Cop29 in Baku was an attempt to highlight the way fossil fuels are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate: but the home of the petro-chemical industry is not about to accept the science. Oil and gas, Aliyev said, are “a gift of the God” — just the same as any other natural resource. “Unfortunately double standards, a habit to lecture other countries and political hypocrisy became kind of
modus operandi for some politicians, state-controlled NGOs and fake news media in some Western countries,” Aliyev said. Aliyev also slammed U.S. media for calling Azerbaijan a “petrostate” when their country is the number one oil and gas producer on Earth.
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed stringent new plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as
revealed by the Guardian, which were praised by campaigners and experts. The UK is one of the first leading economies to present such a plan, months ahead of a UN deadline of next February. The cut, of 81% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels, will be partly met by decarbonising the electricity sector, but the government is also likely to have to add new policies to encourage public transport and walking, and a switch from gas heating to electric heat pumps.
Simon Stiell, the UN’s top climate official, said politics, economics and the climate were now fatally entwined. Governments may be feeling the consequences of the worst inflation for decades but far more serious consequences were in store. “Worsening climate impacts will put inflation on steroids,” Stiell said, tuning in to some of the economic fears that have helped deliver a series of electoral victories to rightwing parties around the world in the past year. “The climate crisis is a cost-of-living crisis, because climate disasters are driving up costs for households and businesses. Climate finance is global inflation insurance.”
the Guardian
Donald Trump said, "drill baby, drill."