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Vwelcome to Carbon Brief DeBriefed.
The ultimate guide to the week’s key climate change events.
Oil prices are recovering
OIL AGAIN: Oil prices rose more than 7% to return above $100 a barrel on Monday after US-Iran peace talks broke down and US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of Iranian ports, reports said. BBC News. The jump followed a drop in prices last week following the announcement of a tentative two-week ceasefire, the report said.
RESCUE PLANS: European countries have announced plans to protect citizens and businesses from rising energy prices. Ireland has reportedly announced a €505 million support package BBC Newswhile Germany agreed measures worth €1.6 billion Bloomberg. meanwhile, Reuters reported a draft EU proposal to be presented next week that would lower electricity prices and accelerate the deployment of clean energy in response to the crisis.
HINT: Trump renewed his criticism of Britain’s energy policy and called on the government to “drill, drill”. Independent. Taking to social media, the president said: “Europe is in desperate need of energy and yet the UK refuses to open up the North Sea oil fields, one of the largest in the world. Tragic!!!” (See Carbon Brief recent fact check various false statements about the North Sea.)
- C-WORD: Faced with pressure from the US, countries participating in the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been urged to ‘not mention climate’, reports Guardian. It added that plans to agree a new “climate change action plan” for the World Bank “may be delayed along with the substantive discussion of the climate crisis”.
- NEW KIRUK: The absolute victory of Peter Magyar over Viktor Orbán in the elections in Hungary “opens up new opportunities for the country to reduce emissions and invest in clean energy”, it is reported. Time. Carbon Brief explored what this means for Europe’s climate action.
- “BURNING” SUMMER: There was a wide coverage – including in the village The Boston Globe, ABC News, CNN, Weekly euro news, Guardian and A new scientist – from meteorologists’ warnings about the development of “super” A child a phenomenon that can raise temperatures and lead to extreme weather.
- ANTALIAN CAPE: The Turkish government has announced the dates and locations of the “Leaders’ Summit” segment of November’s COP31 conference, reports Climate home news.
- PACIFIC PRE-COP: Meanwhile, Guardian reports that Tuvalu will host a special meeting of world leaders ahead of the climate summit in Antalya.
The amount of government support that French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has promised for electrification by 2030 in an attempt to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels. In a late speech Friday, April 10Lecornu noted that this figure represents a “doubling” of existing support.
- In the four months of 2023, more than 70% of editorials discussing net-zero in the UK’s four right-wing newspapers included “at least one misleading statement” | Climate policy
- Air pollution from global transport currently has a net cooling effect that offsets 80% of the warming from CO2 emissions in the sector | npj Climate and Atmospheric Research
- Incorporating “observational constraints” into climate model projections suggests that the Atlantic Meridional Circulation could weaken by 50% by 2100 in a medium emissions scenario | Achievements of science
(For more information, see Carbon Brief’s daily in-depth summaries of top climate news Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Analysis according to Art Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA) found that global fossil fuel electricity production fell in the first month after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Across all countries with real-time electricity data outside of China, coal-fired power generation fell by 3.5% and gas-fired power generation by 4.0%, according to CREA. This was offset by growth in solar and wind, which increased by 14% and 8% respectively. The analysis showed that hydropower generation also increased, but this was “more than offset” by a drop in nuclear power generation.
How climate change affects the lives of Afghans
This week, Carbon Brief reports on the effects of climate change in Afghanistan after this year’s deadly floods.
Earlier this month, there were heavy rains, flash floods and landslides large parts Afghanistan, damaging thousands of homes, destroying crops, bridges and roads and claiming nearly 100 lives.
The flooding, which has reportedly affected 74,000 people in 31 of 34 provinces, is the latest weather-related disaster to hit a nation whose communities have been hit by repeated flash floods, droughts and landslides in recent years.
Hamed Hakimiforeign senior researcher of St Atlantic Council South Asia Centertold Carbon Brief that the recent floods will damage livelihoods and food security, noting reports of destroyed wheat and rice crops in the worst-hit eastern areas of the country. He said:
“It’s a common occurrence. For at least a decade, (we’ve seen) these flash floods and the damage to rural life, agriculture, crop damage … Flash floods physically eat away at the land. So it’s not only damaging to where people live, but also to people’s livelihoods based on what they grow.”
Damage to crops will be felt acutely, he explained, given that food security in the landlocked country is already strained by blocking its main transit trade artery through Pakistan and international sanctions that have frozen long-term development aid.
Speaking to Carbon Brief, Abdulhadi Achakzaithe company’s founding CEO Training and development of the organization for environmental protection (EPTDO), an Afghan non-governmental organization, described the flooding in Afghanistan as a “chronic situation”.
Achakzai, whose organization runs projects that help urban and rural communities adapt to climate impacts, says climate change is hurting the country in four key ways: extreme drought; extreme temperature; “natural hazards” including landslides and dust storms; and finally the flash flood. He said:
“Climate change is a serious problem for Afghanistan nation and every corner of this country has been greatly affected.’
176 out of 187 at the University of Notre Dame.global adaptation index“, Afghanistan is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
According to the World Bank’s climate change data, the average temperature across the country has risen from 12.2C in 1960 to 14.2C in 2024 portal of knowledge. There is a drought widespread, severe and persistent – damage to food and water security in the country existence farmers.
meanwhile, extreme weather events are the leading driver internal displacement in the country. According to a recent climate vulnerability assessment conducted by International Organization for Migration.
Financial difficulties
Despite experiencing the effects of extreme weather, Afghanistan was excluded from the UN climate talks and had limited access to climate finance from 2021. (The government was present COP29 in Baku as guests of the Azerbaijani hosts, but did not participate in the official negotiations.)
This is because the international community does not recognize the Taliban government, which regained power in 2021, because of its recording on human rights and repression against women and girls in particular.
Almost all funding from key climate funds has been suspended, with the exception of a few projects in which UN agencies and NGOs act as both “request” and “implementation” partners.
Aid from UN climate funds has fallen from $5.9 million a year in 2014-2020 to $3.9 million a year in 2021-24, according to a recent analysis Berghoff Foundation. Multilateral development banks have allocated an additional $337 million in funds called “climate finance” for the period 2021-2023, it said.
For comparison, a citizen of Afghanistan climate planpresented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2016, requested $17.4 billion in climate finance for 2020-30. An updated national climate plan seen by Carbon Brief – completed in 2021 and later endorsed by the Taliban government but not adopted by UNFCCC member governments – called for $20.6 billion by 2030.
Achakzai, whose organization attends the COP climate summit every year as an observer, has been in the past sole delegate from Afghanistan for a conference.
He calls on the UNFCCC to accept the country’s latest climate plan and find an “alternative solution” that would give the people of the country a voice in the negotiations. He said:
“Every year we lose hundreds, thousands of people because of climate change problems. Every year we lose hundreds, thousands of hectares of crops. We are affected by (decisions of) other countries. Why are we not involved in this process?”
FLOWER OBSERVER: The Guardian reported a successful search for a researcher to continue the 1,200-year record of cherry blossoms in Japan.
COP OUT: German wave spoke to experts to understand why India withdrew its bid to host COP33 in 2028.
“BOMBS AND PORN”: The The new republic looked at who will benefit from the rapid construction of energy-intensive artificial intelligence data centers.
- April 20-24: First Report of the Working Group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). author’s meetingSantiago, Chile
- April 22: Earth Day
- April 22: Launch third edition Lancet Countdown reports on Europe
- April 24-29: The first conference on Transitioning from Fossil Fuels, Santa Marta, Colombia
- International Organization for Migration, Senior Policy Officer (Climate Action) | Salary: UN G-6 Salary | Location: Dakar, Senegal
- UK Climate Action Network, multiple board member roles | Salary: unknown. Location: unknown
- UK Department for Energy, Food and Rural Affairs, Head of Science G7 | Salary: £56,375 Location: Bristol, London, Newcastle upon Tyne or York, UK
- Save the Children UK, senior adviser on climate change | Salary: £62,000-£65,000. Location: London
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunn. Please send any tips or feedback to (email protected).
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