By Gary Cuneen, Seven Generations Ahead
November 14, 2024
Island Nations
Island Nations along with poor developing nations have the most to lose from the impacts of climate change. Several presidents of Island nations (including Barbados, Tonga, Maldives, Bahamas, Cook Island, Granada, Marshall Islands) met yesterday in a summit to put forth their plea for a more rapid transition from and elimination of fossil fuels and for greater financial assistance to help them adapt to the impacts that climate change is wreaking on their nations. They are facing sea level rises (Marshall Islands is only 2 meters above sea level), flooding, multi-year droughts and category 5 hurricanes and are demanding as African nations are “grant-based financing” to support loss and damage, climate mitigation and adaptation. The presidents collectively are calling for a new ambitious global climate finance goal at COP29 and for stronger GHG reduction commitments from the world’s biggest emitters. Papua New Guinea announced that it was boycotting COP this year because it “is a total waste of time”, while other Island nation presidents insisted that they must stay at the table and fight for their demands.
Oceans 101
A session this morning at the Ocean Pavilion discussed the role of oceans in absorbing 90% of the atmosphere’s excess heat (thus tempering climate change) and the price we pay for that role. Heat is stored in oceans (not uniformly) and data is showing that more of that heat is now being found in deeper ocean levels than before. Scientists demonstrated data that ocean warming equates directly to increased human-created GHG emissions and generates negative impacts including sea level rise (warmer water expands the volume of water as well-Steric Expansion), increased flooding, ecosystem destruction and species migration to cooler waters. The panelists discussed that oceans act as a storage house for heat and the release of that heat has empowered larger and more rapidly intense cyclones and hurricanes – including many this fall (Hurricane Helene alone cost 230 lives and $50 billion). Other impacts of ocean heat trapping include acidification (bleaching of coral reefs that are the “lungs of the sea” and provide habitat for aquatic life); reduction in oxygen; marine food web disruption; species migration; and decline in food for large sea predators (tuna for example). 3 billion people rely on fish for sustenance. We’re chipping away at one of our major sources of food. Solution: Reduce GHGs.
Climate Finance Speed and Scale
Today is Climate Finance Day at COP29. Former US Climate Envoy John Kerry over the past years has said that if we aggregate all of the federal government money in the world that it would be severely insufficient to solve the climate crisis. Multiple leaders across the globe are echoing the same reality and underscoring the need for private sector climate financing and a proliferation of public-private partnerships. Leaders today cited key strategies that need to move forward, including standardization of tools and finance mechanisms, regulations and policies that support developing countries in accessing financing more easily, education about blended financing opportunities, project preparation technical assistance and “de-risking” tools to drive new project financing and implementation. Multi-lateral financing institutions need to step up their role (a theme from last year), which is coming to fruition on some level through the World Bank’s doubling its investments to $66 billion from last year’s $33 billion.