Brazil announced plans on Wednesday to cut its carbon footprint "far beyond what could be expected" to set the pace at UN climate talks, but told The National it will not join rich countries in financing the world's green efforts.
The home of the Amazon rainforest hopes to to slash emissions by two-thirds compared to 2005 levels within a decade, in a package of green policies including "zero deforestation" handed to UN officials at the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan.
It makes Brazil one of three countries along with the UAE and Britain to have set a new target before a February deadline. As host of Cop30 next year, Brazil said it wants to be "an example and a major player" as pressure grows on governments to submit bold plans.
Brazil "has gone from denial to leadership and protagonism in fighting climate change," Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said on Wednesday as he unveiled the plans. The 44-page blueprint said they went far beyond "what could be expected based on the country’s historical responsibility for global temperature rise".
Foreign investors are asked to help pay for Brazil's plans, at a summit where the world is trying to agree a financial package potentially worth more than $1 trillion for poorer countries. The US wants rising economies to start contributing to the bill, reflecting shifts since a UN rulebook were drawn up in 1992.
But asked by The National whether Brazil could also step up a league by paying into global climate funds, Climate Secretary Andre Correa do Lago said it was "very hard to think" that developing countries should start paying when the rich world had fallen short of a previous $100 billion target.
"What we expect is that developed countries establish what the resources are that they will ensure to developing countries," he said. "This is is in a context where developed countries insist there’s a great climate urgency. However, when we talk about resources, climate urgency is not applicable.
"In other words, there’s no urgency in getting resources for developing countries to be able to do away with their climate challenge." He said finance talks were taking place "within the rules" of previous UN texts that say any contributions from developing nations are voluntary.
Under the 194-nation Paris Agreement, there is a shared goal of capping global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, but it is up to each country to decide how it will help achieve it with plans known as nationally determined contributions.
All eyes will be on big polluters such as China, India and the US, which may quit the process under Donald Trump's second presidency. The UN warns that even if all existing plans are implemented in full, temperatures would rise 2.6°C by 2100.
With so much at stake, participants in the Cop29 summit in Baku are being intensively lobbied over the contents of what are called NDCs for short. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, called on Wednesday for the plans leading up to 2035 to have a “strong health focus”.
“Many of you have heard me say that the climate crisis is a health crisis, and I will keep saying it until the message gets through,” Dr Tedros told delegates at Cop29 in Azerbaijan. “Human health is the most compelling argument for climate action, and climate action delivers massive benefits for health.”
Climate activists also want plans submitted by rich countries such as the US, Britain, and EU members to include financial pledges to address their “climate debt”, said Rachel Jackson of lobby group Corporate Accountability. “We would be looking for commitments to actively do no harm, make reparations and repair harm in all aspects of climate action,” she told The National. It is hoped that the new financial pledge being negotiated in Baku could allow developing countries to set more ambitious goals
Cop29 in Azerbaijan – in pictures
The UAE's new plan sets a target of cutting emissions 47 per cent in the next decade from a 2019 baseline, picking up the pace from a previous 40 per cent target. Countries are asked to draw on what was agreed in Dubai last year, such as a pledge to treble renewable energy, in preparing their new national plans. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told an event on Africa that the new plans “must contribute to the global energy transition goals agreed at Cop28".
Britain was second to name a figure, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced from the Baku podium that the UK will aim to cut emissions 81 per cent from 1990 levels by 2035. He said his Labour government was determined to “seize the opportunities of tomorrow”. The UK's top negotiator in Baku, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, said the aim was to “encourage others to show ambition” with a plan based on clean electricity, better-insulated homes, heat pumps and cutting air pollution.
Campaigners are awaiting more details on sector-by-sector targets. Tim Wainwright, the head of charity Water Aid, said Britain should put more money into preparing for extreme weather globally “if Keir Starmer is serious about showing climate leadership”.
Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva described the plan unveiled in Baku as "a new paradigm for the socio-economic development of our country". She said the sums of money to be provided to the developing world "have to be of the order of trillions".
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
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December 14- 17
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Company%20Profile
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TCL INFO
Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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