After 18 months of slings and transatlantic arrows, the leaders of the European Union flew east this week to open a new chapter in Eurasian climate diplomacy.
A year ago, the EU and China dropped a statement on climate cooperation after their economic and trade differences proved too vast.
But in the time since, US aggression has made an uncomfortable relationship ever more appealing. On Monday, the world’s largest and third largest polluters published their intention to stand up for the Paris climate deal and push through stalled negotiations on some of its details.
Read our coverage here.
Observers we spoke to said the statement was a good beginning. E3G’s Léa Pilsner wrote in these pages that the words needed to lead to concrete action lest the ever-fractious EU-China relations turned sour.
Read her piece here.
From Beijing to Tokyo
The EU’s Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker followed that détente with a punch for the multilateral global order. In Tokyo they signed off on a long-awaited deal with Japan that created the world’s biggest free trade zone.
It is the first EU trade deal to carry a commitment from both parties to uphold the 2015 Paris Agreement, indicating an effort to integrate trade and climate policy.
However critics question whether the EU would really take Japan, or any other trading pal, to the floor to protect the climate accord.
Read the report here.
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Over(the)heat
The UK government released its plan to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change this week. But amid a grinding heatwave that has turned the country brown, the government has failed to adequately address the problem of people overheating in homes, offices and public spaces.
In a world growing hotter, that’s not good enough, say the government’s independent advisors at the Committee on Climate Change.
Read Soila Apparicio’s story here.
Look at how the UK is turning brown after the lack of rainfall (Photo source: @metoffice) #Summer2018 #ukheatwave pic.twitter.com/McubDTZI3c
— Tomasz Schafernaker (@Schafernaker) July 18, 2018
Are we getting climate finance all wrong?
In an op-ed on Friday, Jessica Brown and Ilmi Granoff challenge some of the most widely held orthodoxies that dictate how we spend climate cash. When you take a longer term view, they argue, many of today’s investments stop making sense.
Their piece is here.
Looking forward
- Sustainable cities network ICLEI wraps up its World Congress in Montreal, 19-23 July
- Brics: Leaders of South Africa, China, India, Brazil and Russia meet in Johannesburg, 25-27 July
Climate conversations
- Are we getting climate finance all wrong? – Jessica Brown and Ilmi Granoff
- How the Paris Agreement can take on fossil fuel supply – Georgia Piggot and Peter Erickson
- Trump is wrecking the climate and free trade. Here is a common solution for both – Michael Mehling, Harro van Asselt, Kasturi Das and Susanne Droege