The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed 30 years ago at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by all the governments of the world. The first annual Conference of Parties (COP1) was held in Berlin, Germany, with the then Environment Minister of Germany, Angela Merkel, as COP President in 1995. Since then, there …

As climate change hits farmers and those who depend on them, creating a smarter food system is now critical Each year the country presiding over the UN Climate Summit – which this year is Egypt – can choose key areas in which to raise ambition through the ‘presidency programme’. The news that Egypt has chosen to add an ‘adaptation and …

I have just spent two weeks in Bonn, Germany attending the Subsidiary Bodies meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in preparation for the 27th Conference of Parties (CoP 27) to be held in Sharm Al Shaikh, Egypt in November this year. I have been participating in these meetings since 1992 and it is depressing to …

This past week, the entire country has been rightly celebrating the successful completion and inauguration of the historic Padma Bridge, which links the south-western part of Bangladesh to its northern and eastern regions with prospects of unhindered transport between the two major regions of the country. However, while the prospects for economic progress are certainly most welcome, it may also …

G7 progress on mobilising trillions needed in clean infrastructure investment for developing countries appears largely rhetorical Developing country observers gazed on at COP26 when various leaders of wealthy and industrialized G7 countries spoke of aspirations to mobilize the trillions needed in clean infrastructure investment for developing countries. The teasing of trillions was an important part of advancing the dialogue at …

The global environmental movement started in 1972, with the first global environment conference held in Stockholm, Sweden, hosted by then Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. Among the heads of governments who also attended was the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who famously declared that environment and poverty were two major global issues that needed to be tackled together. Since …

During the negotiations that led to the historic Paris Agreement at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in 2015, the climate vulnerable countries argued for and succeeded in getting the global goal on mitigation of staying below two degrees Celsius—and if possible, below 1.5 degrees Celsius. This was indeed a remarkable achievement for the vulnerable countries at that time. …

The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) was launched over 10 years ago, by then President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, and has been operating since then with a different head of government in charge of it for a two-year tenure. The current chair of CVF is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, whose term is scheduled to end later this year, …

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a global body under the United Nations (UN), has been conducting periodic reviews (every six or seven years) of the state of scientific knowledge on climate change for the last 30 years. The agency is currently in the process of publishing its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) in three parts. The first part was …

In the last few weeks, three separate cyclones hit the island of Madagascar and then Mozambique, causing loss of life and damage to infrastructure. Even in the UK, Storm Eunice caused much damage. These are just a few examples of the loss and damage attributable to human-induced climate change, and in every such incident, it is the victims who are …