Investments in clean energy by developing countries declined in 2018

Developing nations are moving toward cleaner power but not nearly fast enough to limit global CO2 emissions. Due to economic slowdown, investment in new wind, solar, and other non-large hydro renewables projects in China fell to $86 billion in 2018 from $122 billion in 2017. 

Financing of clean energy projects in India and Brazil also slipped $2.4 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively from the year prior.

Last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was 3-5 million years ago and back then...

... the temperature was 2-3°C warmer, sea level was 10-20 meters higher than now,  World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas stated in a news release.

Since 1990, there has been a 43% increase in total radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) – the warming effect on the climate - by long-lived greenhouse gases. CO2 accounts for about 80% of this, according to figures from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration quoted in the WMO Bulletin. 

Renewable energy is now the cheapest source of power generation in some countries

Breakdown of utility-scale solar PV total installed costs in G20 countries, 2018

         Source: IRENA, 2019

Released just before UNFCCC's COP25 IRENA's report reveals the latest cost trends for each of the main renewable power generation technologies.

What to expect from COP25?

According to Climate Action Network, which is a worldwide network of over 1300 NGOs in 120+ countries, the key issues to be discussed and resolved at COP25 include:
- Strengthening Climate Ambition, Long-Term Decarbonization and Resilience.
At COP25, countries must not only reiterate but strengthen their commitments regarding  enhanced NDCs by 2020 and launch national inclusive and multi-stakeholder enhancement processes.
- The rules, modalities, procedures, and guidance developed under Article 6 must be in line with the highest standard of environmental integrity.
Recommendations should be prepared on far more ambitious NDCs based on the findings of the three recent IPCC special reports on 1.5°C, land, and oceans and cryosphere. Rich countries must use the Pre-2020 

World Energy Outlook 2019 suggests a path fully aligned with the Paris Agreement goal

WEO 2019, the International Energy Agency’s flagship publication, suggests a pathway that enables the world to meet climate, energy access and air quality goals while maintaining a strong focus on the reliability and affordability of energy for a growing global population.
The path the world is on right now is presented by the Current Policies Scenario, which provides a baseline vision of how global energy systems would evolve if governments make no changes to their existing policies.

US starts formal withdrawal from Paris climate accord

The Trump administration announced that it will begin formally withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, the first step in a year-long process to leave the landmark agreement to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases.

Critics of the withdrawal say that the US leaving an agreement it helped negotiate will harm the country's standing internationally.

A poll conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication earlier this year showed that about 7 in 10 Americans think global warming is happening, and at least 6 in 10 are "somewhat worried" about it.

Source: CNN

Outcomes of UN Climate Action Summit in New York

United Nations Climate Action Summit, which was held in New York on September 23, 2019, boosted climate action momentum, and demonstrated growing recognition that the pace of climate action must be rapidly accelerated.
 Among major outcomes of the Summit:

• 65 countries and  sub-national economies committed to cut GHG emissions to net zero by 2050
• Over 100 business leaders delivered concrete actions to align with the Paris Agreement targets,  including asset-owners holding over $2 trillion in assets and leading companies with combined value also over $2 trillion

Outcomes of COP24 in Katowice, December 2018

The Katowice climate package, adopted in December 2018 during COP24 in Katowice, Poland, is a set of rules regarding how the Parties will measure the carbon emissions and report on their emissions-cutting efforts. This ‘rulebook’ can be called as the detailed “operating manual” of 2015 Paris Agreement, and it includes:

•    the information about domestic mitigation and other climate goals and activities that governments will provide in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs);
•    the rules for the functioning of the Transparency Framework, which will show to the world what countries are doing about climate change;
•    how to assess progress on the development and transfer of technology;
•    how to provide advance information on financial support to developing countries and the process for establishing new targets on finance from 2025 onwards

The implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement respect the different capabilities and socio-economic realities of each country while providing the foundation for ever-increasing ambition with respect to climate action. They establish an effective international system for promoting and tracking progress while empowering countries to build national systems for implementing the Agreement

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Source: Katowice climate package. UNFCCC