Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.

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This week

Money talks in Paris

CLIMATE FINANCE:Dozens of world leaders met in Paris this week to discuss climate finance, green growth, the debt crisis and how to tap private sector sources of investment,BBC News报道。The overall ambition of the meeting was to “give poorer countries access to hundreds of billions of dollars to tackle climate change”, according to BBC News. The two-day summit was co-chaired by prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and French president, Emmanuel Macron.

FUNDS FOR 1.5C:Ahead of the summit, the climate change ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand in theGuardiancalled for an international financial system that can help the world stay as close as possible to 1.5C of warming. In a comment piece inReuters, Dr Rachel Kyte, a climate policy expert, predicted that a challenge for the summit would be how to bolster investment in emerging markets and developing economies in a way that does not incur debt. “Those gathering in Paris this week agree that the current system is no longer fit for purpose,” Kyte wrote.

DEBT PAYMENT PAUSE:The summit’s first day saw the World Bank unveil several new measures to help countries affected by extreme weather, including a “pause” in debt repayments to the lender,Reuters报道。On the second day, the summit’s final statement, seen byReuters, announced that “multilateral development banks are expected to unlock $200bn in extra firepower for emerging economies by running their balance sheets more tightly and taking on more risk”.

‘Unheard of’ marine heatwave

OCEAN HEAT:A marine heatwave off the coasts of the UK and Ireland could pose a serious threat to species and fisheries, theGuardian报道。“虽然海洋热浪在战争中被发现mer seas like the Mediterranean, such anomalous temperatures in this part of the north Atlantic are unheard of,” Prof Daniela Schmidt, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Bristol, told the newspaper.

EL NIÑO:Weaker trade winds limiting the amount of Saharan dust blowing over the ocean this year and a global transition to El Niño, a natural weather phenomenon causing hotter conditions in many parts of the world, could have contributed to the heatwave,New Scientist报道。It added that climate change is also likely to be contributing, although no formal assessment of its role has yet been carried out.亚慱官网has reported on how climate change could make marine heatwaves longer and more intense.

India, Mexico, China swelter

HIGH FATALITIES:At least 96 people have died from heat-related conditions during an intense heatwave across two of India’s most populous states, theGuardian报道。Although the Indian federal government has resisted directly connecting high humidity and temperatures to the rise in fatalities, it has sent teams to assist and advise heat-affected states, according toBloomberg.

POWER DEMAND:In Mexico, soaring temperatures are driving record electricity consumption, prompting the country’s energy authority to issue a rare alert over grid capacity, Reutersreported. Meanwhile, yesterday, Beijing experienced its hottest June day on record, notedCaixin, when temperatures peaked at 41.4C.

Around the world

• SAVE THE GLACIERS:In a referendum, 59.1% of voters in Switzerland backed a new climate bill designed to cut fossil-fuel use and reach net-zero emissions by 2050, according toBBC News.
• OCEAN TALKS WIN:The United Nations has adopted the world’s first treaty to protect the high seas and preserve marine biodiversity in international waters after nearly 20 years of negotiations,Reuters报道。Read亚慱官网’s in-depth coverage of the final negotiations and what they mean for climate change and biodiversity.
• AMAZON LOSS SLOWS:近6个月他的第二个法术主持nt of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has begun to rein in the rampant destruction of the Amazon rainforest, according toNew Scientist.
• US CLEAN ENERGY:For the first time ever, solar and wind together generated more electricity in the US than coal power during the first five months of the year,CBS news报道。
• RELENTLESS CROP:A heat-tolerant coffee strain, lost to commercial production for half a century, has been successfully revived in a pilot project in Sierra Leone,Bloomberg报道。

$2.8 trillion

The recommended value of annual investments in clean energy across developing nations by the early 2030s, if the world is to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, according to theInternational Energy Agency. The value of such investments in 2022 was $770bn.

Latest climate research

• Population growth drove a 30% rise in emissions from global food supply chains over 2000-19, according to new research published inNature Food.
• New research inNature Climate Changesuggested that endangered southwestern willow flycatchers in southern California have adapted their DNA to meet changing climate conditions.
• The indirect effects of climate change, such as wildfires, have a greater impact on soil organic carbon than direct effects such as rising temperatures, according to new research inNature Communications.

(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summarises of the top climate news stories onMonday,Tuesday,Wednesday,ThursdayandFriday.)

Captured

Military spending dwarfs climate

Developed countries spend over 10 times more on their militaries than on climate finance for developing countries, according to Carbon Briefyabo亚博体育app下载. In 2022, developed countries spent $1,242bn on their militaries, compared to $97bn on climate finance for developing countries, the analysis reveals. Back in 2020, developed nations broke along-held promiseto provide developing countries with $100bn in climate finance annually.

Spotlight

Can carbon offsets help to deliver climate finance for Africa?

With climate finance flows to Africa still limited, Carbon Brief explores whether funds could be raised through the continent’s burgeoning carbon offsets industry.

In May, Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank Group,saidAfrica will need $2.7tn in finance for tackling and adapting to climate change by 2030. A bulk of this money is expected to come from developed countries, who arelargely responsiblefor climate change due to their historical high emissions – and who have failed to meet a pledge to provide $100bn per year in climate finance by 2020.

But carbon markets are alsobeing toutedas a market-driven approach to help close Africa’s climate financing gap. At last year’sCOP27 climate summitin Egypt, several UN bodies collaborated with African leaders and western donors tolaunchthe Africa Carbon Market Initiative (ACMI). The ACMI aims tomobilise$6bn of African carbon credits per annum by 2030 and $100bn per annum by 2050 viavoluntary carbon markets.(Voluntary carbon markets are where companies and organisations can buy and sell “carbon credits”, with the aim of polluting companies “offsetting” their emissions by funding projects that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.)

整线前的挑战numerous. Developers for new carbon offset projects are relatively few on the continent and government regulation is a huge barrier. The ACMI also needs to help scale the continent’s capacity to validate and verify credit-worth projects. But perhaps the greatest obstacle it faces is the lack of integrity associated with many carbon offset projects. Althoughscientists saythat carbon offsetting can play a role in meeting global climate goals, the way that industry currently operates has raised concerns aboutexaggerated climate benefitsand potentialside-effects for people and nature.

Larry Lohmann, a researcher and campaigner with the UK organisation the Corner House, told Carbon Brief that “carbon markets might trickle a bit of money to certain isolated groups”, but that there is a risk they can be misused by “big, exploitative extractive and manufacturing industries”, such as fossil fuel companies.

The ACMI, in itsroadmap report, acknowledged the concerns of environmental groups and noted that they “must be accounted for and addressed to ensure that African carbon markets develop with high integrity”. But it remains to be seen whether the initiative can operate “with integrity, equity and transparency”, asdemandedby a member of the ACMI’s inaugural committee, Bogolo Kenewendo.

Watch, read, listen

SEE THE BURN:Watch these NASA visualisations showing CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels inEurope, the Middle East, Africa,the Americas,Australiaand Asia. (And watch out for a Carbon Brief article about these Nasa videos coming next week.)

INDIA’S ENERGY RECKONING:ForForeign Affairs, Arunabha Ghosh examined whether one of the most populated countries on Earth can become a green superpower.

PALM OIL EMISSIONS:Chih-Ching Lan and Josie Phillips argued inChina Dialoguethat ending deforestation – and enhancing transparency and cooperation – will be key to balancing palm oil emissions and removals.

Coming up

• 24 June-2 July:London Climate Action Week 2023: Harnessing the “power of London for global climate action”.
• 26-29 June:64th Meetingof the Global Environment Facility Council, Brasilia, Brazil.
• 28 June:UK Climate Change Committee submits2023 progress reportto Parliament.

Pick of the jobs

• Tree Aid is hiring adirector of fundraising and communications| Salary: £65,000. Location: Bristol, UK.
• Newsday is seeking anenvironment reporterthat will develop enterprise stories and cover breaking news by cultivating diverse sources to help build a diverse audience | Salary: $52.32 per hour. Location: New York.
• Reuters is seeking anenergy correspondentto join its team in Nigeria | Salary: Unspecified. Location: Lagos, Nigeria.

DeBriefedis written in rotation by Carbon Brief’s team and edited byDaisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to[email protected]