Connect with us

Washington, D.C

Column: Why the road to Sharm El-Sheikh runs through Washington, D.C.

Published

on

Column: Why the road to Sharm El-Sheikh runs through Washington, D.C.


October 10 – In fewer than 30 days, the caravan of local weather negotiators, ministers, heads of state, media, trade, and financiers will descend on Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for the twenty seventh spherical of local weather negotiations (COP27). They may collect 30 years after nations first agreed the framework conference on local weather change, and 7 years after the world determined in Paris to behave to restrict warming to nicely under 2 levels celsius from pre-industrial ranges and, in so doing, to depart nobody behind.

COP27 will happen amid compound crises and two competing local weather narratives. The primary is considered one of dismay that politics has let science down: we’re subsidizing fossil fuels extra, and deforesting quicker. We’ve didn’t mobilize promised inexperienced finance and made inadequate progress in greening the monetary system.

The second is hope: the opportunity of a renewable vitality revolution, as applied sciences enhance, costs fall, storage develops, and the electrical automobile transformation takes off. And within the historically hard-to-abate sectors corresponding to metal, cement, transport, and aviation, we see technological progress and coalitions fashioned to drive progress.

Register now for FREE limitless entry to Reuters.com

The compound crises, nevertheless, danger getting in the way in which. The dislocation of the pandemic continues to be working its means by the system, having set development and improvement again, elevated indebtedness, and snarled world provide chains. On high of that comes the struggle in Ukraine, sending excessive fuel costs greater and spurring gas price-driven inflation and spiking meals costs. Europe has diverted funds earmarked for local weather and improvement to Ukraine. We’ve a big fertilizer disaster, and the UN is dealing with, for the primary time in financial historical past, a number of famines on the similar time.

Advertisement
Vans and vehicles are seen driving previous whereas smoke rises from the Duvha coal-based energy station owned by state energy utility Eskom, in Emalahleni, in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, June 3, 2021. Image taken June 3, 2021. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

China and US relations, on the core of local weather diplomacy as the 2 largest emitters, are within the chiller, and Europe faces recession and a take a look at of all it stands for within the face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression. In the meantime, low-income nations are on the finish of damaged vaccine guarantees, local weather finance, and clear vitality investments.

So what can we hope for? Regardless of these crises, success means progress on finance.

At COP26 in Glasgow, the failure to ship even belatedly on a promised $100bn a 12 months of local weather finance by 2020 was considerably obscured by the heralding of personal finance: $130 trillion of property underneath administration from 450 monetary establishments, grouped because the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Web Zero (GFANZ).

That quantity was made potential by aggressive shepherding of reluctant US banks within the weeks earlier than the summit. Twelve months on, GFANZ is validating its signatories’ claims; some asset managers have exited amid the uncertainty; and a few massive US banks, led by probably the most distinguished banker of fossil fuels, JP Morgan, have expressed doubts in public.

With one eye on the November elections, states corresponding to Texas and Florida are attacking ESG funding tendencies and the monetary sector’s transfer to determine net-zero objectives is hitting inevitable bumps within the transition street.

Advertisement

Beforehand, net-zero claims have been attacked from the left for greenwash. Now assaults come from the proper for being “woke” capitalism. Integrity lies on the coronary heart of the monetary sector’s position in local weather motion and there will likely be better scrutiny of commitments at Sharm. Ever-practical Egyptian ministers have been clear that they need to transfer from pledges to particular relevant insurance policies and practices which can be aimed toward securing efficient implementation.

Public finance nonetheless will not hit the $100bn. But, there will likely be vital efforts to construct on the financing for Simply Vitality Transition Partnerships (JET-Ps) – with new platforms on the playing cards for Indonesia and Vietnam. Senegal is in line, and a platform for India is in focus.

These JET-Ps comply with the settlement to channel $8.5bn to South Africa at COP26. And whereas that has confirmed a posh course of to maneuver ahead, components of recent funding and flows are topic to intense work throughout a big selection of companions.

Voluntary carbon markets, which have been decried as spigots of greenwash a 12 months in the past, are the main focus of detailed work to determine guardrails and guidelines that can make sure that excessive integrity markets result in emissions reductions and elimination in addition to a gradual circulate of assets to nations and communities, that may produce high-quality carbon credit, corresponding to Gabon. Making carbon markets work higher for Africa specifically, will likely be vital at COP27 .

However the street to Sharm goes by Washington, D.C., and the upcoming IMF and World Financial institution annual conferences. Beneath assault from some shareholders, together with its largest, the U.S., the World Financial institution’s administration is scrambling to point out enough local weather endeavour. It could be instructed to rethink its technique. However for now, there gained’t be a basic shift.

Advertisement

For growing counties, nevertheless, local weather financing should come as a part of debt aid. Sixty per cent of low-income nations and 30% of rising economies are already in debt misery, and local weather impacts will enhance that. The 2 are inextricably linked. The IMF expects $40bn to circulate into the Resilience and Sustainability Belief created from the current SDR issuance reflows. The IMF has additionally signaled curiosity in debt for local weather swaps. However that is solely a begin.

Mahmoud Mohieldin, Egypt’s local weather champion, speaks throughout an interview with Reuters in Cairo, as Egypt prepares to host the COP27 summit in Egypt, September 12, 2022. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Mahmoud Mohieldin, the COP27 champion, and a veteran of each the Financial institution and the Fund, has echoed calls from Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, for the World Financial institution to increase to extra nations its most concessional financing, that’s, its lending at below-market charges to probably the most susceptible nations to assist speed up improvement aims.

There are additionally calls to vary the classification of the “most susceptible”. If a rustic or a state can lose greater than 5% of its GDP in a single excessive climate occasion, whose frequency and depth are rising as a consequence of local weather change, then earnings alone is a uninteresting measure of want.

There is no such thing as a justice in local weather change. Probably the most susceptible are getting poorer, and the extremes of rainfall and warmth will punish the weakest most. However local weather justice is the body for finance discussions. COP27 comes at a time after we are but to translate the rallying cry of local weather justice into how we regulate our monetary markets, value carbon, and run our insurance coverage markets.

The worldwide monetary establishments and our multilateral cooperation framework haven’t responded with the mandatory urgency, and they’re going to have to be reset by their homeowners with new possession fashions. Within the meantime, in Sharm ‒ to echo the Egyptian presidency ‒ we should do sensible issues.

Register now for FREE limitless entry to Reuters.com

Opinions expressed are these of the creator. They don’t mirror the views of Reuters Information, which, underneath the Belief Rules, is dedicated to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. Sustainable Enterprise Evaluation, part of Reuters Skilled, is owned by Thomson Reuters and operates independently of Reuters Information.

Advertisement
Rachel Kyte

Rachel Kyte is dean of The Fletcher Faculty at Tufts College. She is a member of the U.N. Secretary-Normal’s high-level advisory group on local weather motion and co-chair of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI). Kyte served as particular consultant of the U.N. Secretary-Normal and chief government officer of Sustainable Vitality for All (SEforALL). She beforehand was the World Financial institution Group vice chairman and particular envoy for local weather change, main the run-up to the Paris Settlement. In 2019 she was named by Time journal as one of many 15 girls that have been main local weather motion.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Washington, D.C

Amtrak trains delayed along Northeast Corridor from D.C. to Boston, officials say – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Amtrak trains delayed along Northeast Corridor from D.C. to Boston, officials say – The Boston Globe


Amtrak passengers faced delays of 30 to 60 minutes Sunday night because of power line issues along the Northeast Corridor, which provides service between Washington, D.C., and Boston, according to a statement released by the rail service.

Downed overhead wires affected trains operating from Washington’s Union Station to Boston’s South Station, according to Amtrak. Residual delays could occur due to crew shortages, Amtrak said in the statement.

The issues began earlier Sunday, when service was suspended on four tracks shuttling passengers between Pennsylvania Station in New York and William H. Gray III 30th Street Station in Philadelphia because of power issues, according to previous statements from Amtrak. As of 7 p.m., service on one of the four tracks was fully restored, while two tracks were operating at reduced speeds, and one remained out of service.

Advertisement

Amtrak customers with reservations on affected trains will typically be accommodated on trains with similar departure times or on another day, according to the statement. Amtrak will waive additional charges for customers looking to change their reservation during the modified schedule by calling the line’s reservation center at 1-800-USA-RAIL.


Collin Robisheaux can be reached at collin.robisheaux@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @ColRobisheaux.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Washington, D.C

D.C. Age Debate Reignites After Rep Found at Old Folks’ Home

Published

on

D.C. Age Debate Reignites After Rep Found at Old Folks’ Home


Politics

Rep. Kay Granger was found to be residing at an independent living facility in Texas following a six-month, unexplained absence from the Capitol.

Tom Williams/Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Yasmeen Hamadeh

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Washington, D.C

Mayor Bowser, Commanders' Josh Harris, and other local leaders react to RFK Stadium deal

Published

on

Mayor Bowser, Commanders' Josh Harris, and other local leaders react to RFK Stadium deal


After years of debate, false starts, and controversy, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act was passed in the Senate with unanimous consent, paving the way for the Washington Commanders to return to D.C.

Now, local leaders are speaking about the benefits, and potential drawbacks, of a new football stadium in the city.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)

D.C. has scored a victory in its fight for self-determination just in time for the holidays. When the bill is signed into law by President Biden, D.C. will get to decide for itself what to do with the largest unused tract of land remaining in the District. I look forward to seeing the site transformed from crumbling blight to a productive and bustling complex that will generate significant revenue for the nation’s capital.

Throughout my career in Congress, I’ve prioritized transferring unused federal land to D.C. or the private sector, enabling the redevelopment of neighborhoods, generating tax revenue and bringing much-needed space to the District.

Maryland U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen

Advertisement

Maryland has been the proud home of the Commanders for over two decades and we continue to believe that this partnership should continue long into the future. After working to level the financial playing field, and receiving assurances that should the team move they will redevelop the existing site in a manner that meets the needs of the community, tonight we supported the proposed land transfer legislation. We have always supported the District’s effort to control its own land, and through regional discussions and cooperation, our concerns with this proposal have been addressed.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser

Josh Harris, Managing Partner of the Washington Commanders

We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington D.C. the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK stadium site. This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.

Congressman Glenn Ivey (D-Md)

Maryland should have the chance to compete to keep the Commanders here.

I opposed this bill in the House, and I oppose it today, because federal taxpayers should not be required to subsidize an NFL stadium by offering a 99-year lease of the RFK campus for free. That’s not fair to the taxpayers, and it’s not fair to Maryland because it undermines Maryland’s chance to compete on a level playing field.

But we can still win. Our site offers two nearby Metro stations, superior highway access, and a larger campus for parking. Now that the Dan Snyder era is over and the Harris team has brought winning football back to the DMV, a state-of-the-art indoor stadium would jumpstart redevelopment in the area and trigger property appreciation in short order. In addition to the ten games or so the Commanders play, the stadium could be used year-round for events like the Final Four and music concerts. Working closely with the Harris team–which owns much of the land around the stadium–we could create an economic win-win that would benefit the community, the region, the team, and the fans.

Maryland looks forward to working with the Harris team to make that vision a reality.

DC Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie

DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson

Advertisement

We are grateful the legislation passed and that this large tract will not continue to deteriorate with a crumbling stadium on it.

At the same time, it is unfortunate that the Senate found unanimous consent to move the legislation concerning RFK, but is leaving untouched ten judicial vacancies. This continues to be a setback to the District’s public safety ecosystem. I would also be remiss to not emphasize that the continuing resolution underfunds, our police by $10 million.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending