Global climate talks deliver moves to cut methane and deforestation
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
January 29, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2023
Global climate talks deliver moves to cut methane and deforestation

World+Biz

Reuters
02 November, 2021, 05:55 pm
Last modified: 02 November, 2021, 06:02 pm

Related News

  • EU countries vote to weaken law on methane emissions
  • Deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado savanna hits seven-year high
  • EU bans imports of products that drive deforestation
  • What became of climate pledges made at COP26?
  • Animals and brands: An enduring relationship

Global climate talks deliver moves to cut methane and deforestation

While major powers have traded blame for the world's inability to agree on rapid reductions in the use of fossil fuels to limit global warming to manageable levels, there are at least signs of resolve in other areas

Reuters
02 November, 2021, 05:55 pm
Last modified: 02 November, 2021, 06:02 pm
A person walks past a sign during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble
A person walks past a sign during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble
  • Two-week UN COP26 climate conference enters second day
  • Dozens of countries join US-led methane reduction effort
  • Over 100 leaders pledge to halt deforestation by 2030
  • Brazil and India made new carbon-cutting pledges on day one

Leaders at the COP26 global climate conference in Glasgow have pledged to stop deforestation by the end of the decade and slash emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane.

While major powers have traded blame for the world's inability to agree on rapid reductions in the use of fossil fuels to limit global warming to manageable levels, there are at least signs of resolve in other areas.

Nearly 90 countries have joined a US and EU-led effort to slash emissions of methane 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels, a senior Biden administration official said ahead of a formal announcement on Tuesday.

Methane is more short-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide but 80 times more potent in warming the earth. As a result, cutting emissions of the gas, which is estimated to have accounted for 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times, is one of the most effective ways of slowing climate change.

The Global Methane Pledge, which was first announced in September, now includes half of the top 30 methane emitters, accounting for two-thirds of the global economy, according to the US official.

Among the new signatories to be announced on Tuesday is Brazil - one of the world's five biggest emitters of methane, which is generated in cows' digestive systems, in landfill waste and in oil and gas production. Three of the others - China, Russia and India - have not signed up, while Australia has said it will not back the pledge.

Humanity has also boosted the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by cutting down the forests that absorb roughly 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the nonprofit World Resources Institute.

In 2020, the world lost 258,000 sq km (100,000 square miles) of forest - an area larger than the United Kingdom, according to WRI's Global Forest Watch.

'Chainsaw massacre'

More than 100 national leaders on Monday pledged to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by the end of the decade, underpinned by $19 billion in public and private funds to invest in protecting and restoring forests. 

"Let's end this great global chainsaw massacre by making conservation do what we know it can do and deliver long-term sustainable jobs and growth as well," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

COP26 aims to keep alive a target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to avert still greater damage from the intensified heatwaves, droughts, storms, floods and coastal damage that climate change is already causing.

Under the agreement, 12 countries pledged to provide $12 billion of public funding between 2021 and 2025 for developing countries to restore degraded land and tackle wildfires.

At least $7.2 billion will come from private sector investors representing $8.7 trillion in assets under management, who also pledged to stop investing in activities linked to deforestation such as cattle, palm oil and soybean farming and pulp production.

Five countries including Britain and United States and a group of global charities also pledged to provide $1.7 billion to support indigenous people's conservation of forests and to strengthen their land rights.

Powers at odds

Brazil, which has already cleared vast swathes of the Amazon rainforest, did make a new commitment on Monday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, compared with a previous pledge of 43%.

And Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time set out a target date for India, heavily reliant on coal, to reduce its carbon emissions to a level it can absorb, albeit only in 2070 - 20 years beyond the UN's global recommendation. 

But there is little sign so far of greater shared resolve by the world's two biggest carbon emitters, China and the United States, which together account for more than 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions but are at odds on a host of political and commercial issues.

US President Joe Biden has singled out China and leading oil producer Russia for failing to step up their climate goals in Glasgow.

Beijing has rejected Washington's efforts to separate climate issues from their wider disagreements.

The Communist Party-run Global Times said in an editorial on Monday that the United States should not expect to be able to influence Beijing on climate while attacking it on human rights and other issues.

It said Washington's attitude had made it "impossible for China to see any potential to have fair negotiation amid the tensions". China said on Tuesday that President Xi Jinping, who decided not to attend in person, had not been given an opportunity to deliver a video address, and had to send a written response instead - in which he offered no additional pledges.

The British government said it had wanted people to attend the conference in person, and had offered absentees the chance to provide recorded addresses or statements.

Top News

Methane / deforestation / COP26

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Getting gas to India will be even more costly than laying this pipe to China.Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
    Russia can't replace the energy market Putin broke
  • Ex-MD Mehmood Hossain rejoining National Bank
    Ex-MD Mehmood Hossain rejoining National Bank
  • Photo: UNB
    AL won't run away, rather will continue developing Bangladesh: PM in Rajshahi

MOST VIEWED

  • FILE PHOTO: A US Air Force 510th Fighter Squadron pilot leaves his F-16 fighter in Amari air base March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo
    Ukraine in talks with allies about getting long-range missiles
  • FILE PHOTO: People walk along Istiklal Avenue, decorated with Turkish national flags after Sunday's blast killed six and wounded dozens, in Istanbul, Turkey, November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo
    Turkey alerts citizens to risk of attack in United States, Europe on heels of Western warnings
  • China central bank to roll over lending tools to spur growth
    China central bank to roll over lending tools to spur growth
  • FIKE PHOTO: Medical staff moves a patient into a fever clinic at a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • Represenattional image. File Photo
    Iranian military factory hit by drone attack
  • Getting gas to India will be even more costly than laying this pipe to China.Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
    Russia can't replace the energy market Putin broke

Related News

  • EU countries vote to weaken law on methane emissions
  • Deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado savanna hits seven-year high
  • EU bans imports of products that drive deforestation
  • What became of climate pledges made at COP26?
  • Animals and brands: An enduring relationship

Features

Nandita Sharmin's journey to give organic skincare a new identity

Nandita Sharmin's journey to give organic skincare a new identity

7h | Mode
Illustration: TBS

'The silver lining is that the worst is sort of behind us': Hamid Rashid, UN economist

10h | Panorama
Photo: Bloomberg

BuzzFeed and AI are a match made in fad city

9h | Panorama
Snipe in flight. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Baikka Beel: 'A world where snipe work late'

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Sarika Sabrin is waiting for a good film

Sarika Sabrin is waiting for a good film

38m | TBS Entertainment
Take your football game to the next level at Next Level academy

Take your football game to the next level at Next Level academy

1h | TBS SPORTS
“Investments risky without consistent policy, reliable data”- SK Bashir Uddin

“Investments risky without consistent policy, reliable data”- SK Bashir Uddin

3h | TBS Round Table
What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

23h | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

3
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

4
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

5
Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
Bangladesh

Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]