grand bargain’ to put compensation at centre of climate agenda
As world leaders assemble in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on the edge of the Red Sea for COP27 they are left in no doubt that this climate change conference is taking place on African soil. Loss and damage, the price to be paid to developing nations to compensate for the consequences of climate change was put immediately on the table, and will stay at the heart of these negotiations. Even before COP27 started, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry, who will act as COP27 president, said the task was “to restore the grand bargain that is at the centre of the Paris Agreement.”

India committed to clean and green energy: Union Minister Yadav at COP
India is committed to clean and green energy, said Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate change Bhupender Yadav on Monday on the sidelines of COP 27, Sharm El-Sheikh.

Andrew Forrest says big companies are 'forcing' customers to 'destroy the planet'
Australian mining magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest has accused energy companies and businesses selling single-use plastics of forcing customers to "destroy the planet". Speaking to 7.30's Sarah Ferguson from Egypt where he is attending the UN climate summit COP27, Mr Forrest urged energy companies to give customers greener alternatives.

Volvo won't sell petrol cars here by 2026. Will the likes of Toyota and Ford follow their lead?
The Swedish company's 2026 deadline shocked the local automotive industry and comes as the federal government attempts to pass legislation to bring down the cost of electric vehicles (EVs).