{"id":261414,"date":"2025-11-14T00:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261414\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T00:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:27:16","slug":"call-for-two-year-adaptation-indicator-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261414\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for two-year adaptation indicator delay"},"content":{"rendered":"

African and Arab nations are calling for a two-year postponement of an agreement on a set of indicators designed to track countries\u2019 progress in adapting to climate change \u2013 a deal that is expected to be one of COP30\u2019s flagship outcomes.<\/p>\n

As seen in a new draft text<\/a> on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) issued in Bel\u00e9m on Wednesday, the two groups of countries have raised concerns on some proposed indicators which they argue could unfairly shift financial responsibility for climate adaptation onto developing countries.<\/p>\n

They say the indicators, which are meant to track progress in adapting to climate change, are \u201cnot consistent with the Paris Agreement\u201d because they include domestic budgets and national spending as part of adaptation finance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This risks blurring the line between developing countries\u2019 own money and the international support they are supposed to receive under the Paris accord, they argue. Asking governments to count their own spending towards global adaptation funding could place a further burden on the already limited resources of poorer countries, they fear.<\/p>\n

An additional concern is that the proposed indicators related to expenditure tracking and national budget allocations could undermine countries\u2019 sovereignty on how they spend their fiscal resources.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Africa needs over $50 billion a year<\/a> to adapt to climate change. In 2019 alone, countries spent 0.95% of their governments\u2019 budgets on adaptation \u2013 and in some countries like Botswana and Seychelles, it gobbled up 4% of their GDP, according to the 2023 UN Adaptation Gap Report<\/a>. Since then, the impacts of climate change have worsened around the globe.<\/p>\n

In the new draft text, countries also note that the indicators fail to measure the quality and accessibility of climate finance. Observers told Climate Home News that this is especially key for African nations who want to avoid indicators that could set unrealistic criteria for accessing limited funds or locking them into high interest loans.<\/p>\n

\"\"Campaigners hold a silent protest on adaptation finance at COP30 on November 13 (Photo: Megan Rowling)<\/p>\n

Responding to a question from Climate Home News, Richard Muyungi, chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) said the indicators must be linked to finance, adding that this funding has to come from the international community so that developing countries are \u201csupported\u201d rather than being forced to use their own money to adapt to climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The AGN wants the indicators to be shaped by government negotiators over the next two years so that they can be made more realistic, fair and reflective of national capacities.<\/p>\n

Teresa Anderson, global lead on climate justice for ActionAid International, said the Africa Group has \u201cgood reasons to be cautious\u201d about rushing to finalise the adaptation indicators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still no certainty that there will be money available to implement the adaptation tasks they are setting themselves,\u201d she added, warning that \u201cunless there is funding to do the work, the goal risks becoming a burden instead of a boost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

An adviser to a North African government noted that deferring the adoption of the GGA indicators would not stop countries from using them to measure their adaptation progress, even though that would not be reported internationally in a formal way.<\/p>\n

Countries rally behind fossil fuel transition roadmap<\/p>\n

After an early call by Brazilian President Lula da Silva to discuss a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels at COP30, countries are starting to rally behind the idea, which experts say could lead to an agreement in Bel\u00e9m to move the idea forward.<\/p>\n

Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva hosted ministers from the UK and Germany at Brazil\u2019s COP pavilion to launch a call for a planned move away from fossil fuels, with support from Denmark, Kenya, Colombia, France, and the Marshall Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a dialogue with everyone \u2013 producers, consumers, and those who are affected by our actions. We need a compass to guide us away from our dependency on fossil fuels,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n

UK climate envoy Rachel Kyte told the event \u201cthere is a way for us to walk out of here with a roadmap to manage the transition away from fossil fuels\u201d in a fair way\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nActivists and Indigenous people take part in a Stop EACOP campaign protest against fossil fuels during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil, November 13, 2025. REUTERS\/Adriano Machado<\/p>\n

Observers said the proposal could be included in an eventual cover decision \u2013 a general COP presidency text \u2013 or in any of the established formal negotiations on cutting emissions.<\/p>\n

The Environmental Integrity Group \u2013 composed of Mexico, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Korea, Switzerland, and Georgia \u2013 also supported the Brazil-led initiative and has even submitted a proposal to discuss a roadmap in the negotiating rooms.<\/p>\n

But this proposal was rejected by oil-producing countries in the Arab group \u2013 among them Saudi Arabia, which last year blocked all mentions of fossil fuels at COP29. Major coal producers in the Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) \u2013 among them China and India \u2013 are also opposed.<\/p>\n

Colombia has opted for a different approach, seeking support for a political declaration on a planned fossil fuel transition outside the climate talks, which is so far supported by small islands and Panama, one observer told Climate Home News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0The \u201cjigsaw\u201d of initiatives and the \u201cdiplomatic heavyweights\u201d supporting it suggests there is a \u201cgrowing sense that this needs to be part of the final package\u201d in Bel\u00e9m, said Romain Ioualalen, global policy campaign manager with Oil Change International.<\/p>\n

Analysts: NDCs have made little difference to projected warming<\/p>\n

Last year, Climate Action Tracker (CAT) said the world was on course for 2.6C of global warming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, over 100 countries have updated their NDC climate targets. Now, CAT says<\/a>, the world is on course for\u2026still 2.6C.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, the 2035 NDCs so far submitted don\u2019t change the dial in terms of keeping warming to 1.5\u02daC,\u201d the analysts concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the other hand, as New Climate Institute\u2019s Niklas H\u00f6hne says, CAT\u2019s 2015 report predicted we were on course for 3.6C of warming. So \u201cthe Paris Agreement works\u201d, he argues. Just not enough to hold global warming to its lowest limit of 1.5C<\/a>, which the UN has now admitted will be exceeded, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

Also released today, Exeter University\u2019s global carbon budget report<\/a> projects \u2013 although with little confidence \u2013 that total carbon dioxide emissions in 2025 will be very slightly lower than last year.<\/p>\n

While emissions from fossil fuels are likely to rise slightly in 2025 \u2013 with a big increase in the US as coal rebounds \u2013 emissions from land use look like they will fall.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nOver the last two decades, land use emissions have fallen sharply in Brazil and China (Visual: Exeter University)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s thanks partly to COP30\u2019s Brazilian hosts, as deforestation rates in the Amazon have declined and are at their lowest level this season since 2014.<\/p>\n

London Metropolitan University geography professor Julia Pongratz said this \u201cdemonstrates the success that environmental policies can achieve\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even if emissions have peaked though, the global average temperature will keep on heating up at least until we reach net zero, when no more greenhouse gas emissions are added to the atmosphere than are taken out by forests and other ways of removing them.<\/p>\n

Amnesty study maps fossil fuel threat to health and human rights<\/p>\n

From artisanal fishing communities in Brazil to Indigenous land defenders in Canada and coastal communities in Senegal, living near fossil fuel infrastructure is putting the health and human rights of hundreds of millions of people at risk, according to a new report<\/a> from Amnesty International.<\/p>\n

The global rights organisation teamed up with researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder in a mapping exercise showing that at least 2 billion people \u2013 a quarter of them children \u2013 live within 5km of more than 18,000 fossil fuel operations across 170 countries. Those include oil drilling and fracking sites, gas pipelines and coal power plants.<\/p>\n

Among the 2 billion people, at least 463 million live within 1km of the sites, exposing them to much higher environmental and health risks, says the report released on Wednesday on the sidelines of COP30.<\/p>\n

Exploration, processing, site development, transportation and decommissioning of fossil fuels have led to severe pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as damaging key natural areas, it found, turning communities and ecosystems into \u201csacrifice zones\u201d.<\/p>\n


\nA gas flare lights up the sky of Minatitl\u00e1n, in Mexico\u2019s oil-producing Veracruz state. (Photo: Juan Mayorga)<\/p>\n


\nA gas flare lights up the sky of Minatitl\u00e1n, in Mexico\u2019s oil-producing Veracruz state. (Photo: Juan Mayorga)<\/p>\n

Studies show that exposure to sites where fossil fuels are produced and used raises the risks of negative health impacts including cancer, heart disease and birth problems, the report adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report provides yet more evidence of the imperative for states and corporate actors to \u2019defossilise\u2019 the global economy to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis on human rights,\u201d Agn\u00e8s Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The study shows that 16% of global fossil fuel infrastructure is sited on Indigenous territories, while around a third of the total overlaps with one or more \u2018critical ecosystems\u2019 that are rich in biodiversity or important carbon sinks.<\/p>\n

The report warns that, despite governments pledging to transition away from fossil fuels two years ago at COP28, more than 3,500 fossil fuel infrastructure sites are either proposed, in development, or under construction globally.<\/p>\n

The researchers estimate that such expansion could put at least 135 million more people at risk. The number of oil and gas projects is set to increase across all continents, it notes, while coal plants and mines are being added mostly in China and India.<\/p>\n

Local people are often not consulted by authorities and companies managing the projects nor given enough information about their potential impacts, Amnesty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost affected groups condemned the power imbalance between their communities and corporate operators, as well as the lack of effective remedy,\u201d said Candy Ofime, researcher and legal advisor on climate justice at Amnesty International.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"African and Arab nations are calling for a two-year postponement of an agreement on a set of indicators…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-261414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}