The Paris Agreement turns two on Tuesday. President Emmanuel Macron is throwing a party and that nasty Donald Trump is not invited.
Whether because they’re in last-minute panic mode or just don’t want to ruin the surprise, the French have been tightlipped about their plans for the 50 world leaders expected to show up.
Climate Home News has the scoop on one political outcome: pressure on the shipping sector to pull its weight. Others may include new members of the UK and Canada’s coal phase-out club – although don’t expect any major burners – and a coalition setting out plans to go carbon neutral by 2050.
The key narrative is that this is the place to accelerate action in the real economy. As such, the private sector will do the heavy lifting, with multiple announcements due from investors and businesses.
Finance is a major theme, but developing countries shouldn’t expect any new money: this is more about greening the mainstream than rich-to-poor funding flows.
Quote of the week
“I don’t know how those guys face their kids and grandkids in the morning” – Australian former prime minister Kevin Rudd on his coal-toting successors
Unjust transition
It is peak smog season in many Asian cities. Despite the toxic air in Delhi, Scroll.in reported not a single polluter has been taken to court in the last three years.
Meanwhile in the satellite towns of Beijing, residents shivered through -6C nights after a mismanaged anti-pollution drive left them without heating. Old coal stoves were ripped out but not replaced with a gas supply in time for winter. Those who had gas faced high prices and shortages as supply failed to keep pace with demand.
After an outcry, 28 northern cities relaxed a ban on household coal heating.
And Claudia Ciobanu reported from Poland’s hard coal heartland, host of next year’s UN climate talks, where miners defend their jobs but imagine a greener future for their children.
Climate conversations
MIGA: The dirtiest World Bank wing you’ve never heard of – Helena Wright, E3G
Remake Puerto Rico’s power grid and create a universal basic income – Elsie Bryant, The Rules
What would Hannah Arendt have seen on a beach covered in plastic bottles? – Kerrie Foxwell-Norton, Griffith University
Hand-painted signs
Brazil’s government has put demarcation of indigenous lands on hold. Fabiano Maisonnave spent time with a community taking matters into its own hands, putting up homemade signs and confronting illegal gold miners.
Movers and shakers
A civil society summit in Suva, Fiji called for international action to protect the human rights of people displaced by climate change.
Trudeau in China
Canada and China are to cooperate more closely on climate issues including the development of carbon markets, their premiers agreed as Justin Trudeau visited Beijing.