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".
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
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THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 523hp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh469,000
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
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The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
'Ghostbusters: From Beyond'
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace
Rating: 2/5
The biog
Job: Fitness entrepreneur, body-builder and trainer
Favourite superhero: Batman
Favourite quote: We must become the change we want to see, by Mahatma Gandhi.
Favourite car: Lamborghini
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
If you go...
Flying
There is no simple way to get to Punta Arenas from the UAE, with flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi requiring at least two connections to reach this part of Patagonia. Flights start from about Dh6,250.
Touring
Chile Nativo offers the amended Los Dientes trek with expert guides and porters who are met in Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino. The trip starts and ends in Punta Arenas and lasts for six days in total. Prices start from Dh8,795.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
