climate change

The G7 have made a stuttering start on climate but have largely neglected the plight of people living in poverty, said Oxfam at the close of the annual leaders’ summit in Germany today.

Oxfam is deeply disappointed by Japan’s lack of ambition.  Setting a draft target of 26% emissions reduction below 2013 levels (18% below 1990 levels) by 2030 is woefully inadequate. 

Coal plants in the G7 are on track to cost the world $450 billion a year by the end of the century and reduce crops by millions of tons as they fuel the gathering pace of climate change.

To set the tone for a successful climate agreement at the UN talks in December, the G7 must lead the world in setting out clear plans for a just transition away from coal. 

The Paris agreement is at risk if developed countries cannot first show that they are keeping to their existing climate finance commitments, as made at the Copenhagen climate change conference in 2009, to mobilise $100bn/year by 2020.

A commitment to increase and accelerate public finance is adaptation’s bottom-line.  Without it, the Paris agreement will be a mitigation deal for big emitters, not a climate change agreement for all. This briefing sets out Oxfam's demands on adaptation finance post 2020 that need to be agreed in Paris at the end of this year.

The revision of the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) offers a unique opportunity to increase transparency and predictability of climate finance from the EU and its Member States by establishing a mechanism that automatically directs a portion of the ETS revenues as additional international climate finance. 

How to ensure the trillions of dollars of incremental investment needed in the energy and climate-related sectors to promote low-carbon development is both socially responsible and addresses both mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and resilience to climate change impacts?

Family farming and small-scale agriculture play an important role in food production. However, limited access to resources such as land, water, seeds, and finance can be a barrier for these farmers to access markets under equitable conditions.

The Business and Climate Summit was an opportunity for companies to lead by example, and though several did show willing, it was not nearly enough to champion the urgent action needed to help combat climate change.